The Katoomba Overnight devMEET

=AaronBradford — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:44:23 PDT

The Katoomba devMEET

What a blast that Katoomba meet was! I had an awesome time, thanks to everyone who attened, and also to Nick and Ian for being the organising/attending admins; give them a hug when you see them, do eet!

The Recap:

Knowing I'd forget a million things if I packed in the morning, I prepared myself the night before ... which turned out to be a wise decision because although I was all tucked up in bed I could not get to sleep until 4:30am ... and I'd organised with my love, Juliette (=Julijaaa), to catch the hour-earlier train to have a nice breakfast in Leura before heading over to Katoomba.

Saturday

Up at 7:50am, showered and dressed by 8:10, out the door with a heavy bag, a freshly charged battery and clean CF cards by 8:25 and on the bus at 8:34am. Getting off the train we discovered that it was very cold and very windy!

The Red Door is a wonderful little cafÃ© in Katoomba's neighbouring town of Leura, and it actually does have a red door ... it was here that Juliette and I sheltered from the weather.

Shortly before ordering my phone buzzed to life and and suddenly I found myself talking to Nick (=gimmyfood), and a few instances later I suddenly found him (with his sister for a sidekick) sitting next to us. After breakfast we all trundled south to see if the valley was still there and hadn't run away on us, and discovering everything to be normal we mooched around for a while, before discovering that we were a little on the late side of time. In the car, and next stop: Katoomba!

When we arrived outside the station they were all huddled together, much like penguins, and there were quite a few familiar faces I hadn't seen in a while (Ian (~osirisunnefer) and Jess (~afraid-to-fly) among others). After catching up we all tramped to the other side of the station to deposit our gear in Nick's car, because to walk all the way down the hill on Katoomba Street laden with all of our worldly possessions is akin to torture.

As we'd eaten earlier, Juliette and I browsed some antique stores while the others made friends with some food, and during this time a little gust of sleet had thrown itself at us. As un-epic as this sounds, it was wildly exciting to most of us city-folk, because we hardly ever see snow ... I'd only ever seen sleet once, several years ago in Lithgow whilst on the Zig Zag Railway ...

Tired of waiting for people to stuff their mouths with delicious things, Juliette and I made our way down to the YHA to get checked in and the like, and not too long after that I met up with Nick and got my stuff out of his car.

Not too soon after that most people had trekked up to Coles without Juliette and myself, so we hurried up there to catch up with them and buy some things of our own ... Including some Up & Go for the 4:15am wake-up time. Things bought and back at the YHA, we decided to head out to Echo Point for some sight-seeing! Into the cars, then out of the cars, then walking a bit, followed by a little bit of freezing and a lot of wind ... oh an about a million photos of the Jamieson Valley, other deviants and sleet! There was this cute little kid hopping around, Sammi (~osirisunnefer's girl) disappeared into a hoody, someone forgot to bring warm-enough clothes, and Nick took loads of video which should be quite a good source for your daily lollage. We even saw some more sleet, and here's a few pictures from there:

Just updates.

=AaronBradford — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:54:54 PDT

Wow; it's been a long time since my last journal entry. Lots of things have been happening: uni, deviantART and the rest of it.

Katoomba, here we come ...

First, if you haven't already heard, #SydneySyders is making September's meet an overnighter at Katoomba. This one's been on the books for quite some time (since all who went last year enjoyed it immensely) and I'm happy for it to be out there and happening. I've already made bookings for my angel (=Julijaaa) and I. If you're interested in making the trek out there you should bring yourself up-to-speed by reading this blog entry; it should be a great time. Nick (=gimmyfood and I made a promotional video up in the Blue Mountains on Wednesday ... I'm not exactly sure how much good footage we got as we didn't put as much effort into it as last time: we were just trying to survive the cold. If you're coming to the meet, rug up!

Groups ...

The groups system is coming along well - #SydneySyders is still beta testing for the development team, as well as the numerous other groups that are now active. If you find anything iffy with groups drop us a note, or you could head over to #devBUG, a dedicated group for the finding of bugs on deviantART. For updates on the status of the groups system make sure you check out #hq.

All the rest ...

I haven't picked up the camera to take photos for a long time. I mentioned going to Katoomba the other day with Nick ... I took my camera but forgot the battery. Oh well. I hope to get back into it, but as I've said on previous journals and what-not, I'm a bit 'meh' about photography now. To me it's not a great art form any more: point and click. Not to mention the fact that cameras are about as popular as belly buttons. I've been thinking for a while about getting into some more traditional art ... that and more literature. In fact, I have this story on my mind and it's been there for some time, but I've just never been in the mood to concentrate on it and get it down on paper. Maybe soon.

Uni's okay. There have been a lot of "art and craft" assignments that (although they get you thinking about design) are more of a thing that should be in-class rather than actual assignments. Some of the other stuff is interesting and most of it isn't. Oh well.

I'm still working on my website ... again, I haven't had the time nor the proper mood to work on the content.

That will be all for now, I think.

deviantART

=AaronBradford — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:34:44 PDT

I've been thinking a lot about deviantART since chatting with Angelo ($spyed) and Heidi ($Heidi) on the World Tour in May. The upcoming groups system, portfolios and the new search really got me excited.

First came portfolios, and I had a good time playing around with that and giving some feedback to the developers. I haven't used it of late, though, so maybe I'll do a little tinkering with that again soon.

Then #SydneySyders became a group, and Nick (=gimmyfood) and I began to beta test the system, shortly joined by others. It's been over three weeks since that's happened and I haven't had anything major to report to the development team in quite some time, which is excellent!

These things have prompted me to think about other areas of deviantART that could be improved upon.

The first thing that came to mind was all of the crap on deviantART. I'm talking MS Paint drawings, quick little sketches on lined paper, webcam pictures and all these 'artistic nudes' that look like they came straight from a pornographic website, and all the rest of it. So I thought about ways to limit all this from either getting on deviantART in the first place or making it into the main categories that should be reserved for true art works.

My idea was moderation. For example, when one uploads a deviation they nominate it to go into a category (say, Photography > Street), however it is not accepted into that category until three different moderators have voted to accept. If denied, you would get the option to upload into scraps. Scrap submissions would go straight in, no question. And then there came other thoughts: all the moderators would have differing opinions, and it would be a chance of luck to get into the category of choice. People not accepted would kick up a fuss and there would be a mass migration of deviants to other websites such as Flickr, which would cause deviantART a significant loss in income ... not to mention the cost of hiring moderators, unless they were volunteers. This would in theory raise the quality of the content on deviantART, however who is to say what is art and what is crap? And what would we do with the crap that's already here?

Then I got to thinking what deviantART would be like after such a change. I answered myself: it would no longer be individual, it would be like so many other artist communities out there that rely on moderation. You see, the thing I've realised is that deviantART is not a website for great, inspiring art. It is first and foremost a community of artists, and the goal of most deviants is to learn rather than to display. I joined here with the motive to learn, and hundreds of deviants have helped me to do so. I think more needs to be done by deviants to share their knowledge and wisdom, though. Most of the comments on here are "nice picture" or something of the sort. This, although perhaps giving someone something to smile about, isn't really helpful. Many of my early works have few or no comments, which was something expected. Critiques have helped to address this, I think, and I'm certainly going to make more of an effort to provide feedback and critique, and I welcome these on any of my works as well. One last comment on this matter: I really don't understand the people's motives to discourage critiques.

It's hilarious: some deviants are in uproar over the new share feature and there's lots of dArama afoot! See Angelo's article about it here. He raises some good points but there are a few things iffy, and I understand the opposing argument but I don't agree with it.

I think there should be options to turn sharing off, but it is on by default. I turned deviantMOBILE on my deviations off because I do not want my deviations being on another website or blog without prior consent (I still don't know why they combined mobile access and blogs under the same setting, though). It is my understanding that some deviants think this and the share buttons are the same thing, but they're not. deviantMOBILE displays the full deviation on the external website (granted, with a link, however people will most likely not click on it because they can see the full image already), sharing is nothing more than an extremely low resolution thumbnail and a link directly to your deviation on deviantART. So the advantage of sharing? It gives you more exposure, and in theory more love and/or feedback. A winning situation, yes?

Some have argued that sharing encourages art theft or 'copyright infringements'. This new share feature is just making it easier for people to link back to you so...

Oh, everything.

=AaronBradford — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:35:56 PDT

Yes, and I do mean everything. I'm reverting back to my last journal layout for now. It's simple, solid and works well on all browsers. My latest one didn't look too good in Internet Explorer, which I could have fixed, however I now have a bigger project on my mind ...

... and that is my website

Yep, I bought a domain: AaronMarcBradford.net ... I would have registered AaronBradford.com, however since I last checked some mountain-bike-racing imposter Aaron Bradford has registered it. Oh well, I like my middle name anyway!

My website is still in construction/testing phase, so don't expect much except some latin dummy text.

I also registered TheInterconnectedNetwork.com, mainly for kicks and to have a cool (read: nerdy) e-mail address ... aaron@theinterconnectednetwork.com

I'll set that domain up so it redirects to my main website when everthing else is set up.

Back to uni ...

After a very very long break my darling Juliette (=Julijaaa) and I are back at uni, and I must say that this semester is shaping up to be a lot better than the last. Our units are 20^th Century Design Histories, Digital Design Production, Image Design: Illustration and Design Thinking. I may upload some assignments and what-not here ...

Photography, photography, literature ...

I haven't been getting along with photography of late. I went out with Ben (*maxisoft) to do some shooting around the city on Sunday afternoon/evening, and the time before that was when I was out with Nick (=gimmyfood), on the 15^th of July!

