Kika VII…

This is somewhat a sad post. As I'm typing these words, our canary (which I've posted about in the previous post) had died after some weird illness or condition. It's a perplexing feeling really; Part of me is sad and part of me is happy. I'm sad because he is dead, and happy because he finally left the damn cage which I wanted to take him off from but couldn't; Because no one cared, and no one liked the idea. I didn't give him a name (and I don't even know if it is a male indeed), but all I can say is, RIP Canary, I'll miss you…

 On a side note, I've also been under some allergy attack, which is gone by now but a slight cough remains. The cough, though, leaves such an awful taste sometimes; Something metallic or like breathing through some plastic pipe! I just hope I won't be needing Seretide for this. I think I had just about enough for 2 weeks of time of my life!

Little Announcement

Just before proceeding with the main post, I wanted to state that I've finally uploaded ALL the batches of images that were on the queue! And now, it is time for me to work with some NEW images that I've shot recently and prepare some of them to be uploaded the stocks. 

The new uploaded batches

 

Typically, and as usual, the selfies were uploaded to Mostphotos exclusively. The rest are spread across Canstockphoto, Dreamstime and 123RF. However, at the moment of typing this, 123RF uploads are still under review (typical) while the rest had been accepted in the same day (with few rejects). Not only that, but also one of the images (1^st in 4^th row) had been sold already via Dreamstime! I remember in the old days when Dreamstime's reviewing process used to take a considerable time but things had been faster now and even more promising!
There is still one image that I didn't upload and it is ought to be exclusively on Dreamstime and that is Killing Evil (1^st in 2^nd row) which is actually a PNG with a transparent background, and thus considered a vector. I've uploaded it several times but it is not getting through and I need to check back on that later. 

Kika VII

So, we arrive at Kika's photo-challenge for Week 7, which had somewhat a weird title for it, and in fact it was not possible to put it all in a single hashtag. The challenge was about combining unexpected items or objects. I have to admit I got my head spinning around and I didn't know what to shoot here, thus I referred back to my arsenal of shots and started playing around. I didn't want to skip a single challenge at this point!

Red Escape II

The shot was taken back in March 2020, where I was working with some random ideas of mixing feathers and water, so I thought it is the right mix for this photo challenge. I've shot many in this series of feathers and water, using both high-speed and stroboscopic flash (Red Escape is apparently shot with stroboscopic flash). The problem (kind of) was that, that I did post this photo back then when I've created it. So, just to make things a bit different I've decided to make a little edit and change the jar color to blue, which I thinks adds even more contrast better than the original (where the water was reddish). All these shots in the series are uploaded to my various stock accounts (you can check one of them by clicking the frame at the end of this post).
Things though did not stop at this photo for this challenge, just yet.

Through H-Alpha

Funny thing is that before the announcement of this photo-challenge by Kika, I did some photo-shoot in the yard at home as I was experimenting with some concepts, as well as trying to practice some editing techniques (those related to creating pastel-like images). Along the way and since I was carrying my two cameras (regular and modified) with some filters, I've shot Through H-Alpha using my H-Alpha filter holding it in front of my (beloved) Rokinon 8mm fisheye lens; By hand of course! I think this raises this image of combining unexpected items (a filter and a fisheye lens!) but also combines 2 scenes into one; A normal one and a filtered one. It did require a considerable work with layer masks and levels to correct the colors outside the circle and enhancing those within the circle as an infrared shot should be, somehow. The shot was, of course, taken with my modified camera, thus even the area outside the filter was tinted because of the infrared coming from the sun. The image originally was all shades of red!

Pastel-ization

As I've mentioned already (in this post and probably previous ones), I'm trying to work on some new technique in editing, but so far, I didn't practice much of it. Most probably I would need to work on old shots from my arsenal instead of working on new ones. However, here are some shots that were relatively new in fact and shot specifically for this edit.

عَـطْـفْ (Bending)

The work here is actually inspired by a Portuguese lady artist and photographer which I, unfortunately, can't recall her name; I've seen an article (interview) with her in one of those Google suggested pages on my phone. Anyway, looking at her images and reading swiftly through the interview, I kind of managed to take the main points of such a style:

1. Saturated colors.
2. Somewhat happy colors.
3. Bright colors.

Thus, I was working on these key features. Of course, the heavy work relies on editing rather than in-camera work. However, I guess not all subjects are suitable for this type of style. Nevertheless, one wouldn't know unless one tries!

