Hi everyone... well no one, actually because there has been no visitors to this blog has of yet. No problemo thou because I dont mind, some day, someone will read this and enjoy.

I have been on holidays for the past week in Algarve. On the day after my arrival I went into the water at the beach, and became ill. I was taken to the hospital to be treated. It appears that some kind of allergy might have chosen my free time to destroy my rest.

Therefore, if salt water was off limits, the only thing I could do was take pictures. I brought a 512 mb SD card for my camera, and went shooting ocean landscapes.

So now I am starting a new image in the Pirates theme. On my search for information I found this website where you can find your "Pirate Name" if you fill up an online form. Very nice!

Say hello to Capt. Roger Rackham! red-fish at sea, tough as iron aboard my ship.

Here is the link to the website, enjoy!

www.piratequiz.com

It was interesting to know, that I could pull it off. So finally I decided not to do anymore on the piece, I uploaded it, and soon it will be officially over for me.

Meanwhile I started studying Camera Mapping, and although I have not yet mastered it, I think I am pretty close.
I already did some testing, and they didn't go that bad. I miss having someone who I could talk to and experience these stuff along. Two brains are better than one. Unfortunately, in Portugal I don't know anyone that knows these stuff.
Maybe there is someone out there, that will cross in my path one day... who knows.

I still have a lot to learn, but I think I did good in a short time. One year from now, either I quit doing this stuff, or I will be a heck of a MattePainter. So help me God.

On a side note... I have just written an email message to an Special Effects school here in Lisbon, in an answer to a request for Photoshop Instructors. These brain quacks had the ads starting from the most ancient to the most modern, so I ended up replying to an ad from January 2005.
Even if I had something interesting to them... I think I have just blown my chance. It's humiliating when this kind of thing happens. I feel I lost all my credibility. Man...

Well, no one has visited my blog has of yet, but here goes a thank you, to you, that are reading these lines.

I am alive, and I must say I had one of the best experiences in my life. Diving at night is awesome. We departed Peniche Harbor at 21h00, and arrived to "Baia do Sono" ( Sleep Bay ), Berlengas, at 22h00, by that time the sun was already gone, and there was no moon yet. There was no wind, and the weather was hot.
The bay was not very big, and the Island walls were no taller than a 3 to 4 floor building high. We could hear seagulls making noises all around the bay walls. There should have been a few thousands seagulls on those walls, hidden by the darkness of night.
In the water we could see the Plancton spark just like fireflies. After a short security briefing we went in.
This wasn't a deep dive. We were at 9 m, depth, so once in the water, it took us only 30 seconds to hit the floor. Just has we aproached the bottom, we had to avoid a beatifull "Lebre do mar" ( it's like a snail but black... and beautifull ).
The only thing we could see, where our lamp focus, and the ones from the other divers. Everything else was complete darkness.
We were a group of four. But my buddy had to go up, because he was cold ( go figure ). After that, I called everyone, and asked to shut down the lamps, to see the plancton, everybody did, and it was trully amazing.
With the lights out, and shaking the water with our hands, there were thousands of fireflies being agitated in the water. The only think we could see, were very small particles sparkling everywere around us.
I could also describe the sensation of being underwater with a lamp only... but it is impossible. It's a huge rush, not knowing what lies ahead, and depending on the cells of your flashlight.

This experience was very good, and I will certainly do it more times. It also improved my knowledge for the Atlantis competition, and I will use it on my piece.

I thought that I might need to investigate a little deeper, in order to do a good job at the Atlantis Competition.
Therefore next saturday, I will be diving at night, in Berlengas, Atlantic Ocean.
Last time I was there, was in December, and we took a serious beating. The boat with twin 200 HP engines, had a hard time crossing from mainland to the Berlengas Islands.

The temperature was really cold, and the ocean was so agitated that when we finally arrived there, I was already tired and ready to come home.
We did 2 dives, then we got back at the end of the day. It was very hard. And it was daytime.

I am not sure what to expect from Saturday. So this might be my last entry to this blog.

If I get back alive, I will have experienced something that few people have. And it will be a very good input for my Atlantis painting.

The new CGSociety challenge has started, and I am taking part. I know, I know... it's stupid. Why would anyone enter a challenge that is being held by the society of the greatest World CG artists? It's the same has entering a soccer field and play against... say... Italy. Why bother challenging the best?

The answer is simple. I am a masochist. I like spending hours, days, weeks, thinking about my drawing, and in the end, I find 30 or 40 better artists than myself in a 50 person contest. And also because it's fun. There is a limit of humiliation a guy can stand. I have not reached mine yet. When it comes to that, I will start doing simple pornographic drawings, just to try and humiliate others

Challenges like these, are an oportunity to understand that each person has it's own ideas, and there are many aproaches to the same problems. It is also a way of meeting people that are trully interested in your work. Collegues from across the planet, that become united by art.