This afternoon I listened to Das Rheingold--the same opera that I saw via simulcast last October. I definitely prefer listening to it rather than watching it: the music is absolutely spectacular, but in performance the whole thing has a tendency to drag. And while I'm not much of a Wagner fan, I can never get enough of the Prelude. Those darn French horns (once again, I cried when they started their part)...
Monday: For the first time this semester I got all my Photoshop homework done and submitted during class. Not only that, but it was a blast. This week's class was about making photos look old: digital daguerreotypes and Polaroids, film strips and medium-format (complete with the edge of the "negative") being the techniques that I chose. We were given several other options, but we had to choose four to do and submit.
Tuesday: Due to a death in Rod's family, my morning classes on Tuesday and Thursday got shifted around: instead of having my lighting class, which is usually on Tuesday morning, I had Lab Techniques. Most of the class was devoted to discussing upcoming assignments for both L.T. and History.
Since Rachael was having a potluck on Thursday, and the potluck would also be a photo-swap, I decided to develop my photo after class. Yes, you read that right: develop. My photo was from a roll I shot for an assignment using a Holga camera during the first-semester Creativity in Photography class. Because the photo was so small (4"x4") and the enlarger was really close to the paper, doing the test strips (to find the right exposure time) was rather interesting. I ended up doing test-strips at half-second intervals (normal is five seconds), and the final photo was exposed for four seconds.
Wednesday: That morning, instead of class Peter met with each of us to discuss our independent projects. And for some reason I had been giving the impression that I wasn't into my project (I straightened that out). I've actually been having a lot of fun. Yes, it's frustrating at times, but I'm cool with that and I accept it as part of the process. Ditto for the fact that I have a tendency to come up with an idea--and then the final product is a lot different from what I'd originally planned, which also happened (in this case, the project got whittled wayyy down, and some things were changed based on discoveries and "mistakes" made during the project).
This past week, the assignment for Pro Practice was to do stock photography (Skype visitor: Hiep Vu, a stock and commercial photographer based in Toronto). I did the assignment three times: once in my room (I found a way to simultaneously clean up and make a mess: take everything off your desk and put it on your bed. And yes, I took a photo for posterity.), once in the hallway outside said room--and once in the NBCCD lighting studio (which is where I should've done it in the first place).
Rachael had planned a potluck for Thursday evening, and my contribution was cheese sticks. They were supposed to be twists, but after trying to twist one and failing, I gave up and made them as sticks. After class I went over to the Sobeys, grabbed the few things I needed to get (parmesan, sour cream and butter), went home, and got busy. Four hours(!) later, I was done. I don't make pastry that often, but this time I think I nailed it: good taste, heavenly texture... **swoons**
Thursday: My morning classes usually start at nine, but this time we started at ten. The class consisted mainly of going over the last assignment that we did a couple of weeks ago (they were due on the twenty-second, but class was cancelled due to panel assessment), some info about another assignment that we're doing in two parts (part one was done several weeks ago, but the guy who's in charge of the whole thing has yet to get back to us), and then we were free.
That afternoon I did my final set of cyanotypes, and experimented with intentionally leaving them in the water too long (about five minutes is ideal), as well as soaking some of the ones that I did a few weeks ago in tea. I'm really happy with the results. Next week I'm going to print some photos on fabric, and since I've never done that before, Jan showed me how it's done: the important things that I better not skip--or I risk screwing up the printer (and printing on fabric costs 80¢ a pop).
After leaving the college, I ran home, dumped my backpack, changed my coat, grabbed my cheese sticks and photo, and flew back out the door (thankfully, Rachael's apartment is only about three blocks away from my place).
The party/potluck/photo-swap was awesome: plenty of jokes and general photo-studio awesomeness, good food (but note to Peter: please make some of your pasta thing without shrimp next time--this is the second time I've been tempted by it--it looks so. darn. good--but because I'm a vegetarian, I've had to admire from afar), and I walked away with a photo by Anne-Marie (one of my classmates). Jeff, our studio tech, got my photo.
