Photographs and Aperture 3...+ ....YouTube

Some good news for those who do photography editing, the Apple App Store is selling 'Aperture 3' at a much lower price than in the Apple Stores. I got mine for €62 (full version) compared to €199 in the Apple Store. Now Apple has the App Store up and running for those of us using their laptops and desktops, I hope to see prices coming down to more reasonable levels. My biggest grumble, and thousands of others, is that Apple products are overpriced and putting people off buying them.

I'm finally going through the photos I took a year ago whilst on holiday in the USA. I never realised how much of a pain it is editing nearly 4,000 pictures, divided into black & white and colour. The repetitious nature of getting each photo in the best shape possible, to my eye at least, is very time consuming and a tad tedious. Yet, as I'm sitting there adjusting the tones, sharpness, cropping and all the other wonderful activities that need to be done, I keep coming across photos that turned out better than I remember; maybe it needs a year to view your own work more dispassionately and critically to understand why you took this or that photo at the time you did.

The one thing I've really appreciated in my poor efforts is the love I have for B&W photography. I'd forgotten the joys of seeing every colour of the rainbow in a B&W photo. A strange thing to say perhaps, but those who enjoy the delights of monochrome will understand what I mean. In a way there's a reminder of Fox Talbot and Maybridge every time I press the button on the camera. And with digital, it's become ever more easier to turn a poor colour shot into a much superior B&W photo. At some point the finished shots will be uploaded and you can let me know what you think.

YouTube is a godsend and as I'm too busy to read through endless manuals there's always an answer on YouTube, it's become the favoured learning centre and saved me endless time. From time to time I'd like to point you towards a certain channel when it comes to anything to do with art. You might disagree with my choice but there are some youngsters out there who do sterling work and often make life a damn sight easier. So the first recommendation I'm going to make is for 'iTalkApple' and you can find her channel here. Check out her channel, there's a lot of tech stuff with Apple products that makes the creative experience easier to navigate. The channel might not be for everyone, but I'm sure there will be something of interest to most of you.

Take care, and keep smiling!
Toni

A new work in progress!

Well as can be seen, I'm presently playing around like a child in a sandpit trying to build sandcastles out of perfectly dry sand.  However, to be fair to my complete delusions the site looks half decent and eventually will come right at some unknown point.

Having had a little time to think about it, I think I ought to clarify my thoughts about artists who get featured on the blog. There are an enormous amount of budding painters, photographers etc who participate in art for the pure joy of it, and this blog is designed to give those individuals a helping hand by either pointing people in the right direction via a link or displayed on the pages of the blog.

As an English language teacher by profession, I shall be introducing links to various sites that might be useful to fellow artists; as someone who has recently started to learn film editing there are many unsung heroes, male and female, who selflessly give a lot of useful hints, tips and learning strategies to the beginner. I have nothing but praise for the young people I, as an old dog, have been happily taught by.

There I'll leave it for the moment.

Take care

Tony

Welcome!

Welcome to my new Art Centre! And if I may say a work in progress at this stage. On this blog you will find all the latest examples of my uploaded work and I look forward to sharing it with you.

If you have any comments please leave them in the comment box. Thank you for popping by!