November 26, 2011 by Brad.

Greetings! Due to travel and Christmas, Turning Point Arts will be closed during certain days in December.

December 2 to 6

Brad will be visiting family in Ontario for a few days in early December. Therefore, the digital design and printing side of Turning Point Arts will be closed from Friday December 2 to Tuesday December 6 inclusive. Brad will be back in the studio on Wednesday December 7 at 11:00 am.

While Brad’s away, Peggy will keep the Turning Point Arts showroom gallery and pottery studios open regular hours, except Tuesday December 6, when Peggy will be working that day our other outlet, The Pottery Store in Chemainus. Everyone knows that we own The Pottery Store, right?

December 22 to 31

We’ll be closing everything down at Turning Point Arts for a much needed hiatus from Thursday December 22 through Saturday December 31 inclusive. Regular Turning Point Arts hours will resume on Tuesday January 3, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas everyone and thanks so much for your support, friendship and business in 2011. We look forward to seeing and working with everyone again in 2012.

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September 7, 2011 by Brad.

Doug Gilbert: Photography and Art (Sept. 27)

Our guest speaker this month is well-known photobased artist and photographer extraordinaire Doug Gilbert from Metchosin, BC. Doug will present his multimedia show “Photography and Art” which is certain to entertain, captivate and inspire everyone.

September 21, 2011 at 7:00pm, in Hardwick Hall, High Street at 3rd Avenue in Ladysmith. Locator map. Everyone is welcome. There is a $5 drop-in fee for non-members. LCC invites new members, novice to pro. For more info on the club, visit the web site www.ladysmithcameraclub.com.

Mid-Island Photo Expo 2011 (Deadline: Sept. 23)

The 2nd Annual Mid-Island Photo Expo is in full swing. This competition is open to photographers of all skill levels on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. The entry fee is only $15 per image. This year MIPE will select the 80 top scoring digital submissions to go into the print Exhibition and Sale, from which 8 winners will be chosen in two categories: i) Colour and ii) Black and White.

The deadline for digital submissions is September 23, 2011. The fee is only $15 per image and the gallery commission (for pieces sold during the Exhibition and Sale) is only 20%, so there is absolutely no reason why YOU shouldn’t be in this great competition. Get all the details here.

Doug Routley to give keynote at MIPE 2011 opening

Doug Routley, MLA for Nanaimo-North Cowichan, is not only providing sponsorship for MIPE 2011, he has graciously accepted our invitation to be the keynote speaker at the gala opening and awards ceremony on November 5. Everyone is welcome to attend the opening at the Ladysmith Waterfront Art Gallery. There will be music, refreshments and of course, great photography to admire and take home.

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August 21, 2011 by Brad.

Our presentation this month is “Photographing Madagascar”, part 2 of the very popular presentation by eco-photographer Norma Lupton. August 23, 2011 at 7:00pm, in Hardwick Hall, High Street at 3rd Avenue in Ladysmith. Everyone welcome. Non-members $5 drop-in fee. LCC invites new members, novice to pro. For more info on the club, visit the web site www.ladysmithcameraclub.com.

This month, the Ladysmith Camera Club launched the 2nd Annual Mid-Island Photo Expo, open to all photographers on Vancouver Island (and surrounding Gulf Islands). This year MIPE will select the 80 top scoring digital submissions to go into the print Exhibition and Sale, from which 8 winners will be chosen in two categories: i) Colour and ii) Black and White.

The deadline for digital submissions is September 23, 2011. The fee is only $15 per image and the gallery commission (for pieces sold during the Exhibition and Sale) is only 20%, so there is absolutely no reason why YOU shouldn’t be in this great competition. Get all the details at www.ladysmithcameraclub.com.

Posted in Ladysmith Camera Club | Print | No Comments »

March 29, 2011 by Brad.

For the last several weeks, I have been attending an excellent series of free live webinars on using Dreamweaver CS5 for design and styling web pages using CSS.

CSS is the modern standard for laying out and styling web pages and everyone who is involved in the design of web sites needs to know about CSS. However, there can be a daunting learning curve.

That’s where Myra Rhodes and Everyone’s E-Learning Inc. come to the rescue. Myra has prepared a complete set of online interactive Dreamweaver training lessons that you can purchase as a package or you can buy through a monthly subscription through her web site.

