Chaos - a Blitz Basic Application

I've been adding more fractal types to my Chaos program (the picture above is a symmetric icon) based on fractals from the book Symmetry in Chaos by Michael J Field and Martin Golubitsky.

Version 0.57 is now available from here: http://www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blitzbasic.htm#chaos

Wow, two postings in quick succession...just like waiting for a bus!!

More later,

Shane

T-shirts

I've added a new page to my website that shows some of the t-shirt designs that I've been putting onto RedBubble recently.

The page is here: http://www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/tshirts.htm and features 12 designs (including The Earth in Our Hands pictured left). All of the designs link through to the RedBubble page where they can be bought.

Hope you like some of them.

More later,

Shane

Whitby and Other Things

It's been quite a while since last posting anything on this blog. I haven't been taking many photographs lately due to doing lots of work around the house but since the last post I have managed to spend a day in Whitby (albeit a gloomy, overcast day) and spent some time at a tropical butterfly house recently. As soon as I have completed the post procesing on those pictures I'll upload some to the stock sites and display some of them on my webeden gallery and here.

Also one of my pictures took 1st place in a competition on RedBubble (no major prizes but it is used as an avatar for the month of August and gets plenty of promotion). More t-shirts have been uploaded as well especially ones with Maths related slogans (check out here if you want to see a few: http://www.redbubble.com/people/shane22/t-shirts)

More later,

Shane

100 on RedBubble

I've just uploaded my 100th image to the online art and community site Redbubble.

The photo is entitled Lobster Pots I and can be found here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/shane22/art/3285662-2-lobster-pots-i

My main page on Redbubble is here: http://www.redbubble.com/people/shane22 that contains links to the 99 other photos (and 3 t-shirts) on the site. I've uploaded a mixture of photographs and digital manipulations that are available as prints, cards and posters as well as the three t-shirts.

Photo Sales

Just made my 100th microstock sale of the year. It comes from a picture entitled Seaweed (surprisingly enough it's a photo of some wet seaweed taken on a beach) and it was sold on BigStockPhoto.

Not much money so far this year but since it's just a hobby that isn't really important to me at the moment (although, obviously, I'd really like it if it was more!!).

Shane

Photoshop work

I've been doing quite a bit of Photoshop-ing at the moment but it's been making some front end graphics for a program that I've started working on called SuDoku Solver (sample screenshot to the left).

Creating Buttons, Icons, Menus are very different to manipulating photographs and I'm using tools and effects that I don't usually get to try out (like bevels, drop shadows and shapes).

The programming is still taking up most of my free time and so there's no new pictures to show (or even old ones to display) but I will make some time soon as I'll be needing to upload a new batch to my stock agency galleries shortly.

Shane

(PS more information about the SuDoku Solver can be found at www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blitzbasic.htm)

Chaos Programming

I spent some time over the weekend programming again. I know this blog is supposed to be about photography but I haven't had much chance recently (very poor weather here in the UK and the only digital manipulation I've done has been some of the graphical elements of the program).

I will start to upload some pictures here and talk about some more of my artwork soon but at the moment I'm in a programming mood and so you'll just have to forgive me.

Anyway, a new version of Chaos is to be found here:
www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blitzbasic.htm#chaos


Shane

Chaos - a Blitz Basic Application

I received an email the other week from somebody that had stumbled across my old website and was interested in my mention of chaos and fractals. He was asking about source code to generate a Sierpinski Carpet and it prompted me to look at the unfinished Chaos program that I uploaded back in 2004.

I got a bit engrossed in the program and realised that I'd already started adding some bits to the next version of the application so over the weekend I decided to see if I could tidy it up a bit and today I released an update on the web. The program still isn't finished (that will take a lot longer than a weekend) but this is the first time that I've released an update to any of my web based programs in about 4 years.

The program now includes some basic dialog boxes, makes it easier to see where a drawing routine has got to and automatically starts drawing the fractals when chosen from the menus (previously it waited for the user to press a key).

If anybody is interested the latest incarnation (v0.52) of the application can be found here: www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blitzbasic.htm#chaos

Hopefully I may release more updates soon,

Shane

Links

I've updated my links pages on my websites and they now include lots of links to stock photography agencies and other online galleries.

They can be found here:

http://www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/links.htm
http://shanekennedyphotography.webeden.co.uk/#/links/4533404121

As ever, more later,

Shane

More about me...and Stock Photo Agencies

Just one more narcissistic waffle about me and then I'll try to get onto something a bit more interesting (although I suppose by their definition most blogs are created as online diaries or include some form of subjective, personal content).

