Creative Canvas application
Electronic Publishing magazine
March, 2000
Electronic Publishing magazine used one of my made-in-Canvas 7 images on page 56 to illustrate their review of the application, along with a write-up with my description of the process of creating the art.
(Click here to see a scan of this review as it originally appeared.)
Canvas 7 promotional literature
November 29, 1999
Retro Metro
Mike Bedford of Retro Metro Designs has come into a bit of fame using Canvas. Recently, he has been featured in Publish, Desktop Publishers Journal and MacCentral.com. Mike's work is full of thought-provoking collages of buildings and cityscapes, which overlay images from decades ago with new photographs. He uses Canvas to precisely scale and distort the images to fit, and then uses SpriteLayer transparency effects to blend the graphics together. "I am most impressed with SpriteLayers, which make image masking effects extremely easy to accomplish."
"As a self-taught artist, Canvas' integrated approach to graphic design has made it easier to grasp and experiment with the interrelated concepts of image editing, page layout and illustration, so I don't have to fight with several different and less intuitive applications."
Mike also had some time recently to work with a pre-release version of Canvas 7. He sums up his feelings about the new version with, "It's a miracle program that turned me into an illustrator! I'm spoiled by Canvas' SpriteEffects. There's just no other way to go!"
As Mike continues to develop his graphics skills, he says, "I also consider Canvas an investment for the future--as I grow in my capabilities and needs, Canvas' existing feature set can keep right up with my growth curve."
Canvas 7 ships
November 22, 1999
(Click here to see my beta tester quote in Deneba's press release.)
Into the Light: Traditional photographers develop a fondness for digital
Desktop Publishers Journal
September, 1999
Combining the old and the new
Mike Bedford
Cucamonga, Calif.
Deneba Canvas
(Click here to see a scan of this story as it originally appeared.)
Blending the Old with the New
Publish magazine
September, 1999
Photographer Mike Bedford has long been interested in the history and architecture of the cities in which he has lived. For his Retro Metro project, Bedford merged archival images of Nashville, Tennessee, with modern-day photographs of the same scenes...
(Click here to see scans of this feature as it originally appeared.)
Famous People: Macs in mags, catalogs, books
by Dennis Sellers, dsellers@maccentral.com
August 17, 1999, 12:30 pm ET
Retro Nashville is in the news again. "Publish" magazine printed one of Mac-using photographer Mike Bedford's Retro Metro images in their September issue. See http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/mbedford/publish.html for scans of the shots.
(Click here to see this MacCentral writeup as it originally appeared.)
Hands on with Canvas 6
by Dennis Sellers, dsellers@maccentral.com
June 28, 1999, 7:00 am ET
...Now I could try showing you some of my dabblings with Canvas. But between a May 5 tornado (firewood, anyone?) and the serious injury of my brother-in-law in a construction accident, my pet project (a brochure for my church) is still a work in (slow) progress. So let me refer you to http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/mbedford/cv6.html.
At this Web site you can catch some fantastic images of Nashville, TN (where I live), created by my friend, photographer Mike Bedford, using Canvas 6. You can click on each image to see a larger version and the original photos used to create each montage. Then click on the "How To" image for an explanation of how these images were created using Sprite Layers.
(Click here to see this MacCentral writeup as it originally appeared.)
Mike Bedford and Retro Metro on Deneba site
June 22, 1999
Take a look at the feature article we just posted on one of the Canvas Community regulars, Mike Bedford. It's featured on the front page. Congrats to Mike and keep in touch with us here at profiles@deneba.com! Thanks... Calvin Hsu
Current Pro File: Retro Metro
June 21, 1999
Click here and here to see my Retro Metro digital images as featured on Deneba Systems' corporate website.
Mike Bedford, Canvas User
April 20, 1999
Click here and here to see my graphics work as displayed on The Canvas Expert's website.
Faith Hill in bobby pins, Tim McGraw with a rag on his head
by MacCentral Staff, email@maccentral.com
November 27, 1998, 8:00 am ET
On Wednesday I told you about photographer Mike Bedford's shots of Nashville, Tennessee, which had been "digitally transformed" on his Mac 7300/180. If you liked those photos, check out the photographer's shots of country music stars at http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/mbedford/mb/celebrities.html. These photos have been digitally retouched with Mac hardware and Mac OS software.
On the page you can check out Faith Hill with no makeup and bobby pins, Tim McGraw with a rag on his head, and more. (Writer's note to Faith: Shania hasn't returned my calls, so if you need help with your Mac, I am now available.)
When he's not taking photos in various locations, Bedford is an instructional support tech III at CalState Fullerton (Fullerton, CA) responsible for, besides helping graphics and photo students with their projects, maintaining about 30 Macs in the Communications Department.
"Our department chair is a Mac fan, so I expect we'll be keeping the platform alive in our area for some time to come," Bedford says.
(Click here to see this MacCentral writeup as it originally appeared.)
