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lewcid

Lewcid
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Update:

When I announced that I was leaving dA, a lot of people asked me to keep them informed of how my new projects were progressing. It's been a while, but I haven't forgotten about you, things have just been hectic.

The organization is up and running, better than expected and ahead of schedule. We will be making an official announcement and going public towards the end of the first quarter of 2006, although work has already begun.

We've spent the better part of a year now planning and laying the groundworks, and now it's all looking to pay off for us. Proper preparation, planning, resources and foresight are after all the key to any successful venture.

Our first three offices are now up and running on three different continents, and that is just the beginning. In advance of our public announcement, I will be setting up a blog, to faciliate communication and interaction with everybody who has shown an interest in our work. I'll be using this blog to divulge and discuss our projects in detail, along with the philosophy, motivation and inspiration behind them. And before you ask, an RSS feed will be available, I'm on it!

I realize that I have so far been rather vague about the exact nature of our work, and I have had my reasons. I'm the kind of person that likes to let his work speak for itself. Just think communities, education, health, art and social values; on a scale and in a manner never attempted before!

So on that note, sometime in February this coming year ill post a link here to the aforementioned blog, and all will be revealed!

Until then,

Saq

PS: Please keep in mind that I don't check for messages here frequently, if at all. If you want to contact me for any reason, email me. It might take me a while to get back to you, but I assure you that I read every email I get.







I'm afraid that the time has come for me to say farewell to dA.

I wish I could tell you that it saddens me... but it doesn't. If anything I am relieved. This has been a very long time coming.

My reasons for leaving are many and varied. I am a person with strong principles and I do not agree or approve of the direction in which I see dA headed. I understand that dA needs to develop and adapt as it grows, but for me the cost is too great. The focus has been lost or best misplaced. Or maybe I mistook what dA was meant to be all about.

I am not one to quit easily, and believe in trying to work towards improving things rather just complaining and walking away.  I have spent the better part of a year now, trying to bring about positive change on dA, and at every turn I have run into brick walls. Despite all of this, me and others I have worked with have managed to accomplish a lot, and set an example for others as to what is possible.

Then why am I leaving now you ask? Simply because I see no point in putting any more time or effort into a 'community' that seems headed nowhere.... at least no where I'd like to see it go. I am tired of spending months trying to achieve things that should be possible to do overnight in the right environment. I believe in working hard and getting things done..... and I'd much rather spend the same time and effort in places where I can make a bigger difference. You could say that I am moving on to bigger and better things.

My vision was for an online art community that actually promoted serious art and upcoming artists, where the focus was on learning and teaching other,  and that's just the beginning. I honestly don't feel any of those apply to dA.... and no matter what might be planned for it for the future, to me the path that takes it there is just as important.

I'm an idealist, and in the end I have to be true to myself. Looking the other way, ignoring the flaws and being apathetic in general is not my way of life. If you can take something positive out of your dA experience, more power to you. I wish all of you and dA all the best in the future, I really do.

As far as the live tutorials go.... I leave it up to the rest of the #photography team to decide whether they want to continue or not, as it honestly is a lot of work which seems more and more pointless every day. If they do decide to continue, I will do whatever I can to help them for the next tutorial or two until they are ready to stand on their own feet.

I have made some great friends during my time on dA..... you know who you are, and I do hope that we will be able to keep in touch. You might see me in the chatrooms from time to time, but that will be the extent of my activity on dA.

Part of the reason for the timing of it all, is that my life has reached an interesting juncture. I've been given an incredible opportunity that I plan to take full advantage of, I guess you could call it a new job. I am a strong believer in the idea of a community, and giving something back to society.... and I look around me and see a society that needs change from its very basic social fabric, to our way of thinking, to our educational systems.  Mind you, it's the global community that I talk about now. Along those lines.......

I will be working with a group of people dedicated and committed to starting a positive revolution, and hopefully influencing how we relate to each other. Our primary foci will be education in both the third world countries and the western world, facilitating global access to health facilities, social and community welfare programs, and promoting art on a global scale.

So while this is goodbye as far as dA is concerned..... you can count on the fact that this is not the last you have heard of me as far as my efforts to promote art and help fellow artists on the internet are concerned. It might be some time coming, as I strongly believe in good and thorough planning and preparation, but you can count on the fact that you will hear about it when the time comes.... whether you want to or not.

Once again, I wish all of you the best with both your personal lives and your art. I honestly harbor no ill-will towards anyone on dA, or even dA itself. It's simply time for our paths to diverge. My leaving..... it is no big deal really. I know that it's only a matter of time before I am forgotten, it's only natural. I can only hope that the kind of community spirit I tried to promote, will still linger on.

