Technology: wonderful when it works, aggravating when it doesn't--especially when your schoolwork and career plans require it.
Monday: I spent the afternoon shooting my stereotype project in the NSCAD lighting studio, using a cable release and a school camera (a Pentax SLR).
Tuesday: I printed stuff off for the scholarships that I'm applying for (two internal NSCAD scholarships and one external award) and handed it all into the Office of Student and Academic Services (OSAS). I can't remember the last time an hour disappeared so fast.
Once again, we watched a movie, discussed it--and then disappeared into the darkroom. I developed my negatives, but I don't think the film was wound properly when I loaded the camera because when I unwound the film from the reel, it was clear, meaning that it hadn't been exposed. I told Adrian what had happened, and we discussed what I'd done for the first shoot because I hadn't gone as far with the project as I could have. Just when I thought I was done reshooting projects...
Wednesday: We finished the Coptic binding book, and some of us started on the Japanese box, which I'll start next week.
After class, I reshot my Intro assignment, using my own Nikon SLR. Because the lighting studio was completely booked all day (if NSCAD had some extra cash floating around--which they don't right now--I'd suggest that they add a second lighting studio because the current one is almost always booked due to the fact that there are about three hundred students in the photo dept.--roughly a third of the entire NSCAD student population), I did the shoot in the student lounge, using a portable backdrop.
When I got home, I checked my school email: I am now the Students Living in Residence rep for SUNSCAD!
Thursday: Bob had a prior commitment that day, so last week he asked us whether we wanted to either come to class and watch a photography-related movie, or use the day to work on our projects. Us being third- or fourth-year students, we all chose to use the day to work on our projects. I spent the morning and afternoon shooting for the assignment, and the evening over at NSCAD, processing the roll I'd shot for Intro the day before.
Friday: Yet another working class. I spent much of it wrestling with one print. And then in the work-in-progress critique I found out that I had to reshoot the assignment again. Ugh. I can't remember the last time I struggled so much with a project, though I am learning from the experience and know that I'll be a better photographer because of it.
Saturday: Ever since I migrated my stuff from my old computer to my new one, the FireWire 800 cable that I use to connect my external hard drive--and used to do the migration--has been rather temperamental. But that day, it refused to work no matter what I did. When I tried using the USB 2.0 cable to connect the hard drive to my computer, a warning popped up saying that one of the USB ports was using too much power and both ports had been shut down until the device was removed. When that happened, there were no sounds from the hard drive (I could hear the disk spinning when I plugged it in with the FireWire). So either the FireWire cable has died, or my computer doesn't like FireWire--which is a common problem with OS X Lion, which I'm running.
So when I went to NSCAD that afternoon to buy film and sign out a light meter, I also went to Scotia Square and bought an 8GB flash drive. I then transferred all the stuff on my hard drive that I need to be able to access on my computer onto the flash drive.
I spent the evening finishing my project for Beyond the Frame.
Sunday: I did the reshoot in my room (which is a good way to make myself clean my desk), but other than that I was rather lazy. Though I did send an ecard to my friend Lynn, as today's her birthday.
Showing posts with label camera. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camera. Show all posts
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
it's about time I heard the Met play an encore
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
all hail the crap camera!
Yesterday was my birthday (and in case you're wondering, I turned twenty-three), and one of my presents was a Holga 120N camera (I also got a bag of my favourite Starbucks coffee, Ganong chocolates, a magnet for my locker, and a couple of other things).
Back in the first semester last year, we did an assignment for Creativity in Photography using Holga cameras. No rules--just go out and shoot a roll of whatever we wanted, process it, and have a contact sheet ready for next week's class. Both my rolls (as with all the other assignments for Creativity in Photography and Re-Presenting Ideas, this was a two-week thing) were shot on the way home from school. When I had a look at the contact sheet for the first roll, I fell in love. And I've been in love with the Holga/crap camera ever since. Thanks, Peter!
Cameras like the Holga (Diana, etc.) challenge the idea that a photo has to be perfect. They force the photographer to toss aside everything he/she's learned about photography. To quote the box the camera comes in,
Bottom line: creativity, creativity, creativity. And breaking the rules (either your own or the ones taught in art classes and schools), which can free one up. The rules are there for a reason, but sometimes they need to be broken.
