Ikaros. Some island in the vicinity of Greece, but the Ikaros I'm talking about here is the now-called, Failaka island. Maybe I should call it Ikaros of the Orient?
I've finally did what I was wishing for, for the time being; spending a night on Failaka and get back the next day. I almost ran into a disaster when I realized that I didn't bring the wire to connect my camera to the laptop, nor I did bring an external hard disk to dumb my files into it. Anyway, gracefully, my 16GB and 8GB memory cards did the job for the two days. I recorded some videos in the beginning and that took some large space in the card as well.
I. Failaka:
On Failaka island I've found the places that I need for doing a "flash panorama". Perfect deserted place and buildings in wreckage. However, it is hard to move at night on the island. Not many places got electricity, and I couldn't move far from the hotel (Ikaros Hotel). I was trying to do a star-trail photography at night but the sky did not differ from that on the main land, and the few people on the island in the vicinity of the hotel were annoying with their vehicles and lights. I think it is not a job for one person though, and with my weak eyes already, I wouldn't dare moving around in such a darkness.
My first target on the island was to take a panorama of some place; a place the resembles destruction (and of course this was abundant almost every where on the island). Empty and deserted doesn't mean necessarily a safe environment; I had to watch my steps here and there, and also I had to pick a place that resembles my idea the most. Despite the fact that lot of these places were deserted, but not all of them give interesting patterns in the inside to make some interesting panoramas after all.
This place was, I guess, a workshop or some engineers work place (judging from the instructions and some debris), and it was located near the old power plant. I liked this place because of the patterns of the sun rays across the broken roof, beside the "amazing" ground with all the trash and debris on it resembling a real destruction scene.
The greatest challenge was to settle the tripod itself on such floor. Here at this moment, and going around carrying my backpack, tripod and the VR-head only, I couldn't think of going back to my car to bring the other tools just to snap a shot of the Nadir point. From the beginning, I realized that the Nadir point will be a challenge already. It wouldn't be a big deal if I'm planning for a flat panorama only, like the one above, but later on I decided to do a QTVR for it. Remember: always take a shot for the nadir (from the VR-head itself) even if you are planning for a flat panorama. You wouldn't know what this will be useful for, nor when your mind suddenly changes and make a QTVR out of your scene. However, I admit that later on, some panoramas I did were simple (360 panoramas) without any zenith or nadirs. I'm breaking my own rules!
Anyway, later on, there was a trial on a QTVR and the nadir point, as expected, proved to be a challenge somehow. I put the name of the picture, instead of a logo or something. Check out that you have QuickTime plugin installed.
Now, there is a lot to be done with the pictures from Failaka. Reminds me of the happy times after getting back from Ireland with loads and loads of images that kept me working the whole year or so. This of course is not comparable, but with these few panoramas, I can do many things that might make me look busy, and also might add to the inventory of the prints that I can offer too. Just by the end of the second day and to pass the time till the ferry arrives, I was roaming the island aimlessly trying to find some targets... like this...
Now after such prints and news, and maybe some people can be (or so I foresaw) potential customers, I think it is time to delete some of my work on stock sites, specially those which are the most liked and cheered. It is a hard decision indeed because, up to this moment, I still Likes on some of these old images, but I think it is better to remove them from stock sites if I'm going to make them as prints for people. This way, only one resource file will be available with me.
Also, after my last visit to Failaka, I did a panorama in the main hotel (Ikaros hotel, no other hotels there!) and that is sort of tempting me to start publishing myself out, i.e. writing proposals. However, this step could be somehow a dangerous step if I write to the management of the hotel about my services, while I did take a panorama already without their acknowledgement. Who knows, they can sue me for it! But it is an idea, worth investigating I guess, and lays in wait to be exploited.
Now the time is getting closer for the expo and mostly everything is in place, all what is left is some preparation or decorations for the place itself, i.e. the corner in the expo. Responsibilities had been thrown on my head again and I don't know what to do about it but anyway, in hope things will sort themselves out soon.
These were extremely exhaustive two weeks now, and I can't wait until I have some good rest and a slow paced business plans...