I suppose I'm a bit annoyed at a few things, and mainly I've been questioning photography as a form of art. Everyone has a camera, everyone takes pictures, and a lot of people take them well (you'll have to just look at the galleries of my friends to work that out). There's hardly anything that hasn't been done before and that thought is the one that's killing it for me. I've also been thinking that we're not the true artists here. Sure we press the shutter button, but unless the photo is of something you've made yourself you are just the means to an audience. You're the television set, not the creator of the show. I suppose this is true mainly for photography where not a lot of editing is done, or for photojournalism.

This is one reason why I have been thinking about literature. Literature is probably the most shunned form of art on deviantART, as we come here mainly wanting to get a taste of that delicious visual art. But the great thing about literature is that every little bit of it is created by you and no other (unless you're plagurising), every little letter is yours alone. And when you read literature you experience it ... if it's written well. For example the 'Tomorrow Series' by John Marsden. It's not everyone's style but I love it, and when I read it I experience it: my heart beats fast in an action-packed scenes and when it's called for I feel the warmth of lying in the Sunday afternoon sun.

I may also start writing some more. I think I should. I have a few ideas but nothing complete, and I have a tendency to start a project but abandon it half-way through (except journals, where there never seems to be an end). I would very much appreciate it if you would read my literature if you haven't already, and tell me what you think it needs. If you have any literature you wish to share with me as well then I'd be glad to read it (I'm more of a prose person, but I do enjoy a poem or two).

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not depressed or hating my life ... I'm just thinking aloud, discovering myself. I'm not sure if I should wear the badge of photographer any longer (such as in the header of this journal) ... what should it say? Artist? No, I don't think so. We're all artists in our own way. Maybe I should just be Aaron Marc Bradford?

deviantART ...

From my end of the ethernet cable, deviantART has been in a spin. For others, maybe not so much, but recently m...

SydneySyders is now a group

=AaronBradford — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:58:12 PDT

Groupsssss

Okay, so as many of you may now know that #SydneySyders is now a group, much like deviantART's #hq. In fact, #SydneySyders is the first non-admin-run group and it's the second ever deviantART group.

I've already made a list of several things for the team that developed groups, however I'll also ask for your feedback on the functionality and looks of #SydneySyders, which I can pass on to the team. Have fun!

Edit: I am now testing a new journal layout. There are some bugs, but oh well ... I'll get to them.

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retreatMEET + Spontaneous Roaming + Laptop

=AaronBradford — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:05:25 PDT

Gallery | Prints | RedBubble | SydneySyders

Well itÂs been a while since my last journal, and even then it was just a critique of the new portfolio system (which you can still view here), so I thought perhaps I should submit yet another journal!

The SydneySyders Blue Mountains retreat!

... Sort of. The =SydneySyders meet this Saturday just past. It was fantabulous, albeit exhausting, but thatÂs the fun of it! I noticed a lot of people submitting "I canÂt make it" comments on the journal I wrote for =SydneySyders, and for reasons such as work , health, and other commitments this is fine. But I just donÂt understand the people who just want to stay in the city and not have anything to do with anything else. Pathetic, really. You see, getting out and about and experiencing something different in a social setting is what =SydneySyders is all about. Nowhere in the city can you stand on a cliff and have a massive panoramic valley in front of you, and share that view with a bunch of like-minded people who appreciate it just as much as you do. If you were there remember to thank =gimmyfood for sharing his secret locations with you that most people never see!

It was a great day, we stayed out much longer than I anticipated because it was just so awesome. Hopefully it wonÂt be too long before the next out-of-town meet.

Spontaneous roaming ...

Next on the to-write-about list is the road-trip with assorted deviants including =danielsun, *maxisoft, =Julijaaa and ~TaSh-C. Dan, Ben and I had all the best intentions of going south in the morning, but that effort was hampered before Ben had even joined the party on account of a flat tyre. Dan forbids me to upload an image of his baby with a flat, but if you have a halfway-decent imagination you should check out this image, then by the power of the mind make the front-left tyre flat! We pressed on a while later (after seeing a Jesus ute), picking up my sweet princess at Central Station before heading over to Port Botany to scout for locations from which to spot and shoot (with the cameras, of course) aircraft. We pretty much failed, and ended up shooting DanÂs baby instead, using both still and motion ammunition (that is, pictures and videos). When the light failed to be light anymore we hopped on over to the house of horror Tash and we all hopped merrily off to a restaurant somewhere. Then a chocolate place. Then the city again to drop off my sweet beloved. Then out west to see if we could get into a closed airport. Failing again, we sped *cough* over to Eastern Creek Raceway and had some freezing-cold fun before hurling Tash back whence she came. Finally the three remnants, Dan, Ben and I, thought itÂd be a good idea to do some more shooting, a gas plant of some description that I wonÂt go into. Mind you, it was around one on Sunday morning by this time. So under the Silverwater Bridge we roamed, with myself doing some more jumping shots for Ben (is it ever anything else?). I was home by two, and IÂd imagine Dan fell into his apartment at around three.

You know, is seems as though I am going in reverse chronological order ... well, IÂll keep that up then!

My new(ish) laptop ...

Some of you will know that my laptop was stolen in late April this year. Good news, I purchased a new laptop ... several weeks ago now but I didnÂt write about it in any depth in my journal. I gave Compaq/HP the flick and IÂve converted to Toshibism.

IÂm very much enjoying my new laptop Â itÂs much faster and more sexy than my stolen one, and a million times more than the temporary one I borrow from the family (urgh, there was dirt all over the scr...

Portfolios (the awesome version) ... + additions

=AaronBradford — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:28:11 PDT

Gallery | Prints | RedBubble | SydneySyders

Okay, IÂve had a bit of a play around with the new deviantART portfolios (the awesome version, so they say). When I attended the World Tour in Sydney I picked up the vibe that people were very keen on deviantART having another crack at portfolios. They wonÂt be disappointed; itÂs a HUGE improvement over the old portfolios.

Angelo mentioned to us how many employers would mention specifically ÂNo deviantART portfoliosÂ, and how that was a bit sad. The main reason for that, I think, was the functionality ... or the lack of it. It was just images on a page. With these new portfolios, though, hopefully people will be more accepting.

It comes with a light or dark theme, you can select if you would like a horizontal or vertical navigation bar, and you can select whether you would like to add thumbnails above or below the main image in the galleries, or no thumbnails at all. You can also add custom boxes, however this is only available on the ÂArtist BioÂ page. One other thing you can add is a custom ÂHome PageÂ image. One thing I really like is the fact that any images you upload to the portfolio do not necessarily have to originated from deviantART Â you can select an image straight from your hard drive.

Other features I like are:

A custom domain, also with a choice as to what follows it.

Multiple portfolios (if you would like one for photography, one for photomanipulation, one for literature, et cetera.

Some of you may complain that thereÂs no CSS and only simple HTML available, and I can understand that. However if you want a completely personalised look, like a real website, then get a real website. ItÂs not that hard. deviantART has designed this new portfolio system with its artistÂs interests in mind, with simplicity in mind. Employers do not want to go through hundreds of portfolios a day, each with a different layout and style. This wastes their time and you could suffer from that.

There are several iffy things that I should mention, though:

I wish there was a way to adjust the width of the navigation bar when itÂs in vertical mode, or for it to expand ... my email address is right on the edge, and itÂs not the longest one IÂve seen.

I donÂt like the idea of a limited range of colours available. The ones given arenÂt doing it for me either. The colours available have been expanded.

ThereÂs a glitch that covers part of the header when an image is being loaded in your portfolio, I think this is exclusive to the horizontal navigation.

On the ArtistÂs Bio page, the text should really wrap around the image, instead of just starting below. If we the image wasnÂt so small it would work, but it just doesnÂt cut it with an image that small.

I would like to add more than one number listed for contact (for example both a mobile and a landline). People will also get confused as to what to put there, in regards to international numbers and such. The location of the artist should also be displayed.

The sample view that follows you up and down the side when youÂre building your portfolio is a bit glitchy. It doesnÂt seem to update straight away. Also, thereÂs no way to preview full-size without submitting it.

The portfolio title has a very limited character count of 22.

The tagline always seems to want to display ÂGraphic Design ExtraordinaireÂ, even when I leave that box empty. IÂm not one of those. I overcame this by entering just a space, however the space needs to be entered every time you edit the portfolio.

Users should have the ability to decide on which side to display the custom boxes on the ÂArtist BioÂ page. Also in regards to the custom boxes is the line break HTML tag, which doesnÂt work properly. Entered as the legend says, the tags are displayed as normal text. I added a space between ÂbrÂ and the forward slash and the tags disappeared, but there were no line breaks.

Where's the ability to watermark images?

I really don't like the way the nominated colour returns to red every time you edit the portfolio.

Why not tell us the exact size of the home page image we should have rather than resizing our images? And what's with the border around it? What if I want a transparent image?

The HTML code shouldn't count towards the character...

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

=AaronBradford — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:51:06 PDT

Gallery | Prints | RedBubble | SydneySyders

EDIT!!!
The new deviantART portfolios are now availiable for beta testers! I'll be going over it today and giving it a test, and I'll write another journal tonight sometime about it!

End of edit ...
Well, it's not quite as dramatic as me being a dolphin and jumping out of the ocean to leave the world of Olympus. No, nothing like that. In fact, I still very much like Olympus, and I still think Nikon can go jump. Mainly because (a) I just like taking the mickey out of Nikonites for no reason and (b) Olympus was my first cLove (cameraLove).

I pretty much despise the new E-620. I got some one-on-one time with it at PMA with my gorgeous lolita girl and the =SydneySyders, and there's pretty much one simple reason that I don't like it. Many people won't think that it's a big deal; It is my opinion, though, that you really need to be comfortable with a camera to be in a good situation to make great images ... although you can make great images the first time you press the shutter button on an alien camera.

'But why,' you ask, 'why do you despise the E-620?'

The people in charge of ergonomics failed pretty hard, I reckon. The construction is terrible. I can hold my E-510, 300mm lens attached and fully extened, with one finger down by my side. I couldn't hold the E-620 (with an 18mm lens) with three fingers.

