News & Updates
This short portrait project combined aspects of traditional portriture with low-poly paper masks. The results were rather fun, with a range of portraits that evoke a variety of “personalities” portrayed by the actor under the mask. The students that were photographed with their masks were asked to "play" a character using some props from their personal items.
Star Wars and TCP/IP what could be cooler? I have been wanting to share this since I first came across this great network hack back in February. This story made the rounds on all the popular tech blogs highlighting the work of Ryan Werber from Beagle Networks. To see how he actually pulled off this great hack (including the code he used) checkout the original post on Beagle Networks. Unfortunately the original traceroute has been discontinued due to repeated denial of service attacks after the popularity of the original posting. Thankfully, a new version (extended) has been posted that runs on IPv6. If you want to run this fun traceroute yourself you still can, instructions can be found in the blog post Special Treat! New Star Wars Traceroute. Traceroute - is a computer network diagnostic tool used to trace the path of packets of information as they are sent from one computer to another. The path of the packets are recorded at each node (or hop) in the network, relaying information on the time it takes to pas through each location. This Star Wars hack is a great example of controlling internal networking tables to display host names of all the various hops as lines from the Star Wars screen scroll from the opening sequence of Episode IV A New Hope.
Below is the original IPv4 traceroute from back in February (so glad I took a screenshot of it since its no longer available)
#WookieHowl!
I wanted to do something a little fun for this holiday season. Rather than sending out traditional paper "Happy Holiday" cards, we thought it would be fun to make a little video instead. It was a lot of fun to create, and it was a perfect excuse to get to play with some cool LEGOs.
The video was created by snapping a picture every 15 seconds during the building process, then combining them in Adobe Premiere to create the video.
I have always liked the look the Apple G4 Cube desktop computer case. Thanks to my colleague Frank T. I was given an opportunity to recycle this once fairly iconic computer into something still useful in my office - a plant holder. I was looking for a new little art project and this gave me the perfect little springboard to do something creative.
Frank had found this old G4 Cube and removed all the electrical components, circuit boards, cables etc. It sat on his desk for a while and I always thought how neat it might be to re-purpose this piece of computer equipment into something more green, like a plant holder. When Frank retired he tossed this little case my way, and well, I went right to work re-purposing it.
This was a really quick little art project, in total it only took about 15 minutes to do. It only required simple hand tools (Phillips screwdriver, pliers and some wire). I had thought for a while how I liked the juxtaposition of the cold high-tech (well, once upon a time that is) computer case with the warm softness of a living plant growing from it. To me, this little plant holder represents the possibilities of recycling old computer equipment into something useful again, and the reclaiming of life by nature over man-made obstructions.
Leigh and I challenged our year 3 MAET students to the infamous REMIX, REUSE, RECYCLE quickfire. It was only fair that we too took the challenge our selves. We dusted off the video decks and got to work...see if you can tell which learning theory we were trying to demonstrate?
In celebration of Labor Day this year, a few friends and I piled into a car and headed up north to Michigan’s Mackinac Bridge. We went to the bridge to participate in the 52nd annual Bridge Walk. Every year (for the last 52 anyway) they shut down the bridge on Labor Day and people from all over the country (and World) walk across the bridge. It is quite the spectacle. We were lucky to have great weather all weekend, we did have a nice patch of fog roll in on us as we were crossing the bridge, so that made for some interesting atmosphere to both walk and photograph. The following video is a short compilation of the some 1000+ images I shot while on my trip.
What better way to spend your average Wednesday than jumping out of an airplane at 14,000 ft?
This was my first time skydiving, it was an incredible experience that I am sure to repeat in the future. The folks at Skydive Tecumseh made sure my jump was a thrilling time. Their staff was very friendly and professional and although you are jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, you actually feel rather safe in their hands.
There really is no experience like it, feeling the icy cold air rushing past your face, the feel of the cold aircraft aluminum against your hands as you look out the rear door of the aircraft. As you gaze downward to the familiar earth below you stomach cinches the last knot. One, two, threeeeeee and out the aircraft you tumble, rushing toward the earth at 120 mph as you flip and twist before steadying your free fall. Wind whipping all about you, trying to make sense of your bearings and surroundings as you plummet, a calm enters as you take in the beautiful scenery both around and below you. Jumping from such a height you feel disconnected from the earth below, almost as if it is not a threat to your safe landing, its just there, beyond your reach. Then suddenly you are violently jerked upwards as your main chute deploys and the canopy fills with air. Now gliding smoothly and gently, you take in your surroundings as ground beneath you raises faster and faster towards your feet. A few quick maneuvers of the canopy, legs swinging from side to side you come sliding to a soft landing and feel the ever familiar sturdy soil beneath you. You are done, you are filled with adrenaline and excitement from the few moments of pure danger and rush. When I stood up, released the harness the only thing I could say was..."let's go AGAIN!" It was so much fun I cannot wait until the weather is good enough to jump once again.
The image above is a mock advertising shot I created for my portfolio. I created this in an attempt to broaden my portfolio in the commercial photography realm.
This particular image is a combination of studio images and Photoshop effects. The image of the shoe was captured with a Nikon D300 and then post processed heavily in Photoshop to achieve the paint particle and splatter look.