Bougainvillian Curve

One of the key points in "shooting" the images, as the Portuguese photographer stated, is shooting when the sun is high up (noon time). However, I did shoot when the sun was just rising on the yard at home, and I think I do now understand why did she mention this point specifically; Shadows and dark tones are not good candidates for such a technique! Not only shadows in fact but darker tones in general so it is better to avoid them as much as possible I guess. As can be seen above in Bending and Bougainvillian Curve, the dark black pots of the bougainvilleas are hard to render in such technique and they feel much like being obtrusive. Just to aid the image a bit here I've added a tone or two to the black or the shadows in these images. It's clear  now why the midday sun is the best for such a technique of "editing".
As I've stated, I didn't work with this editing technique much still and maybe I did some photo here and there (one of them was posted for Kika's photo-challenge). I've been swept away with other photo-shooting and, as usual, domestic issues. Hopefully I will attend to this technique further in the future and try to have a grasp on it.

Finale

I consider myself lucky to finish this blog post actually. With all the tired body and the stack of "work" to do (not related to my actual job nor to photography) and I managed to finish this blog post - but I had to start earlier than usual! Ah well…
I'm having an idea of starting a blog post in Arabic for my Arabic blog, which I didn't post in for a long time now. The post would be about my experience in shooting bubbles, which I will post here in time, as I'm trying to go chronologically here in this blog with all the images that I've taken in the past few weeks. The bubbles shoot was a big deal and I've come out with loads of images (some of them even uploaded to stocks already). However, the bulk of them are not yet prepared to be uploaded. I'll keep that talk for another time.
I've been also taken by astrology lately; An old passion and interest that got re-kindled for a while now (even before COVID time) and I've been reading texts here and there and watching videos about topics and all that. But this is a bad habit actually and I know, because there are priorities I need to tend to. This also brings to my mind the passion for Conlangs which I didn't attend to, and specially after the lock-down of my other Instagram account, @Ayvarith. Funny how this blog was first started to talk about the Conlang of Ayvarith but then changed to other topics completely. Despite being taken over by photography, Ayvarith still has a place in my heart, and it might get re-kindled after some time, along with other Conlangs and Conscripts. Who knows?
On a domestic level, my isolation is getting tighter and tighter and I barely leave my room for few minutes (mainly to make me coffee). The mental disconnect is getting quite hard to fix in this house and nothing seems to make sense to me, neither I make sense to anyone else. On a mental level, ghosts from the past keep visit me unexpectedly with the thoughts "Why did it happen that way?" or "How did it happen that way?". Quite useless thoughts and there is nothing I can do about them, but the stress that loads on my mind because of the house keeps recalling these memories. How I wish I could just afford my own place and stay alone… At least if such memories come, they would visit without a stress…

Malta fil Orizzont…

My flight date is getting closer. Yet, I'm so tired to even pack. Allergies rounded a severe attack on my body since I got back from Oman. Seems like I had an appointment with bad luck since I got back here. I can't wait to leave on a real vacation for good, and hopefully all this allergic reaction is over with it. I don't recall in my life ever that I did consume such amount of medicines (nutritional ones included). I hate pills, but allergy and cough left me no choice; I do suffocate and lose concentration because of them.

Meanwhile, my progress is slow with the current images from Oman (specially panoramas). This is related to my sickness nowadays. I feel the need to sleep most of the time. I've been preparing some 3D panoramas but they won't be displayed right now for some reason. I'll keep them for another occasion. In addition, most panoramas from Oman had been processed in the regular flat format. Some are interesting in such format and some are yet to be manipulated further in other styles.

In The Court of The Sultan

In reviewing some of these panoramas in a meeting for our group to sort out what is appropriate for exhibitions, those panoramas with a sun halo were not much favored. However, panoramas like In The Court of The Sultan were somewhat saved because the sun disk was not completely obvious from behind the structure, beside other processing tricks which reduced the artifacts in this area. But…

Architectural Journey

Polar projections for the same panorama, Architectural Journey, was much favored that it made other panoramas in the list more or less like a child's play. However, it needs some specific crop to enhance the visual impact, the leader said. There are more projections awaiting to be processed for this panorama specifically, and for the others in general. Doing various projections is a must to extract as much as possible from a single panorama (which keeps me afloat in presenting some work all the time).