This movement towards small and compact DSLRs is a move in the wrong direction. I don't want a DSLR feeling like a compact. I LIKE SOMETHING I CAN GRIP. I LIKE TO FEEL THE POWER. I don't like to handle my camera like a tea-pot at some fancy-pants place. Get your minds out of the gutter, I know you're laughing. This issue has me seriously ticked off.

Moving on, PMA was pretty good. Penty of cameras and lenses to see and play with, and plenty of freebies too. I even got the Nikon bag thingy but I plan on burning it in some sadistic ritual (not really ). Several lanyards found their way into my possession, as well. Including the deviantART lanyard I got from $Heidi at the World Tour meet I now have four, the others being Canon, Fuji Film and Olympus. I do have some other random ones under my bed, but they're under there for a reason: I don't like them. I have moved all necessary items on to the deviantART lanyard, and I gave my spare Olympus one to Nick.

On the deviantART side of things ...
I have some things to say regarding deviantART, as is hinted (rather strongly) by the heading that you've just read (this is a completely useless sentence, yes?).

Scraps and devMEET photos ...
The scraps need a bit of TLC. My idea is that there shouldnÂt be a dedicated scraps category for all of us to submit into (but letÂs keep our own scrap galleries, yeah?). When I submit devMEET photos I submit to scraps, and this is a little sad seeing as there is a dedicated devMEET category as well, but this is deviantART. ART. I donÂt want my main gallery full of pictures of people taking pictures, or pictures of Nick doing whacky expressions (not that that isnÂt entertaining). So, my idea ... when you submit any deviation you choose what category it belongs to, and then you check a box to flag the submission as a scrap (or not, if itÂs not a scrap), and then it goes into your own scrap gallery, and into the scraps of the category you submitted to. So, in short, instead of a stand-alone scraps category, a scraps section within each category. Get me? Agree? Disagree? Undecided? Martians? Leave the poor scraps alone?

Manage Deviations and related miscellania ...
I always see blogs using deviantART images through the 'Embed Feature' thing, and IÂm not entirely sure if thatÂs a good idea. I mean, itÂs good that you can do that with your own...

Tea and Vegemite

=AaronBradford — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:03:26 PDT

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Yep, that's what I'm eating/drinking right now.

Orwell. Derived from the pen name of George Orwell (Eric Blair) and used as a substitue for 'Oh well'. An example:
Â Â "I lost my fish," said the man to his dog while writing the parrot's obituary.
Â Â "Orwell, at least you didn't lose your sanity," replied his wife.

Enough of that ...
I have my new laptop, and I have been thinking of a name for it. I have come up with 'Glaycier'. Now, for some specs!
4GB RAM
320GB HDD
2.0 GHz Processor
1 deviantART sticker (Thanks Angelo )
That's really all you need to know

New This Week ...
Nothing. No, seriously, nothing. I have not left the confines of our yard since Saturday night/extremely early Sunday morning. Instead, I have been sleeping in and reading and computing. I am on my seventh book since Saturday (The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden is wonderfully excellent). However, this needs to be fixed. So right now I am heading outside, to the world beyond the fence. I am taking Joseph, my E-510. Be right back.

Two minutes or so has past, and now I am back. I have some pictures for you to enjoy:

It's bright out there

Outsideinsideinsideoutside: The fenceline (minus the fence)

Omgontheoutside! RETREAT!
This was the end of my adventure outside the fenceline.

In the week coming ...
I may be going to the official opening of an exhibition at Katoomba tomorrow with Nick, featuring fellow deviant *wildplaces. Following that, on Sunday, is the =SydneySyders June devMEET: BOWLING! Should be very fun indeed.

Apart from that I'm not really sure what else is happening. I may be visiting my grandfather in Warragamba again, but I'm not totally sure. I am also probably heading up to Tanilba Bay/Port Stephens in the next month or so.

Anywho, that's enough from me. I need another tea anyway, and my poor toes and fingers are getting extremely cold. TTFN!

A Couple of Things - The Elaboration

=AaronBradford — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:01:02 PDT

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The semester has concluded ...
... Two months of not catching two buses and a train to Uni. To be honest, I'm not sure if I will pass one of the units. There was a massive problem with one of my assignments - a combination of procrastination and unreliable technology, and my tutor apparently sent me a message asking if I could do it the next Friday (ie, the last day of the semester). I found this out on that day, as I never did recieve that message: there were no e-mails from him in my account at any time during that week. The ironic thing is that for my assignment my main focus was the unreliability of technology. With all this free time on my hands I've started to re-read the 'Tomorrow' series by Australian author John Marsden.

Student loan [almost] obtained ...
I applied for a student loan yesterday (Monday) to help boost my cash so I can buy a new notebook (apparently this is the correct term now, replacing laptop ... well, it has been that way for a while, I've only recently started calling them notebooks). If everything goes to plan I can go shopping as early as this Friday. Does anyone have any recommendations? I have one model in mind for now, however it's good to do some comparisons and such. My budget is/will be $1200.

I am in receipt of a graphics tablet ...
It's quite large, A4 size, but it is super fun to play around with. I'm not a talented drawer at all (unlike Nick - you should seriously check out some of his drawings. I think one or two are buried in with his wonderful photography right towards the end of his gallery), but hopefully this will give me the motivation to practice.

sydCAST ...
Nick and I recorded the first sydCAST - a podcast for the =SydneySyders group - on Saturday evening last week ... it's only the introductory sydCAST, but we'll better organise and add more interestingness to future sydCASTs. You can listen to the sydCAST right here. If you have any comments/suggestions/whatever else to make regarding the sydCAST send an e-mail to:

While devMEETs are good ...
I have come to the conclusion that I need to get out by myself and do some more photography. It has been an age since I've just gone for a walk by myself with the camera in hand ... it seems that I'm always out with someone else (not that I don't enjoy their company).

That wraps up another =AaronBradford journal - so farewell!

A Couple of Things

=AaronBradford — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:33:30 PDT

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Finished uni for the semester - 2 months off!
Getting a graphics tablet today.
Going to try to get that student loan today so I can get a new laptop.
It's cold.
I need to catch the 12:01pm L20 to Parramatta, then the 12:37pm train to Penrith.
That's about it. Also, it's cold.

Will elaborate later.

What is this JPEGGERY!?

=AaronBradford — Thu, 28 May 2009 06:00:42 PDT

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Skullduggery
Crafty deception or trickery or an instance of it.

JPEGGERY or Jpeggery
Crafty deception or trickery or an instance of it, in the digital photography sense.

What is the point of all this?
There isn't really one, but I'll tell you one thing: Flickr was only meant to be an experiment. Srsly.

No, srsly, why the journal?
Can't I just write about nothing!? No? Aww ... okay ... well, instead I'll update you on the events of the past couple of days/week/however-long-it-has-been.

Well, this week is my last week of tutorials and lectures (not that I went to any of those) at uni, and after Monday it's two whole months of non-uni time! Oh, and remind me to put the details of the =SydneySyders meets for this month somewhere in this journal ... Bowling on the 14th, and PMA on the 27th! Remind me!

So, uni ...
Three things to finish off - Photomedia, Typography and Australian Design.

Photomedia: A magazine layout including at least six images on four A3 pages ... Juliette and I went in search of cheap printing today, and the cheapest we found was $14/page! I hate all these hidden costs for uni, and why would I spend close to $60 for one assignment!? Nuts much. Due tomorrow.

Typography: A3-sized hand-generated poster for an event, I chose the Sydney 2000 Olympic games. I have the layout draft, now all I have to do is draw it up and I'm done. Due tomorrow.

Australian Design: 1500-word essay on a chosen Australian design studio ... I chose Precept Design, I have no idea why, but I'm sick of listening to/watching about six different PowerPoint presentations on Animal Logic. This is due Monday - and after that I'm free!

Enough of all this boring crap already ...
Well, what else is there to say? I shall be in receipt of a graphics tablet soon, whenever I can arrange to get it from my grandfather (I forgot to ring him tonight, and I meant to - oh well). Photography wise, Juliette and I ventured to Katoomba on Tuesday (a day usually filled with lectures, but we got bored of photoshop video tutorials being played about 'this is history', 'this is how you edit destructively' ... et cetera. Anyway, those yellow leaf shots were from that trip. On our way back to Sydney we saw, and shared a carriage with, ~Tiberius47. Random much. I stuck a sticker from the World Tour MEET on the roof, but I did not get a picture of it.

Today I saw Nick, aka =gimmyfood, and then I mutilated his profile page! Thumb below!

Gallery | Prints | RedBubble | SydneySyders

Ring, ring ...
Aaron's Rule #1: If you are ringing someone and it rings out or cuts out, try calling again another one or two times! I'm sick of reaching the phone, or digging around trying to find it, to open it and say "hello" and for there to be a dial tone. I will then spend the next ten minutes thinking that the sensible person on the other end will call back.

devMEET: 14th June ...
Hey hey! I have some more webEXPERIMENTS for you! But first, let me tell that (if you don't know already) there's a =SydneySyders devMEET happening on the 14th of June: BOWLING! It should be very fun! Head over to their journal for more details.

webEXPERIMENT: Lost in Translation
WTF, mate!?
So here's the deal: I started with a phrase in English, and I used online translators to translate back and forth to end up with something different. The one linked about is the second one I used, the previous being the version released before that one.

My starting phrase: "Welcome to my world."

Soyez bienvenus Ã mon monde. French.

ÐÑÐ´ÑÑÐµ Ð¶ÐµÐ»Ð°Ð½Ð½Ñ Ð² Ð¼Ð¾ÐµÐ¼ Ð¼Ð¸ÑÐµ. Russian.

Be desired in my world. English.

Werden Sie in meiner Welt gewÃ¼nscht. German.

ÐÑÐ»Ð¸ ÐÑ Ð¶ÐµÐ»Ð°ÐµÑÐµÑÑ Ð¿Ð¾ Ð¼Ð¾ÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑ. Russian.

