RasterWeb!Recorded near Alterra Foundry on 1st Street, this captures some of the sounds of traffic on an August night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
You are free to use the file under the Creative Commons Attribution License. You can find it at Ourmedia.org or Archive.org, or download it directly.
I recently posted about Kickstarter and Natali, who wants to start an “UberDork Café” in Milwaukee, and just came across an interview with her about her project over at Game Couch.
I’ve got a few views on this project… First, I’m behind it. Why? Because I love to see someone who is passionate about building community take action and make things happen. Will it work? I don’t know… but it’s great to see it take shape, and hope for the best possible outcome.
From another angle, I see this as related to things like BarCampMilwaukee, where we pull together people who aren’t afraid to call themselves geeks or nerds and do some pretty interesting things. One of my favorite BarCamp memories is the “Popsicle Sticks 2.0” session I lead at BarCampMilwaukee2, where it ended up being almost totally dominated by kids. I didn’t plan it that way (but then, what type of planning do I ever do for sessions besides facilitating them?) but it was great to see people comfortable bringing their kids to BarCamp, and providing a creative environment for them. (Bucketworks also provided paper, crayons, markers, and plenty of art supplies.)
DrawCamp was a similar experience, where we created an environment where everyone who came (young, old, people who could draw well, people who could barely draw at all) seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves, and fit in just fine with people of similar interests.
A lot of Natali’s concerns seem to be based around wanting a place where she (and her kids) feel comfortable being themselves, and building a community of people who “get” who and what they are… and I applaud that.
Secretly (ok, not so secretly) I hope that there can be connections made between things like BarCamp, Bucketworks, and the UberDork Café.
I also admire Natali’s attitude. I grew up in the punk rock music scene, where if we had an idea, we executed it. If we didn’t know how to do something we figured it out, we tried it, and if we failed, we tried again… This is where I got my DIY ethics from, and they continue today it almost everything I do. We don’t wait around for someone else to do it, we do it. Is something stopping you from doing what you want to do? Find a way around the obstacle, find partners in crime… Don’t sit back and wait for others, stand up and make it happen, and get others to go along with you for the ride…
Stay excited, keep building communities, and share the stories… We could all use a bit more inspiration in our lives.
The idea behind Help Portrait is really simple… It’s about photographers using their photography skills to give back to the community.
On December 12th, 2009, photographers around the world will be grabbing their cameras, finding people in need, and taking their picture. When the prints are ready, the photographs get delivered. Yep. It really is that easy. And by the way, we don’t want to see your photos. This is about GIVING the pictures, not taking them. These portraits are not for your portfolio, website, or for sale. Money isn’t involved here. This holiday season, you have the chance to give a family something they may have never had before – a portrait together.
Last year I did some Photoshop work for a family friend which involved fixing a photo of the family, with their grandmother, shortly before she died. It wasn’t a very good picture, just your typical snapshot with a point and shoot camera, but making the photo better, and something they could look at in remembrance was big deal to them. When I think about that, I think about how nice it would be to have a really well done portrait of the family for them to hold on to…
I’m really happy to see that Milwaukee-area photographers are jumping on board with this… Check out helpportraitmke.com for more information, if you can help in any way, it would really be appreciated. (I believe they are looking for organizations and sponsors to donate consumables for this endeavor.)
MilwaukeeDevHouse happened and you missed it… or you didn’t. Either way, you can watch this video that Time Lapse Bot and I created…
We used a real MiniDV camera this time, so we got double the resolution of the old camera, which is nice. We also had Sam Dodge doing a bit of Time Lapse Bot camera operation, so that’s cool…
I love how these time lapse videos encapsulate the events… I’m also in talks with SmallSharpTools.com to do another Time Lapse Bot upgrade, which will result in greater roaming capabilities of the unit.
You can also watch on blip.tv or grab the hires version if you like. Just adhere to the Creative Commons license and be cool…
Stay Tuned!
Remember at BarCampMilwaukee4 when I took your photo? Well, I still need to edit all the shots, and I’ll be doing it at MilwaukeeDevHouse4 on Saturday, November 7th, 2009…
Oh yeah, you’re invited! MilwaukeeDevHouse is a hackathon-type event where we encourage you to come and work on something. Maybe some project you’ve had on the back burner for a while… maybe you need to upgrade your WordPress blog, test out some new Drupal modules, work on a Joomla theme, build a robot, or… edit 80+ photos. Hopefully I can also work on “The Faces of BarCamp” project as well…
Think of MilwaukeeDevHouse as a party where you can get some work done, but don’t have to. You can just hang out, socialize, and eat & drink if you like… it’s like a social network, but in real life. (You’re not limited to 140 characters, unless you want to be.) It’s a chance to learn something new and meet some new people. It’s full of “newness” or something!
Our pals at Bucketworks and Insomniac Development LLC will provide snacks and libations, and we thank them for that.
(P.S. I’ve been told this is a “pants optional” event, but I’m not sure what that means. Also, Time Lapse Bot will be there. Are these two things related!?!?)