Sultan's Eye

One of most beloved panoramas for me right now is the Sultan's Eye. It is the planet projection for the inside of Sultan Qaboos grand mosque. The plan, if printed, is to present it as it is in a circular format. The leader of the group commented that it does need some tilt fix, and this is normal since I was not exactly in the center of the mosque. However, using the guidelines in Photoshop, everything seems to fall in place and it is perfectly symmetrical! This asymmetry would be more obvious in case that parts of the chandelier were obvious in the scene, but those were removed here because of a highlights problem.

Finale

The time is drawing near. Malta is in the horizon with lot of opportunities to photograph. I'm not sure though how easy it is to move around with my stuff, but one thing for sure after my travel to Oman: I need to drop some items down. Malta is full of history and the language in particular is interesting for me. How much I wish to go there and, in some way, never come back. Well, dreams aren't always easy; I know.
I have in this short period of time till the 27^th to invent some way still to fit gel filters comfortably at the back of the Rokinon fisheye lens. Some infrared shots from Oman turned so blurry because of the scratches on the filter. The only method (and not a practical one) I could think of so far is using a duct tape along in my kit.
This would be my last post before heading to Malta, and I'm not sure yet if I will be posting daily from there to document my activities like I used to do in Ireland. But I'll try anyway. I need to pack ASAP with this allergic attack. I just wish I'd come back 2 weeks later and find my reality is just different, just like that…

JKLMN...

Man, would this month just end? I'm seriously getting sick of September. With the beginning of this week I had another rush if allergies which left me no choice but to use the tablet that I've stopped taking for really long time; Zyrtec. Beside that, my car started to act funny again and kept on stopping on the road which calls for another visit to the garages. All of that just before I begin my vacation next Saturday. My last bet on my luck is that the fixes for this problem in the car right now would be simple and won't extend further. Knowing my luck, I doubt that would happen.

As you can see from the hectic schedule and conditions, I didn't really have the time to do any photography this week. Although, a friend of mine within the group promised to pick me up and see some place to do some panoramic trials in the course of some preparations for an upcoming exhibition. The exhibition is sponsored by some company for constructions and marbles and they sponsored the group before. I did visit their factory in one summer and the photographic conditions were not so appealing I have to say. According to my friend, this place under question is the family's (the family owning the company) residence or Diwan; a place to host guests or enquirers. From my friend's argument and talk on the phone, I've realized that they are in a desperate need for my services in this field, mainly because (as it seems) other members are not to be relied on, specially when it comes to architectural photography and abstract; needless to say, none is acquainted with panoramic photography at all. The art of panoramic photography is rarely seen here and everyone, almost, thinks it's some art done in Photoshop alone. Anyway, it was apparent from his tone that the situation is desperate. We arranged for a meeting and he was supposed to pass me by and pick me up and visit that place to get an idea of what to do, and how to do it. Yet, until the time of writing this down, he didn't call again nor passed me by, and with my car's problems I'm not sure how much time I do have in my pocket.

JKLMN

Probably you are wondering about the title of this post. Well, I've decided that since I'm not talking photography this week or posting any pictures, maybe I can talk a bit more about Geltani and how things are going on with this conlang.
The fact is, in the past few weeks I was working slowly with Geltani but I didn't post much about it here. I'm assigning phonetic values slowly to the rest of the alphabet and trying to make them more organized rather than random. Anyway, I think making a language, even a conlang, too organized is something abnormal after all. Actually, reading more into Turkish language inspired me to do a lot of adjustments specially when it comes to grammar and making up words. This would deviate the language from copying the original Arabic letter by letter.

-ÁY

One of the things that I've adjusted is the use of the suffix (-áy). In the beginning, I thought that I would use such suffix to make a noun out of a craft or a profession (e.g. carpenter, smith). However, probably for such venture I would use the previously discussed suffix (-árí) and (-ází) and leave the suffix of (-áy) to derive nouns of objects from other nouns, or maybe turn certain nouns into adjective form. One of the examples of this usage so far is the noun of "ruler", which would be derived from the noun of "line".

