The Summer of LEGO continued on well after the construction of Mondrian City. As my son and I sat across from each other at our dining room table with a pile of LEGOs between us, other creations sprang to life. With very little guidance, he was able to create a number of masterpieces. Here are some of my son's beautiful creations:
While he opted for volume, creating a veritable army of vehicles, dwellings and abstractions, I opted to design and build a single vehicle. I always tell my students that whenever you are creating art or designing something, you push the art and the art pushes you. As I started to combine LEGO pieces from the hodge-podge of kits in front of us without any real objective, a truck started to take shape. One thing I really enjoy doing with LEGOs now as an adult is taking the parts from "prescriptive" LEGO sets (the sets that direct you how to build something specific, with step-by-step instructions) and re-purposing them along with traditional bricks, Technics parts, and elements of EV3 Mindstorms.
I call the truck I created "The Beast," as it's a pretty cumbersome monstrosity of a vehicle. I utilized the brick controller and two large motors from an EV3 kit to get it moving. In order to control it, I downloaded a free app called LEGO Robot Commander to my iPad, switched on the brick's Bluetooth and synced them up. Since I own a GoPro, I also created a custom LEGO mount and placed it on the roof of "The Beast," so I could capture a POV shot.
The beginnings of "The Beast"
The completed vehicle.
Side view.
Taking a peek under the hood where the brick lives.
Custom GoPro mount.
GoPro camera on custom LEGO mount.
The GoPro on top of "The Beast"
A closeup of the GoPro on top.
Admittedly, it's not the best design. It would have been better to create a 3-wheel vehicle, using the omni-directional pinball that comes with the EV3 kit. This would have provided better turning, since all of the wheels are fixed and turns are a little clumsy. I really just wanted to see if I could get the Bluetooth control breathing and get the GoPro on board. If I had more time, I would have incorporated the medium motor and created a turntable for the GoPro to swivel it like a tank turret. Next time!
Check out the video below (kinda low quality as I shot it on my iPhone):
Thanks for checking out my blog! Hope you found it entertaining and/or inspiring. Go build something cool!
I always kick off a summer with the intention of getting so many things done, a massive to-do list compiled and awaiting me just as school wraps up. Among the items on my list was this blog and to update it with more frequency. So much for that. This summer, with its incredible fall-like weather proved too tempting to resist, so much traveling and beach going ensued.
However, I did manage to squeeze in quite a few opportunities for creative exploration and professional development, largely via the use of LEGOs.
At home, prior to the start of summer, my six year old son and I used his enormous cache of LEGOs to create a couple of fun (and quite time-consuming, as it turned out) projects. Our first undertaking was "Mondrian City," named as such due to its color scheme of predominantly primary-colored bricks. What started out as the two of us building a single structure on a building plate turned into a massive streetscape. This construction continued through the summer.
A beautiful mess.
Under construction.
Coming together.
View from the rooftop (who knew Jack Sparrow had a penthouse apartment in Mondrian City?).
Being a photographer, I then decided to take this a step further by staging a narrative scene in our city. My son and I built a LEGO robot that would visit Mondrian City, with the inhabitants flowing into the street and staring in wonder.
Robot visitor (friend or foe?)
View of the robot visitor from above.
By this point, Mondrian City had become an obsession. I began to understand what Richard Dreyfuss' character felt like in Close Encounters as he dealt with the compulsion to construct a Devil's Tower in his living room.
Next, I purchased some inexpensive micro LED lights from Amazon and placed them throughout the city. I set up an orange paper background, meant to suggest the sky at dusk. I also set up a couple strobes (flash units) to compliment the scene.
Almost ready for the big shoot.
The micro LEDs.
Positioning the camera at the end of the street at a low angle, I shot a number of frames in total darkness, the shutter open for 30 seconds at a time. The initial pop of a strobe - at the other end of the block, behind the orange backdrop, pointed at the camera - at the beginning of the exposure provided a huge burst of light behind the robot, while the remainder of the exposure was illuminated via micro LED (some in the buildings, some waved about the scene by me and my son in a "light painting" fashion. Here are a couple of the strongest images:
In general, I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome. I did want to include some sort of "smoke" to create a little atmosphere, but I just didn't get around to it. Maybe next time...
I will be posting more about the Summer of LEGO shortly, including our trip to Brick Fest, attending an EV3 Robotics workshop at Carnegie Mellon University and another original project we call "The Beast," a vehicle designed using traditional LEGOs, Technics parts and the brick and large motors from an EV3 kit. All controlled with the Robot Commander app on my iPad. Cool stuff. Stay tuned...
The hits just keep on comin'! My students continue to impress and amaze me with the images they create. This "Greatest Clicks" installment features studio lighting techniques known as Overlit White and Edge Lighting as well as other treatments known as Double Exposure (some Adobe Photoshop post production trickery) and Light Painting (which is probably the most popular project among my students). Enjoy!