Si vous Ãªtes souhaitÃ©s selon mon monde. French.

If you are wished according to my world. English.

Se vocÃª Ã© desejado segundo o meu mundo. Portuguese.

If you are wanted according to my world. English.

Si usted es querido segÃºn mi mundo. Spanish.

Si vous Ãªtes aimÃ©s selon mon monde. French.

ÐÑÐ»Ð¸ Ð²Ñ Ð»ÑÐ±Ð¸Ð¼ÑÐµ ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð»Ð°ÑÐ½Ð¾ Ð¼Ð¾ÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑ. Russian.

Wenn Sie geliebt laut meinen Welten. German.

If you belovedly according to my worlds. English.

Si vous chÃ©ri ment selon mes mondes. French.

Si usted querido miente segÃºn mi mundo. Spanish.

ÐÑÐ»Ð¸ Ð´Ð¾ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð¸Ðµ ÐÑ Ð»Ð¶ÐµÑÐµ ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð»Ð°ÑÐ½Ð¾ Ð¼Ð¾ÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑ. Russian.

Wenn liebe Sie laut meiner Welt lÃ¼gen. German.

If dear you lie according to my world. English.

Si cher vous mentez selon mon monde. French.

Tan caro usted miente segÃºn mi mundo. Spanish.

Ð¢Ð°ÐºÐ¾Ð¹ Ð´Ð¾ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð¾Ð¹ ÐÑ Ð»Ð¶ÐµÑÐµ ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð»Ð°ÑÐ½Ð¾ Ð¼Ð¾ÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑ. Russian.

Par un tel chemin vous mentez selon mon monde. French.

Por tal camino usted miente segÃºn mi mundo. Spanish.

For such way you lie according to my world. English.

Para tal caminho vocÃª estÃ¡ segundo o meu mundo. Portuguese.

For such a way you are according to my world. English.

FÃ¼r solch einen Weg sind Sie gemÃ¤Ã meiner Welt. German.

ÐÐ»Ñ ÑÐ°ÐºÐ¾Ð¹ Ð´Ð¾ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð¸ ÐÑ ÑÐ²Ð»ÑÐµÑÐµÑÑ ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð»Ð°ÑÐ½Ð¾ Ð¼Ð¾ÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑ. Russian.

Pour de tels chemins vous Ãªtes selon mon monde. French.

Para tales caminos usted estÃ¡ segÃºn mi mundo. Spanish.

ÐÐ»Ñ ÑÐ°ÐºÐ¸Ñ Ð´Ð¾ÑÐ¾Ð³ ÐÑ ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð»Ð°ÑÐ½Ð¾ Ð¼Ð¾ÐµÐ¼Ñ Ð¼Ð¸ÑÑ. Russian.

FÃ¼r solche Wege Sie laut meiner Welt. German.

ÐÐ»Ñ ÑÐ°ÐºÐ¸Ñ Ð´Ð¾ÑÐ¾Ð³ ÐÐ°Ñ...

Lost in Knowledge

=AaronBradford — Tue, 19 May 2009 04:12:07 PDT

Wikipedia ...
... Just what is it?
According to the Wikipedia article on wikipedia, Wikipedia is a free, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning 'quick' ) and encyclopedia.

"Why all this nonsense", you may ask. Well, I am going to lose myself in the dark depths of Wikipedia and I shall document this epic voyage. Join me, as I start at the article linked above, and we'll see where this will lead.

I will list the articles I visit, in order, below. Each article leads to the next, even if it doesn't seem it.

Wikipedia

Squid (software)

Daemon (computer software)

Satanism

Hedonism

TorbjÃ¶rn TÃ¤nnsjÃ¶

Medical ethics

Ronald Reagan

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

1991

Sriperumbudur

Suicide attack

Marc Sageman

Foreign Affairs

Ukraine

Commonwealth of Independent States

2008 South Ossetia war

Moscow

Metro systems by annual passenger rides

London Overground

Silverlink

British Rail Class 313

Pantograph (rail)

Soviet Union

Comecon

Revolutions of 1848

Freedom of assembly

Janitor

And here is where I got tired and thought I should continue with my assignment.

Farewell, Spidey!

=AaronBradford — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:59:45 PDT

What Craziness ...
It has been absolutely mad over the last four or five days. Totally nuts. Now, as per the title ... those who were around me when I told $spyed and $Heidi will remember that by combining those two deviant names we get Spidi, with the 'i' pronounced as it is in Heidi, therefore we'll use the spelling Spidey. To extend this even further, $spyed uploaded a picture of 'Spiderman' into his gallery, which I've shown on the left! Nuts much?

Now, onto the happenings since my last journal ... speaking of which, do you think this new journal design is an improvement over my last? It's based on my new website design that I'm yet to code.

Friday
What a day. To be honest it started crap, and stayed crap until sunset. All this due to almost no sleep, a few assignments, having to travel out to university and all this crap that you probably don't want to bother yourself with. Anyways, so after all of this crap Juliette and I caught the train to Town Hall, where we met $spyed and $Heidi for our little dinner. We were soon joined by $hb and another deviant, and then waited for *maxisoft to show. He did, and off we walk ... then my love's phone rings ... Oh shizzle! We forgot to wait for =danielsun. Oh well, he caught up and on we walked to Darling Harbour.

After a few pictures of the sights we picked a place to eat, and in we pranced: The Meat & Wine Co.
Â Â "Can we get a table for seven, thanks?"
Â Â "Ummmm, can you hang on a sec ... sure, we can do that. Table eight."
And to table eight we were led. It was a PRIVATE ROOM! How did we score this!? We had our fun checking out the comfy chairs and deciding where we'd all sit. Everybody who was eating got burgers except myself, and I had the pasta of the day. We all had wondeful discussions about various things: journals, Angelo ($spyed) hang-gliding, internet fads, groups, portfolios, deviantART commercials, everything. Below are a few pictures from the evening:

After dinner we all tromped over to Jordans (?), a bar in Darling Harbour. There Angelo met several aquaintences of his, and we met them too! Drinks happened to be on Newscorp. Things there were pretty awesome: the chat, the jokes, the drinks ... see the photos below:

spyed) and Marketing Director ($Heidi) of the website which you have poured your heart and soul into?

First up I met with my darling beloved, =Julijaaa, at Town Hall. We wandered around a bit, buying tea cups and Subway, before making our way to the Opera House.

I, and a few others, stalked the steps of the Opera House a little bit earlier than the schedule told us to. However, certain =SydneySyders admins decided to go in the opposite direction and show up long after everyone else! Preposterous.

The one and only thing that I donÂt look forward to about devMEETs is meeting someone you donÂt know, except from on the internet. Well, itÂs not meeting them, but how one meets them. Okay, picture this: youÂre there at the meeting place and youÂre looking for the guy with the avatar of the weird green things Â but then you remember that this is reality and people do not walk around with their avatars stuck to the foreheads. So you swear to yourself and look for every guy with a camera there. Oh *plum*, weÂre at the Opera House and everyone has a camera. So youÂre very indecisive.
ÂOh, look at this guy, he looks like a deviant.Â
ÂMaybe notÂ
ÂHow about this other guy?Â
ÂHeÂs wearing a dA t-shirt.Â
Then you finally pluck up the courage to ask. He is. You shake hands. Awkward silence.
ÂGood weather, eh?Â
Once a group forms, you know youÂre safe. Deviants will sidle up to the group and discreetly ask one of its members. They come to you.

Anyway, the group began to grow exponentially and we all suddenly came to the realisation that there were more than a handful of deviants in Sydney. In fact, by the magic of guestimation, there were eighty or so deviants present! Not a bad turnout for 2pm on a Wednesday. $spyed, our celebrity substitute, appeared suddenly and all of the fan girls almost had to hyperventilate. $Heidi arrived soon after and =danielsunÂs fella also made an appearance.

Name tags on and off we walk to the Botanical Gardens, snaking our way along the path in the form of a human train. $spyed was our fearless leader at the front and $Heidi brought up the rear several hundred meters in the past. After we all found a nice big patch of grass to settle ourselves on $spyed commanded his devARMY: he was to take us in groups on a tour of the new and upcoming features for deviantART around a park bench nearby, while the rest of us all had fun acquainting ourselves and having fun. At one point *maxisoft decided that he liked those train-things so much that he should it, and he did.

It Approaches!
That's right, it's 6:01pm on Tuesday the 12th of May, in the year of 2009 ... and do you know what that means!? It's Ole Worm's birthday tomorrow! He was born in the year 1588 the son of Willum Worm. Smashing the mythical imaginations of millions he determined that the unicorn did not exist. Worm also provided evidence that lemmings are not spontaneously generated by the air. Way to go, Worm. On the left you will notice a particularly tasteful image of Ole, himself, looking like he could be driving a train of some description. Look how smug he is, destroying imaginations, destroying people, destroying Earth.

Oh, and also you might have noticed that TOMORROW IS THE OFFICIAL BEGINNING OF THE deviantART WORLD TOUR, and it kicks off right here in Sydney, Australia. The details are as follows:

What!? When!? Where!?
What: A devMEET!
Time: Wednesday, 13th May (TOMORROW) ... 2:00pm - Whenever.
Location: The steps of the Opera house.

Weather:
Sunny with a top of 22Â°C and moderate westerly winds. Looking good! For up-to-date weather visit the Bureau of Meteorology.

Don't forget:

Bring a jumper/jacket.

Bring your camera/camcorder.

Charge your batteries.

Clean your lens/sensor, so there's no dirty great blotch covering our sweet admin's angelic faces.

Make sure you have enough free space on your memory card(s).

Have some money with you, in case you get hungry or something

Bring yourself. We've had too many instances in the past where people have come but forgotten to bring themselves. This results in a drooling, unresponsive shell of a human being that we do not wish to be associated with.

