Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Photoshop Tuesday: Lunar Havoc

Turning my photoshop skills to the Bay Area. I turned this rather mundane image of the Golden Gate bridge....


Into this:
The idea came to me at work. A phenomenally large moon over the Bay Area. Then I wondered, what would be the result? so I had to have the moon play havoc with the tide, as it would. This scenario is enough to make Ken Ring blush!

I sampled two other sources for the moon and the sand. I used a smudge and burn technique to colour the sand so it looks like as it would if the ocean had suddenly been ripped from it. The removal of the washed-out look was achieved by adjusting the colour balance.

Monday, July 18, 2011

This is Going to be Harder...

I feel a wave of discouragement hit me this week as my dream to work for the amazing animation company known as Pixar hit it's first snafu.

I'm getting a clear picture of what my life could look like from Google Earth. I find nice apartments, the Pixar HQ and a faith community, that are within a nice walking distance triangle from each other. I got a message from the church podcast about new things happening in 2011. Things were falling into place, it seems.
However, immigration visa problems have hit. Hard. Turns out that getting a permit to live and work in the USA could be my biggest hurdle, besides actually landing the dream job. My only hope is the H1B visa, which is the one where the company itself nominates the employee for the visa. To get this I have to be exceptional, a real cut above the rest.

I'm determined to be, of course. I am planning some real wacky and out-of-the-box ideas for a showreel that is out of the ordinary, fresh and original. I can't say what these ideas are, but they're very close to what Pixar want to see in a reel and what I've failed to see in reels so far.

So it's discouraging to see that crossing over tot he land of opportunity takes more than an a ticket across the Pacific and sheer determination. It also takes the scissors of iron and steel, to cut the fierce red tape of immigration.

God help me!