However, since Holgas take 120 film, which isn't the most widely used kind (that title would go to 35 mm), and I don't have my own darkroom yet, I'm going to have to hunt around for places where I can get the film processed (especially the colour film that Mom gave me along with the camera, since I'll probably never process colour). I'd probably have to drop it off at somewhere like Walmart, SuperStore, Maineline Studios, or one of the drugstores--and then they'd send it somewhere to get processed. Or I'd just send it somewhere myself (on either side of the border). And I'd ask for negatives only, since I want to do any printing myself (either in the darkroom or by scanning them and tossing them onto a flash drive), so that I can have complete control.
When I unwrapped the camera, I was so excited that I forgot how to speak for several seconds: all I could do was mouth, "oh, my gosh" over and over with a huge grin on my face. I then regained my ability to make sound and started laughing. To me, getting a Holga is about as exciting as getting tickets to the Met Opera (though it's a lot cheaper), and has been since I shot my first photo last October (see the second paragraph).
For the past week or two I've been working on a photo project. The theme is things that we use/eat every day, often without thinking about it. I'm also playing with the colours and doing really funky processing in Adobe Camera RAW. So far I've shot photos of my jeans (see below), my morning coffee, a box of strawberries and a teddy bear (named Sweet Repose--Sweet for short) that I used to sleep with. And yesterday I shot some photos of my Holga out in the driveway, but I have yet to download and process those photos. I'm planning to have fifteen to twenty images in the final product, which I'll make into a poster using Adobe Bridge or Photoshop.
Back in the first semester last year, we did an assignment for Creativity in Photography using Holga cameras. No rules--just go out and shoot a roll of whatever we wanted, process it, and have a contact sheet ready for next week's class. Both my rolls (as with all the other assignments for Creativity in Photography and Re-Presenting Ideas, this was a two-week thing) were shot on the way home from school. When I had a look at the contact sheet for the first roll, I fell in love. And I've been in love with the Holga/crap camera ever since. Thanks, Peter!
Cameras like the Holga (Diana, etc.) challenge the idea that a photo has to be perfect. They force the photographer to toss aside everything he/she's learned about photography. To quote the box the camera comes in,
"A Holga Camera is a study in plastic imperfection, and to use it is an exercise in breaking free from dependence on technology, precision, and uber-sharpness. The slight softness of the images, uncontrollable vignetting and peculiar light leaks create a partnership between you and your Holga. These 'flaws', accompanied by your creative choices, result in a quasi-serendipitous form of art. A Holga stretches our visual perception. Using a Holga adds another facet to the way we see the world. We notice more things, and thus we examine and evaluate their status. A Holga is an educator in teaching us a new visual vocabulary with which to describe our world. A Holga is a rule breaker. To use a Holga is to utterly change the terms of reference most people use to interpret photography."That may sound lofty, but every word of it is true. And that's just the beginning.
"As the film is advanced manually, this camera can help achieve special effects through multiple exposure by not advancing the film after a frame has been exposed. Each depression of the Shutter Release Button will bring about another exposure. This feature will provide more latitude for the photographer to try out his/her imagination.Best. Owner's. Manual. Ever. And it was obviously written in English--not written in Japanese and then translated in such a way that it's pretty much useless, as is the case with the manual for the flash for my DSLR.
"To achieve multiple exposure is very easy--simply do NOT advance the film after a picture has been taken."
Bottom line: creativity, creativity, creativity. And breaking the rules (either your own or the ones taught in art classes and schools), which can free one up. The rules are there for a reason, but sometimes they need to be broken.
However, since Holgas take 120 film, which isn't the most widely used kind (that title would go to 35 mm), and I don't have my own darkroom yet, I'm going to have to hunt around for places where I can get the film processed (especially the colour film that Mom gave me along with the camera, since I'll probably never process colour). I'd probably have to drop it off at somewhere like Walmart, SuperStore, Maineline Studios, or one of the drugstores--and then they'd send it somewhere to get processed. Or I'd just send it somewhere myself (on either side of the border). And I'd ask for negatives only, since I want to do any printing myself (either in the darkroom or by scanning them and tossing them onto a flash drive), so that I can have complete control.
