Boy, have I learned

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epaIPo6BeXg

First: Patience is key in all things design and especially in Photoshop.  

Second: Be in touch with your purpose. It can only guide you. 

Third: Quality comes eventually. 

Of course I learned specific Photoshop skills, but in a much broader scope, I learned about myself as a designer and what my creative process usually looks like. Design is such a tricky balance of patience and achievement. You have to make progress to even want to continue, even if that means finding out what a certain button does and if/how it can be applied to your work. Photoshop also becomes strangely addictive when you've learned enough. I felt the need to need and strong desire to keep going. I suppose that's the whole point, though. 

It's been fun, Photoshop. 

A blessing

First off, I had heard about this study a few years back, before I was in college, and really liked the whole idea. I think my generation is unique for a number of different reasons, one of which being our dependency on media. We all know it is the biggest curse and blessing. I think it's extremely paradoxical how the whole idea is to bring people closer, as it provides a sense of convenient connectivity, and yet, almost nothing achieves isolation better than media. It crushes me when I walk into a room and see every. single. person. on their phone. Breathe. Look up. Engage in a face to face conversation with someone. Nothing will ever measure up to that. We've lost a sense of togetherness at the expense of media. 

Now, I do think why we get carried away is because it's fun. But it's also our generation's obsession with a) posting what we are doing every second of the day and b) wanting to know what everyone else is doing at all times. That also kind of sickens me. But I, again, as always, have mixed feelings. I love seeing how others express themselves in photos, tweets, statuses, the whole nine yards. But I'd argue that stems from my passion for humanity and general and genuinely wishing I knew everyone's story. That topic is for another time.

I've gone days without media before, and truly, I've never had a better time when I do. I wish everyone would just get their faces out of their phone, even if only for an hour, and look at this beautiful planet for all that it is. Go do something spontaneous. It can be anything. I would actually be completely content without having an account on any social media platform. The only two aspects of media I would struggle without is the convenience of being able to talk to my parents through texting and calling, and listening to music. Truly, that's it. In that way, it is a blessing. But it's a curse that I even have these privileges, or that it's even a consideration of mine. I wonder what the style of living was like in previous generations. I almost feel life may have been more pure. What is convenient is not always what is best, and that, friends, is what I learned most recently from going without media for an entire day.

And above all, life is precious. Be wise with your time. Short and sweet, but not so simple. 

"X" marks the spot

My secret paradise 

This week was the hardest for me thus far. Working with photo editing software was something I have had a lot of experience with, but in very basic programming. Editing and work with photos is something I do find extremely relaxing, though, and have been doing for a very long time, which certainly helps given the extensive and often frustrating nature of learning how to use Photoshop.

Though initially this photo was not what I wanted to use for the letter portion of the project, the idea grew on me quite a bit in the sense that because it was the first photo I worked with, I was able to develop my entire theme for the rest of the photoshop project as a whole: places I have been happy. The main appeal of this picture was 1) the moment in which it was captured, 2) who captured it, and most of all, what was captured in that singular moment. I knew that it would be particularly enjoyable to work with for all of these reasons.

First, I edited the picture as a whole, working with and utilizing numerous different elements of the toolbox on the right, such as the filters, brightness/contrast gauge, curves, levels and vibrance. I did this until the picture, in totality, was pleasing to my eye. Then, the difficult part: figuring out how to accentuate the "X" on the gate I am standing on. The sky was a blinding and breathtaking blue that day, and I felt that it would make a lot of sense aesthetically to incorporate some similarity between the letter X and the sky's blue. First, I highlighted the area of the "X" with the magic wand and then experimented with many different blues, knowing initially I wanted it to be a very light baby blue, as something darker would be too harsh.

I'm pleased in the sense that this was my first time ever using photoshop, and it felt good to familiarize myself with various tools and options. I do realize that the creative process, even for each of the four pictures within this project, will be navigated differently, and in that way, I will learn more about how to use different tools to serve various purposes, mediums and criteria. That makes me very excited.

I'm happy to say that the conclusion I have drawn from all of this is that I am truly starting to feel like a designer in ways different from before. The horizon has been expanded. :)