It's now becoming tradition. As part of my 9 week Digital Photography course at Ocean Township High School, students must ask one of their teachers to serve as their model for a photo session. This helps to familiarize students with studio procedures, lighting plots, model release forms and working with clients in general. It also helps to build morale in school as students collaborate with their teachers and portray them in a positive light (pun intended).
Below is a video I put together to showcase some of the amazing things my Digital Media Design students at OTHS create. The first half of the video highlights their work with Lego Mindstorms EV3 robotics kits and the second half captures the process of designing objects using Sketchup and printing them via our Makerbot Replicator 2. I always tell my students that they live in exponential times and I think they're finally understanding what I mean. It's a brave new world, folks.
This new year has brought many new challenges, namely re-designing my Digital Photography class for block scheduling and to maximize use of our new studio space. Having 82 minute periods is a dream come true, as students can dive into sustained learning when I introduce concepts and techniques.
The videos below showcases some of the strongest shots created in our studio to date. These are our "Greatest Clicks" series. Students explored lighting set ups known as "Rembrandt" and "Butterfly" lighting, utilizing light modifiers such as soft boxes, beauty dishes, show cards and 10 degree honeycomb grids and much more. I am so impressed by how they handle themselves both behind and in front of the camera.
Greatest Clicks 09.27.13
Light Painting
Students had a ton of fun experimenting with long shutter times and a variety of light painting tools. I think this is the highlight (no pun intended) of the course for them.
Model Teacher Project
For this assignment, my OTHS Digital Photography students were required to ask a faculty or staff member to serve as a model for their studio photography work. The clients signed model releases, discussed the aspects of the shoot (wardrobe, props, background, lighting, poses, etc.) before and during the shoot. Upon completion, students were required to lightly re-touch the 5 best shots from the session and share them with their models via Google Drive (along with a thank you note, of course). This video showcases some of the best shots from Marking Period 1 of 2013-2014.
While some aspects of our new Digital Media Design program are still gelling, we hit the ground running during the past two weeks. My brilliant students dove right into a research project about future technologies, to provide them with a bit of a backdrop against which all our projects will be framed. They used free, web-based Prezi to create dynamic and engaging presentations which addressed the current and predicted states of robotics, 3D printing, transportation, communication and more. These were then published to our Edmodo virtual classroom.
We also started experimenting with the Makerbot, printing objects from its SD card, which ships pre-loaded with four 3D objects. One of my students also downloaded a bracelet from Thingiverse which we printed. We were all surprised to see how flexible the PLA filament can be, as the bracelet allowed for twisting and some re-sizing. Still much to learn about this amazing piece of technology.
Students observing the Makerbot at work for the first time.
Abby wears a fashionable Makerbot bracelet, courtesy of Thingiverse.
Rock Star Joe coming his hair with a 3D printed comb (one of the designs included on the Makerbot's SD card)
DMD students also started a unit on Digital Storytelling this week, using Microsoft's Photo Story 3 (free download!). MS PS3 is a great little tool if you're unfamiliar. Students can craft stories using images, text, video, music and spoken narration. I used some guidelines provided by the University of Houston's amazing site for digital storytelling and allowed students to choose their topics. Since we now have block scheduling at our school, a few 80 minute periods will allow plenty of time for them to produce and present some incredible stories (3-5 minutes each). I will post the greatest hits here shortly...
"Thank you for shopping with Amazon. My name is Anthony. How may I help you?" Anthony hard at work producing his digital story. We use mic/headset combos via 1/8" mini-plug ports on our PCs. When everyone's working, it looks like a customer service call center in Room A141.
Daryl searches for the right element that will make his digital story perfect.
Today my students in Digital Media Design introduced themselves with the help of custom-made personal avatars, courtesy of Voki. Once they created their Vokis, students copied the provided embed code, returned to the DMD Edmodo page (our virtual classroom), and pasted the code into the assignment dropbox, so that I was able to project each submission for review.
I love Voki because it's free, easy to use and a fun way of getting students (especially technophobes) into being creative on a computer. I use it with my high school students and even with the teachers I meet while instructing professional development workshops and it's always a home run. If you're a teacher looking for a quick new trick to infuse your lessons with technology, give Voki a try (while it still has a free section!).
Wow, it really has been a while since I last posted. As we head into another school year, I thought I would showcase some work that I have been doing over the summer. While I absolutely love teaching, I also love having two months "off" each year to recharge my creative batteries, work on some fun and challenging projects (both personal and professional), and find new inspiration.
I'm getting ready to embark on my second year teaching at Ocean Township High School and I've been asked to create and teach a brand new course called Digital Media Design (DMD). I'm so thankful to have such a supportive and forward-thinking administration in my building who see the value in creating course offerings of this nature.
First things first. Before I detail what DMD is going to look like, I'll share a couple other items. I also teach Digital Photography and have been given a brand new room to teach it in. Last year I focused (no pun intended) mostly on natural light photography as the space wasn't suitable to teach studio/artificial lighting. This new room is huge and will be outfitted with a seamless backdrop, multiple monolights, light modifiers, v-flats, product tent and more. I'm looking forward to preparing the next Annie Leibovitzes and Richard Avedons for their Vanity Fair shoots!
