deviantART: by:Nichols

Devious Journal Entry

~Nichols — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:51:55 PDT

Canon EF 50mm 1.4

~Nichols — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:30:40 PDT

Hi guys, basically I have decided to buy the Canon EF 50mm 1.4 because I like the quality and I love the bokeh! So, I was wondering what your experiences have been with this lens; Is it safe to 'buy it now' from ebay for £200? And, do you have any examples of your work taken using this lens? Thanks..

I still invite you to take part in the poll, I have seen such a poll before but I just wanted to do my own survey..

So do you have your favourites 'Random' or 'Recent'? Please vote, and let me know your reasoning! Many thanks;

The Poll...

Your Favs; Random or Recent?

~Nichols — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 04:35:32 PDT

I invite you to take part in the poll, I have seen such a poll before but I just wanted to do my own survey..

So do you have your favourites 'Random' or 'Recent'? Please vote, and let me know your reasoning! Many thanks;

The Poll...

New Photography & Thanks...

~Nichols — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 02:34:02 PDT

_{For those of you that are interested (there are some devoted watchers!), here is a long-overdue update on what I have been up to...

I have called this entry New Photography for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I would like to share with you some excellent photographs that can be found on here. Often, I come across shots that I enjoy so much that I just want to draw some more attention to them (with a bias towards relatively 'unknown' yet serious photographers). These are posted below..

Anyway; I have recently reviewed my devart gallery and I think that it is complete - I feel it marks the first stage in photography for me, much like my first portfolio perhaps. I am quite happy with what I have achieved since taking it seriously last year, yet I look upon my gallery with concern - I want it to be much better, I want to further myself and my work.

This process has since involved me looking at a hell of a lot of photos, analysing them, and reading literature from the greats - like Ansel Adams, et al. I have looked at myself, what I want to do with photography, what I want to change. Therefore, I decided to buy an old slr film camera; I think this will help my discipline and increase the quality of my output in numerous ways no more shotgun photography! After much research I settled on an Olympus OM-2 and am now anticipating its arrival, I cant wait to show you the results!

I didnt really know where to go from here with my devart gallery; maybe a new account, or deleting my current gallery..? Maybe you have a suggestion? Please comment! From this point forward I hope you notice an improvement in the quality of my submissions.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to all those that have ever supported me in whatever way, be it even a mere comment I wouldnt have got here without the encouragement and critique. I will leave you with a quote from Ansel, who seemingly predicted digital photography 24 years ago, I hope he may be as much an inspiration to you as he is to me;

I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I believe that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practitioner will again strive to comprehend and control them".

Ansel Adams in The Negative, Carmel, California, March 1981}

Ace Photos:

I think this is important here to bring to mind how many people actually lost their lives; generations lost forever, people that should be here.

Never Forget...

Unknown Artists Project

~Nichols — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 03:40:03 PST

Listening to: AFX - Phonatacid
Reading: Alan Carr's 'Easy Way to Stop Smoking'
Watching: Schindler's List

_{The idea of Unknown Artists Project is to feature unknown artists and their artworks. The quintessential goal intended to be achieved from this is to gain more attention and exposure for talented, yet underrated artists on deviantART. Every day people recommend artists to the 'Unknown Artists Project'. These selfless deviants making the suggestions generally have as much or less publicity as who they request. That's the spirit of dA. People who help and support will recieve help and support.

Often, most deviants need a starting point to make them feel like a part of the community, yet the the efforts attempted to gain susceptablity and notoriety is primarily ineffectual. It's discouraging to every artist who spends a lot of time on their artwork to receive little or no attention. Art needs an audience; artists need an audience. Without it the idea of continuing to enhance one's talent dwindles and submitting the ignored work seems frivolous.

Here, we intend to help diminish that ignorance and give fellow deviants a reason to share their gifts of artwork and creativity while acquiring deserved repute.

The "Unknown Artists" is a community that features high quality art that has not had the exposure it rightfully deserves. This program offers such deviants and deviations a chance to heighten their popularity and demonstrate their work to a wider audience of deviants.

The successfulness of deviantART is not just the cause of popular artists, but the "small" people who are coming to this site every day to communicate and participate. They are the backbone of deviantART. If you encourage and acknowledge them, deviantART will flourish. It is not only a question of the community's spirit, but it is of existential importance for deviantART and its users to encourage others, give recognition, and to essentially make their creative talents appreciated.

There is so much creative power here on deviantART and it is time to look beyond the famous artists we see every day. Some of you may be hidden in the system at the moment but you are not forgotten. Never give up in sharing your gifts of art no matter how silly and tedious it may seem. Support other artists, comment to get comments (or out of kindness and admiration), inspire yourself and others.

All these things truly reflect the core priorities of what deviantArt was created for and UA intends to embellish upon the concept.