Friday: I was supposed to go home this weekend, but due to a huge snowstorm, I had to stay in F'ton. And just when we thought Spring was on it's way...
My Design class was mostly a work period, and if all goes well, we could have our final project (cardboard chairs) done next week.
Showing posts with label darkroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label darkroom. Show all posts
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Saturday, December 11, 2010
anyone up for a Last Class Bash, NBCCD-style?
I go home on Tuesday. Yes, really. Last year I went home a whole week early and this year, because things were organized better, I thought I would have to stay in F'ton until the seventeenth. But that's the day when the teachers are supposed to have their marks in, so many of my teachers pushed their assessments for my classes to this past week--and three finished classes the week before. The only assessments I have this coming week are combined assessments for Photo History/Communication for Visual Artists (Monday at 1:30) and Lighting: Available Light and On-Camera FlashTech/Photographic Digital Imaging (Tuesday, also at 1:30). And then I'm FREE until January fourth, 2011. Mom will pick me up after my last assessment.
I still have a couple of assignments to finish for Communications and Digital Imaging, but I'm not worried--Tom and I worked on the layout for my CV this morning, and I have to add some stuff to my Communications blog and finish Digital Imaging some point before my assessment.
Besides schoolwork I'm going to be busy writing cards (four of 'em, to be mailed on Monday), helping a classmate with an assignment for Communications, baking a surprise for my studio, and sleeping in (the usual).
As I mentioned earlier I had some of my assessments this past week, so here's what went down:
Monday: Although I didn't have an assessment, I did go to a potluck that evening at Karen's apartment. I arrived really early, but got to help set up. Her place is stuffed to the gills with awesome artwork, including two pieces by Adam MacDonald (him again...), which really excited me.
Wednesday: Creativity in Photography assessment: Remember those meetings that I had with Adam this past spring? Well, turns out I've still got work to do to free myself from the old ideas that have held me back for years. Although I do take a lot of closeup photos and try to abstract the subjects, my style is still very realist and what I see on the camera screen is what I use as the end product (I try to make the colours as accurate as possible). When I was little anything went: if I wanted to wear colours that clashed, so be it. If I wanted to paint in a way that would destroy the brush over time, go for it. But as I got older, like many people, I settled into what I considered "safe" (without realizing it) and I was afraid to venture out beyond that rut that I got myself into. Last year it started to catch up with me, and although I'm trying to undo the old ideas, it's about as easy as playing something by Paganini. In other words: it's extremely difficult. However, NBCCD is one of the best places in the world to unlearn the ideas that are holding me back.
Thursday: History: Although my assessment won't be until Monday (History/Communications combo), this one is significant. Most of us hadn't done our final presentations last week, so this class ended up being (hold onto your seat) FOUR HOURS LONG. But it was okay--we even got to have a pizza party due to the fact that we went straight through lunch. I'm very happy with my presentation on Julia Margaret Cameron: it went smoothly (unlike my last powerpoint that was based on an essay--ugh) and I covered a lot of ground--including hunting down info on the collodian process because I'm a "how did they do that" junkie and like to find out the process behind a work of art or a technique. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I'm so into photography: you've got everything from daguerrotypes all the way up to today's digital photos that have been enhanced in Photoshop.
Film and Darkroom Techniques/Photoshop: Tools and Techniques assessment: Since Drew teaches both classes, he, like Karen and Rod, decided to combine assessments for those classes. I've only seen marks for his classes, and I have As in both. But although seeing the mark is really cool (especially with my dismal marks last year), in the diploma program the grades are just letters and numbers: outside of NBCCD, no one's going to look at my GPA, which Drew stressed. What matters is whether I'm producing quality work and am learning what I'm supposed to learn (check and check). (Grades matter like you wouldn't believe in FVA: if they're dismal the chances of getting into the diploma program are slim.)
Yesterday I didn't have classes, due to Photoshop finishing last week (hello, sleeping in), but I still went to school because due to the fact that I won a scholarship and will only have to pay a few hundred bucks in January (NBCCD maybe cheaper than a lot of schools, but it's still expensive), I was invited to a small, informal ceremony with my fellow winners (various scholarships) and some of the staff (Drew was taking photos) in the library at noon. After that I spent the rest of the afternoon working on homework in the small computer lab.
