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Just something I've been musing on recently. When you personalise your desktop, what kind of images do you use?
I ask mostly because both my sisters seem to mostly use fannish images, and I ... sort of don't. Neither do my parents, but they seem to use personal photographs (or the free images that come with the laptop, but in her defence, some of those are genuinely nice), rather than other images. I don't really do either.
I ask mostly because both my sisters seem to mostly use fannish images, and I ... sort of don't. Neither do my parents, but they seem to use personal photographs (or the free images that come with the laptop, but in her defence, some of those are genuinely nice), rather than other images. I don't really do either.
See, for some reason, I don't like to use directly fannish images (fanart, or screen captures, or what have you). I'm not sure why. Maybe it's that I like a layer of privacy/distance between booting up and my fannish activities. Maybe it's that ... I like the laptop to be about more than the fandom-du-jour. While I go through major fandom phases, I've always been sort of multifandom about things. And also, because the internet is about more than fandom to me. So. I'm not that fond of directly fannish desktops. It's ... possibly like a greater level of commitment than I'm comfortable with. *grins sheepishly*
I don't like family stuff either, though. Mostly because ... that's family. That's not for online at all, really. I like my photos, those for remembering stuff by, in hardcopy, if at all possible. So. Not that, either.
What I usually end up using are other images altogether. Depending on my interests at the time. I tend to cycle through them in phases. Usually it's either art or photographs, with varying subject matter. For example, my current desktop is this:
Otto Frello - Det Skaeve Rum (by the by, thank you for the rec,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
oneiriad)
It's just an image I really like, a kind of silent image that lures you in, suggests so many things. I like doors for the same reason I like stairs. They're going somewhere, and inviting you after them. This painting ... there's a lot of that there.
The previous two desktops, though, were something else. I was in a turn-of-the-century phase, or early 20th century at least, and also a city phase (for this, I mostly blame Nikola Tesla - not for the initial love, because I've had a thing about high steel and cities and turn-of-the-century for years now, but for bringing the loop back around to them). So my last desktop was an interior shot of the old Penn Station circa 1935 (the old building was kind of ridiculously beautiful - steel and marble and glass and humanity - I've been sort of obsessed by it for years), and the one before that was a street-shot of Fifth Avenue circa 1913 (both New York, for some reason, but there was also a lot of Chicago in the potential image selection - I usually have a spread of possibles to try before I settle on one image).
Before that, I was in art-mode again, and had a series of images, mostly from old Russian pulp sci-fi, almost all of them found by browsing Dark Roasted Blend's art category, particularly the Retro Future features (seriously, the site is awesome - browse the art, history, vintage, travel, sci-fi, steampunk, architecture and weird categories. And, you know, all the rest of them, too). I actually found the Fifth Avenue shot above there too, now that I think of it. But yeah. Old pulp illustrations are kind of awesome.
Occasionally, I like more random images, that I couldn't for the life of me tell you how I found. For a while, it was "Desolation" from Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire series. I've no idea why. It was just an awesome image. I also considered for a while something by Zdzislaw Beksinski (WARNINGS for disturbing imagery), who I've no idea how I came across (it took me forever to remember how to spell his name long enough to find him again), but that ... well, that's a little too much desolation to be looking at every day (though there are a couple of the more otherworldly, gateway-like images I did consider).
So. Um. Basically, I like something a little more abstract and removed from my life (both online and off) for a desktop image. I like images that ... well, if I say 'inspire' it sounds ridiculously corny, but what can you do ... I like images that suit whatever mood or mental phase I'm going through at the time. I tend towards art and architecture, photography, more than people - actually, now that I look at it, I do seem to be more fond of 'empty' images, ones that don't have central figures in them, and those that do have 'main characters', as it were, tend more towards enigmatic than recognisable. Heh. Note to self, the anti-social thing is showing again ...
Right. So. That's me and my desktop. What about you and yours? Do you often use fannish images, like my sisters (and why)? Or something else? What do you contemplate when you commune with the machine? *grins, shakes head at self* Forgive the cheese, I'm in a mood. Question stands, though. Heh.
I don't like family stuff either, though. Mostly because ... that's family. That's not for online at all, really. I like my photos, those for remembering stuff by, in hardcopy, if at all possible. So. Not that, either.
What I usually end up using are other images altogether. Depending on my interests at the time. I tend to cycle through them in phases. Usually it's either art or photographs, with varying subject matter. For example, my current desktop is this:
Otto Frello - Det Skaeve Rum (by the by, thank you for the rec,
oneiriad)It's just an image I really like, a kind of silent image that lures you in, suggests so many things. I like doors for the same reason I like stairs. They're going somewhere, and inviting you after them. This painting ... there's a lot of that there.
The previous two desktops, though, were something else. I was in a turn-of-the-century phase, or early 20th century at least, and also a city phase (for this, I mostly blame Nikola Tesla - not for the initial love, because I've had a thing about high steel and cities and turn-of-the-century for years now, but for bringing the loop back around to them). So my last desktop was an interior shot of the old Penn Station circa 1935 (the old building was kind of ridiculously beautiful - steel and marble and glass and humanity - I've been sort of obsessed by it for years), and the one before that was a street-shot of Fifth Avenue circa 1913 (both New York, for some reason, but there was also a lot of Chicago in the potential image selection - I usually have a spread of possibles to try before I settle on one image).
Before that, I was in art-mode again, and had a series of images, mostly from old Russian pulp sci-fi, almost all of them found by browsing Dark Roasted Blend's art category, particularly the Retro Future features (seriously, the site is awesome - browse the art, history, vintage, travel, sci-fi, steampunk, architecture and weird categories. And, you know, all the rest of them, too). I actually found the Fifth Avenue shot above there too, now that I think of it. But yeah. Old pulp illustrations are kind of awesome.
Occasionally, I like more random images, that I couldn't for the life of me tell you how I found. For a while, it was "Desolation" from Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire series. I've no idea why. It was just an awesome image. I also considered for a while something by Zdzislaw Beksinski (WARNINGS for disturbing imagery), who I've no idea how I came across (it took me forever to remember how to spell his name long enough to find him again), but that ... well, that's a little too much desolation to be looking at every day (though there are a couple of the more otherworldly, gateway-like images I did consider).
So. Um. Basically, I like something a little more abstract and removed from my life (both online and off) for a desktop image. I like images that ... well, if I say 'inspire' it sounds ridiculously corny, but what can you do ... I like images that suit whatever mood or mental phase I'm going through at the time. I tend towards art and architecture, photography, more than people - actually, now that I look at it, I do seem to be more fond of 'empty' images, ones that don't have central figures in them, and those that do have 'main characters', as it were, tend more towards enigmatic than recognisable. Heh. Note to self, the anti-social thing is showing again ...
Right. So. That's me and my desktop. What about you and yours? Do you often use fannish images, like my sisters (and why)? Or something else? What do you contemplate when you commune with the machine? *grins, shakes head at self* Forgive the cheese, I'm in a mood. Question stands, though. Heh.
