The images above, and the images in the site header were all created by Glocal participants using pre-release versions of our first two toolkits. We are happy to announce that these toolkits are now available for public download from our Toolkits Page.

First up is the Motion Sequence Tool, a simple software program for converting motion into a still image sequence via a web cam. As you can see from our Flickr Pool, there is a huge variety of images that can be created with this tool.

Next is the Multiple Exposure Tool, which layers captured photos to create photographic images via a web cam or connected video cam. You can store up to 25 photo layers, and combine them in any number of different ways.

Both toolkits are compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux platforms and require a webcam to run properly.

>TOOLKITS PAGE

The Glocal team will be on site this Friday at the Vancouver Art Gallery for gallery’s all-night FUSE event. We will be transforming the 3rd floor rotunda into an immersive, interactive experience, demonstrating some of the technology that we have been developing at the TechLab. The installation will involve 4 live cameras and 4 architecturally-incorporated projection screens, and will be driven by a custom-written software application written by the Glocal team.

We’ll be running from 10pm until 3am – come by and check it out!

Find out more about FUSE

Using some of our newest custom software tools, we have come up with a site-specific presentation for the Vancouver Art Gallery. The Tech test went well on Tuesday. Now we shall see how it works out with our (4 ) 5000 lumen projectors provided by Christopher Moreno of 365 productions. Here’s what we said we are going to do:

At FUSE the VAG’s architecture is uniquely transformed through new media technologies, projecting FUSE-goers as celestial bodies, monumental frescoes and floating avatars — their improvised actions triggering a series of unexpected graphic narratives that continuously animate the crowned cupola of the central rotunda.

In addition for two 15 minute sessions Glocal will be projecting onto the Sears building’s white facade.

Its an all-nighter so we are conditioning our sleep patterns to get ready.

Experimenting with the Multiple Exposure application the other day, I had the pleasure of getting caught up in a beautiful moment of creation with a digital program totally unfamiliar to me. A lackluster photographer at best, I often arrive home from travels and adventures with a camera full of photos that do nothing for me aesthetically, while offering no justice whatsoever to the beauty of the adventure undertaken. Awkward landscapes, architectures misbehaving and out of focus, or the ever-popular photo taken about one-second after everyone is finished posing.  Rarely, even by accident, do I get a photo that captures light or movement in an interesting way.  Instead, I get a batch of outtakes, without the good images to precede them. So, the following posts by me are documentation of my experiments with the new software toolkits…

Still looking at the whack of images we have taken while flying across the Georgia Strait, it has brought to light the use of still images alongside moving images. As you must of guessed in the last blog, Real vs. Representation, the flying plane is taken from a brochure image of the plane we are flying in.

So what other things can be done when you introduce printed still images in front of the webcam.

The introduction of micro-narratives through the juxtaposition of images and live feeds. The printed drawing and the real time pilot suggest prophetic possibilties to the flight journey.

Or what if real time representation was sistered to the schematic? Check out this image of the Island and its map illustration.

This has given us some new ideas for the upcoming Fuse event!

One of the interesting things about the Motion Sequence Application is that it initially suggests that what is being captured is live and therefore real motion in real time. Without getting overly philosophical, what is it that we actually expect when the camera captures something over time? Look at these images taken while flying over Vancouver and the Georgia State.

What is real and what is representation?

Are there planes flying that close to ours? Is the propeller actually being caught and rendered almost still?

UPDATE: Glocal Camera Trigger Boards are here! And, we’re giving them away for FREE! 

Here’s a preliminary taste of one of the things we’ve been working on: the Glocal Camera trigger. This Arduino-based hack lets you take pictures by triggering your camera’s shutter on a time delay (every ten seconds, every 20, every ten minutes…), or by plain old sound: you make a noise and the camera takes a picture. We’ve been perfecting it and it is very sensitive- anything from a whisper to a loud sound will make it trigger the camera.

Our intention behind this is to come up with ways that the camera can be triggered from positions that are not connected to the body. If we aren’t holding the camera, imagine what kind of perspectives can be captured, and what unique situations might be documented.

We’ve asked our artist friend, Daniel Joliffe if he could come up with a circuit board design for this, one that makes for easy assembly and hacking. We’ll post that in a few weeks time, but for now, here is a zip file with the schematic in PDF and Eagle CAD formats, and the Arduino code too. And to whet your appetite for camera hacking, here are a few pictures of the first prototype.. (oh, and it fits in an Altoids tin).

glocal_camera_trigger_june26_08.zip (96k) 

While flying to Victoria to meet for some consultation, we had the great opportunity to test the Motion Sequence Application in capturing some dizzying perspectives.

Its got us considering different ways we can create views from above. We’ve already started work on the Balloon Cams and we will soon be posting some tool kits that pass on tips on how to make your own.

Kite cams are next. Our initial research shows that many people are already doing this in cool and interesting ways. Check out both a modified disposable kite cam made by David Hunt and some little more sophisticated cradles that are used by kite cam photographers. Also the folks at Engadget have done a great job of explaining the hack of an old  digital cam to make a digital kite cam.

Can you describe how you have created alternative view points?

In order to capture alternative views of the world I avoided photographing from eye level. Instead, I attached my camera to my ankle when shooting in Portmore Cemetery and placed my camera in a clear handbag when photographing in Antrim Castle Gardens, by attaching the camera to my ankle at Portmore, also known as Laloo, I captured images that are rich with texture, grass often in the foreground, a mid layer of rocks or gravestone and a higher level of trees and sky. An eerie self-portrait, in which the camera cannot be seen, was captured in the reflection on a gravestone.

At Antrim Castle Gardens, the camera was placed from a higher viewpoint, in a bag that was placed over my shoulder. As I walked, the camera was able to move around capturing the remains of Antrim Castle, the woods, historical monuments and gardens. The effect created by the plastic in front of the lens enhances the composition and adds texture to the image plain. The odd look of the images takes on the appearance of older photographs, and I think is quite fitting for such a place with rich histories.

NB – each sequence consists of over 20 time lapsed photos