Tea with McNair

> mcface

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Taking pictures, just because

Say, "Provolone!" There's a camera built into my new MacBook. I can iChat with friends around the country and see them live like a far more expensive photo phone, but over the Internet. Better yet, the built-in "Photo Booth" feature has sixteen different special effects features plus "normal."
    Whenever I get a new toy, techno-toy, gadget, or even a new art tool  (especially a new felt pen as  I did Monday in Denver) I play with it immediately. Take it for a test drive, "Let's see  what this baby can do!"
     You got it to have all those features, try them out. Now.
    So, here is your latest exercise in my on-going series designed to grow your toolbox of creative experiences. (If you are new to my Tea blog you can go to the introductory post , " i know a place, " for this series, located on its own secret site Between Reason & Recess.)
    TRY THIS: Grab your camera, or better yet, grab a disposable camera at your local drug store and shoot the entire "roll" in one day. (If you're are using a digital camera, shoot 20 pictures.) On standard film and disposable cameras you can request digital images on a disk (as well as prints) when having your photos processed--so you can download them onto your computer, blog, email, etc. Many of you are already doing this. We keep learning these tricks from each other. Don't be afraid to ask one of the great questions of modern times, "How'd you DO that?" (Unless you're talking to David Copperfield.)
    The idea here is to have fun with a camers without worrying about getting the perfect shot for a family album, or publication. Play! Have fun with a camera-- not frustration. You cannot do this wrong! Shoot funny angles. And do include yourself in several of the photos that you shoot. Remember: YOU shoot every frame. (See examples below.)
    Here's some fun I had in the past hour, right here in my loft using my MacBook's built-in camera and several of its special effects. All were point and click, no cropping or color adjustments were made in PhotoShop or other post production software.

   

GUIDE (first expand, widen, your browser window so there are two rows of four photos) L to R, starting with the top left photo. (Click on any photo to enlarge): 1. Normal setting with sliding fire door to studio behind me; 2. Sepia effect, living room brick wall; 3. Mirror effect (you are seeing the left side of my face on both sides of this photo) and big, 10 ft., loft windows; 4. Squeeze effect, "wild artist" look; 5. Glow effect, pensivated; 6. Sketch effect, in my studio w/ all my stuff; 7. Posterized "Warhol" effect 8. Comic Book effect, with favorite carnival billboard section behind me.

    This is not an ego trip--it just so happened that I was the best looking guy in the room, well, the only guy. Do shoot some snaps of yourself, but a lot of other ordinary, extraordinary, normal, and curious locals in your area. Get a close-up of a small part of a big thing, and . . . oh, you choose!

 

 

( Loft close-ups (L to R): Hats & Globes; old typecase with 1.25" wood type; bolt and arch from studio looking into main loft space with kitchen in background.)

    If you get a shot or two that you really like, email them to me (see upper left under my main photo for email link) and please Do post a comment here after you've done the exercise to share with others the fun you had. It is an important facet of this excersise that you have an enjoyable, stress-free, experience. This is not a job, or homework, nor are there dozens of anxious family members depending on your photography skills to get the perfect shot. Shoot! For optimum enjoyment think silly, shoot crazy angles, take pictures you may have no use for ever again except to see, "What would this look like?"

    For extra credit (and extra fun) get two disposable cameras and give one to a child (under 8) and take them with you. You can shoot some of the same subjects, each other, and yourselves. "A child will lead them" also applies to creative pursuits, especially since children have not yet learned all the made up human rules that stunt the growth of our natural, built-in creative spirit.

Your turn. Have fun...or stay off the playground!

   McNair

P.S. I will grab a disposable camera today and do this exercise, again, and share a few snaps in a future blog. (I also want to shot some shots out and about with my MacBook.) Stand by, "film (and pixels) at eleven."

• all about me

 

Wanna Play?

This is fun. Hope you enjoy playing along. Read through my responses, then read the instruction at the end.

1. What time is it?  9:59 PM
2. What is your full name?  C. McNair Wilson, P.T.G.
3. What are you most afraid of?  Friends I will not see Eternity
4. What is the most recent movie that you have seen?  Funny Bones with Oliver Platt and Lee Evans--I showed it to a good friend on DVD--always a delight to watch. Get it!
5. Have you ever seen a ghost?  Nope
6. Have you ever milked a cow?  Yes
7. Ever been to Alaska?  Net yet
8. What is your favorite country that you’ve visited, outside your home country?  Morocco, love the people, the food, the climate
9. Ever been in the hospital for an over night stay, and why?  Yes, I had surgery. Twice.
10. Do you plan to have any more Children? I do not have any now. Wish I had done that, but no regrets
11. Favorite day of the week? Any day I get to write, create, teach, speak, act, direct...be me.
12. Favorite Restaurant? Chez Panisse (Berkeley), Balthazar (NYC) see photo at right.
13. Favorite Flower?  Tulips
14. Favorite outdoor spot or region (be specific, not just “the beach,” which beach)?  Sidewalk café in Paris, opposite a railroad station, all day. People watching.
15. Favorite sport to watch? Curling
16. Favorite Drink?  A chewy red wine
17. Favorite Ice Cream? Mint chocolate chip
18. Favorite fast food restaurant? In-N-Out Burger
19. What color is your bedroom carpet?  Oatmeal (no raisins)
20. How many times did you fail your driver's test?   Never
21. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail?  “Nutman”
22. What do you do when you are bored?  Never been bored (I always have my sketchbook with me, just in case I see a small cloud of boredom coming my way. I have learned that the click of a felt pen opening or the sound of a fountain pen cap being unscrewed will scare away boredom like garlic is to a vampire.)
23. Bedtime?  2AM
24. Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest? No idea
25. What question should be added to this questionnaire and what is your answer?  (See No.14, I added it)
26. Who are the guests at your ultimate dinner party? (Name three real persons living or dead.)  Three grand raconteurs: Peter Ustinov, Peter O’Toole, and Robertson Davies, author.(see photo at right)
27. Favorite (currently running)TV show?  24
28. Favorite, all time animated character?  Bullwinkle J. Moose (the rest are mere phone doodles)
29. What are you listening to right now?  Legends of the Fall soundtrack
30. How many pets do you have?  Every dog in the world is my pet, too.
31 Which came first the chicken or the egg?  A chicken to sit on the first egg, otherwise...no more chickens
32. What’s one thing you would you like to accomplish before you die? A sketchbook in every hand

