Quiz Me, Baby

I have made a little quiz for you about me.

Click the link below.

http://www.quizyourfriends.com/quizpage.php?quizname=060830194735-726239&

A Sad Happy Moment

Well, today was the last official class of the session. I really like my instructor, as you all know, so I am a little sad that it is over, but at the same point in time, that is two down, sixteen to go. Wow. I just have no idea where the time is going, but at least I am progressing.

In our first class out of 21 people we lost 5. This class, out of 16 we have lost at least 4, possibly 8, but we won't know for sure until the final grades come in. You have to achieve a D or better to move on. The last time he posted the grade list (posted by ID number) there was one B+, two B's, one B-, three C's, and the rest were D's and F's. Out of sixteen posted grades. One girl will be taking this class for the fourth time next session.

So, when putting everything in perspective, I am very glad to be moving on with a good grade. This guy was very tough, but very good. I have learned so much. I will have to show all of you my portfolio of new work. It is remarkably different from anything I have done prior, so that makes me very excited about what might be around the corner.

As for the Big and Beautiful contest, I was voted as the third best out of ten images that were actually submitted to the contest. (Student's choice.) And of the two images that the instructor asked to have copies of, mine was one. So I am very happy, but with a cast of some sadness. Mostly, though, I am just excited about the next stage.

That and going home for my ten year reunion in a couple of weeks. Should be interesting. :)

My Golden Salamander

I am incredibly efficient. I can sit down, identify everything that needs to be done, and write a productive list. I can prioritize what needs to be done, how long it will take, and what can be parallel processed to save time. This is a skill that I have honed over many years, leaving me an asset to an employer, an excellent student, and able to take on great stress with a calm, practical approach.

If you are wondering why and how I honed these skills there are two reasons. The first, I am highly competitive. I must be the best at whatever I undertake, which makes me a hard worker. At the same point in time, however, I am an amazing procrastinator. I can find distraction in anything. I can invent whole operas to prevent the inevitable hard work. I can see something shiny on the floor through the back of my skull. Something that must be investigated.

Which explains how I found my golden salamander. I don't remember why I was on the ground, probably searching for a dropped penny. But when I was down there I saw something that looked different than the other random debris that floats around my hardwood floor near the often open doorway. There was something about this particular shadow that seemed vivid and alive, despite its stationary form. Of course I reached for it. It was so young and small that it didn't know much about the ways of the world and, to protect itself, it ran for the nearest cover, which was a cave that I had made with my legs to get down on the floor to investigate. So, now that it was completely trapped, I was able to catch it and pick it up.

At first he was very twitchy and nervous, running up and down my arm with a fluid and graceful gait. He looked more like a snake than a lizard and was shimmering and golden. After a short time he decided that my warm arm and steady gaze were no threat and he relaxed his breathing a little and stayed stationary. Once he was still I was able to find my camera, open a new canister of film, load it, and take 25 pictures while he fell asleep on my arm! Then my arm got tired and I tried to relax, and he got scared and ran down my arm to my leg and eventually onto my foot, where he decided again that he was safe.

So then I decided to get back to work while he waited on my foot and eventually wandered off and explored the chords under the desk. Even with the loss of an hour, I still got all of my work done and turned in on time. Good skill to have.

A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To...Wait, What Was I Saying?

I think that the rigors of 102 are starting to break me down. Of course the usual breaks occur early on, like forgetting dinner every once in a while and realizing that you are hungry at 2:00 in the morning while still working on FREAKING SHOT # 8, or forgetting if you washed your hair yesterday (because I only wash it every other day to keep it moisturized and healthy), or calling one person seven times in one day to talk about miniscule things like Tokyo sheik tourists.

But now I am having some...unusual episodes. I am hearing things incorrectly on the radio. For instance:

"That guy is really moving, driving that Ducati" became "That guy is really moving, driving with Tecate."

And "I just want you by my side" became "I just want to burn my slide."

Plus, I freaked myself out majorly on one of my all night shoots when I looked out the window to see a totally creepy guy standing perfectly still and staring at me...only to finally realize (after a high-pitched yelp) that I had set a 4 x 5 slide in the window early to see it back lit and the outside motion light had come back on. Keep in mind that means that the "creepy guy" was not only my husband, but three inches tall. Scary.

I am getting to the point where I can't see the forest for the trees. I spend so much time looking at slides now that I have a tendency to look at the details in a 4 x 5 area instead of looking at, oh, say where I am walking. Almost ran into a light pole the other day. Missed it by milliseconds.

Oh and I went to buy an extra long cable release that I need for an assignment and forgot to take any kind of money or identification. That coupled with the fact that I spilled half of my developer in my trunk and have to wait at least overnight for the new batch to cool means that I get a night off. So, I thought I would stay up to a ridiculous hour writing blogs! :) Just kidding. Off to bed with me now. Cool. Glorious, glorious sleep.

If I were a character in an anime show my face would hit the keys right now and some kanji phrase like "Crazy Exhausted!" would appear above my head as I began to snore.

