Flickr Spotlight

Well, its been way to long since I have had some time to pull together a flickr spotlight post but I am happy to present to you a new collection of images from another great photographer on flickr. This time I have a handful of wonderful images by a photographer that simply goes by the name of Ravel (name links to his flickr page). Since he has been posting images he has remained somewhat on the anonymous side of the internet world and chosen to take an approach that leaves the images to speak for themselves. He collects images from pieces of his life and they often hold the sort of simplistic approach that lend themselves to make wonderful desktop images and I am happy to present a few of them here as such for everyone.

Ravel lives in North Carolina and considers photography a serious hobby of his and when I asked what attracts him to take photos he mentioned that his interest stems from his love for motion photography and film (video) than in still photography and would love to shoot with a 16mm film camera as soon as he can afford to try it. He attended school for motion pictures and it was during this time when he discovered still photography and fell in love with it. While he started with a digital camera he has recently started shooting with some old film cameras and has really enjoyed exploring photography in this new way.

Among the questions I asked him for this spotlight I like to ask why he enjoys photography and what draws him to continue to do it and his response was that he shoots because he feels he is a very visual person and ‘enjoys the simplistic beauty’ of it. In his words, “I’ve learned that there are so many things that you can find to be gorgeous by just taking a snapshot at the right time of the simplest little things on a day to day basis.” When asked what his favorite thing about photography is he relied, “My favorite thing about photography is the exploration of it. It makes me get out in the world and I see things that I probably would never of seen. It’s always an enjoyable experience.”

Well, I certainly hope he continues to explore and take photos with time and if you would like to see more of what he has to offer I urge you to dig through his flickr stream and take a look into the details he discovers around him. Otherwise please leave comments should you feel moved to let him know your thoughts on what he was nice enough to share here as desktops and enjoy! To download an image as a desktop simply click or right click on the image you would like to use as a desktop wallpaper. PLEASE RESPECT the terms of use found inside the zip files, the photographer sharing these was nice enough to share and it would be great if you could respect his images and only use them as your personal desktop image as they are NOT here for commercial use. Thanks for your understating and again, enjoy!

Mobile Images

I have been messing around with my iPhone and its tiny little camera. I bought an app for it that emulates one of the lomo cams out there as it turns it into an action sampler of sorts and collects four or eight images, one after the other, and lays them out either in a square grid like these or in one long line. Its been fun to play with and I thought I would share some of the results of said tinkering. I know I have not been posting as much in the last week or so but I will get some new desktops together as well as a couple other posts I have ready to post when I have some time. Thanks for your patience!

Note: I forgot to point out the name of the app is Quadcamera. I like the developers other apps as well but I am having the more fun with this one.

Tonight At Midnight We

Another photo taken from my new years eve photos that have often been requested to have the desktop treatment applied. I am simply cutting them to size, tagging, and uploading them when I have the time to put into it. I will continue to add the ones that are left that I feel would make for a good desktop. So if there is one that you liked that you had not seen appear here yet sit tight and it may show up here soon. This was one of my favorite photos from the bunch although when you see it bigger and your as picky as I am you will notice its not in perfect focus or anything. Its amazing it came out really as I was shooting fully manually with manual focus and handheld without a tripod and the idea that this shot managed to shine through as it has made me quite happy really as I was not sure what to expect from all the shots I took that night.

I also have a bunch of film that I have gone through and scanned and while many of these may not make it to be desktops I will be posting them on flickr and may post my favorites here in a post to share with everyone because there are a number of nice images to be seen. As soon as I find an adequate way to scan film images in digitally I will assemble my portfolio site which cant come soon enough because I am looking to come out for hire this year as a photographer both commercially and with prints and such things as time goes on. While I am starting out the new year a bit on the broke side I am still hopeful I will turn things around with time. Besides, the winter is always a bit on the slow side.

Random thoughts aside you can download the desktop of this image by clicking or right clicking here and downloading the attached zip file but please mind the terms of use. I always have a sense of hesitation when posting images I really like because I would hate to see them misused down the line, otherwise, thanks for visiting and enjoy!

Crossing

I was digging through photos that I took in Munich and fond a few that I thought would make nice desktops. I was also thinking to myself that I should go out and shoot some minimal desktops, textures or really minimal photography of some sort. Those sorts of photos work so well for the concept of a desktop I think and are easily paired with multiple monitors and whatnot. You know, I would be happy to offer multi screen desktops but to be honest, I just like this simplified approach to offering photos as desktops and I think it would just confuse everything. Sorry, this has nothing to do with anything really. Just writing something here to have something here at least because I don’t have too much to say about the image this time around.