Line: L^PJ (initially pronounced as Leñj', where "ñ" is nasal and " ' " is a schwa).

Ruler: Leñjáy (i.e. the thing that makes lines).

This is just one example for the time being and I have to venture more into the Arabic wording and system. Of course, there would be words that would be converted to Geltani from Arabic letter by latter as they are. The main topic here is to try to deviate from a typical conversion and working letter by letter to something more of a systematized different language.

-ÚY

 Also, beside the (-áy) suffix which denotes a noun that does some work or job of a specific nature, I thought I might add another suffix to mark nouns that are derived from other nouns after applying work on them. You can think of it somehow in the sense of the past participle or the verbal adjective but a sense of a noun. This suffix is (-úy) and just an example:

Squeezing: R^NJ (initially pronounced as řoj', where "ř" is American "R" sound, and "o" almost sounds like "OW" in "row" and " ' " is a schwa).

Juice: řojúy (i.e. the thing derived from squeezing, fruit or something else).

However, I still need to do more testing for such suffixes and see how practical they would be, specially if the root noun ends with a vowel sound. In the process, I do think of how to explain such grammatical roles and rules if I'm to write down a page about Geltani! Grammatical terms are quite hard to digest from my side.

Beside all of that there are some trials to systematize the logograms (or logographs) as well, in terms of their shape in accordance to their appearance in the word. Explaining this would take pages I guess but just give an idea, suppose I'm going to convert an Arabic word into Geltani. Let this word contain the Arabic letter "R" [ر] (which corresponds to the initial phoneme of [J] as in Jacket). The strokes for this letter in Geltani would be different if it appears at the beginning of the word, its middle, or at the end. However, I'm mainly concerned about the shape of its ending form and hence each phoneme would bear 2 shapes each. This is the plan for now at least.

This is all to be concerned with the linear form (which is the basic form) of the script. As for the cursive form it would be merely a softer form of the original, supposedly. 

Currently, as well, I'm still thinking of a proper numerical system (in terms of logograms and pronunciation), as well as working with the rest of the phonetic values for the rest of the alphabet. The transliteration of the language is a concern as well since I'm trying to find a suitable way to represent some phonemes. The main concern in the transliteration process is to have an easy to reach system for typing with ease. In Ayvarith transliteration, for example, I had to change the system several times to make some easiness in the process - yet, it was not completely easy at the end. Ayvarith's transliteration system contained some Icelandic letters and a bunch from other languages. This type of system dragged my speed down in typing and I had to keep the Charmap application open all the time or make some short cuts when using Microsoft Word or any software like that. Anyway, I think I can't avoid this hassle. It's a must, specially with a conlang like Geltani with a widely varied phonetic system, merging the eastern and western realms of the real world into a fictional world.

One of the things that I've planned already for the process of the transliteration process is the use of a dot (.) to separate syllables within a single word. In other words, it acts as a glottal stop (just like the Arabic Hamza [ء]) and this is essential as I find it hard to compose diphthongs where two syllables merge (not all the time). This change makes me think of adjusting the punctuation marks as well and replace the dot (as a full-stop marker) with something else - and probably replace that something else with something else! It's a mess at the current time but hopefully it will sort out smoothly, soon.

Finale

I'm still reading my old book (again) and what I thought it would be a random reading, turned out to be a systematic reading all over again from cover to cover. It does feel indeed as if the book is new to me and I'm reading it for the first time. I'm trying to rejuvenate all these feelings and the meditative quality while I work with my camera via reading books like The Practice of Contemplative Photography. It is indeed hard as well to try to read and implement such qualities and such meditative practices while, on the other hand, so much life events and problems taking over your thoughts and power, like allergies and car problems and, taking care of the family. It does sound as an escape from stress, and to escape, you'd have to break the stress in the first place!
This is said, I'm waiting for the start of my vacation next Saturday, which seems it won't be a vacation as it is supposed to be with all these problems right now, beside taking care of Mom of course. Maybe, just maybe, I would have the time to relax, sleep more, do more photography and even visit Failaka island. I didn't visit the island at all this year. With such car problems I'm not sure I will be able to visit it. They say problems and hurdles in life helps you grow up and be stronger, but no one said it is an infinite uptake.