As mentioned in an earlier post the first stock agency that I joined was iStockPhoto. I had been toying with the idea for a few months but was always deterred by lack of confidence. Most stock sites have strict registration processes that involve sending in samples of work and I always saw it as a possible kick in the teeth getting all of your pictures rejected and being told that you aren't a good enough photographer for them. I gained some confidence though after registering with an online photography community called ePhotozine and receiving some good comments on my pictures from fellow photographers. Fortunately I didn't have any problems getting registered with iStockPhoto although I did find difficulty in actually making the time to get my images ready for upload (making sure that there are no copyrighted logos visible, cropping so that the composition is good, describing the photo, providing keywords, choosing categories for it to be placed in etc.). This meant that my uploading was extremely slow and the thought of only getting a few cents for each sale didn't help. Shortly afterwards I found a site called ShutterPoint that offered much more income per sale, no vetting of images beforehand and no lengthy registration...but with a cost each photographer had to pay a yearly subscription for space on the servers

Since this was (and still is) only a hobby to me other commitments meant that over the next year I dipped out of uploading to either of these websites and it was only late in 2005 after getting married and changing jobs that I returned to both sites to find that my ShutterPoint account was costing far more than it made but sales on iStockPhoto had increased. This prompted me to try to terminate my ShutterPoint account, increase my presence on iStockPhoto and to find other similar microstock sites to register with.

I am now uploading on an occasional basis to approximately 14 sites and although I haven't made any kind of mark on the stock world I am happy enough knowing that my work could be featured on websites or in publications around the world.

Links to all of my online stock portfolios can be found on my other sites but a selection are also given here below:
iStockPhoto
ShutterStock
BigStockPhoto
Dreamstime
Fotolia
123rf

More later,

Shane

Mention on a Website

Just found a website that links through to two of my games on my website: http://news.retroremakes.com/2009/05/from-the-vault-2004-part-one/

There's no information on the site regarding the games or me but the article links directly to my site so that's a way of increasing traffic.

Shane

Bank Holiday Weekend

Bit of a break from posting this weekend as I've been busy in the house but I have made some changes to the programming portion of my personal website (www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/blitzbasic.htm).

I'll start posting again during the week...just one more introductory type post to go and then onto more standard posts.

Shane

Spelling Mistake

I've just corrected a spelling mistake on http://shanekennedyphotography.webeden.co.uk

An paragraph of text stated that I had an interest in stick photography (it should have read stock photography)...I may be sad but I'm not that sad.

Shane

More about me...and the Web

I have started work on a few websites in the past but time constraints and other factors have meant that I haven't made as much of a presence on the web as I would have liked.

The first of my websites was created using Microsoft Front Page back in about 2001 and was a simple site devoted to some of my hobbies at the time (model making, roleplaying games, programming and mathematics). The site was hosted by an ISP called lineone that I was with, however they were taken over by Tiscali and I switched providers so unfortunately have been unable to update it for a number of years but it's still around and I do still receive comments about it.

My second attempt at a website was started after I became involved in uploading photographs to stock agencies on the web and so continued the theme of my hobbies but concentrated on just two: Programming and Photography. Even though the scope of the website was smaller than the previous one time commitments prevented me from completing the site but now that I have some extra impetus from this blog I have decided to start updating it again after a couple of years break.

The extra impetus for updating my second site came not only from this blog but also from a third website that I started and completed during April 2009. I came across an online web editor called SiteMaker via a friend and decided to give it a go making a small site to promote my photographs. The site became ShaneKennedyPhotography and was very enjoyable and easy to prepare.

Links to my three sites are here:
http://website.lineone.net/~s_kennedy/
http://www.dpw-shane.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
http://shanekennedyphotography.webeden.co.uk

I'll add links to online galleries and stock photo sites later,

Shane

Queen - Some More Digital Art by Shane Kennedy

Computers, Photography, Digital Art...is this blog too geeky/nerdy/anoraky to be considered interesting?

Oh well, this is the second in what may (possibly) become a semi-regular feature showing off some digital art that I have created.

This is another piece of work that was created for the "Faces" competition back in 2003 (see my other blog post called Facedown). It's a surreal piece of art that shows a couple of Queen of Spades playing cards with the face of one of them removed and floating away. When I created it I didn't have any reason for the face being detached like that it just sort of happened and I liked the result. No playing cards were harmed in the making of this picture it was all done by combining two photographs and using Adobe Photoshop to cut out the face.

Hope some of you like it and more later,

Shane

More about me...and Computers

I am very much a child of the computer generation. I got my first computer as a Christmas present in 1982; I was 9 years old at the time and so, obviously, wanted it primarily to play games. I consider myself lucky to have been around in a time when the games machines were still computers rather than just consoles. I mean by that that the computer I received (a Commodore Vic-20) had a full keyboard and built in BASIC language so that it could be used for so much more than just playing games including learning how to program (unlike today's Playstations, Wii's and X-Boxes).

In fact at that age I couldn't afford to purchase new games very often but I came across magazines such as Computer and Video Games (C&VG) that included pages of game and application code created by the readers. With a bit of effort buying one magazine could provide the same excitement as buying three or four commercial games. I used to spend hours sat in front of the computer typing in the code (with one finger). Most of the time the games worked first time and were enjoyable but occasionally I'd get to the end of the listing only to find that the game wouldn't run due to a syntax error or that it didn't play properly due to a mistake in the code. Most boys my age would probably have given up at that point but I was the type of child to sit down and try to work out why it didn't work - could I find something in the listing that looked wrong or could I find a similar piece of code in another listing?

