Day Six

(saturday) Quite a busy day considering I wasn't at work.

I began the day with a nice leisurely browse of the funny-pics stored on my iPod. I tell you, if one day these become of some importance, I WILL be the most prepared man on earth. Until then, it’s just an annoying habit that means I never have any free space for new songs, apps and other more important things.

I would have happily laid there all day LOLing at others EPIC FAILS, but as normal my battery died. Seeing no other reason to stay there any longer, I got ready and began sorting out all the loose ends that I'd left for the weekend. How hard could it be?

I began with doing my part in Bethany's Part D project, 'You Couldn't Put It On A Map...'. The Assignment? Take photos of five places in Sheffield that you have memories of. That's the task. Simple right? Wrong. Turns out that despite me having lots of places in mind, I can't really remember where they are. Curse of having a bad memory. Still, I managed to find six places that fit the bill, just have to take the photos now. Leave that for tomorrow :)

After dinner, I tried to do some research for my interview of Sean Williams on Tuesday. Tried being the vital word in that there. After nearly two hours of searching I still found nothing except some cool pixilated billboard photos and some pictures (impossible to tell if they were photos or paintings!). Have to try again tomorrow.

Giving in there, I moved straight onto my own project, which involved yet more research. Wish I'd done this a bit earlier. I'll probably post details of what I'm doing tomorrow, just in time for the beginning of week two :D

Not much after that apart from writing this blog, which, I don't know about you but for me has being rather dull and a bit short (Again). Might watch a film, but unless there's something in it that fills me with floods of inspiration you'll probably never hear of that again.

I guess that's it. Rather disappointing really, for the day that had so much promise. Kinda like buying a really high quality kit car - it's only as good as you make it. If you don't fit the wheels on right, its gonna be a disappointing drive.

Day Five

'Grab a taste of Friday!' - and todays taste is McFlurry!

Today felt like a sort of a round up day at the Site. Stuff from earlier in the week was being finished, and stuff from next week just being started, so this will probably be the most brief of my entries :(

Woke up feeling very tired. Note to self: stop having late nights, watching rubbish TV and messing on Facebook. I'm only about two hours extra a day from addict territory! Anyways, I've digressed (although it wouldn't be for the first time :D ). I was really tired, but none the less determined to enjoy my day.

The morning was mostly about finishing blogs, finishing iMovie, finishing Part B questions, finishing Part D idea, finishing...you get the idea. Just before dinner I went with Vicky for a chat and finalised all the details for my arts award.

After this I had another great dinner with two mates, where I tasted a McFlurry for the first time. And man, it was good! Not Lucazade standard, or even Simpsons style doughnut, but it was good! Afterwards they went to HMV to play some sort of FIFA demo, and I went back to the grind. If you can call it a grind. It’s more of a float. That's it a daily float. No, that still doesn't sound right. How about a daily....no.....a......um.....McFloat :)

Never have been very good at coming up with comparisons :) Back at the gallery I finalised my art project and then shared it with the rest of the group - Bringing Facebook groups that pertain to everyday actions and thoughts, into the everyday via photography. Because of this the rest of the day for the others mainly involved scouring Facebook for unusual groups! (More on the 'why?' in the related Arts Award post :D )

However, for me and Billy (who just this afternoon, broke the social networking barrier!), we had one last mission. To go and sit in Haris Epaminonda’s exhibition and make notes for our reviews. Handy that it’s right here at Site Gallery!

A quiet day it was. And now a weekend? Two days of free time? What am I supposed to do now!?

Josh

Day Four

Thursday was just one of those days where I just knew things weren't destined to go my way. Alarm-clock app didn't work (again. Why am I still trusting it?), leaving me feeling rather disorientated when I woke up not having a clue what time it was.

I got to work early and not really knowing how. After that the morning seemed to pass in a flash, updating my blog, doing more research for Part D, and beginning to upload our footage from Tuesday into iMovie (a four hour process I tell ya!). There was also a random moment of big screen YouTubeing, where we watched the delights of 'Extreme LED sheep', 'Starwars Kid' and 'Flying Lawnmower'. THIS is the reason YouTube is great!

