Fireworks

This page is an exercise on some of the skills I can use to manipulate or create images, photographs and small animations with Fireworks. Whether for optimising images or photos for the Web or other purposes, creating masks, gradients or simple animations for your Web pages, Fireworks is a great tool that has been improved even further with its latest version, Adobe Fireworks CS3. It interacts a lot better with other programs by Adobe such as Photoshop, Flash, Flex and so on. As with Photoshop, I am up to date with the new features of Adobe Fireworks CS3.

As a Basque man living in London for many years now, and as time goes by, I find I increasingly begin to miss more and more the good old days back home, when nothing really mattered, and we used to live events one day at the time...No planning, no headaches, no hassles...well, maybe just mum pressing us to get a life. Bless her... Nothing critical, I suppose, just a natural reaction to time passing by. In an attempt to "catch up" with my past, how we were and what we did and, above all, the great land where I come from, I have given this page a special treatment and I have dedicated it to the Basque country, its sights, its people and its customs. To find out more about the Basque country, get some helpful links and see a photo slideshow with the photos below, and some others too, please click this link which will open a page in a new window.

Basque sports -Traineruak

Butron's Castle - Gaztelu

World famous Mundaka beach

Isma Urzaiz - Basque Nat. team

Basque sports - Zesta punta

Basque cities - Bilbo/Bilbao

Basque cities - Gasteiz/Vitoria

Basque cities -Iruñea/Pamplona

The most beautiful city in the Basque country?

It is said that, arguably, the most beautiful of the main cities in the Basque country is Donostia (San Sebastian) so you may be wondering why I haven't placed any photos of it. To be honest and although I am from Bilbao (it has been a long Basque tradition the making of jokes about people from Bilbao, especially by Gipuzkoan people, although, of course, it works both ways...since we people from Bilbao have always thought of us as the center of the universe...) I quite agree that Donostia is beautiful and beats all the rest. Of course, that is a personal opinion. For that reason, I have made this cool slideshow with Fireworks CS3, a new feature of this new version, showing some of the best sights of Donostia and some other sights from the Basque country, by a great photographer from that city, Alberto Rodriguez.

To open a new window with this Fireworks CS3 photographic slideshow, please click here. Notice that there are a few different designs and colours for this feature in Fireworks CS3 and I have chosen the one with the black background. However, I could show you some others if required.

Getxo - All you could ask for...

This is a promotional video of the municipality of Getxo, where I am from and where my family lives. Getxo is only a few miles away from Bilbao and, in fact, it is considered as part of the Great Bilbao. Although I was born in Bilbao and we lived there for a few years when I was a baby-toddler, I am glad we moved to Getxo, since it is a lot quieter, very relaxed and full of amazing places and beauty.

As a mainly upmarket and residential municipality, Getxo is divided in several villages and it combines wealth and modernity with amazing rural spots and traditional Basque customs. The people, the sights, the tranquility, the tradition, the seaside, the food, the "Jaiak" (Festivals)...

In short, Getxo is a place to be proud of. And so, when I saw this short promotional video a few weeks ago as I was browsing the council's Web site - http://www.getxo.net - I felt that I should insert it somewhere in this, my site. The sound is slightly distorted, I warn you, but the video is quite neat in all. I do apologise for that. Hopefully, you do understand what I mean...and you like it too.

All I can say is, if you ever get a chance to visit Getxo, do it. You won't regret it...

Slidedown menus

This is a selection of full CSS "Slidedown menus", ranging from a basic type, to some others with gradient buttons or image effects I can do with Fireworks. There are many of these effects and different textures that can be applied as image background to the buttons. Of course, the size, text, colours, colour combinations, backgrounds, number of buttons and so on, can be modified to suit your own needs. These type of menu is very helpful if you need a Web site with many pages, and so, complex navigation. They allow you to save very valuable space. They can also look great and enhance the looks of your Web site. These menus validate for XHTML and CSS., which is great news too. I can also do slidedown menus with submenus if needed.

Adur Letamendia in "Hondartza Grisa"

Adur Letamendia photo

Seeing the size of this wave, you would think this photo was taken in Waimea Bay or Pipeline, Hawaii...or perhaps somewhere in Australia?

The truth is, we don't have to go that far to find the right location. This photo of Adur Letamendia was taken in the Bay of Biscay's "Hondartza Grisa" (Grey Beach or Playa Gris) near the beautiful town of Zumaia, in the Gipuzkoan province of the Basque Country.

Now, that doesn't mean that you can go there and see this kind of spectacle every day, as surfers know all too well. But this rocky beach of difficult access, has become one of the favorite spots for pro and Kamikaze surfers alike, in big sea swells. And seeing this photo, it doesn't come as a surprise...

I still remember as a teenager, when I used to surf in the Basque beaches, how I used to freak out with any wave bigger than a couple of meters or so, meaning, you wouldn't see me in there, where this brave young Basque man is.

Respect, Adur, respect...

Photo by David Gonzalez.

Click here to open a new window with a slideshow with more amazing photos of hot surfing spots in the Basque Country.

Riding the big waves at "Hondartza Grisa"

And if an image is worth a thousand words, how about this video also taken in Hondartza Grisa...? This time the world famous Basque surfer Ibon Amatriain cut short his visit to Hawaii, where he was invited to join the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in memory of Eddie Aikau. Ibon was the first European ever to be invited to this extraordinary event that gathers the best of the best, honouring the legendary lifeguard of Waimea Bay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Aikau

As the events for the memorial finished and news reached Ibon that the big waves were coming to Basque shores one more time, he decided to head back home to do what he likes more...Riding them...

And so the big waves did come. All the regular surfing spots along the Basque coastline were very busy. Especially, Mundaka. But all agree that this surfing session by Ibon at Hondartza Grisa was the highlight of those days.

The Master of Dawns salutes you, Ibon. How great you are!!!