I also talked with Peter about doing more darkroom work. Drew mentioned in his assessment that Film and Darkroom Techniques is the only film course the college currently offers (unlike Mount Allison University: their photography program is still a hundred per cent film), but I decided that I'd talk with Peter before giving up. He said that in the second year of the diploma there are four independent study projects, which would be the perfect opportunity for me to learn more about film and the darkroom. But don't worry: I'm still in love with digital. It's just that I'd never truly realized how cool film is. And maybe I could combine the old technology with the new.
I fell head-over-heels in love with the darkroom when I did the Photography Media Explorations in FVA this past spring, and now love it about as much as the MOO's horn section or the BSO's violin section. In fact, I'm considering making my own darkroom: Tom still has his old equipment, and I might convert a room in the house (the guest bathroom, perhaps?) into a darkroom (if it's the guest bathroom I'll have to have a look at the fan situation: it's powerful enough for everyday use, but since I'd be dealing with chemicals that aren't exactly healthy, I'd want to see about improving it--especially if I'm developing photos in the middle of January and don't want to open the two windows--brrrrrrrrr...).
I don't think I mentioned this, but NBCCD is considering scrapping their darkroom. The colour one is already gone, leaving the black and white darkroom--and unless the students speak up, it will be history, too. I don't know how much time we have left, but it's not long. When my classmates and I were filling out the evaluation forms for our classes, some (if not all) of us used the one for Film and Darkroom Techniques to say how much we love the darkroom and want the college to keep it. I'd be really upset if I came in and found that the darkroom was no longer there.
Because the BSO's Nutcracker Weekend is next weekend and I've got that ballet on the brain, here's one of my favourite pieces: Journey to the Land of Snow, a.k.a. A Pine Forest in Winter. Enjoy. And GO VIOLINS!!!!
Remember the video that I posted last week of the MOB's recording sessions for their latest CD? Well, I found a full-orchestra version of the Polonaise from Christmas Eve. I admit that I prefer the MOB's version (those darn French horns. Also: the ending's a bit different.), but it's still really cool. And even in the orchestral version the brass section gets a pretty strong part. No wonder the MOB wanted to include it on the CD.
One week until the Met's first radio broadcast of the season (Verdi's Don Carlo)!!!! GO MET OPERA ORCHESTRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS: Last Class Bash is UNB's celebration of the last classes on the weekend before final exams start. There's one at the end of the fall semester and another at the end of the spring semester.
I still have a couple of assignments to finish for Communications and Digital Imaging, but I'm not worried--Tom and I worked on the layout for my CV this morning, and I have to add some stuff to my Communications blog and finish Digital Imaging some point before my assessment.
Besides schoolwork I'm going to be busy writing cards (four of 'em, to be mailed on Monday), helping a classmate with an assignment for Communications, baking a surprise for my studio, and sleeping in (the usual).
As I mentioned earlier I had some of my assessments this past week, so here's what went down:
Monday: Although I didn't have an assessment, I did go to a potluck that evening at Karen's apartment. I arrived really early, but got to help set up. Her place is stuffed to the gills with awesome artwork, including two pieces by Adam MacDonald (him again...), which really excited me.
Wednesday: Creativity in Photography assessment: Remember those meetings that I had with Adam this past spring? Well, turns out I've still got work to do to free myself from the old ideas that have held me back for years. Although I do take a lot of closeup photos and try to abstract the subjects, my style is still very realist and what I see on the camera screen is what I use as the end product (I try to make the colours as accurate as possible). When I was little anything went: if I wanted to wear colours that clashed, so be it. If I wanted to paint in a way that would destroy the brush over time, go for it. But as I got older, like many people, I settled into what I considered "safe" (without realizing it) and I was afraid to venture out beyond that rut that I got myself into. Last year it started to catch up with me, and although I'm trying to undo the old ideas, it's about as easy as playing something by Paganini. In other words: it's extremely difficult. However, NBCCD is one of the best places in the world to unlearn the ideas that are holding me back.