Check =SydneySyders and/or #hq before you leave to make sure that there's no sudden change in arrangements that you're not aware of.

Other things you might want to know ...
$spyed and $Heidi are not making thier phone number public, however =SydneySyders does have a devMEEThotline that you can call if you're late or if you get seperated from the group. It's listed in their journal. It will most probably be manned by Nick.

That's about it ...
I think that's about all I have to say at the moment ... hope to see you all tomorrow afternoon! I'll be writing a nice long and detailed journal about it, so don't worry if you miss out (we'll just disown you)!

Warragamba & Admins & NASA

=AaronBradford — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:10:42 PDT

Check it out - SydneySyders have their own website, and a forum to boot! All Nick's doing, of course.

On the dA World Tour Front ...
They're coming to Sydney on Wednesday, 2pm on the Opera House steps. Go to THIS PLACE to inform yourself, and why not go HERE too.

In other news ...
I haven't been on dA over the past two days (one night) due to the fact that I went venturing with my darling Juliette to my home town, Warragamba. We stopped on the way there at a church just before sunset, and there may be some pictures of that entering into my reorganised gallery some time soon.

My grandfather was very tipsy on the red wine, but he's a hilarious in that state. A friend of my grandfather's also dropped by, a fast-talking Scotsman who talks so fast that you can't understand a word he's saying. Smile and nod.

We went for a walk to the macadamia tree in the park across the road, too, and there were plenty there to eat. Nothing beats macadamia's straight off the tree.

The Velocity Letter + World Tour Update

=AaronBradford — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:30:17 PDT

Check it out - SydneySyders have their own website, and a forum to boot! All Nick's doing, of course.

The deviantART World Tour thingy ...

=katon241162 kindly linked me to this group. Go here for all the juicy info.

Don't you just love it when ...

You get a letter, and someone has used the back for a shopping list? I'm not talking about the other inhabitants of this house, either ... the letter came like that from Velocity Rewards (highlights include spare undies and a pegless clothesline). The awesomeness was short-lived, however, when on closer inspection I noticed that the list had been printed. Still, 'tis quite cool, even though it was just a letter trying to get me to sign up for a NAB credit card. Pictures follow:

I've rearranged my gallery ...

Using folders. Yay. Here's a list of the folders I've arranged things into (for now):

All Photography

Panoramas

Landscapes, Waterscapes & Skies

People

My Favourites

Film

Black & White and Monochrome

Canon Powershot A530

Olympus E-510

Literature

devMEETs

USS Peleliu

Newcastle & Port Stephens

Sydney

Blue Mountains & Western NSW

deviantART World Tour 2009

=AaronBradford — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:08:53 PDT

Check it out - SydneySyders have their own website, and a forum to boot! All Nick's doing, of course.

It seems two prominent deviantART members ($spyed and $Heidi) are going to be in Sydney this weekend as part of the deviantART World Tour 2009. This could be a good opportunity for SydneySyders to flex it's toned sexy muscles and be seen about town with the big wigs (Nick, bring the undies).

I'm not sure of the details yet but as soon as I find out I'll post here, and if we can't do a proper devMEET I'll whack together a miniMEET.

In other news ...

Yes, in other news I have a new mousey! He has no name yet and I bought him from =gimmyfood when I dropped into his place of work, wherever that is, because I don't think he works too much at all.

Joe, my precious Olympus E-510, is all well and good. He had a bit of a scare that none of you except perhaps one know about, but he's fine now.

I walked out of my Photomedia lecture about half an hour ago, too. Those lectures are so bad ... I mean, getting to watch a video on how to use those crappy art effects in photoshop No thank you. So here I am in the computer room waiting for my Australian Design lecture at 11am.

I'm slowly re-building my image library. At least the lessons learnt taking those images wasn't lost.

I hope you're all having a most wonderful day!

=SydneySyders ... What's the deal?

=SydneySyders is the sexiest devMEET group on deviantART. They hold regulary MEETs and miniMEETs in and around the Sydney area (sometimes venturing to places unknown). Not only are they on deviantART, they have their OWN WEBSITE too. Go visit them!

How to contact me ...

Crap picture, I know ... I'll redo it later

Stamps:
Stamps:

Clicky! You see biggy!

I mispelled 'thought' at the end but I don't care.

How Can People Survive -50?

=AaronBradford — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:39:58 PDT
Aaron is cold right now ... a cold little boy wrapped up in bed, snuggling a cup of Earl Grey when he should be snuggling his dear beloved. But alas, she is not as near as he would like. He's not used to temperatures so low, being Australian, but on Sunday he was travelling around in five-degree weather, and on top of that wind and a bit of rain. It's not as cold for Aaron now, though, but his toes still haven't defrosted.

A recount of my existance over the past week is in order, I think.

Monday, 20th April, 9:50am - Central Station, payphones outside the station master's office:
My laptop is stolen: I let my attention wander. Then I remember; just the night before I had trasferred over four-thousand original images to my external hard drive, for I was going to do some heavy-duty editing while in Port Stephens for several nights. The external hard drive was in the laptop bag. I feel like a part of my soul has been lost. Instead of editing, all I do is solemnly watch DVDs. I did at one point go for a walk to the top of the small mountain on the headland to try and restore some photographic inspiration and determination, but it didn't really do much.

Thursday, 23rd April, 2:00pm
I am on the ferry at Stockton as it pulls away from the wharf. It's a five-minute trip, quite literally. I arrive at Newcastle station and wait for the 2:34pm service to Sydney to depart.
At 3:19pm, pulling into Morisse, the guard's voice crackles over the public address. The train is delayed indefinitely due to a freight train leaking sulphuric acid at Gosford. At 3:27pm the train moves, and the news is that the train will now terminate at Wyong, and a bus will take me on to Gosford, where I am to catch another train. We arrive at Wyong at 3:45pm, and I hop on the smelly coach. To shorten a long stoy I got on the other train at Gosford, got off at Epping, got on another train there and got off at West Ryde, to wait for a bus which came late (which was fortunate, because it was supposed to leave before I got there and meant I didn't have to wait another half-hour for the next one), and then the fifteen minute trip home. Another hour was added onto my trip, which I wouldn't mind on any other day, but I had just had enough of everything by then. Lectures on keeping things safe, lectures on monetary matters, and all the rest of it. I wish they had just shut up - their words were less than eye-opening and were worthless. The loss of four-thousand images was enough to teach me that lesson.
I have never really liked Thursdays.

Saturday, 25th April (ANZAC day) & Sunday, 26th April
Juliette and I were supposed to be going to Lithgow for Ironfest, but we missed the train. Rather than wait two hours for the next one, and get there way to late, we decided to join those attending the =SydneySyders miniMEET unorganised by =danielsun. It was packed. To use the common metaphor, we were like sardines (much more tasty, though). After waiting a while we somehow managed to spot all that we knew were going. Where to go, where to go? Juliette and I took charge and took our hobbits to ~~Isengard~~ Darling Harbour ... more precisely, Pancakes On The Rocks. It was a nice little (big) lunch with lots of pleasant discussion and a surcharge. I mentioned to Dan at some point about our failed foray to Lithgow, and he told us if the weather was good he'd take us up there in his car, and then go on to Bathurst to do some video-ing on the Mount Panorama circuit. I came home to an empty house (the family had thankfully taken a three-night trip to the Central Coast) and checked the weather, which I sent to Dan. We were on.

The next day dawned, though I was still in bed. I awoke at 7:40-something and rushed around ... Dan was to pick me up around 8:10, as the journey from Juliette's house to mine is 36 minutes and he was picking her up at 7:30. At 8:00 I had showered and packed, but had only found socks and a shirt. I sniffed hopefully in the direction of the dryer and was pleased to find that my pants had finally dried, though my jumper had not. "No matter," I told the cat,"I still have Nick's jacket hanging on the door (Imust give that back sometime soon)". So off we go, up the mountains via Richmond or thereabouts. We watched the temperature dive as we climbed, and then suddenly we were out in the cold air blowing around Lithgow Showgrounds. We wandered, drank hot tea, watched jousting, and then a Dan shows up again. He drove the 59 kilometres to Bathurst again, this time with us, and quite suddenly we were going through the Esses and Juliette was squealing. After the first lap, we set up Dan's 5D in the back with me, and captured some video. All good fun....

Oh The Woes of Digital

=AaronBradford — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:30:28 PDT
It happened again ... this time to every single one of them. Am I just prone to losing images? I should back-up more thoroughly.

As per journal, below.

=AaronBradford — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:08:08 PDT
As per tweet, above.

Weird Dreams and Websites

=AaronBradford — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 05:16:36 PDT
Well last night I had a very weird dream, and it involved fellow deviant =AB-Photography.

I was at a family party thing at night, in a very tall and narrow house not unlike The Burrow of the Harry Potter series. Out the front waiting for me was AB, in a silver car, with an old Asian woman. I washed my side of the car before getting in. AB was driving the Asian woman to Engadine, and then we went on driving. We passed over a bridge and looked down on some mist and shared the words "Imagine the mist in the Blue Mountains at the moment". And then quite suddenly it's daylight and AB's car has turned into a train. So we're coasting along the tracks when quite suddenly the train lurches onto the wrong track (the points weren't set correctly), and AB urgently brings the train to a stop. We sit for a few moments before we notice a light on the tracks ahead, meaning a train coming around the right-turn ahead. We quickly undo our seat belts in readiness to jump out if need be, but it turns out to be on the track next to us and it whizzes by. Then AB starts to reverse, and the next thing I know AB has disappeared, and it becomes a model train with me sitting like I'm on an invisible bike above the train. I make the train go by peddling my invisible bike, but that's not all - the track is invisible too, and when the train moves over the track only that part becomes visible, but it is upside down. I pedal my invisible bike train and it crashes through a shipping container and I'm awake.

Now, on to something different: As you all may know I've been playing with a website design for myself (viewable here). I would like any comments, questions and feedback you have ... and would any of you know of a good gallery script, similar to something like dA but of course a bit more simple, that I could implement into this website?

