That's Right, Baby, I'm 102

So tonight I went to the darkroom to print up my creative image for the week which is due tomorrow. I shot the image this afternoon with a friend, developed the image, printed the image, and mounted the print in the span of five hours. That is actually a pretty good accomplishment. While I was waiting for the freshly developed negatives to dry, I reprinted my week 1 creative assignment, which currently has a 'B' but which I want to have an 'A'.

So let me explain a little how my instructor assigns the creatives. There is one due every week. On Monday of every week we are given the assignment, which consists of a word or a phrase, and we have one week to come up with "something commercial" relating to that word.

Week 1 - "Freedom"
For this I wanted to conceptualize and represent a dual meaning/implication with the image. So I dressed my sister up as a Geisha and gave her an empty bird cage to hold. He LOVED this image. He just suggested that I print it with more contrast and get rid of a "trapped" corner between her wig and the wall. I have done both, as of this evening, and WOW!!! I can't tell you what a difference it made just repositioning the composition a little, and the contrast really emphasizes the white face make-up that JQ applied for the role. I am quite pleased with this image and am sure it will now be an 'A.' (Yes, I am aware that grades are not everything, but I still want to pursue perfection.)

Week 2 - "Bird's Eye View, Cat's Eye View, Frog's Eye View"
This is really an assignment about angles. But, having done well with my first image, I want to continue breaking the mold and thinking outside the box. My first idea, which I traveled to San Diego to shoot, was a "bird's eye view" of a cat looking up at the bird as if it were dinner. I actually managed to get a decent shot of Brooks looking up at me with spicy eyes, which I think would have worked for the assignment. However, I was disappointed with my idea and didn't feel at all like I was coloring outside the lines. Then it hit me with great frontal force. "'The Bird's' Eye View." So I dressed my friend up with bleeding scrapes and scars and shot her from the "bird's eye view" of one of "The Birds." I am really pleased with this image as well. I hope that he likes it as much as he liked the first one. And the contrast on this one is already better, so I can't wait until critique. Unfortunately, crits for this class are on Wednesdays, even though the image is due Monday. (He takes them home and grades them before crit.)

Have I mentioned that I really like this guy? He is the perfect instructor for my type of learning. I am already lamenting that class will be over in five weeks because he is that good. I know that sounds crazy, but I appreciate him as an instructor in the here and now.

I rememeber in high school I had this one American Studies teacher who was so amazing and so inspiring that I actually cried when Christmas Break started because I knew that I only had one more semester to learn from his amazing mind.

What can I say? I love to learn. Always have. I used to get all giddy before school started in the fall because of the wonderful possibilities of the halls of learning. I feel like that now with my instructor. I will thoroughly enjoy the next five weeks, and I can guarantee you I will be a better photographer. Already am.

Proof, however, is in the pudding. Pudding which, at Brooks, often includes the opinions of upper division students. Today while I was printing my Geisha sister I had the prints laid out on the table and was examining differences in print times and filter levels and these two upper division students came over and looked over my shoudler.

"What is that for?" The girl asked.
"Just a creative assignment." I sheepishly replied, noting that they were both wet printing 11 x 14 images, which is not something commonly done until higher level classes.
"For 103?" She looked puzzled. My heart leapt. 103!!! I could be compared in the ranks of my future session?!
"No, 102. The creative assignments for 102." I fumbled around with my words, my brain focusing more on her look of shock and disbelief.
The guy walked over. "What is it for?"
"102." The girl replied before I had a chance.
"What was the word?" He inquired, examining the quality of the work.
"Freedom." I practically shrieked, mostly from excitement that they seemed to like my work, though I imagine I sounded patriotic at the time.
They both nodded and seemingly approved. "That's nice work." He finally said before walking back into the lab to continue with his printing.
I think they really liked it!!!

Yeah, that's right, I'm easily confused with 103 students all the time!

Eeeeee!!!!!

So I have had my first class of the second session. In that class, we had a "prep week" assignment due. That assignment, all told, took about five hours to complete, three of it waiting for the lab to process the chromes. Those people who did not turn it in have already got one F in the class. After the first day. Of class.

This guy means business. So far, I am impressed. I always turn my assignments in on time, I try to stay ahead of the workload, and I focus intently on learning, so I think I will be okay in this class.

Let me give you a brief overview of this new session. First off, a reminder of last session - three papers, a quiz every week, 4 x 5 and 35mm work, six total assignments with Final Five at the end (which could be comprised of the previous assignments, if so desired.) And also keep in mind that I got panicky, nervous, lost confidence, and had a near nervous breakdown. Fun.

