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Awakening
Sounds

Awakening Sounds are peaceful sound combinations that awake a person from sleep using a gradual increase in the sound volume.

In 1991 I had an epiphany regarding the alarm clock as an invention that needed to be improved upon. Although I appreciated the importance that the alarm clock had played in history as a quick method for someone who needed to wake-up at a certain time… I realized that there also needed to be a version to wake-up to that would be a “peaceful experience” in contrast to being an “alarming” one.

So I created a wake-up method from sleep called, “Awakening Sounds.” My idea was that of beautiful peaceful sounds that gradually increased in the sound volume from “soft to loud” within a 10 minute time period for a person to wake-up to. And as a back-up plan, a person would also have the option to set an alarm clock after that 10 minute period just in case the “Awakening Sounds” system didn’t wake them up.

In fact, throughout history people have used the concept of “Awaking Sounds” to wake up a loved one by softly whispering into their ear and then gradually increasing the volume of their voice until they awoke their loved one peacefully from their slumber.

The Greek Mathematician Pythagoras who was well known for his healing songs… would also awake his students from their sleep by gently playing his music.

Just as the name implies, the “Alarm Clock” wakes a person from sleep in an “alarming way.” This method shocks the body awake into a mental state known in the medical field as “Sleep Inertia” or “Sleep Drunkenness.” This creates a feeling of disorientation, tiredness and a loss of memory upon awakening… especially to one’s nightly dreams. And this confused state of mind upon awakening is often hard to shake off as we attempt to become totally conscious once again in our “Daily Lives.”

Here’s a powerful quote from the Vedas that warns a person of waking from sleep abruptly… “Let no one wake a man brusquely for it is a matter difficult of cure if the soul find not its way back to him.” ~ The Brihadaranyaka

So after realizing the benefit to humanity of a nicer way to wake-up to, I then sent my idea under the name of “Awakening Sounds” to the Copyright Office and got a copyright for it in 1991.

All excited to get my idea out there to the general public to help create a more peaceful world, I sent a proposition letter out to various well-known companies (Sony, Sharper Image, etc.) regarding my idea. But no company wrote back to me back interested in the idea. Yet I did get a few letters back from some companies stating… “We do not accept Unsolicited Material.”

About a year later I discovered that the company Sharper Image who I had sent a letter to had come out with an alarm clock that had the option of awakening to a “Ramp-up in Sound Volume” with nature sounds as a gradual way to awaken to.

Upon hearing this news, it seemed to me like it was more than just a “coincidence” that it was the same concept that I had sent to Sharper Image. So my initial reaction was that of being shocked (like “The Alarm Clock Effect”) that Sharper Image had used my idea without my permission to create a commercial product under their name.

But that painful feeling of most likely having my idea taken away from me for commercial purposes soon faded away. And that’s because I realized that it was also indeed a blessing that my idea was now out there and would help to make the world a more peaceful one.

So fast forwarding to today, I recently have reactivated my concept of “Awakening Sounds.” But I’m now coming with a new focus of marketing my own “Custom Sounds” to awaken people from their sleep as they use the Sound Ramp-up Apps from the internet that gradually increases in sound volume.

I’m also going to create my sounds using the frequency of 432 hz which is the original “Earth Vibration of Nature.” Sad to say, this frequency used throughout the ages as a tuning method for musical instruments was changed to the unnatural 440 hz frequency by the “Powers That Be” in the mid-20th Century as a new “Universal Tuning” to supposedly make tuning instruments easier. This was a big mistake that has only caused a greater amount of stress in society.

I hope to one day create a new “Sound Sample Machine” with Tech investors that would not only use my sound samples, but would also let anyone create their own personal “Sound Sample Loops” to awaken from their sleep.

 

The Awakening Sounds Story

 

I first got into photography 50 years ago when I graduated from high school in 1975 at the age of 17. My father who was very much into photography most of his life gifted me a professional Canon F1 camera for my birthday.

One of the things that I liked most about taking photos with that camera, is that it had the special effect of being able to blend two photos together with the technique known as “Double Exposures.” By doing this, I was able to create visual “Dreamlike Worlds” by combining different visuals from different times and places.

I had lots of fun taking photos in the following years that were mostly in the category of “Abstract Art.” But I found out quickly that the hobby of photography was one that was expensive. And since the jobs I got after high school were not high paying ones, I wasn’t able to explore the art of photography as much as I would have wanted to.

