Week Seven - Part II

Hello again. So yesterday was the last official class of this session. That is six months down, folks. Three sessions out of eighteen. I feel that things are moving really quickly and that I haven't learned enough in six months. Of course I only think like that when I think of it in those terms. It seems like six months is a long time, but it went so quickly!!! Hmmmm.

So I did fine on the final. I missed one of the subjective questions and got the other right, so that's okay by me. I also missed one that I should have known, but I didn't. It wasn't something that I studied, and now I need to study that because it really is something that I should know. I was one of the two people who got the extra credit problem right, so yay!

I also did fine on the Theme Assembly. Instructor's comments "This image is above where a normal 103 student should be." It was the second best comment that he made on anyone's work. The best comment, made to a wonderful woman with a truly amazing image, was "This image is a culmination of everything from the first year, everything from the second year that you will all be doing. This image blows me away."

He was right. It was amazing. Kudos to her. :)

Also, I was not top of the class this session. Missed it by .05. This is good, though. I need a little competition to keep me going. It's really for the best.

Week Seven - Part 1

Well, I can only tell you what has happened so far, as this is week seven of session three. Monday was pretty calm, we only had the Final, which was 71 multiple choice questions and one extra credit problem worth three points. I think I did well. There were a couple of questions that seemed subjective to me, which is always confusing, especially in a multiple choice question when it seems as though several of the answers could be correct. Very strange. But at least it is done now. I felt prepared, except that I didn't study the stop loss of the 85B and the 80A filters. Drat.

So, aside from that, we were allowed to leave once we were done with the final. I made sure to check my work because there were a lot of calculations and I have a horrible habit of working too quickly and missing vital information. So, seeing as how I double checked each quantitative answer, I think I did fine. Tomorrow is the final critique consisting of the final images for Theme Assembly and any of the extra credit Painting with Flash images that were turned in on Monday. Truth be told, I am happier with my Painting with Flash than with my Theme Assembly, but don't tell anyone.

Week Six

Ahh. This week I have more memory of, mostly because it ended only a few days ago. This week I accomplished some Scavenger Hunt redo's and completed the Theme Assembly final image as well as final presentation binder.

The Scavenger Hunt redo was of SPF with a single overhead Baby (that's a studio light) and a gray background (which goes black without any illumination, which there wasn't) wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt. Picture it. Go ahead, I'll wait. Got the image in your head? The word "Isolation." Does that fit your picture? I liked it. It was the third time that I shot this particular word. The first an utter disaster, the second a good concept with a broken camera (GRRRRR) and lastly, the image that I intended as a complete success. My instructor liked it a lot. Bien.

The Theme Assembly was somewhat more complicated. The image was easy enough to get after some input from my classmates and instructor, but the presentation took me HOURS longer than I intended. Literally. Very frustrating. I worked for about three hours one night, another six or seven the next night (up until one in the morning) and then two the next morning for final presentation before it was due at 11:00 in the morning. Promptly.

Of course it was in on time, it was just a matter of cutting some additional matts (because the ones that I cut at one in the morning were the wrong orientation) and taping everything in place, mounting the sketches, choosing the appropriate set-up chromes to demonstrate my lighting. We get them back tomorrow, so I will know then if it was up to parr. Have I mentioned that my instructor is very into golf?

Week Five

Ah, let's see. Where was I?

Week five. Hmmmm. What happened in week five. I want to say we concentrated on Theme Assembly as well as finishing up the Scavenger Hunts. Our "Final Four" images were to be due the following week (which was one week ago tomorrow) so we had to perfect. But first, Theme Assembly concept, sketches, initial images, etc. This would be when my ideas of grandeur for Theme Assembly were reduced somewhat to be ideas of a pragmatic and feasible height. Which, needless to say, were much lower than the original moon-high concepts.

For some reason, not a memorable week.

Week Four

I am running out of time. Already at San Juan Capistrano! I must be quick and pack up so that I don't miss my stop. That would really dampen my hysterical mood.