This session is a little more...rigorous. We have a creative assignment due every Monday, starting less than a week from today. (Thanks to JQ for helping me out on this one.) These assignments have to include either a person or an animal in every shot. (Just as a recap, my Final Five for 101 were all architectural details.) So that workload is the same as last session. There is also a quiz every week, starting this Friday, as well as the Final in week seven. Of course add in one to two technical assignments every week and we start to have some more concerning issues. The concern being time. Because we won't have a lot of it. Because we have a technical due every Wednesday and a creative due every Monday. Plus a research paper and another assignment titled "Big and Beautiful" which consists of printing an 11 x 14 from a 4 x 5 negative. Oh, and we have to develop our own 4 x 5 black and white negatives.

EEEEEE!!!!!!!

Picture Pages

Picture pages, picture pages, lots of fun with picture pages, lots of fun with underwater camera housings!

This is my favorite picture from the underwater camera exploration!

The Room

There is a room at the end of a very large house with four walls, eight windows, three doors, and a hard wood floor. The room is separated from the house by a locked door, a two-sided, mirrored cabinet, and mattresses and blankets shoved between. There is a sink, a shower, and a doll-house stove and refrigerator. The cabinets in the kitchen are too high to reach and there is no drawer for silverware. The walls are bear with the exception of two artistic prints. One a Tim Cantor entitled "Stalking the Scarecrow," number 15 of 80, and the other, an Allison Kuehn reprint of "Turtle Beach," a watercolor of sea turtles returning to the ocean. Both images are either seeking or being sought, depending on the mood with which you view them. There are photographs stacked on the desk above the computer, cameras in the cupboard, lenses on the shelves, and a Toyo 4 x 5 bellowed camera numbered "8" on the coffee table. It is a barren and forlorn room piqued with anticipation. It is a husk of a room waiting for its purpose to again be realized and the meat of its existence replaced. It is the room of a student who is waiting - a shell in much the same manner as the room. It is a haven of study and work, failure and success. It houses the mode of an education and embodies the struggle yet to be met. It is my room. Together we wait for the next session to begin. We wait for being and purpose and find irony in the tribulation that is emptiness.

Two to Three Hours

When I came down from Santa Barbara a couple of weeks ago, my car started making this funny noise. It was not a happy noise, but it wasn't very consistent, either. Then we went to Saint Maarten, had fun, and my car got angry. Really angry. It is making some very unhappy noises now. Threatening noises. Noises that say that my car has had it with my inattention.

So I am giving some attention. In fact the gentlemen at Speedy Lube and Tune are giving it another two to three hours of attention while they correct all of the ills of my singular mode of transportation.

Singular mode of transportation. Meaning that I will be in this Starbucks for the next two to three hours, and I have already been here for half an hour and was at the shop for an hour before that. Sigh. But at least the car will be healthy when this is all said and done. She has been so good to me. Seven years of service already. That's not so bad with only a few hickups.

So, I am going to write, read, and watch Firefly on DVD. Because every once in a while I need a fix of Nathan Fillion.

These Are A Few of my Faavorite Things

Hello all! SPF and I have returned safely from Sint Maarten (the Dutch side of Saint Marten in the Caribbean) and I just thought I would relate some of the highlights of our trip.

First, the overview:
- Saturday 7/1 - Flight to Philadelphia left at 9:30 p.m.
- Sunday 7/2 - Arrive Philadelphia, transferred to Sint Maarten. Check in, sleep, eat.
- Monday 7/3 - Orientation breakfast, scheduling of all activities for the week. Procurement of a rental car. Lose muffler of rental car. Procurement of second rental car. Dinner on the French side.
- Tuesday 7/4 - Travel around to the French side. Visit butterfly farm. Go horseback riding on the beach. Dinner on the French side.
- Wednesday 7/5 - Snorkeling all day!! Sleep. Dinner in the room.
- Thursday 7/6 - Attempted shopping in Phillipsburg. Abandoned shopping in Phillipsburg. Lunch on the French side. Zip line obstacle course through the natural tropical preserve near Pic Paradis. ZzzzzzziiiiiP!
- Friday 7/7 - Wish JQ a Happy Birthday from SM! Dolphin adventure!! Dinner on the French side. Tres Magnifique!!
- Saturday 7/8 - Check out. Return second rental car. Head back to airport. Wait for hours. Leave SM. Miss connecting flight in Philadelphia by TEN MINUTES!! Grrrr. Put up in Ramada. Eat at Ramada.
- Sunday 7/9 - Back to airport. Back home! Love kitties.

There you have it! If anyone would like more specific details about any one particular adventure, just ask. I will blog about them as I can, but requests are welcome.