Nickventures + HE EXISTS

=AaronBradford — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:42:17 PDT
Edit:

Click here to see video proof!
I'm a believer!

It's 4:20am, Thursday last week, and my alarm goes off. I shower, I dress, I grab my bag and go.

It's 4:57am, and I'm on the 520 bus to Parramatta Station.

It's 5:15am, and I'm going through the ticket barriers and feeling hunger pains. I begin the search for somewhere to get something to eat and/or drink.

It's 5:30am, and I give up. I sit on the station and wait.

It's 5:50am, and I have found something to eat as well as a nice cup of tea.

It's 5:58am, and I hop onto the train.

Yes, that's how my day started. You see, I had made an impromptu decision to go for an early-morning trip into the Blue Mountains. I mentioned this to Nick (*gimmyfood) and he said he would like to go too, and he would donate his Pew car to the cause.

The plan was for me to get off at Lapstone and to meet Nick there. If he wasn't there I was to proceed to his house.

I was the only one to get off the train. I took some pictures from the pedestrian bridge. Nick was not there.

No matter! I wandered up the hill and around the corner and counted the numbers and knocked on the door. Huzzah, a Nick! It was 6:41am, and he had only just rolled out of bed. So I steal his net while he gets ready. Jenni hits Nick and we're off into the mountains.

We didn't get far until something awesome happened, though. Up ahead was a zebra crossing - on the left was a bunch of little school children and on the right-hand side was a bird. The bird proceeded to cross. We stopped for said bird. An illustration of the event is below.

The Birdie Crossing

You had to be there.

Now, about ten minutes later I had stopped laughing, and on we drove.

Because I haven't written this directly after I arrived home on that day, it might be a bit jumbled. Anyways, on we go!

Our first stop was, I think, Dante's Glen in Lawson. He's a NickPic of what it looks like normally compared with what it was like on Thursday (slightly different angles, though):

Nick also demonstrated his water-tight boots:

So now I can't remember what we did next. I think we discovered leeches next. Or was that after Wentworth Falls? Iunno. Anyways, I'll just say we discovered leeches!

Oh, I has a leech

I has ammunition

Spray like so

It looks like I'm impaled with a nail
I have a good story to tell you all about adventures with Nick, a bird, three leeches and some rain! I've been so busy with Uni work and tired other times to write a journal, but that shall be done on the morrow.

As sad as it sounds, I've missed writing journals on deviantART. It gave me somewhere to write regularly, and some of you know that I like to write a little bit.

So, I've bought my first subscription to dA - yes, my first. All of the times I have been subscribed in the past have be funded by some of the wonderful members of the dA community: =katon241162 and *mazmoore to name two. I think there may have been someone else there along the line too, but I forget, and I'm terribly sorry. I thank you nonetheless.

What else is new? Well Uni is going good, I suppose. I have handed in my first Photomedia assignment and I think I did pretty well. I'm getting really used to shooting film now and I'm shooting more of it than digital of late.

Speaking of film Juliette and I ventured to a camera market this Sunday just past, and it was quite interesting - I think she mentioned they only have it several times a year at Ultimo. The next one is in early June, I think. I bought an old Pentax ME Super for Juliette, and a new old camera bag for myself, for it was getting quite tight in my old bag with two camera bodies, each with a lens, and then the still-broken 70-300mm (which I need to get fixed soon).

Oh, listen to that rain on the window. The sweetest sound. The weather is good. I love the rain.

In technology news my Logitech wireless mouse has been giving me some grief. It was working fine until a week or so ago, when it suddenly decided it wanted a bit more privacy and Lyric, my laptop, gives me one of those annoying bubbles: "Device Not Recognised". I un-plugged it and re-plugged it and it worked, only to do the same minutes later. This game would go on forever before, when trying to design some slides for an Australian Design presentation, I ripped it out and threw it (not the smartest thing, but the best way in terms of relieving stress). Now it looks as though I have a finger made out of a microchip protruding from the side of Lyric, and still the problem is not resolved. Yes, I did try searching for drivers, but I looked all over the mouse and the USB receiver and there is no model name or number or anything. Even more frustrating was when I downloaded and installed some 'Logitech wireless optical mouse drivers', only to have it not work.

I am currently in the lead on an eBay auction for a wireless laser mouse, of a different manufacturer.

Another thing new; I am thinking of registering a domain for both Juliette and I to use (subdomains for each of us, I think, because we want our work separate and perhaps we would desire a different design), for photography and design and other such things. Perhaps this will lead to fine art (if you can call my photography that) prints hanging on the walls of strangers (or family, more likely).

I am also thinking of catching a very early train to Katoomba on Thursday, my day off Uni, to do some photography. Very early means arriving there at 7:33am, after an hour-and-a-half's train journal preceded by a bus that gets to the station an age before the train, which means being at the bus stop at around 4:50am (I also discovered that I could leave home and, travelling completely by public transport, journey to Katoomba and be back at home by the hour of ten in the morning. I think I am the only one who would attempt this pointless voyage).

Guess what - it's still raining and I think I broke my mouse completely. Yay.

I think I also might defy that one person who, on my poll, voted for me not too upload anything more. Perhaps. Maybe. We'll see. I actually had to look for my card reader tonight, too - I can't remember the last time I used it. I found it under my bed, for the record.

Love

=AaronBradford — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:56:41 PST
Ð®Ð»ÐµÐ½ÑÐºÐ° Ð¼Ð¾Ñ ... Ñ ÑÐµÐ±Ñ Ð»ÑÐ±Ð»Ñ

There is nothing but love. It is the single most important thing. My heart throbs with it. My toes tingle with it. My life revolves around it. There is nothing but love.

Have a most wonderful day, everyone!

Stamps:
Aaron's Journal - Now being delivered to 139 message centers!

If you're just taking snapshots ...

YOU DO NOT NEED A (D)SLR

If you're just buying it to look cool ...

You'll look like crap anyway when the dial's still on auto mode.

If you bought it just because you had the money ...

I hate you

If you bought it for ornamental reasons (ie, sitting on your shelf collecting dust) ...

...

Have a most wonderful day, everyone!

Stamps:
Firefox in mind. Those using Internet Explorer (or others) may not see the snazzy dotted underlines and borders.

Random Thoughts
I got to thinking that I need a new password. I've had the same random string for a long time ... I think about a year and a bit. Speaking of years, my two year dA anniversary has passed, and =katon241162's first year has gone whizzing by like a road train. I went to the Blue Mountains today with my gorgeous love, =Julijaaa. We were aiming for Leura but ended up exploring Wentworth Falls in all it's fogginess. It was good when we arrived, but it had cleared by the time we left . I have uploaded one picture (so far) from today. Also, Valentines day is fast approaching, and I have secret plans to show my love that I love her beyond eternity (may include pictures for upload on dA).

Have a most wonderful day, everyone!

Stamps:
Help Me Decide
So I've re-edited 'Ashes to the Wind' a bit, this time cropping less. I'm still not sure which is better. I've added a new poll on this subject so please vote and comment!

Weather
Hot still, but not at hot as Victoria was yesterday. The Victorians have been battling with multiple bushfires fanned by hot, fast winds and there's 66 confirmed dead. Even a whole township has been reportedly destroyed, with only one building still standing. Today it's cooled down there, but here the temperature's still up there. This summer might be worse than the Ash Wednesday bushfires in the 80's ... And living up to Australia's reputation for crazy weather, 62% of Queensland is flooded.
Some pictures I found on Flickr:

Friend Features

Have a most wonderful day, everyone!

Stamps:
General Stuff
Sorry for updating my journal so often, but I need to add some substance for this was a very short, uninformative piece before.
Okay, so the big news is that I found out last night that I got into my desired course, the Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication) at the University of Western Sydney. What's even more exciting is the fact that my darling =Juliette was offered the course too! The problem for her is that she lives very far away, so she's going to have to travel a bit at first. Hopefully later this year we can afford to both move closer to the Uni, together of course.

Arty Stuff
Okay, onto more art-related things now. I have been roaming through folders and CF cards and external hard drives looking for all of my photos. It was all very disorganised, and I think I found about seven or eight different folders with pictures in them. I've now sorted through a large number of them, and put them into a single folder that will soon be put back onto my external hard drive and then backed up on CDs.
I have deleted a large number of them too, as I have a habit of taking about four shots for every situation with slightly different settings. This can be viewed as a good and bad thing: good, because I can select the better shot out of all of them and have a less chance of stuffing it up, and bad because it takes up more space on the CF card. Oh well, I think I ended up deleting around 8GB worth of duplicates and what-not.
The photos I have been submitting are far in-between now, I've noticed. The statistic that tells me that, on average, I upload one for every one-and-a-half days is quite misleading, as I think it's down to more like one a week now. This is because I have been busy with the HSC, University offers, travelling and general lack of inspiration. Hopefully my course will inspire me to get out and take more photos more often.
On the software side of things I have finally settled on a good combination of programs to view/edit and to move my photos. First I move the pictures from the CF card into the 'hotography' folder. I then fire up Picasa, a Google program, to view/delete. From Picasa I can send photos into Adobe Photoshop 7 for editing. I used to use Photoshop CS3, but found it very slow, especially on this computer. I still use it, but only if I need to stitch some photos together to form a panorama. In Photoshop I edit the pictures (if they need it), and then through the use of a simple action I add a border, save the edit to 'My Pictures > Net' (and in some cases to a prints folder). And that's the end of it. To upload I just use deviantART through Firefox and the next thing I know it's there in my recent deviations. It's a very streamlined process now, and I hope to keep it that way.
That's another thing I want to discuss too: prints. I'm under the impression (though I may be wrong) that deviantART is not very good when it comes to selling prints. I've also uploaded some pictures on my RedBubble account previously as prints, but get very little in the way of views over there (hence my absence from there of late). Should I try selling any of my photos as prints? And where? I also want to get some pictures printed locally for myself/family ... does anyone know of a good place to do this in Sydney and surrounds?
One more thing before you keel over and die from boredom, and that's my old already-uploaded pictures. Is there any in my gallery that you'd want to see re-edited? Tell me, and I'll consider it.
Friend Features

After a while I take my seat in the empty bottom half of carriage 8108, and at 10pm precisely the door that I opened closes with an angry hiss. Another Tangara train arrives on platform five, a minute past ten.