I've finally did what I was wishing for, for the time being; spending a night on Failaka and get back the next day. I almost ran into a disaster when I realized that I didn't bring the wire to connect my camera to the laptop, nor I did bring an external hard disk to dumb my files into it. Anyway, gracefully, my 16GB and 8GB memory cards did the job for the two days. I recorded some videos in the beginning and that took some large space in the card as well.
I. Failaka:
On Failaka island I've found the places that I need for doing a "flash panorama". Perfect deserted place and buildings in wreckage. However, it is hard to move at night on the island. Not many places got electricity, and I couldn't move far from the hotel (Ikaros Hotel). I was trying to do a star-trail photography at night but the sky did not differ from that on the main land, and the few people on the island in the vicinity of the hotel were annoying with their vehicles and lights. I think it is not a job for one person though, and with my weak eyes already, I wouldn't dare moving around in such a darkness.
My first target on the island was to take a panorama of some place; a place the resembles destruction (and of course this was abundant almost every where on the island). Empty and deserted doesn't mean necessarily a safe environment; I had to watch my steps here and there, and also I had to pick a place that resembles my idea the most. Despite the fact that lot of these places were deserted, but not all of them give interesting patterns in the inside to make some interesting panoramas after all.
 |
| Zerstörung (Destruction) |
This place was, I guess, a workshop or some engineers work place (judging from the instructions and some debris), and it was located near the old power plant. I liked this place because of the patterns of the sun rays across the broken roof, beside the "amazing" ground with all the trash and debris on it resembling a real destruction scene.
The greatest challenge was to settle the tripod itself on such floor. Here at this moment, and going around carrying my backpack, tripod and the VR-head only, I couldn't think of going back to my car to bring the other tools just to snap a shot of the Nadir point. From the beginning, I realized that the Nadir point will be a challenge already. It wouldn't be a big deal if I'm planning for a flat panorama only, like the one above, but later on I decided to do a QTVR for it. Remember: always take a shot for the nadir (from the VR-head itself) even if you are planning for a flat panorama. You wouldn't know what this will be useful for, nor when your mind suddenly changes and make a QTVR out of your scene. However, I admit that later on, some panoramas I did were simple (360 panoramas) without any zenith or nadirs. I'm breaking my own rules!
Anyway, later on, there was a trial on a QTVR and the nadir point, as expected, proved to be a challenge somehow. I put the name of the picture, instead of a logo or something. Check out that you have QuickTime plugin installed.
Now, there is a lot to be done with the pictures from Failaka. Reminds me of the happy times after getting back from Ireland with loads and loads of images that kept me working the whole year or so. This of course is not comparable, but with these few panoramas, I can do many things that might make me look busy, and also might add to the inventory of the prints that I can offer too. Just by the end of the second day and to pass the time till the ferry arrives, I was roaming the island aimlessly trying to find some targets... like this...
 |
| Marching Chicken |
II. Business:
Trying to keep ahead now with my prints and website. Now, it seems that I got myself a first customer and hopefully things are going well in that direction. There had been some delays though. |
| The final product to be delivered. The picture was taken in a haste anyway! |
Now after such prints and news, and maybe some people can be (or so I foresaw) potential customers, I think it is time to delete some of my work on stock sites, specially those which are the most liked and cheered. It is a hard decision indeed because, up to this moment, I still Likes on some of these old images, but I think it is better to remove them from stock sites if I'm going to make them as prints for people. This way, only one resource file will be available with me.
Also, after my last visit to Failaka, I did a panorama in the main hotel (Ikaros hotel, no other hotels there!) and that is sort of tempting me to start publishing myself out, i.e. writing proposals. However, this step could be somehow a dangerous step if I write to the management of the hotel about my services, while I did take a panorama already without their acknowledgement. Who knows, they can sue me for it! But it is an idea, worth investigating I guess, and lays in wait to be exploited.
Now the time is getting closer for the expo and mostly everything is in place, all what is left is some preparation or decorations for the place itself, i.e. the corner in the expo. Responsibilities had been thrown on my head again and I don't know what to do about it but anyway, in hope things will sort themselves out soon.
These were extremely exhaustive two weeks now, and I can't wait until I have some good rest and a slow paced business plans...
 |
| Planeta Herba |
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