With iMovie slowly chugging away, I went for dinner. Which is where things started to go wrong. I went to see Graves Gallery to see whether their exhibition would be suitable for my Arts Award Part B after spending well over half an hour wandering round the rest of the gallery, I came to the exhibit only to find it closed. After an inquiry, I found out that they were bringing an new exhibit in, and so had closed the one I wanted to review. Damn. With the next exhibit not opening till the day the work experience finished, I was kinda stuck. Getting my phone out to make a note of the new exhibits name, I noticed the time. And I've done it again. Five minuets to run half way across town, get dinner, eat it, then all the way back to Site. This was going to be fun.

Ten minuets later I was sat back in front of my iLaptop eating my mexican chicken sandwich, editing in iMovie, and making a mess (worst choice of sandwich to eat in front of people). Eating finished, I got stuck in with the movie making. Or rather, I would have got stuck into the movie making if my iMovie wasn't set up differently to everyone else's. Simple software? HA! It was only after having watched nearly twenty minuets of tutorials that I could even begin to put it together into something that even slightly resembled a film. Window Movie maker might not be state of the art, but it is SO much simpler!

After this, Ben gave us a little insight into what he does in his work, which in my opinion was some of the most interesting work we've seen all week! I loved the idea of bringing the outdoors indoors through technology. Would have loved to see that in action. Ben also helped us record some weird youtube multi-screen video, which involved recording many different snippets of sounds. I started on my clarinet, and was fairly pleased with what I did, although I still went a bit croaky at the high note (I swear, its not my fault!). After this we had a whole range of quircky sounds, coming from all sorts of places. Can't wait to see how it will sound! But, then, Bethany got out her violin. And I swear, it was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard. I've never even seen a violin before, let alone hear one in person. It was a truly amazing noise, an awesome experience.

After another talk with Vicky about my Part D, and a little more research it was time for home. I know now what the phrase 'Bringing home the office' means. Vicky, has given me 74 sheets of facebook groups, from top to bottom. After finally bringing my blog up to date (finally!), and skim reading some of the sheets, already most of my evening was gone. But that didn't matter. Caus' McFly was playing in the background, and I felt on top of the world!

Then a friend came on MSN, and after just ten minuets of talking about life, girlfriends, and school I'd gone from top of the world to the shadow of depression street. Now I don't mind listening to friends problems, but just that little chat changed the whole mood of the day for me, and its only when looking back now at what I actually did that I realise how good a day it really was.

Sometimes you really need to step back to appreciate how great something really is.

Night :)

Work

My self led project [Part D of my Arts Award]
Everyday Situations That Pertain To Fan Pages

Arts Award Introduction

This is a post about the arts award explaining what the requirements are for each section of the award making understanding of what I'm waffling on about later much clearer.

PART A - Taking part in a arts activity

For this part I have to choose a arts or media activity which I enjoy and then improve my skills at doing that activity. For this I've choose creative writing and (maybe) photography, which I will hopefully combine to make my final project in Part D



PART B - Going to arts events

For this I have to record a visit to an arts event, and then write about it and share my experience with other which I will do on this blog :) My visit was going to be to the Graves Gallery in the Central Library, an exhibit featuring many photos of artists, but I found out today when I visited that is closed to make way for a new exhibit which will open the 21st, the day before my work here is done. Because of this, new plans need to be made for my Part B.


PART C - Arts heroes and heroines

For this section we have to research an artist, and the story of their career. And you can't get better research than a 1-2-1 interview! Some time next week I'll be interviewing an artist who actually work very near to the gallery, and who I've being told is a very interesting person to talk to. The whole interview will be posted here for yours truly to read :D


PART D - Arts apprenticeship

For the final part, I have to share my arts skills and knowledge with others. For this, Vicky has organised a Master Project scheme, with each of us devising a idea that not only gets the whole group of us involved, but also gets the general public involved. So far all I have is a weird mesh of Facebook Groups, Photography and Creative writing, but I hope that over the weekend to simplify it and put it in a way that makes sense and has the making of something I'll be proud of :D


That's all for now, but stay tuned and there will be regular updates about how each section is coming along, as well as any photos and movies I manage to take along the way :)

Day Three

It's day three in the Site Gallery, and Josh is starting to get used to how the iLaptop things work :D Major break through!