To get my studio chops in line, I took a 10 week course at the School of Visual Arts in NYC, under the direction of Len DeLessio. I can't say enough great things about the course - Studio Lighting: What You Really Want To Know - and Len himself. It was life-changing. Seriously. I now have a greater understanding of studio processes and an appreciation for artificial light. Thanks, Len!
Below, I have posted a few of my greatest hits from the class:
An experiment with some gels.
Try to mimic Jill Greenberg's lighting set up.
An over-lit white background shot of my friend, Rachel.
This summer also provided me the opportunity to collaborate on a music video project with an amazing group of students and teachers from Eatontown, NJ. The program is known as SPEAK and its aim is to point kids in the right direction, helping them to make good choices (namely avoiding drugs and alcohol). Over the course of two days, the students wrote and recorded an original song entitled, "Choices Last a Lifetime," using Apple's fun and easy-to-use Garageband. They also shot and edited an accompanying music video, employing green screen technology and Sony's Vegas video editing software. I'm so proud of what they were able to create.
Please check out the video below:
"Choices Last a Lifetime"
Back to my other life. Digital Media Design will encompass a veritable smorgasbord of technologies - Sketchup, Adobe After Effects, Prezi, Voki, Edmodo, Google's suite of applications, digital photography, and 3D Printing (rapid prototyping). I took our new Makerbot home this summer and dug in to see how it ticks. Too cool. Check it out:
I printed all of the files that shipped on the SD card that came with the Makerbot (a chain link, a shark and a nut and bolt combo.
The Makerbot Replicator 2. About the size of a microwave oven, but infinitely cooler.
My son admiring the Makerbot's handy work.
The printed nut and bolt (this .stl file came with the Makerbot) printed with clear PLA. They fit together nicely.
Then, I dove into Sketchup, created a thing I called the Digi-Widget, brought it into Makerware (controls the Makerbot build), scaled it and printed it. It's a brave new world, folks:
But wait, there's more! Another unit in DMD will serve as an introduction to Robotics. We will be exploring the new LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kit. I have loved LEGOS since I was a kid and I am completely psyched to introduce this 21st century iteration to my students. I familiarized myself with the LEGO programming environment (based on industry-standard, Labview) and with the accompanying curriculum materials. In no time at all, I was up and running. Below is a video of the Gyro Boy, a robot that balances (unbelievably) on 2 wheels with the aid of sensors and some very sophisticated programming (I built the bot, but used the supplied program). Check it out:
Lastly, I plan to incorporate video post production into my DMD course, with the goal of building a digital film making academy of sorts. We offer TV production and broadcast media courses in our school and I built this into DMD to compliment those offerings. My students will be learning the basics of visual effects by experimenting with Adobe After Effects, another robust, industry-standard application. I got my feet wet with it by creating the clip below (thanks to my wife for being such a good sport!):
Oh yeah - one more thing! I had the opportunity to sit in on a good friend's podcast (Thanks, Larry!!!) and I am inspired to have my students create their own, using tools in the Adobe Creative Suite. I'm also laying the groundwork for my own personal podcast, as I firmly believe that modeling is one of the most powerful forms of instruction.
There will surely be more entries to come in the near future! Best of luck this school year, my fellow educators and students! Be inspired and amaze yourselves!
OK, OK, I'll shut up about the end of traditional universities. After this post. I posted my views on my Facebook page recently asking for people's thoughts on the matter and this is what my friend (who has his doctorate) posted:
I remember when MIT placed their entire curriculum online for free a few years ago. I thought, how odd - they are giving away knowledge! But then I realized knowledge is not the real product of Universities. Their product is an Ivy League diploma and the network of Ivy League alumni that students (and parents) are buying into when they pay those ridiculous tuition fees year over year. Over time, if the people in positions of power/influence are from Open Source Universities - then there will be a higher value placed on these degrees and there will be a bigger incentive to go this route vs. a traditional brick and mortar route. I am pulling for the Open Source model - I believe brick and mortar Universities are some of the biggest rackets around!
Well said, my friend!
Speaking of open source universities, here's something you should check out. Well, two things actually. First if you don't know about TED, it's a conference which takes place annually that brings together brilliant thinkers in countless disciplines to share revolutionary ideas. So many brilliant presentations here to watch, and they're all free: http://www.ted.com/
I use them to inspire my design students and also to show my AVID students excellent examples of public speaking and presentation.
Which brings me back to my other thing. I had always heard about Khan Academy and had seen a few of its tutorials on the Unofficial Khan Academy channel via my Roku box (which signifies the end of cable/Fios TV, but that's for another post), but Salman Khan's presentation at TED really impressed me. It's worth checking out if you believe that the future (which is right now) of education is online/virtual:
While you're at it, use your Google or Facebook login to join Khan Academy and explore the variety of tutorials available: http://www.khanacademy.org/
Check it out and let me know what you think or if you're already using Khan Academy (especially in your teaching practice). I'd love to hear what you think of it!