Mac used to create cool images of Music City
by Dennis Sellers, dsellers@maccentral.com
November 25, 1998, 6:00 am ET
Check out http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/mbedford/retroblend.html for some cool digital art of Nashville scenes completed by photographer Mike Bedford when he lived in Music City (the home of Yours Truly) last year. The photos are part of the "Retro Metro" project in which "historical imagery comes alive in the blending of archival 19th century photographs with contemporary images into unique, singular works of art." Bedford did the researching, collecting, reshooting and digital transformation of the images of Nashville. The graphics were all created on Bedford's Mac 7300/180.
(Click here to see this MacCentral writeup as it originally appeared.)
Suburban Trends Newspaper, February 1997
(I called my former editor Howard Ball recently and updated him about my life and adventures. As a result, he came up with this nice write-up for his "Bits and Pieces" column.)
Seems as though it's time for old friends to get in touch. The other day I got a call from Mike Bedford who is now in Nashville, Tennessee. Mike is a Butler boy who sees the world through a camera lens.
Mike started taking pictures for Trends when he was still in high school. He rode his bike to local shoots and took great pictures of check-passing and parades. He worked in the lab and on the street and was one of our most dependable employees.
Mike took some prize-winning photos for us over the years, and he loved to do our feature, "The Days That Used To Be." He would dig up photos taken many years ago and then take a new photo from the same viewpoint. When he left us to go to college, he had taken enough pictures to last a couple of years. The by-line Mike Bedford was used in the paper for several years after Mike went to school.
Just as there are Howard Ball stories that they tell at Rotary, there are also a couple of Mike Bedford stories.
It was raining hard one day in April, 1984 and it was evident there was going to be flooding. We sent Mike out to get some news shots. He came back with great art shots which had not a smidgen of water in them. He had produced some great pictures, but I needed flood photos. As gently as I could, I let Mike know I needed pictures with water in them. (Some folks who were present at the time may take issue with the word gentle.) In the meantime, we were flooded out of our Boonton Avenue news room. When we got back, Mike was already in the building. Developing his prize-winning photos of the 1984 flood.
Then there was the time when a bank was robbed and Mike rushed to the bank only to find little action. He felt bad that he had missed the excitement. He called us just as we heard that one of the bank robbers had been shot just a few yards down Route 23. Mike got some great shots of the action there. One of the bandits had been shot and killed but the other was at large. The radio broadcasts said the robber was "armed and dangerous." As the police combed the area, Mike stood by a clump of decorative trees on the Max is Back lot. Suddenly the police concentrated on the clump of bushes at Mike's feet. With drawn weapons the police flushed the felon from his hiding place--six feet from where Mike had been standing.
Mike didn't miss the opportunity. His camera caught all the action and won us some more awards.
Mike is married now and has a new child. After teaching at Ambassador University and working with the university publications department, Mike is in Nashville to get back into the news business.
1996 "SPOTS OF TIME"
(Ambassador University's literary magazine)
(I had several photographs and short poems published in this issue, resulting in this little write-up in the back of the magazine)
Any student who hasn't seen Ambassador University instructor Mike Bedford taking photographs around campus, on a constant search for just the right angle and lighting, must have been dwelling in a cave somewhere. Who could have missed being pulled into a photo session, maybe on your way to the library, and being enveloped in Mr. Bedford's energetic gregariousness and obvious love for photography?
Mr. Bedford's interest in photography goes back over 20 years. "As a seventh grader in Butler, New Jersey, I enrolled in my first photography class. During the summer of 1974, just prior to my seventh grade year, a neighbor gave me some old darkroom chemicals, which I used to make my first prints using my grandfather's old box camera negatives," he recalled. Another friend gave him antique cameras and darkroom equipment, and he was well on his way to a career in photography.
Mr. Bedford graduated from [Ambassador University in] Big Sandy in 1986; between 1990 and 1992 he earned his Master's degree in Communication from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Beginning with the 1992-93 academic year, Mr. Bedford taught photography and freshman speech at Ambassador, while continuing to provide photographs for University publications.
Ambassadors newsletter, Summer 1992...
Also this summer, three Ambassador University staff members transferred to faculty positions. Michael Bedford completed a masters of arts degree in communications at Stephen F. Austin State University and is now an instructor in mass communications.
August 1984
"SHED NO TEARS FOR MIKE"
[Editorial column by Howard Ball, Editor, Suburban
Trends]
As I walked down the hall on my way out of here the other day, I encountered a tearful Kim Golbek.
"What's the matter, Kim," I said.
"I just finished helping Mike Bedford take his stuff to the car," answered a tearful Kim.
It was Mike Bedford's last day at work before leaving us for Big Sandy, Texas and becoming a student at Ambassador University.
To those who may not know Mike, he has been a Trends photographer since he was a very young boy, and lately has been chief of our photo department.
Mike more or less osmossed himself into Trends. When he was in high school he would appear at our door with an excellent photo of an event we had to cover, or we would call him to take a special photo.
Mike left a trail of negatives and prints behind him to memorialize his time at Butler High School. I have no doubt that Mike's time at Butler will be the most photographed of any undergraduate's period in Bulldog history.