This consisted mostly of Portrait Lighting Patterns, a wonderful assignment where the "Gray Box" is replaced by a remarkably patient classmate. Four lighting patterns that should have gone quickly. The three of us were there for seven hours. I kid you not. Seven straight hours trying to ultimately get four images each. Four of my model, a sweet guy that was willing and able to pose; and eight of me. I was acutally in that horrible posing chair for approximately five of those seven hours. Grr.

Week Three

I have no idea what happened this week. Gray Box? Small Product? Hmmm. I think it was both, actually. Small Product initial shoot and Gray Box resubmit.

Gray Box is a wonderful and equally painful assignment. It is pretty much what it sounds like. A studio shoot of a gray box. True, it is an 18% gray box standing in as a "portrait subject that doesn't move and never runs out of patience with the photographer" which is beneficial when you have never been in the studio before, but it is also a gray box. Perhaps not the specialty I will pursue in six months when I declare my major. None the less, it was an assignment that needed to be done, so we did it (three of us) to the best of our ability and our instructor liked it so much that he asked to keep it as a future example. Cool. Except that I bought the binder. Sigh.

Small product is where I encountered the problems referenced in the "Neccessi-T" blog below. I do not wish to discuss Small Product again. (Thought I should probably throw out my props at this point, seeing as how they were all food products....)

Week Two

This would be the week that I returned from my 10 year reunion. I can't BELIEVE I haven't blogged about that.

The highlights: A guy that I always stood up for because deep down I knew that he was a troubled soul and not really the ass that he portrayed turned out to be a wonderful, amazing, generous, caring guy. That, and he seems to remember that I was always there for him. In a quiet and reserved way, perhaps, but always there none the less. He was so sweet to me that night that I can't really remember anything else about the night, with two exceptions.

The first is the wonderful conversation that I was able to have with a dear friend who, even though she was at my wedding, I hadn't really had time to sit down and reconnect with for a while. That was worth the trip. So, SRN, cheers!

The second is that I discovered that I am the namesake for a cat. The cat's name is my full name. Apparently, the cat's owner decided, and I quote, "There isn't a better name for a cat than [mine]." I am choosing to take this as a compliment, though concerned if I should ever meet the cat.

This would also be the week that I developed and printed my One Light Portrait Character Study the old fashioned way - on black and white fiber-based paper with caustic, toxic, dripping wet chemistry. Glorious day. I spent six hours in the darkroom.

The next day the instructor looked at all of the work on the display and asked "Is there anyone that you would hire to take your portrait?" to the class in general and right away another classmate said that he would hire me. At this point the instructor took the opportunity to look at all of the work and said, "Yeah that is definitely one of the best...no, hold that, the best printing of all the images here."

Though I was and will remain ecstatic over this exclamation, it is just like me to be the best at a dying art.

Class size at this point has dwindled from the original 12 to 11.

Week One

Uhem. Let me remember. I have my notes here.

Um, in week one we discussed how the class was to be run, including our creative portion for the session referred to as "Scavenger Hunts." Ultimately we were given two words every week that we had to interpret on film. The first week's words were "Trouble Ahead" and "Elegance."

For "Elegance" I shot the orchid again. It was still beautiful, having been purchased only three weeks earlier for Big and Beautiful, so there you have it.

For "Trouble Ahead" I shot my friend in a red shirt with red lipstick holding a red paint brush that was dripping red paint. Her smile was one of devilish intent, in a cute, not murderous way. I had to explain myself. Apparently the phrase "Paint the Town Red" is not common in California. Hmmm. Makes you wonder.

Blather, Blather

Hello dearest. Can dearest be used as a collective phrase? Dearestesses?

Hello dearestesses. Ah me. I have been on the train for four hours already, though I am awaiting another hour and a bit supposing nothing goes wrong, or nothing has gone wrong that I am not aware of. I remembered to bring a DVD this time, which is awesome because two hours went by really quickly. Of course I think I damaged my ankle sitting awkwardly to balance my train dinner, laptop, and extraneous limbs between my tiny seat and the broken, perfectly erect seat next to me that is conspicuously missing its tray table but still has a pillow, where my seat does not. Oh well, bad original choice. Once committed, however, you are in for the long haul.

