Happy Earth Day!

Totem Media, L.C. wishes everyone a safe, happy, and environmentally friendly Earth Day 2009!

I created this image using Adobe Photoshop CS3. The floral border is from All My Yesterdays (mentioned in my March 27 post) and a stock photo from istockphoto.com. I wanted to create a richly-colored, deeply-textured, nature-inspired image, with hints of Art Nouveau.

Our planet is a beautiful place. I'm trying to do my part in keeping it that way.

Exciting Business Opportunity!

I created the above poster from this iStockphoto.com photo. I own this image, so I am allowed to use and manipulate it for promotional purposes.

I developed the image in a 50's/60's style, but kept the computer for a bit of fun anachronism. Since I am not printing this poster, I used Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Every business is concerned about the economy and keeping the company going through this difficult time. This is not the time to "hunker down" and hope for the best. Don't hide from your customers. Let them know you are here today and will be here tomorrow! Maintaining a successful image gives your customers confidence in you and your products.

Contact Totem Media, L.C. and talk with our multimedia consultant. We can review your current marketing strategies and work with you to develop new ways of connecting with your customers and keeping your business in their minds.

You deserve to be seen and heard!

Add the Fresh Scent of Pine to Your Desktop!

On a foggy cool Christmas Eve, I took photos of scenery and plants in the Texas Hill Country. A close up of pine tree branches was the source and inspiration for this month's desktop calendar. Using Adobe Photoshop CS3, I retained only the needles, with some of the detail and edges removed. I added a textured light yellow background and the calendar grid. I liked the simplicity of this design, so I didn't add any more images.

Click here for a 1024 x 768 version you can use on your computer. Please do not remove the copyright notice.

What Day Is It?

I like computer desktop calendars. This is my first one, using a digital scrapbooking style. It is 640 x 480, so it will fit in the Totem Media's website TV screen, but future ones will be larger.

The images are stock photography, except the "Polaroid" and railroad map. I shot the photo of the tree-lined road outside of Aspen, CO in October 2008. It was a beautiful day, in the low 70's, and the aspen trees were turning. Their leaves were golden waves flowing through the dark green of the pine forest.

The railroad map is a genuine map from the late 1800s. The Library of Congress has an extensive online archive of photos, maps, and other documents. Some are still under copyright protection, but others are in the public domain.

Missing Consultant Found Under Pile of Work

This is me. Or rather, this is what I'm doing - working night and day on client projects. I'm having a lot of fun, and spending a lot of time, on my clients' websites, Flash videos, and DVDs.

The background of this photo composite was actually taken on a sunny day, but I manipulated this country scene* into a night view with a fantasy moon. You can see the actual time of day and lighting in the "window."

The composite is entitled, A Brand New Day, inspired by the song title from Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog.

There are times when we work so much we "don't know if it's day or night." We are so focused on our tasks, we don't take time to look outside and see the beautiful world around us. Not many of us have a pine-laden view outside our office windows, but stepping away from our work for a moment, taking a minute to feel the sun on our faces, breathe, and relax can help bring our tasks into a more realistic perspective. It also may help us break through some mental blocks to better complete our work.

So, don't spend all your time in the fluorescent lights, head down, hunched over a computer screen or printout. Step into the sun, stretch, take a couple of deep breaths, and smile. You will go back to work refreshed and your mind will be clearer.


*Trees photo taken by me in 2007, Black Hills, South Dakota

Democracy Succeeds When You Vote!

One of the most exciting things about the 2008 national elections is that whichever of the two major party candidate teams wins, either a woman or an African American will be Vice-President or President!

Once we get into the specifics of politics and policies, then gender and race disappear and I choose the team that best represents my interests and what I think is best for the country.

Election Day is November 4. If you haven't voted early, you may still have the option of avoiding lines on Election Day. Check with your city or county election board to find out when and where early voting is available.

In the Houston area, the League of Women Voters has two non-partisan election guides to help residents of Harris and Fort Bend counties know who and what is on the ballot. Unlike many partisan or issue-driven propaganda materials that call themselves "voting guides," the LWV election guides encourages everyone to "Vote Your Choice!"

If you need non-partisan information and some actual facts in lieu of the nasty partisan spin, half-truths, and lies, go to FactCheck.org. From their website,

"The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC was established by publisher and philanthropist Walter Annenberg in 1994 to create a community of scholars within the University of Pennsylvania that would address public policy issues at the local, state and federal levels.

The APPC accepts NO funding from business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals. It is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation."

You are welcome to use the image above, or it's full-size version (available by right-clicking on the image), on your website to support people's right and responsibility to vote. Please do not alter the graphic in any way or remove the copyright notice. Attribute the image to "Totem Media, L.C.."