After a while we started to see Mike around here more and more, and his value to us increased and increased.
We hired him part-time, but he brought a full-time heart with him. For a while he worked with the great Gene Kucienski and then fate made Mike our chief photo person.
Mike learned from the editor how to move quickly when the police radio tells you to. We have appreciated the fact that many of Mike's photos were taken at personal risk, and took courage to do.
Through a mutual learning process, Mike has developed into a capable and talented photojournalist. Several of his montages are treasured possessions--and are an example of how a photo is to be done.
He has been an example here, and has been a support for all of us. Everyone in this newsroom has great respect for him--and for good reason.
We are the first to admit the loss of Mike Bedford will be a cause for personal and professional regrets, but we shed no tears for Mike Bedford.
It is a great personal victory for us to see Mike able to go to Ambassador University. It has been his sincere wish for so many years.
We wish Mike well as he pursues the elusive focus of education.
Don't cry Kim--you are next in the classroom of life.
Suburban Trends, 1981
"LOCAL NEWS"
BUTLER--Resident Mike Bedford has had an article selected for publication in the international magazine "Youth '81."
Bedford, 19, is a 1980 graduate of Butler High School who works part time in the Trends photo lab. He says the article describes how to enjoy looking at the stars without purchasing a lot of expensive equipment.
He has had, he says, a long-standing interest in astronomy (and like most teenagers a shortage of money to purchase equipment). This is the first time he has had an article in an international publication.
The photo below was taken on the way to my first photo assignment for the Trends. I was walking to the high school to photograph a blood drive (at age 13 I was too young to drive!), and as I crossed a bridge over a brook I came upon this scene:
Although the boy was scooping up fish in a bucket, the small aperture made it appear he was gathering stars.
I entered the picture in a photo contest and won first place--a 10-speed bike! My mother also showed the picture to her boss, who
forwarded it to an associate at Penn State, who then wrote the following:
August 15, 1975
It was a pleasure to receive your letter and the photograph by Michael Bedford. A teacher can receive no handsomer reward.
...As for Michael Bedford, this one print is a sophisticated vision. If he sees the world with the eye that produced this photo, he is no longer a child...
Good luck,
Edward Leos
Associate Professor (School of Journalism)
Pennsylvania State University
Back around January 1975, I put together a little hand-made book about my hometown, illustrated with some of my earliest photographs. A few small blurbs as well as a front-page story about me ran in the local papers in February:
February 16 & 19, 1975
A seventh grader at the Richard Butler School displayed a book about Butler which he compiled, at a recent meeting of the Butler Bicentennial Committee. This project earned Mike Bedford an interview on Channel 3 and a letter of recommendation from Rep. Helen Meyner.
Guests at the meeting were: Mike Bedford, the 13-year-old student who made up a picture and story book about his borough... A proposal was made by Vera LaGala, secretary of the asociation, that Mike be made an honorary member and official photographer for the association. The motion was approved unanimously.
The text of the front-page story is as follows:
BUTLER YOUTH WRITES STORY OF HIS BOROUGHBUTLER--A 13-year-old Butler youth has put together a book about his hometown because he thinks that "Butler is a beautiful town with a lot to offer."
The young man is Mike Bedford, of 34 Spring St. He has lived in Butler for the past 10 years and is a seventh grade student at the Richard Butler school.
Mayor William Monahan; Claude Post, Downtown Business Association President; and Vera LaGala, association secretary, are impressed by the depth and quality with which this book was put together.
Mayor Monahan invited Mike to bring the book to the next council meeting for display on Feb. 3, and to the Bicentennial committee meeting on Feb. 6...
Mike's pictures illustrate nature and historic landmarks in the borough as well as some well known people...
The discoverer of this talented youth was Vera Lagala.
"The young man walked into my office about a week ago with some pictures," said Lagala. "He wanted a bumper sticker produced from a high school slogan contest saying, 'Things Are Looking Up In Downtown Butler' for a book he wanted to do and I got one for him. Then he showed me the completed book."
Mike loaned Trends his book so we could use parts of it for a feature story.
Mike did all the typewritten text and lettering in the book himself in a most professional way. He also took all the photographs in the 28-page book and developed and printed his own pictures. The pictures, text and composition are excellent by all newspaper standards, in the opinion of this newspaper's staff.
Mike's parents, Marcy and Archie are proud of him.
Only his nine-year-old brother, Dean, is not impressed.
When he gets old enough, Mike says he would like to be a newspaper photographer.
Later that same year I started freelancing for the
Trends, eventually got hired on staff, and, after leaving home for
college in 1984, continued to contribute feature photos by mail.
Just after the above article was published, I got a letter from our Congresswoman from New Jersey, Helen Meyner.
February 6, 1975
Dear Mike:
I have read of the book that you have produced about Butler and I wish to congratulate you on your achievement.
I hope that this is the beginning of a long and fruitful career.
Wish best wishes.
Helen Meyner
13th District, New Jersey
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