My Creative Everyday

Southwark Bandstand Did you know?  1. Heavy & bulky sliding box cameras were the standard design of the 1840s & early 1850s.  2. Captain Francis Fowke patented the 1st British camera to use concertina-pattern pleated bellows in 1856.  3. Invented for & used by the Royal Engineers, these cameras were advertised as the most portable & lightest in use. 4. Fowke was one of the most important British architects of the 19th century (The Royal Albert Hall, The Natural History Museum and the V&A), but his other inventions include a military fire engine, an improved umbrella & a portable bath.  5. The original bandstand in Southwark Park was one of a pair designed by Fowke in 1861, commissioned by the Royal Horticultural Society for gardens in South Kensington. 6. Bandstands provided a focal point in parks & the Victorians thought 'good music would free the mind of urban griminess & humanise the industrial landscape'. 7. In their heyday in the 1800s, band

Read the final Write On! magazine feature of a special three-part series on ChatGPT. In " The Future of Writing & AI ," I interviewed Dr Blay Whitby, who I approached after reading his book Artificial Intelligence: A Beginners Guide (2008). I love how our conversation even related the invention of electric guitars to technology and what lies ahead for us. 🎸 I was pretty excited to interview Dr Whitby since he's been writing about AI since 1984 and I'd read one of his books which gave me some really interesting insights into AI. Also, Dominic Jarkey, a senior R Programmer and data scientist, provides a fascinating perspective. I hadn't expected bird identification, cats and weather prediction to come up! 🐦🐈‍⬛️⛅️ So, with ChatGPT upon us, are we like butterflies flapping our wings, buffeted by wind, or caterpillars about to undergo an extraordinary metamorphosis from a chrysalis? 🦋 Or do you think AI is another bubble of the tech boom? Interestingly, it is c

Read the second in a special three part feature on ChatGPT in Write On! magazine -   "Art, Literacy & The Singular Literary Genius" , which centres around Doctor Omar Kholeif, Egyptian-born curator of exhibitions across six continents, whose work includes commissioning award-winning art, authoring, co-authoring, or editing 41 books.  What can technology do for people in the creative field, but also what about our digital literacy? Are we constantly feeling like we have to keep up, and why are some people more open and interested in ChatGPT? A big thank you to Dr Kholeif for his time, sharing his story and wise. Internet_Art, published by Phaidon Press is gorgeous in hardback if you're looking for an art coffee-table book.  I continued to draw on  Catherine and Imo's observations and insights. The MFA  City University students are in their final year and both working on their first novels. Their interview helps tie all three parts of this series.  Also my Insta fri

Read the first in a special three part feature on ChatGPT.  After 7 hours of interviews, then months of writing and editing, " Is Generation Z Trying To Save Us From AI? " is out now! The feature begins with: “Woah, slow your roll, we’re not going to take it seriously. We see AI as a new meme opportunity,” Tennessee born MFA student Catherine Sheffield says. I met Catherine at Hay Festival last year when I had the opportunity to attend with Write On! magazine. Catherine introduced me to Imo, who has been involved in training an AI program. The two MFA students brought colour, character and unique perspectives to my understanding of AI.  Also my Insta friends, @dannyvill77 and @356shooter make their debut in the magazine with their photographs.  A huggggeeee thank you to Madeleine White, Claire Buss and Pen To Print. Without Write On! magazine, I would not have dared to embark on this piece.  My family and friends also have been amazing throughout this mammoth project which to

Did you know?  1. The term Easter egg also means a hidden message, cryptic reference, iconic image, or inside joke, fans are intended to discover. 2. The eggshell was seen as a symbol of the tomb from which Jesus emerged, while the egg itself represented new life.  3. The Easter hare was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. 4. Eostre, a Germanic goddess was known as "the Goddess of the Dawn." Ancient believers held a big festival around Spring Equinox which involved feasts, giant bonfires, and sword dances.  5. Eostre entertained groups of children, transforming her pet bird into a pet rabbit which could lay eggs. 6. The story evolved, morphing into the legend of the ‘Osterhase’ – an egg-laying hare who hid eggs.  7.  18th-century German immigrants brought the 'Osterhase' tradition to Pennsylvania and it spread across the country.  8. The Easter hare became an Easter bunny, and real eggs were replaced with molded chocolate eggs. 9. Chocolate eggs were made

Did you know? 1. The great black-backed gull is the largest member of the gull family.  2. It is very aggressive, frequently hunting and killing any prey smaller than themselves, by swallowing whole most food, including fish and even other gulls.  3. They rely on aggression, physical strength and endurance, and can attack other flying birds, pursuing them by jabbing with their bill, hoping to  create an open wound or exhaust their prey. 4. They grow to 64–79 cm (25–31 in) long, 1.5–1.7 m (4 ft 11 in – 5 ft 7 in) by wingspan and 0.75–2.3 kg (1.7–5.1 lb) 5. The oldest recorded age for a wild great black-backed gull is 27.1 years. 6. The Pacific Gull (pictured), the largest black backed gull in Australia, has an enormous yellow bill, tipped red, as if dipped in paint.  7. It drops crabs or sea urchins onto rocks from the air, at about 10 to 15 metres while flying, in order to break them open.  8. They are the gulls in Finding Nemo which say "mine." 9. The native to the coasts of