Holiday Feature - PhotoTrice

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone,

As five or six year-old children we made Valentines cards using construction paper, glue and scissors. Sixty five years ago children made things with their hands. It was how we learned rudimentary manual skills so necessary in the lives of our parents and grandparents. Education is much more forward looking today than in the fifties.

This simple card is muscle memory transformed from paper into something digital. It is an attempt to be somewhat relevant in the present day. My natural demographic is out of step with the future. Today making things with your hands is unnecessary and even frowned upon as a waste of time.

A dubious advantage of age is the ability to interpret the present based upon life experience. I’m cursed by mechanical ability which is the result of the blessings of a visual mind. I can see the most intricate details of the physical world. This mind trick it is always mine to use.

Looking Back on 2019

LOOKING BACK on 2019
It’s time to take a whack at putting 2019 into perspective. The year is neatly divided into before my cardiac crisis and the aftermath. Almost by accident I’m living a new reality. I got older, maybe a little wiser, further in debt and much more satisfied to see the sun rise every day. That is enough self-assessment / pity for this or any year.

A NEW DISCOVERY!
After more than forty years as a software developer I finally discovered social media this year. For some reason Facebook, Twitter and the like have never really interested me. I do have a rather unsuccessful presence on YouTube but not much else. Sometime during this year I discovered Pinterest which fits nicely with photography and image making.

It works for me because images are front and center as primary content. With some effort it is possible to ‘curate’ interesting collections of visual content for any type of audience. Better yet the platform encourages people to find interesting collections and share them on. Even Black & White photography and experimental motion graphics can draw viewers. Who would have guessed?

The three images at the top of this post are linked to motion graphics animations I put together specifically for posting on Pinterest. Vertical formats are preferred which is completely different from any of the other platforms. That is an opportunity because there are many fewer content producers working in vertical format. It is also a challenge putting together interesting work. Not sure I’ve succeeded exactly but I’m working on it.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE
Best wishes for the holiday season and happy productive New Year.
kw

Independence Day

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Interesting Times

Much has changed in America since I was a kid in the mid twentieth century. My life as a free-range child felt absolutely carefree. The 4^th of July was about patriotism, parades and picnics. Now I know the world is a more complicated place where consequences intrude on childhood. Still those early memories shape the core of my understanding of who we are as a nation.

A century ago my family came to the new world in the aftermath of war in Europe. They made a choice to give up lives in the old world not knowing what may come. That decision gave me my place as an American. Thank You.

Happy Birthday USA