Thanks to garrit and supporters. Find out more: [link]}

weird but true

~Nichols — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 00:56:38 PST

musical plants
plants grow faster and healthier if subjected to a daily dose of bach's brandenburg concertos. try it.

tastes like chocolate and cures cancer
the benefits of chocolate include the following: antioxidants combat cell damage, endorphins make you feel good, helps with lactose intolerance, helps reduce alcohol intake, chromium controls blood sugar, and it actually fights tooth decay. (usa weekend, 1998)

but will it fly?
apply all the physics that we know to the weight, shape, wing design, and power transmission and control technology of a housefly and you will conclude that it won't fly. we know how to put a man on the moon but we don't know what makes a fly fly. michael is working on it. (michael dickinson) 1999

mind games
chess masters can play chess without a board by verbally announcing the moves and keeping the current state of the board in their minds. jailed chess masters in solitary confinement have been known to play both sides of the board in similar fashion.

the mystery of birth order
of the siblings were you born first? or second? or last? it has a lot to do with who you are. not just nature and nurture but also birth order plays a role in shaping our personalities and our lives. frank sulloway of mit has written a book about this phenomenon.

you remember but you can't recall
after you drive to work i ask you to give me a count of the number of red cars you saw on the road. yes, you do know, and under hypnosis you will recall the exact number. the clutter and background noise of life are filtered out of our consciousness but inexplicably stored.
(btw: memory is unreliable both ways. we forget things that happened and remember things that did not. (henry l. roediger iii, washington university, st. louis). under the right conditions and with some coaxing we can be made to 'remember' total fiction. (elizabeth loftus, university of washington, seattle) NOTE: Watch Derren Brown on C4 for evidence of this!

Exerpts from [link]
weird but true; the world is weirder than science
compiled and edited by jamal munshi, all rights reserved

NYC Here We Come!

~Nichols — Sun, 14 Nov 2004 14:24:05 PST

My beautiful, amazing girlfriend has suprised me by taking me to New York for my 22nd Bday! I thought we were going to London for 5 days but instead she surprised me with this! Isn't she amazing? She makes me feel like the luckiest guy alive.

I've always wanted to go and neither of us have ever been to America so were both very, very excited. She wanted me to have an excellent opportunity to take some fabulous photos, so I think that objective has been achieved to say the least!

I'll be away 25-30 Nov so hopefully I'll be able to share with you some of my photos from the trip!

New Canon EOS 300D!

~Nichols — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 14:46:14 PST

All,

W00t! Just got one and I'm loving it. The reason is that I wanna start and take photography much more seriously. Anyway, hope you enjoy what I share of it with yous.

Cheers,
Nichols.

~Nichols — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 11:47:05 PDT

Vital Statistics?

~Nichols — Sun, 18 Apr 2004 16:25:39 PDT

Stats for ~Nichols

I have 1,473 pageviews total and my 80 deviations were viewed 2,074 times, with 4,043 fullviews, for a grand total of 6,117 views.
Overall, people left 267 comments and added my deviations to their favourites 65 times, while I commented 234 times, averaging 0.71 comments per day, which means that I received 11 comments for every 10 that I gave.
My most commented deviation was Reflection In Krakow with 13 comments, receiving an average of 0.92 per day in the first 2 weeks, and it was also my most favourited, with 8 favourites, averaging 0.57 per day in the first 2 weeks. My most viewed photo was 0 . 1 9 9 3 8 4 1 with 798 views.
2 Favourites were given for every 10 Comments.
Every 4.1 days I upload a new deviation, and it's usually on a Sunday , with 30%/24 of my deviations.
My favorite time of the day to upload is at 00am with 9 deviations and my busiest month was March 2004 with 21/26% of my deviations.
The majority of my deviations are uploaded to the Photography gallery (30 ), while my favorite category in it was Misc with 19 deviations
Comments per deviation: 3.33
Favourites per deviation: 0.81
Views per deviation: 76.46
Comments per day: 0.81
Favourites per day: 0.19
Views per day: 18.64
Pageviews per day: 4.49

Stats provided by *micahgoulart @ Ingenial.com / GalleryStats

What do you think would be fair targets based on these stats?
Feel free to let me know. I strive to improve.

The Art of Horror

~Nichols — Sun, 14 Mar 2004 17:03:19 PST

I've recently aquired a new digital camera (Canon ixus 400). I got to grips with it pretty quickly and I love it. Anyway, my first project arose when my sister invited me to go to Poland with her for 4 days cos she was making a documentry about the Jewish holocaust.

I went, and took the camera, as it was a superb opportunity to get some interesting photos, and live out a remarkable experience. We stayed in Krakow and visted Auschwitz (about an hour away on the train). Auschwitz is divided into three concentration camps. Over 1 million Jews were murdered there. I'll try and tell the story through the photos as I upload.

The experience was very saddening and moving, and I'll never forget it. I felt this should be a good way to increase the awareness of the unimaginable attrocities conducted by the Nazis. It should never be forgotten.

My 1st Anniversary

~Nichols — Fri, 06 Feb 2004 10:41:27 PST

Ive been a member here for exactly one year now. I must thank my followers:

~darksk8er
*f0rTyLeGz
~wizzink2k
*TroX
~mysterious-shadow
~ChocolateMunkey
~ZCazzieZ
~freexxx
*Ambient-Lullaby
~creamamnesia
~blam3d
~thezombie
*jetgirl
~Klepp
~jakeslazenger

for their support and all the other members that have also helped to shape my work. Ive developed my artwork a lot since 1 year ago, so thanks to DevArt too for giving me the opportunity to express myself and grow as an artist.

Nichols.