I have gone through many creative phases in my life, some of them with cameras, taperecorders, in short the works, some totally without - often not even with a pen and paper, a medium I love. Travelling abroad without, alone, without 'aids' can be intensive, but there is then very little left when you come back home - blurred memories, mixed with some intensive ones, that survive. Eventually, I come to the conclusion, that a light camera, preferably waterproof, and possibly a small camcorder, also waterproof, is the best way. Pen and paper works for the real quiet moments, but a camera of some sort captures the moment in an instant, and they can be ideal support for your memory, say for your later artwork/writing. I've tried bringing watercolour, but mosquitoes, rain, and humidity, makes it a waste of time and effort! And I don't carry a 'wet film' camera any more - gave most of mine away, as the cost of using them is prohibitive - even more so as time passes away. With a digital you can shoot as a madman (a.k.a. 'pro'), and still not owe your soul to the developers and film manufacturers! I love a classic Sinar, a Swiss masterpiece of a blade film camera, but that is really not useful at all when you're on the move - unless you have a lot of people carrying your stuff! Likewise, a tapedeck, no matter how nice, is just a lot of dead weight. Another favourite was the Hasselblad SWC, extreme wide angle My ideal would be a high resolution compact digital camera - one with a physically big CCD (or whatever those photo-capturing chips are called today), that also is waterproof. Sadly, I know of none! The bigger the chip is, the less the noise it produces - very valuable in bad light! But that's maybe available tomorrow?! Till then we have to make do with cameras with small chips, but high resolution (therefore noisy in low light), but they can still do wonders if used with a tripod, or like Mark's, which is connected rigidly to his paddle. I have heard of no serious camcorder that's waterproof, no matter what make! But there are one or two that clamp on to your helmet, that can give a decent film snips of your activities, and some of these are waterproof, to boot! My ideal set of media equipment weighs less than a kilo, in total, including a tiny tripod. I have found that without it I can't remember as well the events, views and people that has passed during my travels, with my wife, with friends, or alone. Just like writing about it afterward, or making a drawing, or two, afterwards helps re-appreciate, and re-evaluate, the trip afterwards, so does other kinds of registration, like digital cameras, or camcorders, mp3 recorders, whatever! Better have a few pieces that work, than a lot that encumbers you, just as it is in other walks of life! my 2 cents, Tord PS Naturally, I am not yet down to just one kilo, but I'm working on it! *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Interesting perspective on camers: http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2002/as02rainforest.php Doug Lloyd Tord said (snip): > Eventually, I come to the conclusion, that a light > camera, preferably waterproof, and possibly a small > camcorder, also waterproof, is the best way. Pen and > paper works for the real quiet moments, but a camera > of some sort captures the moment in an instant, and they > can be ideal support for your memory, say for your later > artwork/writing. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
-----Original Message----- On Behalf Of Doug Lloyd Interesting perspective on cameras: http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2002/as02rainforest.php " I'd always believed I couldn't draw. Her book taught me a few simple exercises to get me going...Another technique is to forget about drawing say, a bear, but to focus on drawing the negative shapes around the bear, between its legs, and so on..." Sorry Doug, I've had limited success with this technique. On my last paddle adventure in the Alaskan wilderness, chastened my digital camera's horrific carbon foot print, I tried to employ Dan's sketching method to record my memories. Of course, pad and pencil are no better than a camera to capture the tantalizing aroma of fresh brewed coffee steaming on the campfire on a mist shrouded rocky shore. So I turned my attention to the grizzled looking bear lunging toward my unprotected campsite. Hoping not to miss the moment, I picked up pad and pencil and tried to focus on the negative shapes surrounding the galloping bear. As the moment of impact grew closer, I was having trouble trying to focus on exactly which of the negative shape to best focus on. The hot breath emanating from around it's flaring nostrils was too ephemeral for my budding artistic talent to form a coherent shape. I soon found focus on the increasingly negative space between the razor sharp claws hurtling toward my head. I grew frustrated that an activity that was supposed to come naturally with just a few exercises could so easily be foiled by protruding bone and the inability to hold on to my pencil due the copious amounts of blood now running down my arm. Still concerned for the environment I continued to focus on the negative shapes between its rotting fangs now filling with bloody hunks of my flesh and hair. My head, wedged like a vise between my subjects massive jaws, could now only focus on the humongous ursine uvula rattling in its throat as its roar relieved me of my last vestiges of consciousness. With one good eye, and now only able to think with my left brain, I was just able to realize that even water-proof paper is ruined by unrestrained hemoglobin. Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On 11/6/07, Mark Sanders <sandmarks_at_ca.rr.com> wrote: > > With one good eye, and now only able to > think with my left brain, I was just able to realize that even water-proof > paper is ruined by unrestrained hemoglobin. There... see? And you thought you couldn't draw. LOL Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Nov 5, 2007, at 9:20 PM, Doug Lloyd wrote: > Interesting perspective on camers: > > http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2002/as02rainforest.php > > Doug Lloyd Thanks for the article Doug. This thought has been rattling around in my head for a while. I almost never take my camera with me anymore because the pictures tend to look the same - water, green stuff. No doubt a testimony to my point and click photography skills. "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" is a book that has been on my shelf for about 30 years. I learned how to draw realistic portraits from that book. Although it deals with sketching, what it really deals with is understanding how your mind works. A fascinating read IMO. I found it interesting that Paul Theroux would write a book about kayaking with no pictures. How tempting would it be to "cop out" and fluff up a narrative with a few sunsets. Other dimensions to explore... Paul Montgomery paul_at_paddleandoar.com http://paddleandoar.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" is a book that has been on > my shelf for about 30 years. Would a teenager find this book helpful? My son and I may benefit from it. > > I found it interesting that Paul Theroux would write a book about > kayaking with no pictures. How tempting would it be to "cop out" and > fluff up a narrative with a few sunsets. > > Other dimensions to explore... > > Paul Montgomery I can be highly motivated by words like when I read Chris Duff's On Celtic Tides or if in need of a visual fix by watching Nick Shade's paddling videos because they are so in the moment. They remind me of being there and sparring with Mother Nature until she wins (every time). Static photos can be hypnotic, beautiful or fill me with curiosity but the written word when done well really takes me there. I will forever smile when I think of Chris Duff meeting the locals along the coast of Ireland where my family is from. "You must be mad!" they reply as he quietly informs them that he is paddling around Ireland in a canoe. They would all answer with the same voice but you know they were a bit jealous. Arent we all? Jim et al *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Nov 6, 2007, at 7:30 AM, James Farrelly wrote: >> "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" is a book that has been on >> my shelf for about 30 years. > Would a teenager find this book helpful? My son and I may benefit > from it. Not only helpful, essential IMO. It can help in understanding the whole learning process. "Drawing..." teaches how to draw the human portrait because there is an assumption that portraits are harder to draw. By getting over that block we understand that it's not really true, which gives us the confidence to do other things. Paul Montgomery paul_at_paddleandoar.com http://paddleandoar.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
on 6/11/07 18:20, Doug Lloyd at douglloyd_at_shaw.ca wrote: > Interesting perspective on camers: > > http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2002/as02rainforest.php > > Doug Lloyd > It is indeed interesting, and may have validity. Think of the bus-loads of tourists who disgorge at the view/famous location/historic site (choose as required), line up, shoot a frame (sorry, old technology terms coming through) and climb back on the bus without actually feeling anything. I know the feeling well. I am entering my 21st year of carrying a camera for a living, and I am usually disconnected from the events that I'm photographing. Often on leaving a sports event a taxi driver will ask me who is winning. I usually reply, "Who is playing?" as I'm more interested in shapes, moments and actions than on the game itself. A camera can be a powerful reality-filter (sometimes very useful, if the reality is not-too-flash) but doesn't need to be. Having said all that, photographs, when viewed long after the event, will bring back memories that would otherwise be totally lost. One image can bring back a flood of smells, sounds and emotions that would otherwise be gone. Don't write off the medium, folks, just rise above point-and-shoot. Cheers JKA -- John Kirk-Anderson Banks Peninsula NEW ZEALAND *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Tuesday 06 November 2007 06:20, you wrote: > Interesting perspective on camers: > > http://www.wavelengthmagazine.com/2002/as02rainforest.php > > Doug Lloyd > > Tord said (snip): > > Eventually, I come to the conclusion, that a light > > camera, preferably waterproof, and possibly a small > > camcorder, also waterproof, is the best way. Pen and > > paper works for the real quiet moments, but a camera > > of some sort captures the moment in an instant, and they > > can be ideal support for your memory, say for your later > > artwork/writing. The amount of pollution classic wet film cameras are responisble for is amazing - digitals win hand down! Big film labs, when their water treatment isn't top notch, can easily kill entire water treatment plants, through the very potent toxins involved in developing, and manufacture, of film and pictures! Tord *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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