To download the desktop simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the attached zip and please, mind the terms of use, I would really appreciate that. Some photographers freak out about giving out their work this way or without a big huge watermark and to be honest, I often wonder about it but usually my desire to share simply outweighs my nervousness about people stealing my images. I trust people, maybe to much sometimes but… yep. Enjoy!

Croissant

The best croissant I’ve every had was at my favorite cafe in Munich, Cafe Glockenspiel. Thats all, I am back stateside and getting used to life here again and I was daydreaming about this croissant and then I was thinking about how I should post something to fiftyfootshadows mentioning that I am home and safe and sound and I put them together into this post. In other news I have been posting regularly on my new music blog youdisappear.net and I have had a lot of fun with it. I hope to keep up posting at least once a day to continue growing the database of albums on there. Other than that I am still looking forward to the new year and what it may bring. Stay tuned for a couple new desktops soon!

Yo!

Another image from the new years post. I think a rambled on long enough on my last post so I will keep this one simple. This was on the underside of a bridge at the mouth of a pedestrian tunnel that crosses on the underside of the bridge. I wished that this box here was in the center of the image but its close enough I suppose. Also, I apologize if the full sized image is not super sharp, I have shot all these dark shots sans-tripod which can get tricky in such dark environments.

To download the desktop image simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to grab the attached zip and please respect my terms of use found inside the zip, these images are for your private use as a desktop image only. Thanks and enjoy!

Spark

Here is a slightly more yellow version of a photo I posted in my new years eve photo post. I made it more yellow like this to dull the overbearing white of the left half of the image because on a desktop as a wallpaper it was just a but too much. However, here is a sparky desktop for you in the new year. I will continue to post photos from my new years eve post. I would post all of them but not all of them lend themselves well to be desktops either because of sharpness issues or simply not being appropriate for such a simple thing. When it comes to desktops I tend to lean more towards simplistic images that don’t distract too much from the computer screen and the work you may be doing on it. As a designer I know, a busy desktop is nothing but a distraction when it comes to the functionality of a desktop. Anywho…

To download the desktop simply CLICK OR RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the attached zip file and please respect the terms of use found inside said sip, thanks and enjoy!

Home

Taken on new years eve, I posted this and other photos from that night a couple of posts ago and will continue to post desktop versions of some those images as I have time to prepare them. I thought I would start with a subtle one. I’m not sure which ones will become desktops but be patient and well see which ones get converted here in the next few days. Otherwise…

…to download the desktop simply CLICK OF RIGHT CLICK HERE to download the attached zip file and please respect the terms of use, I would appreciate that, thanks! Enjoy!

So This Is The New Year

It looks like another year has slipped through my fingers. Nearly one year ago I started up this new project for my desktops after feeling twistedsun.net had run its course. While within the year it went through a couple different design changes I feel happy with the way things are looking and feeling right now and have a feeling this design will stick for a while. The site has seen a number of new readers as the year went on and the word got out and I am in constant thanks of their support.

So looking ahead I have a number of new things that will come from the new year. First off, in an effort to focus my efforts here my music posts will not be as often or as full featured and I will probably reserve the ones I make here for more specific things or when an album gets me really excited and I just have to share it. Music is an important part of my life and I don’t want to phase it out completely from fiftyfootshadows just yet. That said I would like to casually announce that I have started a new web project. A music site for the calm music of the world called You Disappear. I have been brainstorming and working on it for a few months now and I have gone live with it as of today. It’s not perfect yet and it will take a few months to build its library of albums I have no doubt that it will be a lot of fun to work on and maintain. Hopefully you all will take some time to head over and check it out. Maybe discover some great new music. The about page and the welcome post will help describe my motives in a little more detail.

You can visit youdisappear.net by clicking here.

In other news, I will continue to provide new desktop wallpapers as often as I can and possibly more articles and the like on photography if readers show enough interest. I also have a portfolio site for my photography in the works and will announce that when it goes live, hopefully in the next few months. I also have plans starting to take shape about prints, a book, and other sorts of fun things that I would like to pull into reality this year which is something else I am really looking forward to.

On a more personal note, I have been in Munich, Germany these past couple of months and while I have had a wonderful time here I will be heading back stateside on the 7th. My adventures wont stop there turns out as I have been planning a winter trip through southern Utah and I am really excited about it.

That’s about all for now, just a simple update and a moment to wish everyone a good new year. I for one feel a good year coming on and I’m looking forward to all the days coming ahead.

Heres to a new year and many more to come.

-John