It wasn’t until the early 1990’s when digital photography became available that I really started to explore photography in a greater way where the cost of developing film was no longer an issue.

That was around the same time that I got my first computer as well where I started to explore creating artwork by visually enhancing my photography with the software program of Photoshop.

Now this was also the time period where I was getting very frustrated after years of not being able to find a steady job that would make a living. That’s when I finally realized that my parent’s advice was correct, I needed to get some sort of job training that would give me a degree that would turn into a career.

So I decided to go to the trade school in the Los Angeles South Bay called the Southern California Regional Occupational Center (SCROC). Since I was very much into health, I went to talk to the counselor about becoming a nurse.

When I went to see the school counselor, he suggested the idea of a new career program that had just been added to the school's curriculum called, “Desktop Publishing.” So I then picked that choice right away when I found out that this job producing various documents also involved creating "artwork" which I loved doing already as a photographer and digital artist in Photoshop.

So after taking the course for 9 months I officially graduated in the top of my class. But as fate would have it, once again my dream quest to find a good career to make a decent living was dashed. Soon after I graduated from school, MicroSoft came out with a comprehensive “Desktop Publisher” software program. This made it a situation where now anyone could easily do their own desktop publishing.

Nonetheless, I was happy to have taken the course because that experience became a vital source of knowledge for me to become a “Digital/Photographer Artist.”

So that's the overall story of how I’ve been visually creating artwork in Photoshop based on my photography for the last 30 years.

What sets me apart from being the usual “Digital Artist,” who strictly works within a computer program, is that I mostly build upon a “Natural World Image” (usually nature photos) taken with my camera and build upon that within Photoshop.

I have done a few strictly “Digital Art” pieces that came out great, but I like the concept better of combining something based in our reality, such as a “Photo” and combining it with the abstract possibilities that the digital world of “Photoshop” offers.

Recently I've been promoting my digital artwork and photography to the world inspired by the many people beyond my friends who have over the years have told me how much they loved my work.


Here are some examples of how I’ve turned some of my photographs into “Digital Works of Art” in Photoshop…..

"Streams of Consciousness"
https://cranesarcaneart.org/products/tote-bag-5
Abalone Shell (Popular Artwork)
Created by increasing and readjusting the color ratio

https://www.instagram.com/p/DIlSCv2O4oM

"A Complex Feeling" (Popular Artwork)
https://cranesarcaneart.org/products/tote-bag-1
A Chain Link Fence Reflection in the Harbor
Created by cutting a few different parts of the photo that created a 3-D effect


https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNVnSnHbVU8y6pxH5QOzd23NkuXAfYoigbxw_Yml36xU5GMgd8hVGoKKLfYZHhUrA/photo/AF1QipMMKyO9ZkINIekFozmV_y6uiLMZ_9MAxrk0vGPz?key=MUtKWjJtN1Y3Z0JvbnR6SVdMZUxjbE5GbW5kdWRn

"Shifting Paradigms"
https://cranesarcaneart.org/products/tote-bag-6
Turkey Feathers
Created by zooming in on some turkey feathers and then twisting them


https://www.instagram.com/p/DIlLjAKu4RZ

"Birds of Paradise"
https://cranesarcaneart.org/products/tote-bag-2
Metal Vase
Created by increasing and readjusting the color ratio along with using the Smudge Tool to create the effect of a paint brush.


https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNVnSnHbVU8y6pxH5QOzd23NkuXAfYoigbxw_Yml36xU5GMgd8hVGoKKLfYZHhUrA/photo/AF1QipOg_UG_A4bhyTc6bTgXObm1SvstAv9TsKq8_ZWq?key=MUtKWjJtN1Y3Z0JvbnR6SVdMZUxjbE5GbW5kdWRn

"Distant Worlds Draw Near"
https://cranesarcaneart.org/products/poster
Clouds & Solar Lens Flares
Created by increasing and readjusting the color ratio along with turning two “Len Flares” created by the sun into what look like planets. I did this by stretching the Lens Flares into circular shapes with the smudge tool.


https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNVnSnHbVU8y6pxH5QOzd23NkuXAfYoigbxw_Yml36xU5GMgd8hVGoKKLfYZHhUrA/photo/AF1QipNnHcjsQL4pW_v8_SkxlxTr1cSF9E6t7K_F4g61?key=MUtKWjJtN1Y3Z0JvbnR6SVdMZUxjbE5GbW5kdWRn



 

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