Cultural Corner
Creating Memories of Summer
. . . With Your Smartphone
By Lori Hope Baumel
Fireboat John J. Harvey
Created by LH Baumel on the iPad with the photo/painting app Artrage
Hopefully, you are settling in to your back-to-school, work and post-summer routines. Some may be welcoming the new start; others may be lamenting the end of wonderful vacations, homework-free evenings and long days of sunlight.
With the prevalence of smartphones and their multiple uses as both still and video cameras, most likely, you photographed or recorded the weekly events of the past few months. If so, why not dial up these visual memories in a creative format?
Using iMovie, I created video vignettes of vacations and special occasions. Thereafter, I posted the finished products to YouTube (as a private link) to share with friends and family. I found it easier to “tell the story” with a short movie than to write about it, post it to Facebook or send out a few pictures at a time.
What is most amazing is that I created each and every one of my “movies” right in my iPhone. No computer, no Internet, no transferring of pictures… basically, no hassle! I simply opened the iMovie app, dragged and dropped photos and videos directly into a timeline and created a short film within minutes. iMovie provides templates with compatible music tracks or you can use a music track from your own iTunes library. Transitions, titles, effects and voice-over notes are simple to add. After assembling your footage, you can edit and refine your piece with the use of your finger or stylus. There’s a “help” feature within the app that assists you through the entire process. It’s creative, easy and fun! If you happen to have an Apple TV box, you have the option to upload your finished flick to iMovie Theater and watch it on your big screen (or any monitor) at home.
There are many Apple and YouTube tutorials on iMovie providing simple, user-friendly instructions on how it’s done. For more information go to:
https://www.apple.com/support/ios/imovie/
If you’re an Android user there are plenty of options as well. Video Show and Vidtrim are two popular smartphone movie-building apps. For more information on these Android video-editors see:
http://www.iskysoft.com/video-editing/top-imovie-for-android.html
We live in an incredible time. Yes, there are negative aspects to being plugged in 24/7. But, if you happened to take a vacation in the woods, at the beach or some faraway place… you can relive those moments again and again.
Below is a movie I created while sailing on the Fireboat John J. Harvey up the Hudson. It was a once in a lifetime experience afforded to me by my son, Sam, who was mapping the Hudson River from New York City to the Erie Canal for Google maps. I shot and edited the entire movie on my iPhone (within an hour) as the boat was on the last leg of her journey. I titled the film Butterfly on The Hudson.
Enjoy!
Live… Go… DO!
Top Five for September 2015
1) Read: The President’s Shadow by Brad Meltzer.
This past summer I had the privilege of interviewing south Florida based novelist Brad Meltzer for the second time in two years. Brad is an inspiring, energetic and intriguing man. His talent for storytelling is immeasurable, both in person and in his books. Meltzer has a gift for combining actual historical events within his fictional stories. The President’s Shadow is a real page-turner and includes little-known facts about Chief Executives and the Secret Service. Did you know that there is a direct connection to those who plotted the assassination of President Lincoln and South Florida? The last hundred pages of The President’s Shadow are mind-boggling. If you are a lover of history, fiction and a puzzle solver, this book is for you!
In addition to The President’s Shadow, Meltzer has released a series of children’s books that inspire children to dream big, one role model at a time. The theme “we can all be heroes” permeates the collection. Meltzer envisioned this friendly approach to biography – for his own kids, and wants you to share it with the children in your life. Each book tells the story of an American icon in a conversational way that works well for young nonfiction readers.
Did you know that Lucille Ball was the first woman to head a major television production studio? Founded in 1950, Ball’s Desilu studios produced I Love Lucy, Star Trek, The Untouchables and many more.
For a REAL FUN ride… watch Brad give you a tour of his office in this YouTube video. It will give you an intimate view of the author and what motivates his writing. See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=29&v=_zBsx9MrRlQ
For a plethora of information and entertaining facts about Brad Meltzer and his many books go to:
2) Listen to an extraordinary interview with Brad Meltzer on WLRN’s Topical Currents. This podcast is even more informative than when I spoke with Brad myself. Go to:
3) Visit the Norton Museum of Art and see:
Going Places:
An Examination of the 20th-Century Transportation Revolution
Model planes, trains, automobiles, concept sketches, posters, newsreels, film clips capture the excitement of getting from one place to another and highlight the transformation of travel.
The Norton Museum of Art’s exhibition, Going Places: Transportation Designs from the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection, focuses on the art of transportation design during the mid-20th century, and is on view through Jan. 10, 2016. For decades, Mr. Sharf has been fascinated by how the pace of life accelerated in the middle decades of the 20th century. Via model planes, trains, and, most of all, automobiles, he looked to capture the excitement of getting from one place to another. (He and his wife, Jean, are part-time Palm Beach residents.)
