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FunkyRosebud Studio

Capturing the Sparkling Moments

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Festival of Imagination

“Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?”
— Sun Tzu

Yesterday I attended an event at the Selfridges 'Festival of Imagination' which is a programme of 'interactive lectures, debates and workshops' held in a specially designed space called the Imaginarium at Selfridges Oxford St store. Award-winning architect Rem Koolhaas created a space full of mirrors and possibilities with a central feature amphitheatre. 

imagine blocks.jpg

The event I attended was 'Eureka! Moments' with Cathy Haynes from the 'School of Life' and was about exploring ways of boosting your creative confidence. The time was short, only 90 minutes, but she managed to pack a lot in.

Haynes discribes a 'Eureka! moment' as  being a moment when 'something we couldn't think comes thinkable' or when the 'impossible becomes possible'. She also talks about combination and connection and things not just coming out of the blue. We should use and expand what we have. As an example of this she cites the creative process of the poet WB Yeats in relation to his poem the 'Lake Isle of Innisfree'. You can hear him describe this in his own words and read his  poem here. This is a poem I am extremely familiar with, because as well as being in our poetry book at school, we had to sing it!

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.

- See more at: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15529#sthash.Sc4xr08G.dpuf

self imagine.jpg
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ (I found it) but ‘That’s funny ‘ ....”
— Isaac Asimov

The session was broken up by discussions and exercises to get us thinking. One of these was  design your own muse, where you thought of real or fictional figures who have / represent qualities or attitudes you would like to develop and then put them together in a kind of 'mix and match' approach. I'm still working on mine but it's an intriguing concept!

Well done to Selfridges for putting on the Festival of Imagination! I was very impressed when I left, to notice all the shop windows had an imaginative theme like these maraca toothbrushes  and punk taps, rather than being stuffed full of things for sale .

I especially loved this plant watering umbrella!

See you next time and happy imagining!

tags: Imaginarium, Selfridges, School of Life, poetry, WB Yeats, Cathy Haynes, Rem Koolhaas, event, imagination, Eureka! moments, Oxford St, Festival of Imagination
categories: information, Photography, Poetry
Sunday 01.26.14
Posted by Barbara Evans
Comments: 2
 

Introducing Week of Sparkles

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”
— Henry Miller

Today I'm trying out what I hope will become a regular feature on my blog 'Week of Sparkles', where I share with you some of my sparking moments of the week and would love it if you would share some of yours in the comments section. Anyway, here goes! 

 

Film

I have been watching an amazing documentary about British photojournalist Don McCullin. It has been hard to watch as he has documented some terrible atrocities, but  what gives the sparkle is the way in which his soul and his integrity shine through the horror he is capturing and the fact that someone has had the courage to record what has happened gives hope to the world in the long term. 

 

 

“I don’t just take photographs, I think”
— Don McCullin

I saw this on the BBC as part of the Imagine series, so it is probably available on iPlayer, otherwise you can get it from Amazon.

McCullin [DVD]
Starring Don McCullin

Discovery

Stuff about the demise of google reader had been all over the net this week with various people suggesting replacement programmes. I didn't use google reader and to be honest I wasn't sure (and still don't know) exactly what it did. I have never been really good about keeping up with other people's blogs and always felt vaguely guilty about it, mostly reading the few that were delivered into my in box. So I decided to give Bloglovin' a try and I'm really lovin' it! It works brilliantly. especially when using the app on my phone or iPad, and makes it quick and easy to keep up with everyone's blogs. You can find it here or by clicking on the Bloglovin' button on the sidebar of this page.

 

Books

As always I have more than one book on the go, but this weeks sparkle winner is 'Life is a Verb' by Patty Digh. I love the way she interweaves the stories of her life with her quest to live 'each individual, glorious day with more intention', though I have to admit I haven't been doing the exercises, something to go back to perhaps?

Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally
By Patti Digh

Photography

Limited opportunities here this week but I did go to London for an appointment and afterwards got my camera out on the walk between Oxford Circus tube station (having learned that getting the camera out of its bag helps immeasurably with the process of taking pictures!) and one of my favourite clothes shops. These are my favourites of the pictures I took.

 

I really wanted to see this couple sitting at this cafe!

I loved the fabric on this bag that someone was carrying!

I was intrigued watching this guy prepare the mixture for the bubble pipes outside a Moroccan cafe ( you can catch a glimpse at the right hand side of the bike photo)  - I'm sure there is a whole terminology surrounding this, but I have no  idea what it is.

I love reading the blue and in this case green plaques on the London buildings. I especially love the idea of a 'Man of Science' even though I have no clue as to who he was. I was getting my husband to proof read this and he was horrified by my ignorance as his college science society was named after him as an alumnus.

 

I thought this new cafe looked really cool with its iPad on every table and a lovely condiment tray.

 

These were some of my sparking moments of the week  - I would love to hear about  yours

tags: London, Oxford St, Tosti, McCullin, Patti Digh, Bloglovin'
categories: books, information, Photography, travel
Saturday 07.06.13
Posted by Barbara Evans
Comments: 7
 

Lightroom and Christmas Street Decorations

If you aren't interested in my adventures in Lightroom, page down to get to the Christmassy Pictures!

I have this week at last  begun to get to grips with Lightroom. I got it back in the summer prior to signing up to Kim Klassen's   Round Trip course - then the problems began. I had started to use it just for organising my photos and had imported my Photoshop Elements catalogue. Then I realised my hard disk was amongst completely full and that I need to find a solution quickly. Panic! delete a few photos and realise this isn't going to cut it. Next step was to buy an external hard drive and then panic again about transferring the photos without them becoming disconnected from the Photoshop and light room catalogues, or worse still losing the lot!

After extensive research we found out that you needed to transfer the files from inside the programme so I had to choose which to keep connected. In the end I choose Elements as I was more familiar with the programme and felt altogether more comfortable with it. So we spent a day transferring the photos in batches and to my great relief it all worked - I had space on my hard disk and at least I could still use elements!

Next to tackle Lightroom - in theory this wasn't too difficult; delete every thing in the catalogue and then re-import the photos from the Elements catalogue - it took several days before I managed to make myself bite the bullet in case it all went horribly wrong! Then success, I was able to start using lightroom and start on the Round Trip course which I had bought extended access to my this time!

The photos I am sharing today have layouts done with the Lightroom print module - my first attempt and very much a work in progress Enjoy!

These two are taken at the iconic Conran shop in Chelsea. I loved how they decorated their windows and the the pink delivery bike was awesome. 

The Chelsea Conran shop is in an old Art Decco building that used to be a Michelin garage and is absolutely stunning!

I love Christmas decorations and the pictures above were taken in St Christopher's Place just behind Oxford Street, I think  all the silver balls and reflections are just wonderful!

This final set of photos are window displays from shops in the streets just off Oxford St and Regent St.  I adore the rich lush colours and textures

tags: Chelsea, Christmas, Conran shop, London, Oxford St, West End, decorations, lights, shops
categories: Photography
Saturday 12.08.12
Posted by Barbara Evans
Comments: 4
 
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