Thursday, August 20, 2015

What's Your Filter?

Two or more people can look at the same object at the same time, and although they are seeing the same thing, they are not perceiving it the same way.

The filters of experience, prejudice, understanding, philosophy, religion, age, appreciation, comfort or discomfort, good day or bad -- all color the way we see the world.

Below are several versions of a photo of the statue of the grieving Christ outside the Oklahoma City National Memorial, commemorating the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Building. Each image is affected by various filters imposed by photo editing software -- each filter is overlaid the others, until the image underneath is far different from the original.

Christ (c2015, KB)
Christ (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone, overlaid with a filter to make it appear as if taken circa 1960 (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone, overlaid with a filter to make it appear as if taken circa 1960 (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone, 1960s, and Cinemascope effects (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, with blue duo-tone, 1960s, and Cinemascope effects (c2015, KB)
See how unexpected interferences or cooperations change what the viewer perceives?

The order matters, as well. If trauma colors our world at a young age, we will view it through a different filter than we might if that same trouble arrived when we were older.

Below, black-and-white and Cinemascope effects were applied in different orders. When the movie effect was applied first, then the monochrome, the image looks crisp. However, when the order was reversed, the image takes on a sepia cast.

Christ in color, as if filmed in Cinemascope (c2015, KB)
Christ in color, as if filmed in Cinemascope (c2015, KB)
Christ in Cinemascope with the color removed (c2015, KB)
Christ in Cinemascope with the color removed (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, then "Cinemascoped" (c2015, KB)
Christ in black and white, then "Cinemascoped" (c2015, KB)

Is there something in life you're not seeing clearly?

Are there colors you think you're perceiving, but your friends, colleagues, loved ones -- or perfect strangers on social media --  do not view?

Before we impugn one another's intelligence, reputations, abilities, etcetera, it might be wise to step back and consider the filters through which we -- and they -- view the world.

reposted from Adventures in Fiction, August 7, 2015

Thursday, August 13, 2015

A Return

It's been two and a half years since I posted here last, and this remains true:
Adventures in Fiction has moved!
However, the epic fantasy trilogy has become a duology -- The Lost Sword, comprised of Dragon's Rook (2015) and Dragon's Bane (projected for 2016). Meantime, Thieves' Honor remains unfinished, but only until the duology is complete.

When I first started this blog, I was writing in my spare time while working at a non-profit organization for the youth of my community. I quit after fourteen years, and life has been quite different since. I've moved to two different states since 2011, worked for a publisher as an associate editor, and now am focused on writing full-time.

This would not be possible without the generosity of my brother, who allows me a very comfortable writer's garret over his garage. (Yay for brothers!)

I met many a fellow writer, reader, and editor by blogging here. Perhaps that's one reason I never closed the site. After allowing this page to languish, I may be cross-posting from the other Adventures in Fiction, and from Penworthy Press, a blog shared with other independent writers. Come visit us!

Until next time, here are other links of potential interest:
my website
my author page on Facebook
my Twitter page (though I am rarely there)
the cover designer's blog (she not only designed the cover, she drew the dragon's eye)
Gothic Tones (her jewelry & art store)
Gothic Tones on Facebook