Where's My Monkey??

Have you ever seen a photograph of the Taj Mahal? You see how clean, fresh, and empty it looks? A giant, pristine example of architecture and one of the wonder's of the world. Also one of the largest tourist attractions in the world. Ever wonder how they got everyone to leave so that they could take that beautiful, empty picture?

Wanna know?

A mathmatecally competent photographer got up early in the morning, set up his camera, threw on a neutral density filter and opened the camera up for, oh I don't know, probably about eight hours; maybe even all day. You see, they didn't find a way to rid the Taj Mahal of visitors, they simply took such a long exposure that all of the insignificant little swarming people disappeared. In order to register on film, especially a slow film with a massive neutral density filter, you would have to stand still for hours on end, which is nearly impossible for a human.

If you have ever seen old photographs from the early 1900's of women and men that are sitting down looking angry at the world, there are several reasons. One, it is extremely difficult to smile for the length of an exposure at the time, which could be upwards of a minute. Second, the natural mechanics of the body make it difficult to stand still and straight for that ammount of time. And lastly, those chairs that they are sitting in often had neck supports that they were clamped into the keep their heads from moving. Can't you just see Giselle in a neck clamp?

Yet I digress. The point of the first part of this story was to emphasize that a consistent, stable exposure with moving subjects would ultimately render those subjects invisible. It is really rather humbling when you think of it in terms of the greater scale of time and our own insignificance...but that is a philosophical discussion for another time.

The most recent creative assignment that we had was "Time." I decided to do a multiple exposure; that is to say, a single background with a steady camera and moving subjects. The concept? Darwin's Evolution of Man. The method? Dress SPF up as a monkey, take a shot; then as a caveman, take two shots; then just as him for the final shot (in jeans. We opted against the standard "naked" evolution.) The more complicated concept was to have SPF become more substantial as the "evolution" progressed. That is to say, the first two images were captured at 1/16 of a second; the third at 1/8 of a second, and the last at 1/4 of a second. The conceptual result would have been a very ghosted monkey and hunched caveman, a slightly more substantial erect caveman, and a much more substantial modern day man. In the actual image the Monkey completely disappeared. There is no evidence of the whites of his eyes or the teeth that he bared. No rubbery hands and feet. No dragging knuckles. Nothing. It was as if a fundamentalist had tampered with my image to give me man becoming man. From Adam to Adam. I am quite creeped out by it.

Also ticked off that I spent fifty bucks to rent the monkey suit.

What the Hell is a Diopter?

It has something to do with optics, specifically the optics of eyes. According to the Nikon salesman that visited us during orientation week, the eyes naturally change up to two diopters over the course of the day. What this basically means is that your eyes lose the ability to focus. This is particularly troubling when you are shooting the technical assignment of the session once the light of the day has gone to avoid conflicting lighting of the scene. This means starting a shoot around 8:00 at night. With this particular assignment it also means shooting until at least 2:00 in the morning. This assignment is graded on an element called "critical focus." So, when your eyes lose their diopters, you can't determine if you have "critical focus" which makes you go crazy!!!!

Of the fourteen shots that I have slaved over for the assignment, I would say that probably five of them are out of focus. Match that with the exposure issues due to some extreme bellows compensation and probably seven of the shots need to be reshot. Which means another, oh I don't know, ten hours of work. And that doesn't include the two hours to develop the negatives, another hour for standard printing, and at least five hours for presentation. All this by Wednesday at 9:30 in the morning.

Booyah.

Saved

I don't really watch television anymore since the introduction of "Reality" into my realm of escapism. There are a few shows that I still find entertaining, though I am not great about catching them and loathe to start watching something new. I have been so often betrayed by TV. She is an evil mistress. Or, rather, the Fox executives are evil, not that they are the only ones. I am not really a fan of executives. (Immediate family excluded.) With the cancelation of shows such as Stark Raving Mad, Wonderfalls, and Arrested Development there doesn't seem to be a reason to even try watching new shows. The downfall of Firefly actually leaves me hollow.

Which is why I am particularly surprised that I decided to give a new show a try. I don't know why, though I am assuming some massive conspiracy including subliminal messaging and mind control must have been used. Perhaps I let my guard down because this particular show was on a cable network and not broadcast.

At any rate, I am thoroughly hooked. The show is beautiful. Not only are the characters (yes, that's right characters) beautifully crafted, but the plots are well constructed, the conflicts devastating and real, and it allows me the cathartic emotional release that somehow I hold back for the rest of the week. I am thoroughly in love with the main character, but constantly surprised and rewarded by the secondary characters. I will admit that I make sure I have time to watch the show on Monday nights. (Though it is also Tivoed in my absence back home.)

The show is Saved. Congratulations, TNT, you are doing something remarkable and I applaude you.

As for school, don't worry. My new found show takes one hour a week. The rest of my life is dedicated to school and SPF. Resultingly I currently have the highest GPA in class (not that is matters) and am one of two students who are pulling higher than a C average. I'll take it.