It was this sort of thing that gave me a background in programming although, just like photography, it's a hobby not my job. I have some small programs online for download that I will link to in future posts; some of them are not finished as I don't get as much time to devote to the pastime as I used to but they are still available if anybody is interested.

I've dabbled in several languages over the 26 years that I've owned and used computers including Commodore BASIC, AMOS, C, Visual Basic, Delphi and Biltz Basic (I suppose the latter three are the ones that I've been the most fluent with though).

My computers have included the Commodore Vic-20 mentioned above as well as a Commodore C-64, Amiga 500, Amiga 1200, several PCs and a couple of laptops. I have also experienced friends and relatives owning Sinclair Spectrums, BBC model Bs, Atari 800s, Amstrad 464s, Sega Megadrives, Nintendo DS's and Nintendo Wiis.

Shane

Facedown...Or Is That Up?

Just before I continue posting my background into the world of photography and hobbies I thought I'd take a small break and say a little bit about the picture that is attached to my profile (also shown here to the left).

The picture was originally entitled "Facedown...or is that up?" but has recently been shortened to just "Facedown". It shows the back of a playing card but with a photograph of my face superimposed on it. I was trying to make an effect that looked like an anguished face trying to burst out of the card and spent a lot of time trying to warp the detail of the card around the contours of my face.

It was orginally created the image for a photography competition entitled "Faces" but I didn't win anything with it. I have uploaded it to a few websites including my own and have adopted it as a kind of avatar on sites such as Facebook and a couple of online forums.

I'll try to post other pictures and brief details like this from time to time but tomorrow will probably return to introducing myself, Shane.

More about me...and Photography

I was used to having cameras around the house from an early age through my dad but, even though I borrowed his Pentax and Praktica cameras often, I didn't really get the photography bug until 2001 when I purchased a second hand Kodak DC-265 digital camera. I know the purists amongst you will be aghast at that but I was always a child of the computer generation and so when I got the opportunity to own a camera that would bring together photography and computers I took it with both hands (so to speak).

The "instant" results and not having to pay for processing of the film really gave me the impetus to go out (or even stay in) and try new things. As an amateur with a film camera I would never have spent hours taking pictures of flowers in the garden from different angles or using different aperture settings because I couldn't afford to buy the films and pay for the processing. But with a digital camera I could experiment with all of the camera settings without it costing me money. I started uploading to some web based galleries (such as pbase and ePhotozine) and brushed up on my photo-manipulation skills shortly afterwards.

In 2003, after a couple of years of use, the 1.6 megapixel camera wasn't producing high enough quality files for me and the prices of more advanced cameras had substantially reduced so I bought myself a Sony DSC-F717 digital 'bridge' camera. The 5mp sensor and much higher quality pictures impressed me and I increased my photo presence on the web by uploading work and being accepted as a contributor by iStockPhoto. Since then I bought a Sony Alpha 100 DSLR, then upgraded to a SOny Alpha 350 DSLR and joined many more Stock Photo Agencies that I will detail in other posts and that feature on my websites.

I have photographed a few weddings for friends and done some formal potrait work but my main interests are just taking natural, unposed, photographs of anything that I like the look of and experimenting both in camera and on the computer. As I upload photos to this blog and if you visit my websites (more of which later) you will notice that very few of them contain people, I'm not adverse to taking pictures containing people but it's hard to find willing models and very easy to find nature and architecture (flowers, landscapes and buildings are always available).

I don't claim to be any good at photography and I certainly can't explain every little detail about camera features or composition etc. but I enjoy taking pictures and have sold a few in the past so hopefully I'm doing something right...and if not well I'm still having fun and isn't that the important thing?

More later,

Shane

Google Adsense

Sorry guys but I've just signed up to Google Adsense. Hopefully the ads won't be too intrusive but some of them will appear on this blog. I'll also be adding (no pun intended) them to another website of mine in due course.

If the ads do seem to be intrusive I have the option of disabling them but it'll probably help to keep me interested in this blog and so will be better for my viewers in the long run.

More posts with some substance later,

Shane

First Post

Well I've just signed up at blogger.com (fairly obvious since you're reading this!!) and this is my first post.

I suppose like almost everybody else that has signed up here and created a post this first post will be an introduction to the world of blogging.

My instincts as a hobbyist programmer are screaming to make a post that says "Hello World" but I'll refrain from that as this blog is supposedly going to be about my attempts at photography and digital art (although programming may well be introduced at some point).

For now let me just introduce myself and there'll be more later.

My name is Shane Kennedy, I'm from Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and I'm a (very) amateur photographer and digital artist (although I also have a full time day job that is completely unrelated).

More later,

Shane