Bird, Nature, and Life in Digital Ink

This Bird Can be Such a Card!

This photo was taken on a Panasonic PV-GS320 digital video camera. Although still images taken by this camera are not as sharp as ones shot on a dedicated still camera, its images can be manipulated to produce lovely photos like this. (It is not a still frame from video. The camera captures still images on an SD card.)

This photo was enhanced using Adobe Photoshop CS3. I created several layers, manipulated each layer with different effects, and combined the layers for the full effect shown above.

The texture effect applied to the image doesn't appear to show up as well in this smaller version of the photo. The original Photoshop file dimensions are about twice as big as the full-size version you can see by clicking on the picture above. If I enlarged and darkened the texture effect on the original file, it would be too much for that version, but look fine for this smaller version.

This is the original photo. The only changes I made was cropping it to a 4:3 aspect ratio (the camera takes photos in a 16:9 aspect), and reducing the size to 640 x 480.

Consumed in a Single Desire

I created this image from two photos, taken in September 2007. The background flames were from the first Air Canada Centre RUSH concert for the Snakes & Arrows tour. The photo of the woman (me) was taken at YYZ (Lester B. Pearson Airport in Toronto) after twelve days of travel, fun, three concerts, many late nights, beer, friendship, laryngitis, and a bad cold.

The title is from the RUSH song Mission. The entire stanza is

"Spirits fly on dangerous missions
Imaginations on fire
Focused high on soaring ambitions
Consumed in a single desire"

It's one of my favorite RUSH songs and describes my dedication and focus on RushCon, the annual fan convention I have helped organize for eight years.

Sometimes when we work for a long time on important projects, we feel "consumed," as if we are giving everything we have, everything we are. As long as the price isn't too high (health, wealth, family, friendship, happiness), it is OK to feed an obsession to create something good and beautiful. For a creation to have quality and value, one has to put time, effort, often money, and a part of oneself into it.

The quality and value for this creation may not always be evident to others. Everyone has different "lenses," experiences that color how they view things. For some, a beautiful object created by someone else is an affront to their own (low) personal sense of value. They can't create and they hate themselves, so they try to destroy the beauty around them. For others, they set their standards so high no one can meet them. Their way of bolstering their flagging self-esteem is to judge everyone else "not quite good enough." Finally, there is just plain, ol' personal opinion. We all like different colors, flavors, textures, etc.

I hope others will like this piece, but if they don't, that's OK. I like it and feel good about what I created.

Using Adobe Photoshop CS3, I applied a watercolor/Art Nouveau treatment to my photo, removing fine detail and lightening the colors. I removed most of the original background (a staircase), but left enough to use for the "burned" areas. The burned areas were desaturated (removed color), added a stroke, then applied an artbrush to create a singed look. I placed a watercolor filter on the concert (flames) photo to abstract the image, but kept the saturation (color) almost full. Then I applied a canvas texture only to the concert portions.

Promark is a nationwide drumstick manufacturer based in Houston. The staff are great people and have generously donated to RushCon for several years.

The end of Mission is one of my mantras:

"We each pay a fabulous price, for our visions of paradise
But a spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission"

There's No Blu-Ray in 1880

www.totem-media.com

RushCon 8 Facts in Fifty (seconds, that is)

I created this video using a "45 record" I created in Adobe Photoshop. (I learned the technique for making a record from the July/Aug 2004 issue of Photoshop User magazine.) The "record" is for the RUSH song, Far Cry, which is also the video's music bed.

The background images are from Artbeats. I edited the video and created the text in Adobe Premiere.

Here is the Far Cry record, with lighting effects and drop shadow.

Breaking Through the Tension Line

When we have too many "critical" things clogging our schedules and lives, it is easy to get frustrated, tired, and give up. Sometimes taking a break from our busy calendars can help us focus on the people and things that are truly important.

We took a trip recently to the Caribbean. It was great to get away from everything and everyone -- No TV, no Internet, no work, no housework. Of course, we were with several friends and enjoyed their company while we floated the azure seas.

Coming back home, finding out the latest terrible worldwide events, catching up with e-mail and "Net Life," and seeing the laundry and dishes juuuuust starting to pile up, can be a bit overwhelming. For a day or so, I was ready to go back on vacation! LOL!

But then I decided to create a fun, flowery work image, which inspired the phrase, "See the Beauty around you." It's a beautiful day, sunny and cool. The leaves are starting to grow on my roses and butterfly bush. The neighbors' azaleas are in bloom. I have my health, good friends, wonderful clients, interesting work, and a loving family. That is beautiful.

Photos: Montego Bay, Jamaica, View from our balcony on the Carnival Conquest