No problems getting up this morning, woke up automatically and was instantly in a good mood! Hoping it would last, I let off to work with a spring in my step :D

After typing some more on my blog (which is only getting posted today, Thursday!), we got stuck into fiddling with the ins and outs of photoshop. Man, if I had a bit more money I'd buy it. Hell! If I had a bit more money I'd buy an Apple! For now though on my non existent budget I guess I'll have to make do with Paint.net. Perhaps I should get a Saturday job?

After this we discussed what we would do for our Arts Award, to progress of which I will post on here under a new section called, surprisingly, Arts Award which can be found on the Menu tab of the Blog role to the right.

Then dinner. No friends today - one off ill and the other in a business meeting (Muhahaha!), so just me for Greggs today (Oh.... :( Damn). Ten minutes later I was sat in a bench in the winter gardens, eating a Mexican chicken sandwich and a classic Simpson's style doughnut. Yum :D. Oh, and a bottle of Lucazade sport. That's another story in itself. Up until a month ago, it was my belief that all types of Lucazade were fizzy, no matter what the flavor. And me not liking fizzy drinks (yes, I know its strange!) means that I've never tried Coke, Dr Pepper, or any of that gang. So imagine my surprise when it randomly crops up in conversation...

Friend: I like this sport stuff, but I don't half prefer the fizzy stuff
Me: What do you mean? They're all fizzy?
Friend: What? Where've you been? Non-fizzy Lucazades been out ages?
Me: What? What!
Friend: Here, have rest a mine
Me: *after long drink* WOW! JUST, WOW!

I kid you not, this was my reaction! The main appeal of the drink for me is how hyper it makes me feel. The lack of fizzy drinks combined with minimal sweet consumption has lead to me becoming very, very bouncy after a bottle. For me, its like drinking some magic liquid! I love the stuff! The rest, as they say, is history, having had one everyday since I discovered it, giving me that boost I need to push me past finish line that is period five! Amazing stuff...yeah.

After dinner was very quiet, just thinking about the arts award and what I can do for my final project. I continued the chat after finishing time with Vicky and I decided that I would like to combine my love of writing with some sort of Facebook project. Time to get my thinking cap on :) I also found out that one of the people helping on the scheme called Kim went to City (my school) so we had a chat about how it changed, and mostly about its falling reputation. But still, it was interesting to hear about how the school has changed, in some places for the better!

That's it!Day three over! So...bubedeh, buhbedeh, That all folks!

Day Two

Damn alarm clock app didn't go off. Again. It's great being woke up by music of my choice, but if it has no sense of time what so ever, what use is that? Half an hour late it was! Half an hour! iPod technology may be state of the art and all that, but what is the world coming to if it can't even tell the time? I wouldn't get this from other alarm clocks. Those old fashioned ones with the shiny bells on top. Now they'd never let you down. Wonder where a guy could get one of those?

Today was a weird at the site gallery. We seemed to do so much in just one day. Looking back and trying to remember an order in which everything happened now is impossible (for me anyway. Memory like a sieve.), so if this is all wrong and wobbly I do apologise :)

At the start of the day we finished yesterdays rushed intro into blogging, and I worked a bit more on the notes on what I would post. In case you hadn't already noticed, I'm already two days behind schedule, posting this about the Tuesday on the Thursday. Hopefully though, with some sheer determination and a endless supply of Lucazade (a story for another day :D), I'll be up to date by the end of the week!

It didn't seem long before it was dinner, where I randomly bumped into two friends from school. After a McDonalds BigMac (Yum :D ) I went with them to see where they were working. No offense guys but the BT tower and a Healthy Schools program - I believe I've got he better deal :D

Running late, I ran back to the gallery hoping I wouldn't be to late. All was well, they were all just setting of to go and see the exhibit downstairs. The deputy director of Site Jeanine Griffin explained the collection to us, and pointed out the emphasis on circles and loops among all of the works. It turned out to be a collection of five looped movies, projected quite small onto the walls. With most of them they seemed rather simple, and In the case of one with some endlessly looping photos, a little dull. One however, with various shots of a circus caught my attention, with elephants stood on miniscule platforms, and crocodiles walking among the audience. I'm going to do an in-depth review on this exhibition as part of my Arts award later this week, so I'll have more chance to think about the connect, and give you my reader a further insight into the way I see it.

