The Street That Changed our Minds About Streets

Full width featured post generally considered the most beautiful post in the Caribbean, Cartagena in Colombia grew unimaginably wealthy as the port through which the looted gold of the new world sailed eastwards to Imperial Spain.

Turns out we have, with the likes of Sir Francis Drake (one man’s privateer is another man’s pirate) plundering the city as far back as 1586. In subsequent years, particularly those of the late 20th Century, Colombia was famous for other exports: mountains of pure cocaine, left-wing guerrilla ideology and “magic realism” from the pen of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Remember at all times that while you are seeing the world, the world will see you.

These childhood friends have overcome some serious setbacks — guitarist and vocalist Adam Haworth Stephens was in not one but two road accidents last year — so this new album’s a bit of a boon. With buddy Tyson Vogel, he certainly sounds glad to be alive on a boisterous folk-rock album that shows two mild-looking men can, like The Black Keys, make a hell of a noise.

The Bloom and The Blight
Two Gallants

Why now?

July sees concerts on the beaches and events in the bullring and yet more excuses to party thanks to the Summer Festival. Alternatively, the literary/arty Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias rolls into town each January. Wales or Colombia, Wales or Colombia?  The sound smacks of the KoL’s brand of macho melancholy, while Brown’s voice lends a rockabilly twang.

For all her extraordinary talent and work ethic, Bly’s appearance was decidedly unremarkable — a fact that shouldn’t matter, but one that would be repeatedly remarked upon by her critics and commentators, something we’ve made sad little progress on in discussing women’s professional, intellectual, and creative merit more than a century later.

Light Painting Evolved

Gif animations included in this post. Add photoreal images, abstract designs, and animation to your long exposure photos and timelapse. Light painting is a fairly simple to do. The first step is to make sure you have the right equipment. Almost every DSLR, and most point-and-shoots, have a long exposure mode.

Pixelstick began as a proof of concept using an arduino and some off the shelf LED strips. We got results, but weren’t happy with the resolution of nor with the durability and usability of the actual device.

It’s as simple as choosing the length of the exposure (from a few seconds to a few hours) and moving a light source within the frame. The process itself is fun and the excitement of seeing what you captured immediately can be extremely rewarding.

The fine detail

Pixelstick reads images created in Photoshop (or the image editor of your choice) and displays them one line at a time, creating endless possibilities for abstract and/or photorealistic art. Taking this one step further, Pixelstick can increment through a series of images over multiple exposures, opening up light painting to the world of timelapse, and allowing for animations the likes of which have never before seen.

light-3
Rainbows are no longer beholden to the laws of physics

The Tale of pixelstick

Pixelstick began as a proof of concept using an arduino and some off the shelf LED strips. We got results, but weren’t happy with the resolution of nor with the durability and usability of the actual device. We moved quickly into custom LED circuit boards, a more powerful ARM microcontroller and a sturdier design made of lightweight aluminum rather than plastic tubing. With the ability to control the density of the LED count while at the same time refining the custom aluminum extrusion, the current version of pixelstick began to take shape.

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Animation to your long exposure photos and timelapse.

Each iteration performed better and was tweaked as we logged more hours with the pixelstick.

The full package contains:

  • LED PCBs (198 LEDs total)
  • Two 3’ aluminum extrusion with connecting bracket & diffusion lens
  • Handle with foam grip and rotating sleeve
  • Controller box with connecting cables and clips
  • Battery holder (AA Batteries not included)
  • Carry bag