Firstly I hope this finds you and your loved ones safe and well in these difficult times! I also hope you're not going too crazy with cabin fever and those of you who are still working aren't finding it too stressful. For the key workers amongst you I applaud you for the vital work you do whether in the NHS, teachers, food banks and many others!
As for me I am in the vulnerable group so I have at least twelve weeks of being stuck at home, which I must admit is frustrating! I have had my fair share of down days! However it's much better than being potentially seriously unwell! My heart goes out to anyone in same boat as me it must be an anxious time for you! If any of you ever feel like this is a pointless exercise just think of me and the many others like me who are genuinely fearing for their lives right now! It's not all doom and gloom though and for those of you who know me negativity is not my style, so on to the positive stuff!
For this post I just thought I would update you with what I've been up to since being put into isolation. I've been trying my best to keep busy at this time with various projects like, animation, Playstation and of course composing and photography! I thought the animation would be a fun thing to have a go at as I needed to stay occupied so I didn't just end up feeling sorry for myself. Also my sister Anna was around for a bit as her friend was unwell and she couldn't get back to Cardiff so it was a good thing for us to do together. Animation is essentially an extension to photography in many ways. Something you also may not know about me is that I'm quite into my Playstation, I've just completed the latest Star Wars game Jedi: Fallen Order so I'm going see what I have now to get into. A consolation to these strange times is we've had some beautiful weather so I have spent a lot of time in my garden the last week or so where I've managed to get camera out. There has been plenty of inspiration with so many beautiful flowers out! My composing has also been a great distraction! All in all things aren't so bad really, but it is hard to stay focused at the moment.
For the animation we did a technique called stop motion, the same technique they used for Wallace and Gromit. Where you move, in our case Lego, a tiny bit for each image or frame. We were using a program which then weaves all the images together to make a video. We started by getting a Lego kit which was great fun to put together, I felt like a big kid! We then downloaded the Lego movie app and we were able to do a test run using a phone that gave us an idea of how go about it. Doing that though made me appreciate how much effort goes into animation because it's so time consuming! It took nearly a couple of hours to get a Lego man to walk across the screen! We did come across a problem for me though as we couldn't find a way for me to take the photos so I could be more involved. As many of you know I have my camera tethered to the computer so I can take the images through the computer. We tried a few different programs and eventually found Dragonframe which does allow me to take photos using tethering. However it is a professional level software and pretty complicated to get your head round. In the end as Anna had to go back to Cardiff we decided to use a simpler program on her tablet so we could at least put something together. I did have one last go with a shutter release I bought for phones and tablets that did seem to work for a while, but kept cutting out so I settled for directing. Here's what we put together!
I hope you liked what we put together, it was bit of fun really! I'm still hoping to have another go soon, so watch this space!
With what's going on I've decided to try and write a bit more regularly, as I have more time now! Hopefully my next instalment will be coming very soon. I just thought I would leave you with this great verse: "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7, which reminds us there is a bigger picture in these times. I find great comfort in these words that help me remember God is always right there with us whatever we're going through. Even if you do not have a faith I encourage you to rest in this concept in these anxious times. Until next time I hope you enjoyed reading!