So let us see. I submitted my final image and associated comp book this morning to my instructor. It was an image that theoretically took three weeks to accomplish. And you though that the 8 hour Taj Mahal shot was long. Hmph. Conceptually we were supposed to come up with an idea first. I know, crazy! But, apparently, pre-conceptualizing is not something that most other students do. Perhaps that is my "My Sister the Geisha" was such a popular image. It was, after all, thought of well in advance, as well as organized, appropriately composed with background, costumes, make-up, styling, and, of course, none of that would have been possible at the drop of a hat or last minute. (Though kudos are also due to my sister who became "My Sister the Geisha.")

My original concept for this assignment was...let us say...ambitious. So egregiously ambitious, in fact, that not my peers, nor my instructor, nor his friends (also instructors) could come up with a possible method for shooting the image. Oh well, I though, I will have to come up with a new idea. Which I did. Of course that is when I spoke to my instructor from last session that I respect so much and he had wonderful ideas. So, it is an idea that I will revisit, most certainly.

I don't want to ruin the surprise, so I am not going to tell you what the image was/is. I have been discussing acquiring a website with my fellow photographers, both classmates and instructors alike, and have come to the conclusion that I should start a site soon and post my best work on it. After all, that body of work will always be a shifting, adapting collection based on my moods and jobs, current trends, and my burgeoning genius.

Oh. I have also decided to be confident. Genius.

If and when I do post a site I will send out an email to all who would be interested. I can't post it here, as the website will most definitely be purposely linked to my identity, while this sandbox is still reserved for my most verbose anonymity.

I am very tired. The comp book for this last assignment was...time consuming...to put together. I finally got to bed around 1:30 this morning, only to turn around and get up at 7:00 to complete it and finish off the presentation. I think it is very nicely done, though. Yep. It's real pretty.

Overall, though, I am not terribly pleased with my work this session. I have been distracted and lacking of vision. But I am confident that I will be able to pull myself together for the next session and again produce images worthy of comment. I haven't really commented on any of my images this session, have I? Except for my troubles with EKT 64, I haven't said much of anything.

I'm sorry.

I will tell you what we did this session in a series of short blogs starting now.

Necessi-T

If there is one thing I hate more than anything it is techinical difficulties that make you ultimately feel like you are a.)going crazy, or b.) a bad photographer. I ran into such a ridiculous technical difficulty the other day that had me honestly questioning everything because I shot an assignment, failed it, reshot it, and ended up with the same result as the initial, again a failure. However, I also had a sucessful image based on the same conceptualization, same lighting situation, same meter reading, and same exposure, so I was doubly frustrated.

I took the three failed images and the one good image to my instructor with a furrowed brow. Even though I asked, he could not tell me what I had done wrong on the three bad images. No matter what we discussed, despite all of the information I provided, we could not determine the cause for the faulty images. He suggested that I take the images to the camera store where I had bought the film and had it processed to see if they could determine the problem.

The guy at the camera store couldn't tell me what was different. The intial thought was that it was a bad batch of film, though unlikely because the same batch had been sold to dozens of other students and successfully used, to their knowledge. Perhaps I had mistreated the film? No. I am exceptionally careful with my tools. All of my tools. He called another employee over. A guy who specializes in E6 processing. He was the first of all of us to notice that the film was a different film for the good image and the bad images, though he didn't know what the second film was. He went to the computer and looked up the other film, coming back to tell me that it was EI 100 Ektachrome, while the good was EI 64T, Tungsten balanced film. I explained that logically it didn't make sense. He thought about it for a second and went back to the computer, returning a second time to tell me that the first film was Kodak Ektachrome 64 and the second was Kodak Ektachrome 64T.

64 versus 64T.

The boxes are identical, save for the blue T after the 64 on the one. The exposure reciprocity is more than three stops different and the color balance is daylight versus tungsten. No one that I spoke to had ever seen Kodak Ektachrome 64. Not my instructor when I told him, not the camera store guy or the processing specialist. It's as if this random film was misordered and handed over to me just to push my buttons. Now I always check for the T. Always, always check for the T.