Thursday: History: Although my assessment won't be until Monday (History/Communications combo), this one is significant. Most of us hadn't done our final presentations last week, so this class ended up being (hold onto your seat) FOUR HOURS LONG. But it was okay--we even got to have a pizza party due to the fact that we went straight through lunch. I'm very happy with my presentation on Julia Margaret Cameron: it went smoothly (unlike my last powerpoint that was based on an essay--ugh) and I covered a lot of ground--including hunting down info on the collodian process because I'm a "how did they do that" junkie and like to find out the process behind a work of art or a technique. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I'm so into photography: you've got everything from daguerrotypes all the way up to today's digital photos that have been enhanced in Photoshop.
Film and Darkroom Techniques/Photoshop: Tools and Techniques assessment: Since Drew teaches both classes, he, like Karen and Rod, decided to combine assessments for those classes. I've only seen marks for his classes, and I have As in both. But although seeing the mark is really cool (especially with my dismal marks last year), in the diploma program the grades are just letters and numbers: outside of NBCCD, no one's going to look at my GPA, which Drew stressed. What matters is whether I'm producing quality work and am learning what I'm supposed to learn (check and check). (Grades matter like you wouldn't believe in FVA: if they're dismal the chances of getting into the diploma program are slim.)
Yesterday I didn't have classes, due to Photoshop finishing last week (hello, sleeping in), but I still went to school because due to the fact that I won a scholarship and will only have to pay a few hundred bucks in January (NBCCD maybe cheaper than a lot of schools, but it's still expensive), I was invited to a small, informal ceremony with my fellow winners (various scholarships) and some of the staff (Drew was taking photos) in the library at noon. After that I spent the rest of the afternoon working on homework in the small computer lab.
I also talked with Peter about doing more darkroom work. Drew mentioned in his assessment that Film and Darkroom Techniques is the only film course the college currently offers (unlike Mount Allison University: their photography program is still a hundred per cent film), but I decided that I'd talk with Peter before giving up. He said that in the second year of the diploma there are four independent study projects, which would be the perfect opportunity for me to learn more about film and the darkroom. But don't worry: I'm still in love with digital. It's just that I'd never truly realized how cool film is. And maybe I could combine the old technology with the new.
I fell head-over-heels in love with the darkroom when I did the Photography Media Explorations in FVA this past spring, and now love it about as much as the MOO's horn section or the BSO's violin section. In fact, I'm considering making my own darkroom: Tom still has his old equipment, and I might convert a room in the house (the guest bathroom, perhaps?) into a darkroom (if it's the guest bathroom I'll have to have a look at the fan situation: it's powerful enough for everyday use, but since I'd be dealing with chemicals that aren't exactly healthy, I'd want to see about improving it--especially if I'm developing photos in the middle of January and don't want to open the two windows--brrrrrrrrr...).
I don't think I mentioned this, but NBCCD is considering scrapping their darkroom. The colour one is already gone, leaving the black and white darkroom--and unless the students speak up, it will be history, too. I don't know how much time we have left, but it's not long. When my classmates and I were filling out the evaluation forms for our classes, some (if not all) of us used the one for Film and Darkroom Techniques to say how much we love the darkroom and want the college to keep it. I'd be really upset if I came in and found that the darkroom was no longer there.
Because the BSO's Nutcracker Weekend is next weekend and I've got that ballet on the brain, here's one of my favourite pieces: Journey to the Land of Snow, a.k.a. A Pine Forest in Winter. Enjoy. And GO VIOLINS!!!!
Remember the video that I posted last week of the MOB's recording sessions for their latest CD? Well, I found a full-orchestra version of the Polonaise from Christmas Eve. I admit that I prefer the MOB's version (those darn French horns. Also: the ending's a bit different.), but it's still really cool. And even in the orchestral version the brass section gets a pretty strong part. No wonder the MOB wanted to include it on the CD.
