The FE Fractalist of the Month for September 2003 is:
Robert Kearney
Your first name: Rob or Robert.
Would you tell us a little about you and your family?
I’ve been married just shy of 20 years, and have a five-year-old daughter. I work out of the house, so, for better or ill, my daughter has two stay-at-home parents.
What country do you live in? What is your native language?
U.S.A., English.
Is there anything that you find special about your country that you'd like to share with us?
If you’ve never been here, I would just like to say that TV, movies, and our national politicians do a poor job of portraying our country and people.
Other than using the computer and making fractals, what other interests and hobbies do you have?
I’m an avid (though not very talented) alpine skier. I also love nature photography.
Who is your favorite author/actress/actor? -
Kevin Spacey perhaps.
What is your favorite movie? -
Favorites come and go. I saw Whale Rider recently, and it was awesome. Other movies that are special to me in last couple of years: Pleasantville, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Bend it like Beckham.
What is your favorite book if you are a reader?
- I’m an avid reader…only fiction. I tend to find an author I like and then devour all of his or her work. I just finished reading all of J.D. Robb’s work (though I don’t care for Nora Roberts who is the same author…go figure). I read a lot of mystery and thrillers, but there are only a couple of authors that compel me to reread the same book many times. The science fiction author David Weber is my favorite reread. Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, and Carol O’Connel are my favorite mystery/thriller authors.
Who is your favorite singing artist/group?
- I enjoy a wide variety of popular music, but if it raps or whines, I don’t like it. I listen to a lot of the music of my youth when I'm at my desk. I seem to be stuck on Who lately.
Any particular song you like the most?- Lately Pinball Wizard.
Describe the colors of your walls in your home.
We moved into a home with all white walls a little over a year ago. My wife has slowly been transforming rooms to other colors. One bathroom is light blue and sand with a seashore motif. Our other bathroom is spring green with a garden theme. Monet's garden pictures hand on the wall. Our daughter’s bedroom is now light blue with a moons and stars boarder along the top of the walls. She has some outlandish plans for our bedroom that I shudder to contemplate. ;-)
What kind of car do you drive if you have one? What kind of car would you really like to have?
1996 Subaru Outback. It has a bike rack on back and a canoe rack on top. It suits me well.
Do you have any pets?
From a peak of five cats, we are down to one – Max. My daughter, with support from my wife, is pushing for a dog. I love dogs, but I also like to travel, and the two don’t mix very well. We’re talking.
What season is your favorite? Any particular reason?
I don’t have a favorite season, but I like slices of all four seasons. My favorite slice is the coldest part of winter when there is two feet of snow on the ground and every morning fresh snow makes the world new. My second favorite is early spring as the leaves just start to open. I love the light green and soft feeling of the world. I’ll sometimes take drives up into the mountains to follow early spring colors. My third favorite is late summer as cooler nights fight with the warm days. I like to bike ride around the lake in the early morning and see the mist tendrils formed by the warm water. And finally I like the third week of October. We have a tree in our area called the Tamarack. It is a needle-bearing tree, but it loses it needles every year. In the third week of October, the hills are a fire of yellow and orange from the Tamarack trees.
What time of day do you like best?
I’m up early 5:30 am or so, though I don’t have to be up at this hour. My daughter is a late sleeper, so the early hours are mine for fractals, reading books, or watching a move targeted at someone older than five. It is not so much the time of day I value, as the quiet personal time.
What kind of computer do you own? (if you can, tell us the brand, your motherboard, your RAM, monitor size, the screen resolution you use)
I purchase my computers from iBuyPower.com.
Processor: 950 MHz
Memory: 640 Mhz
Drives: Two 80 Gig
Monitor: 19” ViewSonic E90F
Resolution: 1600 x 1200
I’ve been lusting after a newer machine, but cannot bring myself to spend the money just yet for my fractal art.
How long have you been using a computer?
I’ve been using computers for 20+ years since the early PCs.
How long have you been using the internet?
I think I started using the internet 1995. My friends were talking about it before then, but I’m not usually an early adopter.
What ISP was your first?
MSN.
Do you play games online? If yes, which ones?
No. I like computer and internet games, but I there are things in life I like better, and there is just not enough time to go around.
Do you have a personal website? Would you like to share the url so we may all visit?
I don’t have a personal website.
Now lets talk fractals! Do you remember when you discovered fractals?
I knew about fractals back in 1993. A friend was producing images from the Mandelbrot set on his PC. Renders took overnight or longer. But in terms of fractals as art I can create, I discovered FE and similar programs this January. I went looking for fractals to use as transitional masks in a computer slide show. The fractals worked well, but I fell in love creating my own fractal art.
How many fractal making programs have you used in the past or are currently using?
I’m using three: FE, Ultra Fractal, and Xeno Dream. I’ve tried out, but elected not to use (at least at the current time), six others.
Is there a feature in Fractal Explorer that you like best?
While not a feature, I love the speed of FE. Compared to the other eight fractal programs that I have tried, FE is dramatically faster at finding interesting fractals. As for a feature, I use the new palette browser a lot.
What is there about Fractal Explorer that you like the least?
I seem to only be interested in 2D fractals, and don’t use Quaternons, Landscapes and the like. Also, I have no interest in animations.
Do you remember when you first joined the FEUsers mailing list? Was there a particular reason that you joined?
When I first started out doing fractals, I though that great fractals came from finding the right place…that fractal art was more treasure hunt than art. I joined FEUsers mailing list to help me great places. Well, now I know that place has only a minor role in great fractals.
As a note to others, the welcomes I received with my first post were instrumental in me staying with the list. I was surprised that I would be recognized as a new member, and that people cared enough to comment and introduce themselves. It told me a lot about the community. Also I was very pleased that far more experienced and better artists took the time to comment on my early work. Thank you all.
What type of fractal would you say is your favorite?
This is hard to describe without using an image. Here are the elements of fractals that I am drawn to (some elements do not appear frequently in my own work).
· 3D appearance
· A sense of movement either by long swooping lines or by strong diagonals
· A sense of cohesion or order
· Asymmetrical
· An interesting center of focus
· A palette of complementary colors…three or more usually.
Is there any particular type of formula in Fractal Explorer that you like best? Any reason you find this is so?
Nope, though some of my favorite works have come from the high Sterlings.
Is there any particular type of formula in Fractal Explorer that you like least? Could you state why?
I don’t care for most of the fractals I’ve seen from the Fractal Orbits. Other than that, I don’t pay much attention to formulas. I may cycle through all of FE formulas several times in a session.
Is there anything in particular you'd like to see changed in Fractal Explorer?
I have a flow of suggestions going to Arthur, but few major ones. FE doesn’t seem to have any gaping holes that need to be filled.
Do you post-process your fractals? Yes.
If you do, what program do you use? - PSP I've only had it a couple of months.
What is your favorite type of post-processing you like to do? I’m too new pp’ing and to PSP to have a favorite.
What would you most like to learn when it comes to post-processing
your fractals? I am slowly making progress on learning the various techniques of melding multiple fractals, including cloning, masks, gradients, selections, feathering, blending, etc. There is a lot of learning still to be done here for me.
Is there anything you'd like to see added to the FEUsers mailing list webpage?
Nope.
What do you like the most about the FEUsers ML webpage?
I don’t use web page much, but when I do, I am surprised by all the active content. That is, it takes a lot of people continually maintaining and working to make the site come alive. I appreciate all their hard and continuing work.
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