Here's what you do... And please have fun. Copy this questionnaire and paste the contents into a new email window, delete my answers and type in yours.  Send it to a bunch of people you know. You may cc me, but you do not have to. The idea is to learn a few little known facts about people you already know. In the comments section of this blog let me know what you learned in answering the questions and what reactions you got from sending it out.

Have fun,

McNair

Spending the day in a favorite cafe, writing and sketching. Do stop by for a cup of Tea.

P.S. A special thanks to Mr. Bob Joles, a former house mate (Orlando) 
and long-time friend for sending the original questionnaire that the survey above is based upon. If you own any DVD/VHS of recent animated movies, check the voice credits, as Bob is a very talented and busy Hollywood voice actor. 

• losing half my mind

 

. . . An involuntary house cleaning

My laptop died. I didn't even know it was sick. (Without boring you with details, creative computer techs whom I trust, say they can do a clean install but that would erase everything in the computer. There are yet a couple other avenues I am pursuing to retrieve the most important stuff.)
    For now, I have lost more than half of the manuscript on my new book--not my new brainstorming book, by a newer book I have not mentioned on my blog yet. Stay tuned.
    The other large loss was ALL my email files, e-ddresses and several long boilerplate pieces I have crafted to respond to FAQs.
    After a week of grieving my hi-tech losses I am back on the blog, and writing that “newer” book everyday. I hold out hope that restoration may yet come to that old (4 years) laptop.
    The first day back online I dealt with more than a week of unanswered emails. The spam box was overflowing and in the IN box were lot not quite a thousand emails. That represents eight to ten days of not dealing with my email.
    Typically I am too verbose in my responses, even when just chatting with friends and business partners. Usually a much short response would suffice. I also play with fonts and colors far too much. I know my concern for the “look” of my emails is neither necessary nor appreciated. Answering several hundred emails in one day has altered that, a good bit.
    I am hoping this new belief in brevity will spill over into my blogging. It will allow me to post more often and to say “Yes” to a couple of invitations I have to blog for other websites. (More on that as they develop.)
    All-in-all, this involuntary house clean has been a most welcome, though uninvited, intrusion. It was like a “force quit” on the software in my head. I got a personal reboot that has been just as helpful as the occasional boot in the seat of my cords that good friends have given me, now and then, to alert me to being a knucklehead. I have actually had to retire a few pairs of slacks that had become threadbare from too many bootings.
    On day No. 1 with my new MacBook, I created a series of key files to organize the most frequent subjects of my personal and professional pursuits. Organization wasn’t nonexistent in my life before this “reboot”, rather it was inefficient.
    Funnily enough, when my old laptop died, I was in the process of gong through ALL the files on my laptop (a New Year’s resolution that was working) and reorganizing them into a leaner and more practical system. I liked that process and it was working. Basically I employed a technique I teach when coaching speakers: Always choose clarity over cleverness. Give names to files and documents that are exactly what they contain and briefly--one word is best.
    Example: I do not have a “writing” file, of a “works in progress” file, or an “idea for...” file. I have a “BOOKS” file. In there is a file for each book project by the name of the book. In each of those is the current version of the manuscript (MS) with a date. If I write for 30 minutes or six hours on one MS I do a “save as” with today’s date and that becomes the current version. I also have an automatic date stamp in the margin of every MS. Every visual resource and all other research associated with that book is in that book’s file.
    I have no separate, catch-all “research” file. If I need a particular file in more than one place I create an “alias” and place it in as many places as I need it.
    Other writing is in files marked “Articles”, “Blogs” (inside the larger “TEA” file on my desk top.) I think you get the idea. Develop a bias for “clear” over “clever.” If you can do both, great.
    I want to spend less of my life (time and brain cells) trying to remember and find where I put something. (This is holds true in my Studio/Office as to where and how I file and store stuff. ) I am also committed to spending fewer words communicating, especially through the “world wide web’s electronic mail” (a.k.a. email.)
    For now I am ecstatic that I lost all that stuff when my laptop died. Most of the key stuff (photos, PR stuff, seminar outlines, books, etc.) were backed up.  
    I am already continuing to write and rewrite the new book and hopefully will be able to retrieve it from the old hard drive. If not, I’ll keep writing.

Onward,

McNair

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