One week until the Met's first radio broadcast of the season (Verdi's Don Carlo)!!!! GO MET OPERA ORCHESTRA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS: Last Class Bash is UNB's celebration of the last classes on the weekend before final exams start. There's one at the end of the fall semester and another at the end of the spring semester.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Harry Potter--and the Photography Studio??
First and foremost, the book cover. I submitted it on Thursday.
I'm super-happy with it and probably could've tweaked it into oblivion.
I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 on Friday evening. I managed to avoid the line and the show that I saw (six o'clock) was a bit sparse considering that it was the opening weekend of HP7--and the beginning of the end for us Potter fans (there were a number of empty seats). **sniffle**
The movie was pretty darn good and definitely one of the best Potter movies. However, I could tell that they were definitely going for the "coming at you" effect--the movie was supposed to be released as a 3D movie, but they didn't get Part 1 converted in time. Part 2 will be released in both 3D and 2D. However, if the trailer that'll released a few months from now looks anything like the current trailers (there are three of them), I'll see it in 2D because even in 2D Part 1 was almost too much for me. There were times when I was genuinely scared senseless (to put it in a printable way)--and I'm never really scared when I watch an HP movie: I've read the books and know them backwards and forwards and will gobble up any info I can find about the series (Dumbledore's gay? Fine with me.). In one scene Nagini (You-Know-Who's snake and one of the horcruxes--for those who haven't read the books, a horcrux is an object that holds a portion of a person's soul. In the books the way to split a soul is by killing someone, which makes perfect sense to me. You-Know-Who split his soul into seven parts.) goes after Harry, Hermione and Ron in Bathilda Bagshot's house. They eventually kill the snake, but not before giving the audience a good scare: just when you think Nagini's done with the three, she comes back and gives the audience a good scare. I didn't actually see the finale of that scene because I had my head down--it was that scary.
The use of sound as a means of scaring the audience is also used. During some of the dream sequences and visions (You-Know-Who and Harry are connected in several ways and this enables You-Know-Who to have access to Harry's mind), I cringed simply because the sound effects and music were extremely ominous and suggested that something scary might happen.
Some reviews said that the time between the discovery of the locket (another horcrux) and it's destruction should've been shortened because it just takes up time (and paper in the books). I disagree: yes, the three are walking around and not doing much, but they can't always be out saving the day. They need to figure out exactly how to destroy the locket while being on the run from You-Know-Who, who'd like nothing better than to finish Harry off.
As of the seventeenth there's less than a month until the end of term, which is hard to believe. The Fall term has been such a whirlwind of learning and fun that, although it started slowly, it's just whizzed by. I'm more in love with photography and my school than I've ever been before.
The final project for Creativity in Photography is (hold onto your seat) nude photography. Peter told us about it two and a half weeks ago and I finally started recruiting a week after he told us. Some of my classmates had models within a day of putting out the word, but it took me what felt like forever until I got a volunteer.
Said volunteer is a guy named Colby, who lives up the hall from me, across from my old room. He's really excited about it. Like, really excited about it. I've had to remind him that I'll probably have him keep his briefs/boxers/whatever on (we are allowed to do that). We'll be photographing in the basement studio, which, technically, we aren't supposed to use until January (we need to learn how to use the lights, etc., though we've had two lessons already; and due to studio light being so predictable and controllable and therefore tempting to use all the time, we're first shown how to use available light, which is fickle).
My class developed the negatives from the 4x5 camera assignment on Thursday. For that film we had to be in complete darkness the whole time--not just when we loaded the film--because the carriers used to hold the film are basically metal frames that are submerged and agitated in black tubs and the film is exposed the whole time (unlike 35 mm and 120 film, which are rolled onto spools in the dark and are then put in canisters that have lids on the whole time that the film is being developed). While I was developing film in the darkroom with two of my classmates, someone (probably Drew, since he's used 4x5 cameras for years, and developed tons of film) turned the lights down in the studio, which was very considerate because my eyes had completely adjusted to the dark, and to come out into a brightly-lit studio would've been... let's just say "unpleasant."