Featuring more than 200 objects, including design drawings, concept sketches, renderings, advertising art, and posters, as well as models of trains, planes, and automobiles, the exhibition literally examines how we got here. It also highlights the designers who created the look of the 20th-century vehicles that transported us and transformed the way we travel. The exhibition, which is augmented with related period newsreels, TV ads, and clips from classic films and television programs, includes objects from two previous exhibitions, Planes, Trains , and Automobiles, and The Great Age of the American Automobile, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Wilmington Trust is the exhibition corporate sponsor.
Guest Curator Matthew Bird, a professor of Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design who organized last summer’s Wheels and Heels exhibition at the Norton, organized Going Places. Of the Sharfs’ collection, Bird says, “The models are incredibly detailed. The concept sketches present radical new realities. The renderings show, in an amazingly vivid realistic way, what a design will look like long before it actually exists, and, the amount of communicating the objects do, about location, aspiration, technology, who we were, who we thought we could become – amazing.”
Bird adds, “Going Places is the story of how engineering and design ingenuity created the transportation options we so take for granted today, and how artists and designers developed amazing tools — wind-tunnel test models, cut-away models, detailed renderings — to communicate these advances while inventing new vehicles.”
To view a short video on the exhibit…
(Yes… shot and edited on my iPhone with iMovie) see:
4) Get your tickets:
The Kravis Center season has been announced!
Don’t wait until the last minute. Plan ahead and see some of the finest entertainers from all over the world. The flashing marquee in front of the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts will be promoting a nonstop series of performances and an exciting and eclectic array of international artists and attractions from rock and pop to classical music and Broadway.
“Our 24th season promises to appeal to audiences of all ages and entertainment preferences, from Broadway razzle dazzle to offbeat musical sensations to delightful shows for children,” said Judith Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of the Kravis Center. “With such an extraordinary line-up of super stars and award-winning shows and amazing orchestras from all over the world, the Kravis Center is once again providing superior programming as sophisticated, diverse and as family-friendly as the community we serve.”
People can expect the best from Manhattan’s Great White Way with award-winning shows like Matilda The Musical, 42nd Street, Motown The Musical, Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway and The Bridges of Madison County The Musical. They can expect the world’s finest musical performers like 2Cellos, Tony Bennett, Itzhak Perlman, Patti LaBelle, Matisyahu, Kristen Chenowith and Dudu Fisher, plus the return of Michael Feinstein conducting the Kravis Center Pops Orchestra.”
In addition to performances in the Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr. Concert Hall, the Kravis Center will present a diverse array of drama, music and dance in the Rinker Playhouse. Some of the Family Fare will be held in the outdoor Gosman Amphitheatre.
To view the brochure of the entire season, go to:
5) Support young artists and see:
MilaGROWTEENS: The Future
The Cultural Council of Palm Beach County
601 Lake Ave., Lake Worth – Through October 3, 2015
Gallery hours: 10AM- 5 PM Tuesday-Saturday.
The Milagro Center is collaborating with the Cultural Council on an exhibition presenting the artwork of teens, showcasing their talents to the community. At the Cultural Council, Arts Education is a priority. Through the continued work of its Cultural Education Committee (CEdC), the Council is committed to ensuring that our county’s young people have the best possible opportunities to reap the proven benefits that arts and culture bring to the educational experience. As an active CEdC member and partner, the Milagro Center embodies and shares in this community work and vision for arts accessibility and equity. Viewers can expect to see artwork that represents the individual voices and experiences of Delray teens, supported through the guidance of local Teaching Artists. The Milagro Center offers unique arts-integrated educational and cultural programs that serve as a catalyst for community collaboration, individual transformation and social change. The arts foster a spirit of entrepreneurship in teens; teaching them skills and fostering a temperament for creative success. The Milagro Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure the social and academic success of children through cultural arts, Living Values, mentoring and academic support.
Connect with the Council: (561) 471-2901 or palmbeachculture.com
The Cultural Council is the official support agency for arts and culture for Palm Beach County serving non-profit organizations, individual artists and arts districts. The Council promotes the county’s cultural experiences through an integrated program of advertising, public relations and marketing activities to both visitors and residents. Each year, the Council administers more than $3.6 million in grants, supports arts and cultural education, provides capacity building training and advocates for funding and arts-friendly policies. Located in the historic Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. building in downtown Lake Worth, the Council mounts a series of group and solo exhibitions featuring Palm Beach County artists and provides other programming.
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Lori Hope Baumel and her husband Eric live in Wellington and have three children. Their eldest, Sam, 28, is a media producer and conceptual artist who currently resides in (extremely hipster) Brooklyn, NY. Her younger children, Evan and Rachel, wrote the Around Wellington “Teen Talk” column in previous years. Rachel, 25, has returned from Boston, MA and is a paid intern at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach. Evan, 23, graduated from American University in Washington D.C. and is an editor and public policy writer for VersaTech, Inc. His current assignment has him writing and editing for the Dept. of Defense Health Agency. Eric, has practiced radiology in Wellington since 1991. His many talents include artist, cook, photographer and, recently, medical app developer for both the iPhone and Apple Watch. You can learn more about Lori at www.loribaumel.com or read her blog:www.grownupcamp.tumblr.com