When I set my mind to something, it's virtually impossible to get me to change it. And I'm more determined than ever to make this dance photography thing work.
Monday: Because it was Easter Monday, the school was almost completely deserted. I devoted the day to doing things that were on my list, but that hadn't been done yet.
Tuesday: We handed in our independent projects, and discussed what we'd learned with Drew and each other. When I presented my findings about Photoshop CS6, I pointed out that according to my research, I won't be able to run the Extended version on my laptop because it will require 512MB of video RAM--my computer only has 128MB of VRAM. When I brought that up, Drew (who always has his iPhone with him) called Terra Consultants and asked them if it's possible to put more VRAM in my (Late '07) MacBook Pro. The answer: no. However, the only things that the Extended version of Photoshop has that the non-Extended version doesn't are the ability to do 3D images and work with video. I'm not that interested in 3D, and if I want to do video I'll get Final Cut Pro (don't have enough VRAM for that either).
Rod switched his classes to Friday, so I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted. I devoted part of the afternoon to emailing NSCAD's admissions and enrolment services directer, as I wanted to transfer more credits. I also asked about how intersession works--turns out, I'll be spending next summer in Halifax, as intersession is four months. I've also lost eight credits (all from FVA) because they don't accept anything below B-minus. However, because I haven't finished this semester yet and therefore won't have marks for the courses that I'm currently taking for another month or so, once my final transcript is available, I can have NBCCD's registrar send a copy to the Admissions office at NSCAD and hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few more credits. There is hope.
Wednesday: We discussed where we were in our independent projects, and Drew suggested that I look at lenses as well.
Thursday: After wanting to go since FVA year but never being able to follow through due to various reasons, I finally bought a ticket to the Fashion Design Studio's annual fashion show.
I'd finally exported reworked versions of the videos that I'd been working on, so Peter and my classmates were able to critique the current versions. I'm definitely getting closer to perfection. Take that, Harper!
Friday: For the first time since last year, I had to roll out of bed early on a Friday. But I didn't mind: I got to photograph dancers that afternoon!
I spent the morning class putting the final touches on the video that I'm working on for Still to Motion (a five-minute documentary about the family house and the surrounding area). Our final assignment will be to put together a slide-show of our work. Later that morning, I signed out one of the studio's D7000's. I considered signing out a camera from the school store, but I didn't know anything about how those cameras performed in low-light situations, whereas I have experience using a D7000 in low light.
After class, Peter, Rod, some of the first-years and I went to the Ballet Jörgen photo session. I couldn't have been happier snapping photos of the dancers, and I shot over five hundred photos. Sometimes I just watched, admiring the dancers' technique. This is what I'm meant to do. I plan to post some of the photos on my website, but I can't yet. Although the company is cool with having photos of the dancers out there, they want to be able to control that content and know how the dancers and the company as a whole are being portrayed in the media. As a result, if you want to use your images of the company in any sort of media, those photos have to be submitted to the company's media guy. You can submit up to twenty. After we got back, I downloaded my images, returned the camera and started sifting through the photos.
Here's the trailer for the ballet:
That evening, WhiteFeather posted a link to a workshop at the Banff Centre on my Facebook timeline. A performance photography workshop at the Banff Centre. I immediately checked it out. It's this July, and it sounds like the perfect thing for an aspiring dance photographer like me. If I do it, it'll be a. my first workshop outside of New Brunswick, b. my first time in a province further west than Ontario, c. my first time flying alone, and d. my first time celebrating my birthday outside of New Brunswick (I'll have splurge on a small cake or a latte). I checked it out, and they have financial aid available, which is very important. I'll scour the website a bit more, and then I'll make my decision--which will have to be soon. Two words: PLANE TICKETS!
Saturday: This week's opera was La Traviata. I always forget that one of the pieces that the Bangor Symphony introduced me to was a piece from that opera: Di Madride noi siam mattadori. Back in May '04, I taped a radio broadcast of a concert that they'd performed a month prior. That broadcast was the first time I'd heard the orchestra since I was five, and Di Madride was on the program. I still have that tape, and I love whirling around the room as fast as I can go at the end--not without a few good-natured yells at the BSO to play it a little bit slower--and shuffling to the violin part at one minute, ten seconds. It comes around again at two minutes, five seconds. I always think of the BSO when I hear that piece.
I spent part of the afternoon looking for pieces for my video for Peter's class. That task got a lot simpler when I discovered the search feature on the site that I'm using. :-) Finally I was able to weed out all the dubstep tracks.
That evening, I started printing my portfolio. I printed until the studio's photo printer told me that there was a clogged nozzle. As I have no idea how to fix it, I left a note on the printer.
I topped off the evening with going through my Ballet Jörgen shots.
Sunday: After skyping with my parents this morning, I spent most of the afternoon working on the videos for my independent-study project, adding music to existing vids and putting together the final video. I'm unbelievably happy with how the project has turned out.
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