It did take less than two days. I captured this at 18:12 and it’s now 18:27, and the thing is already on YouTube. Cool. Only problem, which is not a problem, is that it looks like shit. I say it’s not a problem because the point of the exercise was speak. Now I’ll look — but not too much — into video compression, and try to make a better version on the same take. I guess this is when compression comes into play.
Sat 14 Aug 2010
Taking on Final Cut Express — Chapter One
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Multimedia Experiments
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Wed 6 Jan 2010
Writing Through Fields of Pixel
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Dept. of Misc.
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“Of course, the writer’s task is to put obstacles in the way of writing, and yet writing still somehow always has gotten done, whether through fogs of Scotch or through fields of pixels.” – Adam Gopnik

Adam Gopnik (Richard Avedon)
I just came across this while bumping around on the Web, avoiding the task of getting down to the writing that I really need to be doing (as in, to make money). The quote is from “Stray Questions for: Adam Gopnik” by Blake Wilson, published in “Paper Cuts” on January 30, 2009.
If what Gopnik says is true, maybe I’m actually doing well as a writer and not the flailing failure I often feel like. After all, who can do better than I at putting obstacles in the way of writing?
In response to Wilson’s question about how much time — if any — Gopnik spends on the Web, Gopnik shares:
“Too much, too much. Writing is the process of finding something to distract you from writing, and of all the helpful distractions — adultery, alcohol and acedia, all of which aided our writing fathers — none can equal the Internet.”
Fuck! I mean, on the one hand I really appreciate Gopnik’s frank perspective that he struggles with the crack-like addictive power of the Web. On the other hand, his observation makes me feel like I’ve been backsliding.
Of late I have been doing my damnedest to improve my writing by cutting down on adultery, alcohol and acedia. (The excessive adultery brought on by binge drinking might have been interesting to write about but the acedia made it impossible.) And now, actually finding myself trying to work instead of heading to a bar (not easy, I assure you), Gopnik’s words suggest I might actually be better off in that bar buying a drink for a potential lover. Apparently the fog of adultery and booze is easier to write through than these fields of pixels.
Fri 4 Sep 2009
Pause in Preparations
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Buenos Aires, Still Single
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I took this image on my first full day in Paraguay, five hours south of the Capital, Asunción, where I had landed the day before, after 36 hours of flights from San Francisco. I was just warming up — in the 100+ Fº temperatures typical of Paraguay January — and photographed hundred of more times throughout this day. But seeing this image on my still-mesmerizing camera monitor gave me a “Ah few” moment, and I become much more focused on shooting. Very excited about digitial. This woman is a domestic worker in the one of the richest homes in Santiago, Paraguay, where my new friend, Penny Newberry, had lived for two years during a recent Peace Corps stint.
Sun 31 May 2009
Baker Beach Suprise
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Still Single
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I just stumbled on this image I made at Baker Beach, San Francisco. I was glancing through folders of old captures (more…)
Mon 13 Apr 2009
Contrary to what this image and my latests posts might have you think, I am hardly a fine-arts oriented person, and certainly not in regard to photography. Nonetheless, as I was playing with the last posts, my screen (more…)
Mon 13 Apr 2009
Still #1 from 10 Seconds @ 09.04.12.02.05.10, Colectivo #17, Buenos Aires
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Uncategorized
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Mon 13 Apr 2009
10 Seconds @ 09.04.12.02.05.10, Colectivo #17, Buenos Aires
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Uncategorized
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJnR-WayhyQ]
Mon 13 Apr 2009
Still #1 from 15 Seconds – 090412015631 – Colectivo #17
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Uncategorized
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Mon 13 Apr 2009
Still #1 from 20 Seconds @ 09.04.12.02.05.10, Colectivo #17, Buenos Aires
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Images
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Mon 13 Apr 2009
Still #1 from 30 Seconds – 090412015543 – Colectivo #17, Buenos Aires
Posted by Ethan G. Salwen under Uncategorized
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