Oh, Johnston

In an effort to prevent another instance of Firefly, Arrested Development, Wonderfalls, or Stark Raving Mad I decided to try and watch every new show in the fall lineup that even sounded partially interesting so as to contribute, if at all possible, to the success of good shows prior to their cancellation. (The unfortunate truth is that I fell in love with almost all of the above after their DVD release, sigh.)

And so, here is my take on the new shows of the season.

Uhem.

Jericho
Oh boy. Let me begin by explaining why this concept (post nuclear attack as experienced by a small town in Kansas) sounded so fascinating. The concept of great trial to expose not only the worst in people, but the best, the most ingenious, the survival instinct, can lead to some wonderful storytelling. Take for instance the film 28 Days Later. Don't scoff! This film was an excellent demonstration of character study under extreme extenuating circumstances. It was beautiful, and most of you know how much I hate Zombie movies. (The Zombie Game is NEVER FUNNY!) Or, for you literary types, how about books such as Blindness or Alas, Babylon (which, consequently, seems to be the inspiration for Jericho.) Fascinating tales of the human condition under duress, where the ugliest element thrives and the beauty of humanity is caught in small acts of kindness, courage, and selflessness.
The writer's of Jericho must not have seen 28 Days Later or read Blindness or Alas, Babylon. Alas. If there is nothing else to hang your hat on when writing a story of this nature, you should at least be able to draw from the nations personal experience of 9/11. It is the true example of what I have been discussing. It is something that we all experienced and handled in our own way. Even mentioning it I'm sure brought memories flooding back to you. Let me ask you this, did any of those memories include you fretfully turning to your spouse as saying "Oh, dear!" Alas I give you Jericho. After the mushroom cloud appears, a very talented (I am not being sarcastic here, he is probably the best actor so far on the show) five-year-old boy runs to his grandmother(?, not well established) weeping with fear and the grandmother turns to her husband as he walks down the stairs and says "Oh, Johnston!" when he inquires what the trouble is. This would be when I decided that the show was all hype and no substance. It seems as though the writers, actors, directors, and producers have forgotten their own personal emotional response to the threat of terror, or perhaps they have no emotional responses, who knows.
Positive Elements - As previously mentioned, the five-year-old boy featured in the pilot (sadly not seen since) is very talented and was a bright spot in an otherwise dingy series. Also, there is a young deaf woman who so far has been very intriguing and I wouldn't mind watching her again in something more apt to her talents.
Overall rating - D-

Heroes
I was interested in this from the beginning before I read any of the critics' reviews. The critics panned this one pretty harshly which disappointed me because I wanted to see it. (Admittedly partially because of Milo, yum!!) Uhem, but I digress. I really liked the premier. I thought it was well handled as an introduction to a robust cast, intriguing, well directed, well acted, and overall very interesting. I know that the concept is thick everywhere (with other shows such as The 4400 and movies like Zoom! and even a very similar concept in Shayamalan's Unbreakable, but so what? If something is well done, I will be the last to undermine it for it's apparent lack of originality. I think it still has a lot of potential and is going to be really good.
Possible Bad Element - It does, however, appear as though the bad guy might be a stereotypical evil villain. I hope that it doesn't lean that way because the "good" characters are very interesting so far with weaknesses and hubris, and a singularly evil villain would be a disappointment in the grand scheme. But, we don't know that for sure just yet.
Overall rating - B+

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Where do I begin? Within the first ten minutes of the pilot all of my feelings, concerns, judgments, and frustrations with modern television were relayed back to me, from television, in monologue form. I was speechless. I was stunned. And, most importantly, I was impressed. And the show only got better from that point on. I have nothing bad to say about this show. Nothing. There wasn't a single instance in either of the first two episodes that made me begin to think there might be a flaw with this show. So far I have laughed so hard I had to pause Tivo and go back several frames several times to catch the following line. I have also paused the show to think and have a discussion with SPF about the greater implications of a concept or line from the show. And I have watched the "cold open" from "Cold Open" (the second episode) probably five times because it was so well done. If you want to add any show to your lineup this season, it should be this show. This is how all shows should be, forever and always, and I hope that the bar is raised.
Overall rating - A++ (I am not being frivolous here. They certainly blow the curve.)

And that, my darling readers, is that.