But here’s the best part:

Myra has recently upgraded the package for Dreamweaver CS5 and she is presenting the newly revised lessons in a series of free live webinars every Tuesday at 11am Pacific time. You can sign up for these through her web site.

Myra has a very cheerful, friendly teaching style that makes learning the material a breeze. The complexities of CSS and Dreamweaver dissolve away with Myra’s concise, easy-to-learn units.

I highly recommend Myra Rhodes and Everyone’s E-Learning Inc. for Dreamweaver training.

Posted in Web design, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | 2 Comments »

March 27, 2011 by Brad.

Aloha! We recently spent a few days on the Big Island of Hawaii at the Marriott Beach Resort on Anaeho’omalu Bay ( 19°54′57.97″N 155°53′20.17″W).

There is a very nice group of beaches along the south shore of the bay that afford a roughly 60 degree panoramic view of the entire bay, including the resort. I decided to capture this view in a sequence of photos to create a panoramic image. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photoshop, Photography, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | 1 Comment »

March 15, 2011 by Brad.

Every once in awhile someone sends me a favourite, special image from Facebook or some other web site or blog and they ask me to make an enlargement print. They are often surprised or disappointed when I have to inform them that this is unlikely to work, despite how amazingly good the image might appear on their laptop or cell phone.

If you have read part 1 of this series, you’ll know that I can produce amazingly good enlargement prints from a 12 MP, 10 MP or even an 8 MP camera file. So why won’t the Facebook image work? Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photography, Printing | Print | 1 Comment »

March 7, 2011 by Brad.

In part 1 of this series, I answered the very important question “How many pixels do you need?” to get the best prints at Turning Point Arts. In that article, I explained why it is unnecessary, and in fact undesirable, to resize or up-sample your image before submitting it to me for printing. This leads to the question of how best to sharpen your image if you plan to have it printed at Turning Point Arts.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photography, Printing | Print | 1 Comment »

March 6, 2011 by Brad.

It is very easy to prepare images to get outstanding prints at Turning Point Arts. In fact, it might require fewer steps than you think. I have noticed that some clients perform resizing and resampling steps that are actually unnecessary and had they not been done, very likely would have produced better prints. It would also have saved them time. So in the interests of helping you get the best possible prints with the least amount of work (on your part), I am writing this series of articles.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Photography, Printing, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | 1 Comment »

March 6, 2011 by Brad.

“Apps” have become the modern “great differentiator” between devices. ‘MY app store has more apps than their app store, so buy MY smartphone. It’s obviously better than theirs.’ Well, that’s the implication anyway. Marketeers love this; it’s Marketing 101–they teach it in school. Find and flog the key differentiator(s) between your product and their product. If you can’t find one, then invent one.

But “apps” (as ‘defined’ by Apple and now Google, Nokia; and I’ve even read that Microsoft is considering the idea for Windows “8″) are bad, VERY bad. They’re bad for consumers; they’re bad for developers and they’re bad for the computing industry in general. They’re only good for Apple (and possibly Google, Nokia, et al.), but not indefinitely.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Brad's rants, Digital Art-ifacts | Print | No Comments »

September 21, 2010 by Brad.

Given the wide deployment of broadband Internet access and the advanced state of streaming video technology, something I don’t understand is why are TV channels only available through a cable or satellite TV operator? Just about every AM and FM radio station features a “Listen Live” link on their web site home page. Why is there not a corresponding  ”Watch Live” link on the home page of every TV station’s web site?

Radio stations must see many benefits to feeding their signal through an Internet connection. For starters, a web page is interactive–while folks are listening to the stream, they can also read and click on ads, which is an additional revenue source for the broadcaster.

Sponsors must love this too, since their ads can appear on a different rotation through the web page than on-air.

With streaming over the Internet, listeners can tune-in to their favourite stations from back home, even while on vacation or business trips. Wouldn’t the same apply to favourite TV channels from home?

So I don’t get it. Why don’t TV stations support this? How can the cable and satellite TV operators have this stranglehold over the feed?

For further insight into the cable stanglehold, read this.

Posted in Brad's rants, General | Print | No Comments »