:salute:

Saq
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lewcid

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Run by one of our deviants, its back and kicking after a period of relative inactivity.



spotlight

greglief



yenom



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lewcid

lewcid

>    :spotlight-left:     Live Tutorial: Great Success     :spotlight-right:

The Live #Photography Tutorial on Depth of Field this last Saturday (May 28th) proved to be another success story. I had been a little apprehensive since we had our work cut out having to follow up on the hugely successful previous live tutorial. Not to mention co-ordinating two tutors and the new interactive illustrations. However, it was all smooth sailing and the feedback we received from those present suggests that we accomplished our objective: to help everyone learn the basics of "Depth of Field" while keeping it fun and interesting!


Read for yourself: (direct quotes from deviants)

<darkerblack> Great tutorial!! thank you for your time and patience!! I learned alot and now today I feel like going out and experimenting.

<njim> That tutorial really helped explain EVERYTHING I needed to know about this and the interactive stuff was just wicked!

<ElectrikSheep>  Amazingly organized live tutorial today!! :salute:

<garrit> roy204 & lewcid great job, i'm really impressed! :thumbsup:

<terraskewl>:ahoy: I LOVED today's tutorial, it helped me alot and now i am going to put my new knowledge into skill!

<In-Apt>W00t... this is one of the most interesting and power-packed groups in :devart:




:bulletred: Click here for the full review & log of the Live Tutorial. :bulletred:




> Any feedback or suggestions for the live tutorials are most welcome!

> Feel free to drop into #photography for any discussion about live tutorials or photography in general.

> A huge thank you to everyone that helped us in arranging and promoting the live tutorials. I really appreciate it and you have my gratitude and respect.

> Since I've been so insanely busy with the live tutorials as of late, I haven't been able to do my artist spotlights for quite some time now and they have been piling up. I have quite a few promising artists I would like to share with you, along with some other informative journals, so my apologies if you get flooded with journals from me in the next week or two.










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Update: We will be offering subscription prizes at the tutorial, just like last time! </strong>
So be sure to be there.


:spotlight-left:Live #Photography Tutorial: Depth of Field.:spotlight-right:



Following on from the huge success of our first event, #Photography is proud to bring you our next live tutorial session with roy204 and lewcid!

Most people in the photography community on deviantART are aware of both roy204 and of course, photo-class.  roy204 is one of the co-founders of photo-class, an account used to help educate fellow deviants on the in's and out's of photography techniques, from both behind the lens to post-processing.

All those present at the first tutorial will remember lewcid and what a fantastic job he did in presenting the first tutorial on photo composition.

These two talented deviants will be combining their efforts to bring you this tutorial which will cover Depth of Field.   Like last time it will run for approximately 1 hour, with extra time for Q&A's at the end.

Everyone who attended the first tutorial will recall the sample images used which we were able to embed in the chat screen.  For this tutorial, we will bring you a little something extra... raising the bar of interactivity to the next level.

:bulletblue: Where:   #Photography
:bulletblue: When:  Saturday May 28th, 12-noon PST.  (find your local time for this date)
Please pay careful attention to time zones, as some places are currently observing daylight saving time (DST)

We will be holding these events every 4 weeks, with the third tutorial being on 25 June with jsmonzani covering Portrait Photography.  Stay tuned to PhotographyChannel for future updates.

A big thank you to everyone that has supported us, we couldn't have done it without you!

See you there!

Best regards,

The #Photography team.







Previous Tutorials:

Live #Photography Tutorial: Composition in Photography





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lewcid
lewcid

Update:
:spotlight-left:#Photography Live Tutorial gets Standing Ovation!:spotlight-right:
Official news article, check it out now.

We made front page.:D
This event was well and truly 100% Community Powered.


This is proof positive that you dont have to be a staff member to contribute to the community.



the log is now online.
Live tutorial log: Composition by PhotographyChannel



> So the Live Tutorial last night went off without a hitch. Especially considering that it was the first time something like this has ever been attempted, it was a big relief to see it all go to plan.

> What did you guys think of it? I would really like your feedback and opinions. In particular any suggestions for next time would be most appreciated, and I can promise you that they will be considered seriously. Please do keep in mind however, that the topic for this particular tutorial was intentionally kept simple as this is a first in the series, and we felt it would be a good place to start.

> Everyone involved put a lot of hard work into this, and the support we received from the community was most encouraging. To everyone that supported us both by attending and helping us spread the word, you have my utmost gratitude, and more importantly.... my respect.

> You can rest assured that this was only the first in the series, we hope to hold the next live tutorial within the next 3 weeks. Also, we will be starting smaller weekly sessions, details of which will be announced soon. All announcements concerning future Live #photography events will be made at PhotographyChannel, so please add that account to your devwatch if you want to stay informed.

> Last but not least, I'd like to thank the rest of the #photography team. I know I am a perfectionist and a bit of a control freak and not always the easiest person to work with as a result. Thank you for your patience with me, and for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the community.

Even though a lot of attention ended up being focused on me yesterday, it was truly a team effort, and the rest of the #photography team deserves just as much credit as I do.

> I'll update this journal with links once the log from last night's session is online. I'm going to start work on formatting it now.

> Once I'm done with the log, ill be free and available to talk, so feel free to pop into #photography for some discussion.





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