Batik Megamendung

HansIndonesia

Batik Megamendung

The mega mendung (cloud) motif is a well-known batik pattern from Cirebon, Indonesia. The megamendung pattern is commonly found in blue color with gradiations from light to dark.

I created this digital batik pattern with iDraw for Mac/iPad.

HansBatik Megamendung

Vignette for Android: Examples of all Effects

HansPhotography

We don’t have Hipstamatic or Instagram on Android yet, unfortunately. But we do have an app called Vignette (both free and paid), and I love it! With Vignette, you can apply a combination of analog film effects to your mobile snapshots. It’s a lot of fun, but choosing the right effect can be difficult since the app doesn’t really provide examples of the available effects.

So, here you go, my post with examples of all Vignette effects. They were applied to the original image as shown below:

The original image straight out of my phone
The original image straight out of my phone

Read on to see the processed images!

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HansVignette for Android: Examples of all Effects

Now You’re in Dublin: Alicia Keys, O2 Dublin, May 21 2010

HansMusic, Photography

Often referred to as the Princess of Soul, Alicia Keys is an R&B/soul singer, songwriter and pianist. Having sold over 26 million copies of her first three albums Songs in A Minor, The Diary Of Alicia Keys, and As I am, Keys released her fourth album titled The Element of Freedom, in December 2009. The accompanying Element of Freedom Tour brought Alicia Keys to the O2 in Dublin, Ireland, on Friday the 21st of May 2010. I was there, at this sold-out, two-hour show in a packed O2 stadium.

Alicia Keys, O2 Dublin, May 21 2010

Love is Blind served as an excellent opener to the show with some pretty visual effects. The audience was really, really getting into it when she played Fallin’. You could tell Alicia noticed the crowd’s energy and she would return the favor; She put on a great show and was certainly enjoying herself. The background singers seemed to be having a great evening too!

After Fallin’, the show definitely got started and pretty much everyone was up on their feet during her upbeat songs (remember, it was an all-seated concert). Halfway through the show, when she was behind the piano, her dazzling talents truly shone through. However, I don’t agree with most other reviews that she should just stick to being a soul queen behind the piano.

For me, the best of the show was saved for last, my highlights were If I Ain’t Got You, Doesn’t Mean Anything, and No One, after which the background vocalists stayed on stage in the dark (!) singing No One’s oh oh oh oooh with the audience until the encore: ‘Empire State of Mind’. The concert ended a bit abruptly when she thanked the crowd and walked off stage, or, perhaps I’m just used to longer encores.

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HansNow You’re in Dublin: Alicia Keys, O2 Dublin, May 21 2010

What was the First Photo that Made you Proud?

HansPhotography

This is my first. I took this photo during a school trip to Rome in 1995, when I was 15 years old. I don’t remember where exactly in Rome it was taken. At the high school I attended, Anciet Greek and Latin were compulsory subjects. The trip to Rome was intended to let us students finally experience all that we were taught the years before.

The photo was shot with a simple Rollei point-and-shoot camera that my mom had bought before I left for Rome. It was the very first time I took a step back and think about composition. Before I got the developed photos back from the lab, I knew already that this one would be my best shot from the trip to Rome!

HansWhat was the First Photo that Made you Proud?