At three minutes past the hour I hear footsteps behind me, and I stop writing, and I stop moving. The person passes with a bouquet of flowers, wrapped tightly with clear and pink plastic. I begin to write again, but my reprieve only lasts a moment. A balding Asian man, dressed in a pale lime shirt, takes a seat in the carriage, on the platform side. He soon decides to move further to the rear.

At 10:06pm the Tangara on platform eight departs, and just as it's out of sight an overweight man enters from the front of the carriage, seating himself at the rear. A minute later a gruff male voice is heard over the public address system. It, having no shape or form, announces the stops, and informs the scattered travellers of the two minutes until departure. A man enters, he exists.

A minute until departure sees an old man with a blue shirt, sitting in the front middle section of the carriage, tuning his portable radio to the cricket commentary on ABC Sports. A middle-aged Asian woman with her hair in a bun, sporting white Puma shoes and a white, black and green blouse, sits across the aisle from me, and begins eating a small red apple.

At 10:10, a minute late, carriage 8108 rolls out of platform seven, Central Station.

Over the next several minutes the train gathers speed, passing trains and stations: Redfern, Newtown, Stanmore, Petersham, Lewisham, Summer Hill, Ashfield ... and on it goes. By then the woman has finished her apple and music has started to play from the rear.

Burwood, Strathfield. A man, among many other people, enters the carriage. He wears a purple shirt, both buttons undone at the collar, and camouflage shorts. He carries a green VB bag, and in the handles a yellow pillow and a plastic bag are nestled. He sits opposite me, facing the rear. He has clearly not shaven in at least a few days and I notice an eye-brow piercing, all the while he is sitting arrogantly, legs rested on the seat next to mine, showing his white and lace-less Everlast shoes. His right leg is crossed over his right, and he occasionally taps his fingers on his knee.

At 10:26pm the man reaches into the plastic bag for some chewing gum, peppermint flavour, and I notice a text tattoo on the underside of his right wrist.

Lidcombe, and the Asian woman exits.

Two minutes later the man opens his Motorola mobile phone. He wears very short socks that barely cover his ankle. Tattooed above his ankle on his right foot is the...

Ninja Turtles

=AaronBradford — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:32:18 PST
*Loves Juliette forevermore*

Okay, so ... yet another journal entry. Seriously, you read all these?

This one is to (a) convey that I'm no longer in an enraged kill-everything-that-moves mode; and (b) to get rid of those expletives. I am still upset, though, more at myself than anything. If I'd only checked the preferences one more time I would have seen they were misplaced. Ah well, there's still a chance I can get in with the late round of offers, I think engineering is way out of my league.

So ... art update: because of the state of things in the last couple of days I have not really had any artistic impulses or any urge to pick up the camera and take a few pictures.

Life update: I am seeing Juliette this afternoon.

Weather update: Hot.

There is a =SydneySyders devMEET this Saturday afternoon/evening; check out their journal for details.

It is 12:29 and I need some breakfast - I only woke up just over half an hour ago.

*melts*

Devious Journal Entry

=AaronBradford — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:31:41 PST
*Loves Juliette forevermore*

University Offers came out today. Brace yourself - I think this is the first time I've used an expletive in my journal.

I wanted to do B Design (Visual Communication). I got offered B Engineering. Fuck you, UAC and UWS. I distinctly remember changing my B Design to first preference STRAIGHT AFTER I RECEIVED MY UAI. MAJOR STUFF-UP ON YOUR PART, FAILED EDUCATION SYSTEM. Why does the thing have to be so damned complicated anyway. Drongos. I will ring them up tomorrow and will try to be nice about it - I can't promise that I will, though.

There's still a chance with late round offers. WTF is it with all these rounds, and why the fuck do we only get one offer. Why not offer us all the one's we'd be accepted into at one time, it'd make everything so much easier. Urgh, I hate life at the moment. Before you comment and call me a stupid emo you might want to reconsider because I WILL hurt you.

Sorry for the depressive expletive-ridden journal. Another failure on my part.

Some News (It Seems)

=AaronBradford — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:36:05 PST
Some days I get depressed over such small and insignificant things. Like now, for instance.

Some days I feel as though all of the dA Meeters hate me. Like now, for instance.

Some days I have 'small hair' and Juliette doesn't like it.

Some days there is a pile of dishes in the sink from seven people's daily existence, including an average of around 23 cups and 10 dinner plates.

Some days I stand in the shower and wish myself to just not exist. But these days really haven't happened since I met Juliette, my beloved.

On a day where not one thing goes right, she the only one who really goes out of her way to try to make me happy - and most of the time she succeeds. She is the most amazing person I know.

I spend too much time in a place where she isn't.

I feel so much love for her. She is my every thought. My every dream. I have even asked her which gems and metals she prefers so when I ask her to be my bride with my already decided secret words at my already decided secret location at my already decided secret time of day (not time as in day, month and year ... maybe not for a few of those last ones ... or at least until I can't not ask her any more, and then it will burst out of me in explosions of the most intense love there is) everything will be perfect.

Mum, if you're reading this, don't press for details. They won't be given until the ring is firmly on my Juliette's finger.

In terms of art I am not particularly inspired at the moment. I haven't been out shooting properly in a while. I must punish myself.

I have ideas for short stories ... and they either get started and not finished or not started at all.

You all should go out and hunt down the book "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom. Amazing book. Do it now.

I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I love her. I lov...

F02 00 14DEC08 13:55 4999 10

=AaronBradford — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:30:18 PST
Hokay, so - I am all sweaty. Inspired by today's Australia Vs South Africa One-Day game in the lovely town of Hobart I took it upon myself to grab a ball and run manically down the driveway to bowl the ball and break the leg stump. I should have been aiming for off. Then I bowled leg spin. Then the siblings came outside and I batted and I gave them about twenty catches in the covers and only one stuck. devCricketMATCH now plz.

Speaking of that, there is a SydneySyders meet on the 24th at Middle Head Fort, trying out some light-painting. Read the journal for the details.

Thankies to =Security16 for the month of Subness

Okay, so, plans. University offers come out on the 21st. I have no idea what I'm going to do this year other than uni; where I'll go; what I'm going to do for money; and all the rest of it.

I have a fish in my room now.

I changed my room around slightly again.

Can't be bothered to type much.

Do Harriers Get Free WiFi? + E-30

=AaronBradford — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:39:55 PST
I learnt something today: Harrier jets, those sexy V/STOL aircraft, have ethernet ports.

Edit: I found this info lurking in the Gmail inbox this morning, if anyone's interested ...

OLYMPUS E-30 SYDNEY LAUNCH EVENTS

Olympus Imaging Australia cordially invites you to have a hands-on experience of the new E-30 enthusiast DSLR at this special event.

This latest DSLR model incorporates the outstanding autofocus and shooting speed of the professional E-3 and introduces the two exciting new imaging technologies of creative Art Filters and sophisticated Multi-Exposure shooting.

Â Quick introduction to the new camera by Olympus
Â Touch and try of the new E-3
Â Full range of Olympus lenses and accessories on show
Â See a print gallery of E-30 images
Â Have a chat with Olympus
Â Finger food and refreshments will be served

Special discounts

There will be special discounts on a popular selection of Olympus DSLR lenses and accessories available only at this event with the purchase of an E-30*. Limited discounts will also be made available to Olympus users who do not buy an E-30*

*voucher will be valid for a two week period after the event

Lucky draw

One Olympus Zuiko Digital 25mm f2.8 lens will be given away at this event! This standard lens has become an instant classic due to its ultra-compact size and special imaging qualities. Be in line to win one just by turning up. As part of the draw, two limited edition Olympus ultra-compact DSLR bags will also be given away as well.

Retail partners, dates and times, event location

Fotoriesel Camera House

Thursday 29th January 2008
5:30PM to 7:00PM

364A Kent St.
Sydney, NSW 2000
(02) 9299 6745

Paxtons

Wednesday 4th February 2008
6:30PM to 8:00PM

Marble Room 1
27 OÂConnell St.
Sydney, NSW 2001
(02) 8214 0146

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[link]
PART TWO: [link]

You there, it's 2009!

Also, I will be a dragon.

Also, you have a quest! All of you people must ask me questions! Millions of questions! That's right, a quest for questions! Now; rules.

1. No math questions. I got 83 in my HSC for maths and I am done with it. Never to calculate the volume of a cone again!

2. Randomness is awesome! Anything that comes to mind (that's not math-related)!

3. At least 3 each please, and don't be skimpy! There's no upper limit!

4. Wheee for all these exclamation marks!

5. Don't spell colour like color, or aluminium like aluminum, for I might cry. Aussie spelling, peoples!

6. Don't ask a question asking me why I am asking you to ask questions.

7. Go forth and ask questions already!

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Tiredness

=AaronBradford — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:31:38 PST
Another video of mine on youtube.

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HERE IT IS! (watch me plz)
HERE IT IS! (watch me plz)
HERE IT IS! (watch me plz)
HERE IT IS! (watch me plz)
HERE IT IS! (watch me plz)

I thought I'd give you all a break from reading so much ... this way you don't really have to think much.

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SydneySyders Carols in the Domain devMEET. It was wonderful - thanks to the admins for organising a successful second meet!