When I unwrapped the camera, I was so excited that I forgot how to speak for several seconds: all I could do was mouth, "oh, my gosh" over and over with a huge grin on my face. I then regained my ability to make sound and started laughing. To me, getting a Holga is about as exciting as getting tickets to the Met Opera (though it's a lot cheaper), and has been since I shot my first photo last October (see the second paragraph).
 |
| Believe it or not, this is a double exposure. For my second roll for the assignment last Fall, since there were no rules, I gave myself an assignment within the Holga assignment for Peter's class: shoot a few multiple-exposure photos. This is one of my favourites. |
For the past week or two I've been working on a photo project. The theme is things that we use/eat every day, often without thinking about it. I'm also playing with the colours and doing really funky processing in Adobe Camera RAW. So far I've shot photos of my jeans (see below), my morning coffee, a box of strawberries and a teddy bear (named Sweet Repose--Sweet for short) that I used to sleep with. And yesterday I shot some photos of my Holga out in the driveway, but I have yet to download and process those photos. I'm planning to have fifteen to twenty images in the final product, which I'll make into a poster using Adobe Bridge or Photoshop.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
photography geekdom--bring it on!
Tonight, I found out how many times I've clicked the shutter on my camera. And it's a lot: my baby (that's what I call my camera these days--it really is my baby, even though I've started to outgrow it) has taken 10,497 photos in three-and-a-half years. Yes, really. For the first year or so I subscribed to a "more-is-better" philosophy (said philosophy dates from the moment I got my first digital camera--a Nikon CoolPix 995--in '03), and was only really happy if I came back from a shoot with about a hundred photos on my card. Now, I put a lot more thought into every photo--and I'm even more careful if film is involved.
I have to admit, I'm both surprised and not about that number: I hadn't kept track, but really, my cam's a trouper. It's put up with shot after shot after shot, courses, college--you name it (though I've treated it well).
And Olympus is dang sneaky to boot: it's almost impossible to get info about the life expectancy for the Evolt E-510 (as I found out when I was doing a take-home quiz on my camera for Film and Darkroom Techniques last Fall), and the number didn't show up when I looked at the file info for my most recent shot in Photoshop CS4. Tom also looked at the photo's info in CS3, and he couldn't find anything. Then he took the photo and uploaded it to a website that goes into the EXIF data with a fine-tooth comb, and spits out more info about the photo than you'll ever need--and that didn't give the number.
By the way, all camera companies (Olympus, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, etc.) are secretive/sneaky about the life-expectancy of their cameras, but usually the number of the photo will show up in the EXIF info in Photoshop (if it's the original file--copying and pasting strips photos of a lot of their metadata). Back to the story.
Tom finally found a video on YouTube telling you how to go into your Olympus camera and retrieve The Number. Jackpot! Cue extreme laughter and thoughts of, "oh, my God, I can't believe what I'm seeing."
Also interesting: shutter life for different cameras, including mine.
PS: If I sound like a total photography geek, I'll take it as a compliment.
I have to admit, I'm both surprised and not about that number: I hadn't kept track, but really, my cam's a trouper. It's put up with shot after shot after shot, courses, college--you name it (though I've treated it well).
And Olympus is dang sneaky to boot: it's almost impossible to get info about the life expectancy for the Evolt E-510 (as I found out when I was doing a take-home quiz on my camera for Film and Darkroom Techniques last Fall), and the number didn't show up when I looked at the file info for my most recent shot in Photoshop CS4. Tom also looked at the photo's info in CS3, and he couldn't find anything. Then he took the photo and uploaded it to a website that goes into the EXIF data with a fine-tooth comb, and spits out more info about the photo than you'll ever need--and that didn't give the number.
By the way, all camera companies (Olympus, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, etc.) are secretive/sneaky about the life-expectancy of their cameras, but usually the number of the photo will show up in the EXIF info in Photoshop (if it's the original file--copying and pasting strips photos of a lot of their metadata). Back to the story.
Tom finally found a video on YouTube telling you how to go into your Olympus camera and retrieve The Number. Jackpot! Cue extreme laughter and thoughts of, "oh, my God, I can't believe what I'm seeing."
Also interesting: shutter life for different cameras, including mine.
PS: If I sound like a total photography geek, I'll take it as a compliment.
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