A Photo a Day

As a member of the UTNPPA we took part in a project called A Photo A Day. It's not a new concept to be shooting a picture a day, but these pictures are different. They are more personal and meant to expand personal vision.

There is a group that started in Florida called APAD. I learned of the them when I was working as a photojournalists for the Daytona Beach News Journal. A lot of times there are images we were unable to publish in the newspaper for whatever reason so we published them online at APAD.

We decided to do a photo a day to inspire us to look at the world around us and to be shooting every day. The first week I started out with my M6 shooting black and white. Then I moved over to my Canon digital for the second half.

The Kaleidoscope

The kaleidoscope is one of my favorite pieces of glass, next to Carl Zeiss that is. I'm working on developing a way to make images with my kaleidoscope with both still photography as well as video. I collect kaleidoscopes and when one my favorite ones broke I was bummed. Then in this great class I am taking called "Blackbox" I repurposed the broken kaleidoscope and created what I call the kaleido-cam. Blackbox is an ACT Lab class in the RTF department that is a great place to be creative.

Kaleidocam from christina burke on Vimeo.

ACT Lab is short for Advanced Communication Technologies Laboratory. The philosophy behind it is, "The ACTLab is a program, a space, a philosophy, and a community," according to the website actlab.utexas.edu. It is a new media initiative that breeds creative thought and critical problem solving ability. Their motto is "Make Stuff." I particularly appreciate this considering I spend most of my days and nights, not making pictures, but instead reading and absorbing theory and non-fiction writing.

The ACT Lab was created in the early 90's by Allucquere (Sandy) Stone and others. Stone is credited with developing transgender theory and opening the minds of many.