Although it snowed here for the first time on Halloween, the snow didn't last very long and there was very little of it to begin with. Yesterday it snowed off and on all day and there's still some on the ground. I went downtown and took some photos in the afternoon.
I'm super-happy with it and probably could've tweaked it into oblivion.
I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 on Friday evening. I managed to avoid the line and the show that I saw (six o'clock) was a bit sparse considering that it was the opening weekend of HP7--and the beginning of the end for us Potter fans (there were a number of empty seats). **sniffle**
The movie was pretty darn good and definitely one of the best Potter movies. However, I could tell that they were definitely going for the "coming at you" effect--the movie was supposed to be released as a 3D movie, but they didn't get Part 1 converted in time. Part 2 will be released in both 3D and 2D. However, if the trailer that'll released a few months from now looks anything like the current trailers (there are three of them), I'll see it in 2D because even in 2D Part 1 was almost too much for me. There were times when I was genuinely scared senseless (to put it in a printable way)--and I'm never really scared when I watch an HP movie: I've read the books and know them backwards and forwards and will gobble up any info I can find about the series (Dumbledore's gay? Fine with me.). In one scene Nagini (You-Know-Who's snake and one of the horcruxes--for those who haven't read the books, a horcrux is an object that holds a portion of a person's soul. In the books the way to split a soul is by killing someone, which makes perfect sense to me. You-Know-Who split his soul into seven parts.) goes after Harry, Hermione and Ron in Bathilda Bagshot's house. They eventually kill the snake, but not before giving the audience a good scare: just when you think Nagini's done with the three, she comes back and gives the audience a good scare. I didn't actually see the finale of that scene because I had my head down--it was that scary.
The use of sound as a means of scaring the audience is also used. During some of the dream sequences and visions (You-Know-Who and Harry are connected in several ways and this enables You-Know-Who to have access to Harry's mind), I cringed simply because the sound effects and music were extremely ominous and suggested that something scary might happen.
Some reviews said that the time between the discovery of the locket (another horcrux) and it's destruction should've been shortened because it just takes up time (and paper in the books). I disagree: yes, the three are walking around and not doing much, but they can't always be out saving the day. They need to figure out exactly how to destroy the locket while being on the run from You-Know-Who, who'd like nothing better than to finish Harry off.
As of the seventeenth there's less than a month until the end of term, which is hard to believe. The Fall term has been such a whirlwind of learning and fun that, although it started slowly, it's just whizzed by. I'm more in love with photography and my school than I've ever been before.
The final project for Creativity in Photography is (hold onto your seat) nude photography. Peter told us about it two and a half weeks ago and I finally started recruiting a week after he told us. Some of my classmates had models within a day of putting out the word, but it took me what felt like forever until I got a volunteer.
Said volunteer is a guy named Colby, who lives up the hall from me, across from my old room. He's really excited about it. Like, really excited about it. I've had to remind him that I'll probably have him keep his briefs/boxers/whatever on (we are allowed to do that). We'll be photographing in the basement studio, which, technically, we aren't supposed to use until January (we need to learn how to use the lights, etc., though we've had two lessons already; and due to studio light being so predictable and controllable and therefore tempting to use all the time, we're first shown how to use available light, which is fickle).
My class developed the negatives from the 4x5 camera assignment on Thursday. For that film we had to be in complete darkness the whole time--not just when we loaded the film--because the carriers used to hold the film are basically metal frames that are submerged and agitated in black tubs and the film is exposed the whole time (unlike 35 mm and 120 film, which are rolled onto spools in the dark and are then put in canisters that have lids on the whole time that the film is being developed). While I was developing film in the darkroom with two of my classmates, someone (probably Drew, since he's used 4x5 cameras for years, and developed tons of film) turned the lights down in the studio, which was very considerate because my eyes had completely adjusted to the dark, and to come out into a brightly-lit studio would've been... let's just say "unpleasant."
Although it snowed here for the first time on Halloween, the snow didn't last very long and there was very little of it to begin with. Yesterday it snowed off and on all day and there's still some on the ground. I went downtown and took some photos in the afternoon.
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| Gallery 78 in the Snow |
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