On the day before the meet Juliette and I finally talked to the 'Guitar Guy', who we sometimes see busking near Town Hall on George St. He is quite talented and has the kindest smile and always thanks us profusely when we drop a coin or three into his case. We learnt his name is Viken, and we spoke to him for almost an hour, I think. He's interested in a photo-shoot so that might happen in the near future. Here is a picture of him, taken by Juliette:

*Suffers from Juliette withdrawals*

Tomorrow. Christmas. The twenty-fifth day of December. There's so much hype surrounding it, and I hate it. "PRESENTS", is what most have to say on the matter. Deplorable. Disastrous. Despicable. Disgraceful. What a debacle. Tomorrow I shall be staying home in the morning, and then heading over to Sans Souci for lunch or something.

In other news I have a new CPL filter, after my other one fell apart and I couldn't be bothered putting it back together again (only had the King's horses and the King's men, quite useless. I specifically told them to bring glue, not horses (although they are one in the same, some may say (though not I))).

I have a few ideas for some videos to YouTube.

I have a few ideas for some short stories.

I have yet to take my lens back to Olympus (shall do that soon).

One more thing ... there shall be a new addition to the family on Monday.
We need a bigger house.

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DO NOT CLICK HERE!
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<aram name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><aram name="allowscriptaccess" value="always">

Obviously not.

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Mysterious!

=AaronBradford — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:35:32 PST
Well hello there all that read my journals! Today was a really lazy day for me, most unfortunately. As some may know it is my darling Juliette's birthday tomorrow,and I'm making her a present. I told myself to get it finished before tonight, but I'm stuck with it. Yesterday (or the day before, I can't remember which) I decided to re-do it because I didn't like the way it was going. I'll get it done. I will not let her down.

In other birthday news it was Tashnatter's a handful of days into the past, and I am invited to the party-thingy on Saturday Huzzah.

My room is still a mess, as it will be for quite some time, though I may be motivated enough to do it on Saturday before the party.

I don't think I've mentioned it on this account, but I do have an account for stock images if you need them: ~ambstock

I have also re-started submitting high resolution pictures to redbubble, if anyone is interested in buying prints. I'll throw the button-thingy in the footer down there near the stamps. More will appear on there over time ... if I don't procrastinate too much.

If you cast your mind way back to mid-2008 you may remember a journal telling of a photography trip with Dave Haworth, one telling of falling in orange water, walking on water and dropping my new (then) polarising filter into a rock-pool at Bondi beach. That polarising filter has fallen apart again ... several times. I have managed to fix it every time but I got sick of that and bought a new one (a circular one this time, yay), which should arrive on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

In television news NCIS has stopped being shown (well, the new series, anyway) because the ratings season whatsy has ended. THEY STOPPED THE SEASON BEFORE IT EVEN GOT HALFWAY THROUGH. So I have been devious and have watched the two episode following the "finale", as channel Ten advertised it, on the interconnected network. Quite interesting.

Oh yeah, and Frezned is FTW.

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...

It is true

=AaronBradford — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:03:38 PST
I do not enjoy taking pictures of people.

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Yes.

=AaronBradford — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:33:51 PST
You all fail. See last journal. See comments on last journal. Put two and two together.

In other news I have a renewed disliking of people who can't understand tone or can't take a joke.

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Julijaaa). My love for her is unfathomable and ever-growing ... boundless. She is the light of my life, and I hold her so very dearly. I find it so depressing right now that we've parted and are alone - alas, I cannot hold her and tell her how much she means to me. It's like we're a couple forced apart.

Katoomba is one of my favourite places to go. It's a beautiful little town with all one needs ... almost everything is easily walking distance from the railway station. The streets are wide and it has a charm and grace all of its own, and the thing I really like about that is the fact that Katoomba is not one of those pompous towns that flaunt their charm, saying "Ooh, come to this town, we're so good". No, Katoomba is a pleasant place to visit ... or to live. And not only is the town itself an attraction, but the surrounding mountains are a wonder in themselves.

On our second day in Katoomba, while making a breakfast that was more like lunch, we noticed through the YHA's kitchen window a thick grey fog devouring the trees and homes. After breakfast we grabed our gear and set out on a walk to Echo Point, to see what we could see. The further we walked the more the fog devoured, and when we reached Echo Point nothing could be seen but the fence and a few tops of the closest trees - all else was white. Picture of the fog you will find in my gallery.

The third day we left, I without my camera, to walk to the park we've pledged to visit since the Katoomba miniMEET in May. That park is my absolute favourite ... ever. It is so nice, like walking through a forest. Narrow paths and tunnels through overgrown shrubs and trees with green everywhere and almost no foreign sounds at all, apart from the rustle of my hand rubbing Juliette's dress as I embrace her for a kiss that will forever be in my mind.

On the last day a trip back to the park was a must, this time Joseph, my loyal Olympus E-510, was coming. The light was not as perfect but the love for the park and for Juliette was just as strong, if not stronger than the day before. In the clearing at the bottom of the park we sat arm in arm watching as what I suspected was cotton floated on the wind through park, looking like soft winter snow - not that I've ever seen snow im my life.

Later that day, in Angus & Robertson, I came across a book I've seen before. It is a book by Peter Conrad entitled 'At Home in Australia'. On the cover is a picture of the Great Australian Bight from above, as well as the Southern Cross and Commonwealth Star - the only things actually somewhat Australian on the Australian flag, the Union Jack being borrowed from the British as a sign of loyalty to the empire, I suppose. We're our own seperate country, though, with our own identity. I don't particularly see reason for its on-going inclusion.

'At Home in Australia' is a quite a good book inspired by photos of Australia through the times, and all the images in it are from the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. What is intersting is the fact that Australia was setteled only a few decades prior to the invention of modern photography, and thus its development has been thoroughly documented in that media. I won't lie, and although the other photos (and the words that accomany them) are of some interest to me, my main desire to purchase the book was driven by the fact that I'm in it.

Some people will know that I lived in the town of Warragamba in the early years of my life - a town settled for the sole purpose of housing the workers (and their families) that were building the Warragamba Dam. When the dam was finished the town was not deserted, but was kept alive. Warragamba is a short drive away from Penrith in Western Sydney, and is surrounded by bush at the foot of the mountains, although nothing quite as spectacular as Katoomba, I asure you.

From late December of 2001 into early January o...

I HAVE LYRIC

=AaronBradford — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:51:18 PST
Yes! I do!

Okay, so as you know I had computer problems with Petal II, and I sent her back to HP. She returned to me this morning with a new hard drive, and as she is now different I decided a new name was in order. Juliette suggested Lyric, and hence Petal 2.5 = Lyric!

In other news I cut my finger while opening the box.

In other news I went to Juliette's formal last night - pics soon ... maybe.

In other news the weather is nice and cool!

In other news I am off to Katoomba with my love for a couple of days - will take Lyric and do some editing and maybe upload one or two but maybe not.

In other news I bought a lens cap off eBay as I lost the one that came with the lens.

In other news I need some more tea.

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Stampage
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An Aaron Bradford Update

=AaronBradford — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:44:44 PST
Well, the laptop has been sent back to HP via the services of UPS; 'description of goods: faulty laptop'. And here an edit: it is to return to me on Monday - Huzzah!

I have decided not to be depressed about the loss of my original pictures. They still exist, and can never be erased from my mind. But, alas, they can never be physical and viewed by otheres, apart from the low resolution versions I have uploaded onto deviantART.

Another thing: I have decided to give a one-ha mocking-laugh at the people who idolise their camera and lens gods. Get a life. You're the creative one, not the camera (although this is not true for some, but it generally is). I'd rather break the camera trying to express my creativity than supress it. I'll lose my camera over the edge of a cliff one day - feel free to laugh with me ... but no doubt I'd be upset for a bit.

I've finished school now, as some may know. My HSC is complete and 14 years of schooling at an end. Ten different schools, a couple of good friends, a horde of likeable and detestable teachers ...

This coming Sunday evening is my darling Juliette's formal - I can't wait!

A meager two days after that I will be in Katoomba with her for a couple of days ... anyone know of any decent sunrise/sunset locations within walking distance of the town? I would love to go out to Narrowneck again as we did in May during the devMEET, but alas, no car.

I really have no plans after that. I might go up to Tanilba Bay for a few days, or Newcastle, or both. I want to be atop Tomaree Point in Port Stephens for sunrise ... maybe I'll do that.

Whatever I do, I'll make sure I have time for the date-yet-to-be-released *SydneySyders devMEET.

I tried to do a sunrise shoot today ... I woke up at five and the clouds did not look promising at all. Maybe tomorrow. I'll take the bike and go for a ride along the Parramatta River ... perhaps to Meadowbank or Concorde ... I don't know. I really don't like to plan exactly where I'll go for photos (with a few exceptions, of course), I just like to blow in the wind and stumble across something rather than deliberaely running into it.

I did something productive today, too ... and it involves the aforementioned mountain bike (even though, I have been informed, that Australia's mountains are piss-weak - we can't help being smack bang in the middle of a continental plate, you know). I got out the bikes today (for we have two old ones that we bought in Mackay when living in Queensland), and rode each around the block to see how they were going. There is plenty of things wrong with each, but I picked one and tried to improve it. I got the front brakes working properly, the back ones still need work (both need new pads soon); the gearing on both is a shamozzle ...the front gears are completely missing (lol) and the rear were a bit iffy, although I managed to get them working. It is now at least ridable, I just need to find a helmet.

I also brought in the load of washing I did yesterday and hung a new load out. I cleaned out a lot of no-longer-need paper, too. The school system must waste huge amounts of paper in hand-outs that are lost or damaged.

Tomorrow I have told myself to go into Parramatta (a small deviation on the way to hand in forgotten engineering text books) and get myself a Photo Card from the RTA. Tomorrow is also Juliette's last HSC exam - wish her luck!

My room is such a mess.

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Stampage
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fraggingfreek

~quirkylessthanthree

*smilingnature

~B-Rogers

~bohemianblueface

~collargoll

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Stampage
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deviantART: by:AaronBradford

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