As of this past Monday, there is exactly ONE MONTH between the Class of '12 and life post-NBCCD. As someone who is fiercely loyal to the college and doubly so to the photo studio, I'm going to miss this place.
Monday: All we had to do was meet with Linda. However, I totally forgot and showed up at the college just before one--and my meeting wasn't until 2:40. I spent the next almost-two hours getting other homework done. Linda critiqued what I'd done so far for Imagery, and suggested what sort of direction I could take the project.
Tuesday: I started work on my Photoshop independent-study project. Photoshop CS6 is going to be yet another huge step forward/learning curve.
Still to Motion was devoted to getting all of us more or less on the same track. I finally added the audio tracks to my video, which is about the history of the family home and the surrounding area. I just have to add a title and the credits.
Wednesday: This week we finally talked about how to price our work. Although I fantasized about a clear answer from Karen, I realize that that's unrealistic, as you have to take the cost of your materials, frames, etc., into consideration. One her most straightforward tips was to look at what other people in the surrounding area are charging, and use that as a guide. Karen also included a couple of websites, and I jotted down the URLs in my notebook.
We presented our most recent research projects. For me, that meant talking about the results that I got with the Speedotrons and gushing about the Einsteins. We also talked about what we wanted to do next. When I chose my current project, I debated between researching affordable and expandable backup systems and professional/near-pro DSLRs. I decided that I could probably figure out backup stuff on my own pretty well--it's choosing a new camera that I need help with. The more advanced I've become, the more important choosing the right camera to fit my needs has become to me. I'm not going to go to a camera store, look at the cameras, point and say, "I want that one." I need to research the different brands (since I started thinking about getting a new camera, I've only been considering Nikon and Canon--kind of like only considering Stradivarius and Guarnieri, if those guys had made different levels of instruments for everyone from beginner to the best in the world), find out which cameras are at the level that I'm considering and look into what features each camera has. Like my current violin, my next camera will be the first DSLR that I will choose on my own. When I chose my violin in the summer of '01, my parents named a price range and I tried three different fiddles--and as many bows--in that range. However, this time I have a lot of bells and whistles to consider, and I need to know what each camera has. Therefore, this topic wins. Originally, the project was to be two weeks long (which would mean that it would be due on the eleventh), but Drew gave us the option of taking another week, meaning that it'd be due on the eighteenth. I decided to do an extra week, as I feel I could use it.
Thursday: We talked about where we are in our projects, and I presented the two videos that I've made so far. I found a sequencing glitch in one of the videos, which is stop-motion (a couple of the photos were out of place--I thought that I'd fixed all the problems in that department). Peter and my classmates critiqued the videos, corrected a couple of facts, and suggested better ways in which to do said videos. Peter also talked about a ballet performance that will be happening at the Playhouse on the thirteenth. The company, Ballet Jörgen (YOR-gen--with a hard G), is doing a masterclass before the performance, and has invited people to take photos. I believe they'll also be talking about dance photography, which would be great for me.
As Peter was coming down with a cold, he cancelled everything in the afternoon and went home. He planned to be in the next day, though. As usual, I devoted the afternoon to homework.
That day, the 2012-2013 federal budget came out--and it's a real slap in the face for us young folks. Katimivik (which gets young people out in Canadian communities, helping out--and they do it purely as volunteer work) is kaput, and the retirement age will be raised to sixty-seven (from sixty-five) in the next ten years, forcing older people to stay in the workforce longer and denying jobs to people my age because those jobs are taken by those older folks--and those are just two things. The CBC will also have it's budget slashed by $115 million over the next three years, which will reduce the quality of the programming (which is very high). I can understand why someone like Harper would want to cut funding to an institution like the CBC: freedom of the press--which is guaranteed under section 2. (b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms--is a scary thing to a leader who wants to exert full control over the country, get things done their way and not have anyone criticize them, but it still infuriates me. I love the CBC (and PBS over in the States)--in fact, I was listening to CBC Music's Orchestral channel on iTunes this afternoon--and I don't want the quality of their programming to be affected in any way. I cannot stress how important institutions like CBC and PBS are to a country. Yay for culture and freedom of the press! By the way, note that on the budget web page the tag line is "jobs growth and long-term prosperity." That statement couldn't be more untrue if the Tories tried.
As usual, Helen and I skyped that evening, and we talked about some of my projects. We won't skype again until the nineteenth, as Helen will be away and/or busy for the next couple of weeks. She thought about waiting until after I'm done school, but during finals I crave things in my life that allow me to relax, so we agreed on that date.
Friday: I spent a couple of hours at the UNB Art Centre, taking photos of, and notes on the current show. I'm reviewing it for the second show review that I have to write for Gallery as a Market Place. The day before, I called the Centre and asked for permission to take photos there to use as visual notes while writing the review. They were totally fine with it as long as the photos were just for my use--otherwise they'd have to get approval from the artists--Monica Lacey and Brody LeBlanc (who are Class of '11 NBCCD grads).
That afternoon, I fired a bunch of questions at Peter: approaching NSCAD with my research on the credits that I'd found (NSCAD originally awarded me fifty-four credits, and I wanted to get as close to the seventy-five-credit mark as possible), when he's going to talk about the grad show and how many pieces to put in the hard-copy portfolio that I have to do for his class.
Saturday: As usual, I devoted the day to homework. I got a really good start on the gallery review. By "really good", I mean that I banged out two hundred and eighty-six words. Five hundred and fourteen more to go! I did homework for Imagery, and I started putting together a list of cameras to consider.
This week the Met performed L'Elisir d'Amore--and I heard the orchestra and one of the singers, Juan Diago Flórez, play an encore for the first time. After they played Una furtiva lagrima, the audience went nuts, applauding for a long time, quieting down--and then starting up again, shouting, "BRAVO!" and, although I didn't catch it, "ENCORE!" So the Met played the aria again. And because I hadn't heard the calls for an encore, I couldn't believe my ears: they were playing it again? Really? But after that performance, I distinctly heard the shouts for an encore. This time, the Met ignored those requests and went on with the rest of the opera.
Sadly, this version isn't with the Met:
Sunday: Today, I didn't get over to the college until around four--I'm usually there around two. I started looking at reviews of cameras, and I knocked a few off the list because this time around, I'm not getting an entry-level cam. After two years at NBCCD, I'm itching to play with the big boys.
No comments:
Post a Comment