Can't wait for Spring

After a couple of lovely days, today's dreary, dull afternoon came as somewhat of a disappointment.  I decided I couldn't wait any longer and decided to make my own Spring.  I bought a book whilst in Japan last October and got out my scissors, a few sheets of pink paper and set to work.

Oh, and I set up my Flip as well.

No sign of anything like the real thing here yet.  We'll just have to make do with paper cherry blossom for a little longer.

Have fun!

Overwhelming

This is the scene around here for much of the time right now.  Was it the snowy start to the year that's resulted in such a busy March?  Or is it my tendency to say yes first and wonder why later?  Whatever the reason, right now I'm hardly at home and my "portfolio career" feels more like a stranglehold.

My difficulty is that I enjoy what I do.  I love working with people, with skilled colleagues who are so generous with their time and commitment.  I enjoy a challenge, to fiddle about with some gadget or other and watch as someone else realises what potential lies in that small box.  All I need to keep me going is to witness the sparkle in their eyes as they succeed in something they've been trying to do, to stand by and watch the creative process happening. To inspire a little motivation and persuade them that they really do want to go on and learn more.

But these pleasures are often accompanied by frustration.  Jobs half done or not done as well as I'd have hoped.  Books started and left so the plot is lost.  Time wasted sitting listening to badly prepared speakers with inadequate resources. A laptop computer which takes forever to complete a process and then, when it finally springs to life, tells you that no, you can't open Flickr because there's no proof that you, the user, are 18 or over. 

At times like this, it's good to be home.

Even if it's littered with unpacked bags, piles of unopened post, letters demanding attention and a whole plethora of half started "good intentions".

Like the start of Shimelle's "Something from Almost Nothing" project.  My "therapy" - playing about with bits of paper and a few other things.

Whilst I've been running about here and there, the crocus have appeared and Spring seems to be happening. 

To think, I nearly missed it.

I ask you

  I know.  I work in a place where Health and Safety is among the items at the top of the agenda.  But seeing an A4 copy of this stuck to each of two walls in a hotel bathroom the other night made me question the whole issue.

A seven point list to ensure the safe use of a bathmat, which is itself  there to ensure the safe use of an everyday household feature that most of us have used since childhood?

putting my money where my mouth is

All too often, I am aware that what you see is not necessarily what you get.  As I presented a workshop on Friday about video editing, I realised that I really did need a bit of practice.  OK, I have created one or two projects before, have a pretty clear grasp of the pitfalls (it's nearly always the issue of file size) but it's a while since I spent time exploring Windows Movie Maker in any depth and I was conscious that I was only a page or two ahead of the learners on Friday.  With a few video clips from Libya there in a folder and a promise to share them with Mohammed and the two drivers, it was time to invest a little time and energy.

I've been using a Flip video camera borrowed from work for quite some time and loved it enough to buy one for myself - a Mino HD.  Whilst we were in Libya, I kept it in my pocket and found it really great when my camera battery expired unexpectedly.  This wasn't really a place where I'd consider capturing a moving image - these ruins were pretty still!  But, by sweeping slowly round, I was able to get a feel for the scale of the place and, best of all, grab some still images from the video file when I got home.  I also captured a fair bit of the pavements by leaving it switched on unintentionally, but that's another story ;-)

It was in the Sahara where the Flip came into its own.  Though a still photograph can give an impression of the scale of the place (my apologies for using a photo for a second, possibly third time!) it was the Flip which allowed me to create a memory of the experience.  Record the fun of it all, so to speak.

I came home and downloaded the clips and fell upon a bit of a stumbling block.  My great HD camera captured really fine video, but oh my goodness, the file sizes were enormous.  How on earth was I going to manage them?  The answer came in the form of software recommended in the class materials - who says teachers are not learning at the same time as their students?!  Using Prism Video File converter, which comes as part of the freely available NCH suite of media editing tools, I whittled the files down to a more manageable size and imported them into Windows Movie Maker.

Finding one or two of the gaps where I'd cut out some parts I didn't really want to share (perhaps not surprising what idiot things I say and do when I forget it's being recorded) not to mention all those shots of my feet, I decided to import one or two of the still images alongside. 

But then, I decided I wanted music.

Poor Mark endured an afternoon of me trawling through my itunes collection, sampling a hundred (it seemed) websites with free downloads of arabic music, none of which was really what I was looking for.  I came across some interesting Tuareg bands and became totally distracted before I reminded myself what I was supposed to be doing.

I added a soundtrack from the default samples included in the program - which seemed to fit pretty well and to prove the theory that the thing I'm looking for is nearly always right there at the end of my nose!  At about 11.30 last evening, I was able to upload the finished project to You Tube and email our Libyan friends with a link.

Mission accomplished.

Update on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 5:23PM by Gill Thomas

In answer to a few questions about the video:

We travelled (Mark, Ed, Mohammed our guide and I) in two 4WD vehicles.  I generally sat in the first car with Mohammed, which enabled me to film and take photos of Mark and Edward following us.  From time to time, the drivers would get out and walk to the edge of the dune to assess whether they felt comfortable driving down it and, having got down there, if there was a possible way out again.  Whilst they did this, we took the chance to jump out and get some sand between our toes!  Occasionally, as in the film, they had to run quite a way down the steep dune and, more difficult, climb back up again.  Once or twice, they had second thoughts and took a different route but mostly, down we slithered on the soft, dry sand as can be seen in one of the shots.

We saw only one or two other cars during the day in the desert and these were by the lakes.  Otherwise, it felt as though we had the whole of the Sahara to ourselves!  The landscape in the video is typical - mostly sand dunes with the occasional palm tree and areas of scrubby vegetation as far as the eye can see.  The Ubari Lakes are quite out of place and appear from nowhere, small clusters of activity in an otherwise silent place.

Observations

In London yesterday for a rather belated birthday dinner with Edward (who turned 25 at the beginning of January), I took the opportunity of investigating the new Anthropologie store on Regent Street.  I'm a fan - not particularly of the merchandise, which is aimed at an altogether younger, thinner and more spendy target than me, but of the creative spirit of the merchandising team.  Anthropologie is always high on my list of "must visit" destinations when we are in the United States and never disappoints.  I'm glad to say the London store didn't either.

The window display with these stunning flowers made from recycled plastic was supported by some great chandeliers inside, made by the same artist.  Googling to identify the maker brought up a whole heap of results - clearly I am not the only fan of these colourful flowers, and perhaps unsurprisingly, there is a whole Flickr group devoted to Anthropologie's window displays!

More observations later, visiting the Ladies cloakroom in Browns Hotel, possibly the first such place where I've spotted pinups!  Nothing sleazy or overt, but a selection of elegant gentlemen to adorn the walls, clearly appreciated by visitors to the smallest room. 

Quite entertaining.