After this we had two very nice but very different chaps come in and talk to us about their love of producing movies. The first was a man called Rob Speranza, a self taught film producer who makes shorts, produces for movies from five minute wonders all the way up to feature films. He also runs the South Yorkshire Film Network which sounded interesting, and might even be worth some extra research. In fact, one of my colleges called Billy is interviewing him later today (So Thursday. Confusing yes I know), so I'll be very interested to what extra info he manages to find out.

The second was a guy called Richard Bolman, an opportunist photographer and film maker who showed us some (what i thought were some) abstract films about the Sheffield eye and some rotating solar panels. I thought the shadow shots in the 'eye' film were cool, but other than that I much preferred Robs fast paced mystery murderer film.

After this me and a girl called Bethan paired up, and went down to a photography studio downstairs. The room was set up with all cool professional photography equipment, big white sheet, big black camera, big umbrellas, the works! She took some of me (one of my favourite can be seen to the right) and then I took some of her (which can be seen on her blog here bethangoodhead-site.blogspot.com). Being my first time using a proper camera, I was rather pleased with my self :).

After this, we went out to the train station and filmed some random snippets which we were told would come in use later (Oooo! Mysterious!)

And thats it! Day two over! A very busy day, even when compared to a day before coursework deadline! Until next time, Goodnight!

Day One

I was nervous. VERY nervous. More so than my first day at school. More so than before an exam. I usually suffer with nerves, but never like this. I was actually shaking, stumbling over my words. I knew it was stupid, but all sorts of questions were whizzing round my head, none of which would be answered until I actually went to work. I know first day nerves are normal, and should just be ignored, but my brain doesn't like to operate in that nice, forgiving manor. Instead it likes to mess with me, give me something to keep me on my toes. Good ol' brain. It's only afterwards when I'm writing this now how ill-founded they actually were.

It turned out to be great! I would be working with seven other creative teenagers working on Apple laptops, visiting art galleries, and just generally being artistic for two weeks - awesome! We were given an introduction to the work by Vicky, went over the usual safety information and then just got stuck in, discussing what we'd be doing over the next two weeks.

So far so good.

Then dinner came.

Not the actual dinner, but the time. I was overjoyed with the fact that we could go anywhere in town for dinner, and had a full three quarters of an hour to eat it. That's fifteen minutes more than at school! But me - I was massively unprepared. It wasn't until I left the building that I realised I'd made bad decision number one - I was on my own. I'd made no arrangements to meet anyone what so ever. Typical me that. Deciding what to do next, I sat down on a bench. Bad decision number two. Just that morning it had being pouring with rain (typical Sheffield :D), and so the bench was soaked with rain. I leapt of the bench, the water already seeping through my jeans. Great. This was going to be a fun afternoon.

Having had dinner, I went back to the gallery. I sat down for part two of my first day feeling slightly damp, but determined to enjoy it all the same. A woman called Leslie Gui came in and gave us a talk on contemporary art. I actually really enjoyed it, and found out about some interesting new artists called John Stezake, Chris Ofili, and Susan Hiller, all of whom I wouldn't mind finding out more about. In paticualer John Stezaaker's photo layering art really convinced me that a photo does not have to stop at being a photo, it can evolve and be so much more! I might even have a go at doing some myself! In fact, I definitely will! When they're done, I'll post them on here for all to see, so stay tuned!

With not much time left we roughly introduced to our blogs, (which by the way Mr government people, are much better than those diary things you handed out) and then it was time to leave.

That's day one over! Bring on day two!
This is Foggy boy, over and out!

A Small Introduction From Myself

Blogging.

I've been down this street before, sat in front of the glowing computer screen for hours on end, writers block slowly driving me mad. And when anything did get blogged, and passed the many hours of editing, it always seemed robotic, as if it was being forced from my brain. Well not this time! Now I have a purpose, a plan, a reason to blog. And anyway, a lot has changed since those disastrous attempts (hopefully :D).

This time I'm logging the going ons of my work-experience, and the ideas and thoughts (no-matter how wacky) this provokes. For the next two weeks I will be working at Sheffield's Site Gallery, taking part in the Site Young Apprentice Scheme. It's gonna be one heck of a ride, so stick around, and maybe, just maybe you'll get some wacky inspiration to!