Monday, 22 December 2014

5. A Thing for Local History


Mobile Thing 5 = Photos + Maps + Apps 
  
 I first tried out HistoryPin when it was in Beta mode a few years ago. It has come on since then with more functionality, but you still don't want to give it too many commands in close succession.

The first task - use the app to take a photo of an old/local building and pin it. I chose the now defunct Nhill Library, and worked through the steps - easy, the effort was the time it spent uploading it from the phone to HistoryPin, ended up clicking on the Stop button and trying via WiFi. It uploaded quickly but only the photo not the information or location, so had to enter that on the pc. 

Playing with the What Was There, loved the image of the Terminus Hotel in Ararat (it is the building at the end of the small street between the YMCA and KFC), fiddling with the fade in street view.

Decided to be a little ambitious and undertake one of the Explore tasks: Create a Tour on HistoryPin. As someone had said earlier, I should do a photo slideshow about Ebenezer, I decided to use it as my theme, if I'd had permission for some of the other historic images it would have been better, so had to settle for ones I'd taken...so here it is - Ebenezer Aboriginal Mission tour just click on the blue 'Take the tour' box.

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Phantom photo

The headline from PetaPixel screams: Peter Lik Print Sells for $6.5 Million, Shattering Record for Most Expensive Photo.
"Phantom"
Australian landscape photographer Peter Lik has taken the crown for most expensive photo ever sold. “Phantom,” the picture shown above, was sold to a private collector for a staggering $6.5 million. The record was previously held by Andreas Gursky’s “Rhein II”, which sold for $4.3 million in 2011.
“Phantom” was captured at Arizona’s Antelope Canyon, a slot canyon that’s popular among landscape photographers, and shows a beam of light resembling a “ghostlike figure” (hence the name). It’s a black-and-white version of a photograph that has also been printed in colour with the title, “Ghost”.
"Ghost"
Lik also announced that the same buyer purchased two other photographs “Illusion” for $2.4 million and “Eternal Moods” $1.1 million (he previously sold “One” for $1 million back in 2011), giving Lik four photos in the list of 20 most expensive photos of all time.
I have a whole book of Peter’s Blue Mountains images, so are they worth tens of millions?

Tuesday, 9 December 2014

Into this


This is one story which passed me by and I’ve only just discovered it – ‘Into the wild’ Jon Krakauer’s retelling of Chris McCandless’ tale.
 

I enjoyed Jon’s storytelling style in ‘Into thin air’, and have to admit it was the same with ‘Into the wild’ (do you see a theme here?). I was reading the library’s ebook version and I found it hard to put down, I’d get a few minutes and start reading, was at the hairdressers and peering at it via the small phone screen – and this was despite already knowing the ending! It wasn’t enough though, after reading the book I had to check out the film. Sean Penn directed the movie version which is based on Jon's book and told in a series of flashbacks.

It is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless played by Emile Hirsch.The film is beautifully shot, and I liked the concept of utilising the words from Chris' postcards on the screen.


The Plot: When he graduated in May 1990, Christopher had rejected the trappings of his conventional life – cutting up his credit cards and ID, donating his college fund savings ($24,000) to Oxfam, and instead he sets out to experience life in the wilderness – without telling anyone, in fact masquerading his activities.

Chris’ old yellow Datsun is caught in a flash flood, so he just abandons it. He burns his last money, begins hitchhiking, and assumes the name: Alexander Supertramp. As Alex he encounters different people who take him in (and listen to his philosophy on life). But he keeps moving on, captivated with the idea of going north to Alaska.


In April 1992, Chris arrives in a remote area of the Denali National Park in Alaska, and sets up camp in an abandoned bus used by hunters. At first, he is content with the isolation, the beauty of nature, and the thrill of living off the land.

Months later, he encounters difficulties, life becomes harder and he becomes less discerning. As his supply of rice (his staple) begins to run out, he realises that the nature he wants to experience is also harsh and uncaring and unrelenting, and he decides to return to civilisation, his family and friends. But, the stream he had crossed before the Spring melt is now a torrent and uncrossable (at least from where he is standing).

Seemly doomed, he returns to the bus, now as a prisoner no longer in control of his fate and reliant on help from the outside. Forced to gather and eat roots& berries, he apparently confuses two similar plants and suffers from an inability to digest food and wastes away. He writes a farewell to the world and crawls into his sleeping bag to die. Two weeks later, his body is found by groups of moose hunters.


When the events happened it caused a flood of comments which polarised people who considered him a free spirit, and those who considered him an unprepared innocent abroad. Similarities have since been drawn with Timothy Treadwell who was killed by a bear in 2003.

But concentrating on Jon’s telling of the story, some is supposition on what caused Chris to eat the seeds, what truly motivated him etc. There is also a chapter on Jon’s experiences climbing the Devil’s Thumb illustrating the parallels between his early life and Chris’. Jon investigated the story, he spoke with Chris' family and the people he had met on his travels.

In the resulting book, Jon seeks to examine and explain the obsession which leads some people to explore the outer limits of self, leave civilisation behind and seek enlightenment through solitude and contact with nature.


I have to admit amongst a whole host of thoughts I was left wondering, would it have ended differently if Chris had not found the bus refuge, would his experience have been curtailed if he wasn't cocooned by the added physical security provided by the bus' living conditions, and headed home sooner?? We'll never know.

Thursday, 4 December 2014

'Tis the season

'Tis the season for producing Christmas books - both bestselling authors releasing a new title 'just in time for gift giving', and an array of picture books of traditional and humourous themes.

The best I've come across is "There was an old bloke who swallowed a present" by P. Crumble and illustrated by Louis Shea.
It is in the same vein as our successful rendition of the other story "There was an old lady who swallowed a mozzie". 
The main character - the 'Ned Kelly' bloke

The gist is:-
* He swallowed the choir to serenade the snowman
* He swallowed the snowman to cool down the turkey
* He swallowed the turkey to nibble the gingerbread
* He swallowed the gingerbread to read the card
* He swallowed the card to go with the present, (and we)
* don't know why he swallowed that present (but we do know that)
* Now that's not pleasant!

And we know it's not going to end well, but you'll have to read the whole story to know what happens.
Wonderful cameos by the Gingerbread Man
So keep an eye on your Christmas tree and guard your stockings because now he's on the hunt for more Christmas snacks!
A great addition to the "There was a..." series.