The blue light slips through the slots illuminating the night, showing off its life. The light is proof of life in this computing machine. With help from it’s carbon master this machine, who the master calls Navi1 will grow and become more advanced as they both grow more powerful with knowledge.
This light breathing computing machine was built by Andrew Watson, who also took the picture “Navi Side Panel.” When I asked him main purpose for the machine he replied “I do love to game, and while there’s nothing this computer can’t handle, that’s not it’s main purpose. I do literally everything on my Navi. I do a lot of track recording and audio mixing, video production, and a ton of photoshop! It’s really the central hub for all my art/expression.
Andrew’s art and expression have expressed themselves with the creation of this computing companion. Creating the housing box in his way took a little effort. Andrew said “This was not nearly as simple as I thought it was going to be. I had to buy special metal cutting blades for the jigsaw I was using. After the bulk of that was cut, I used a large file and angle grinder to smooth things out. Then I cut a window on Plexiglas to fit and perfect fit!”
The picture “Navi Side Panel” didn’t come easily either. Andrew bracketed more than 10 shots to get this one.
Yancey: What do you like about your photograph?
Andrew: The pressed vent holes with the cathode tube bleeding through them creates an interesting effect, almost giving life to big jumble of wires and metal. The vents broadcast their image on my walls, giving my machine an almost omnipresent feel.
Yancey: When I look at the photograph I see contained energy, the picture is so vibrant blue it seems full of energy. I also like how you worked the depth of field. How hard was it to get this photo working with the new digital camera?
Andrew: I like to think of depth of field combined with repetition to be my trademark, I love the feel and look of “infinity”. Granted I don’t have a top-notch camera, I did find it hard to take these pictures without blasting too much light into the lens. You can even tell in that photo where the rays are creating some interference with the lens.
I can see what Andrew means on the depth of field. I too really enjoy shots with repeating features that help to emphasize the changes. Also, look at the picture again and see if you can see the lens interference he is referring to.
Andrew has been experimenting with a new digital camera after having a great experience with traditional photography. I asked him some questions about how he has handled the film to digital transition.
Yancey: What do you dislike about the camera and what do you like about it?
Andrew: Lens size, Lens size, Lens size! I strongly prefer SLR cameras as that’s the platform I learned on with film. But this Canon has enough features and decent enough quality for me to bring great pictures to the table.
Yancey: What do you miss about your old camera and what not miss about your old camera?
Andrew: I’ll answer both those questions in a word, film. It’s expensive, a pain to wait on and can be unreliable. Yet nothing can match an analogue picture, and overall I would prefer it. But hey, I’m lazy and a nerd so digital cameras suit me just fine.
It’s like the preference for Vinyls over CDs.
But while Andrew and I were talking, Navi was listening, quietly, with just the fans humming. I wonder what Navi was thinking. I wonder when Navi began to start thinking. Oh well, as long a Navi believes that the master is needed, all will be well. The cold cathode blue tubes continue to breathe.
The meme2 of the living machine has turned into teme, technology memes.
Susan Blackmore explains memes and temes:
Andrew Watson’s Websites:
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- Named after the NAVI from Serial Experiments Lain anime series. The NAVI was based on Apple and specifically the Apple Newton. Retrieved from Wikipidia Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_experiments_lain [↩]
- For more information on Memes, see the Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme [↩]
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