Na zdrowie!
Finally, the Fall semester’s over. Today was the last day of critiques and I can’t stress enough how much relief today brings.
To bring you up to date, here’s why:
This semester I decided to take three photo classes, each one with a critique. I figured I might be able to get assignments in Advanced Color, shoot them in Studio I, and edit and print them in Digital One. As luck would have it, the three classes yielded entirely different assignments and it always ended up being three times the work. Except for the final, in which I combined both Studio and Digital. I had a separate final for my Advanced Color class.
At any rate, I was combining two finals into one. So, my bros and I (much thanks go out to everyone that came out!) got together at Studio East on three separate occasions. The idea for this project was to try and replicate old-timey glamour type photographs, in the likes of George
Hurrell and such, but with a modern spin on it. I ended up shooting nine people total, myself included. For the most part, the shooting was easy. Finding an effective lighting set-up wasn’t all too bad either. The part that pissed me off about shooting this project was the fact that my trusty Canon 30d was underexposing. Not seemingly though; the histograms seemed okay. But apparently with digital cameras underexposure happens and you have to overexpose by a stop or two and mess around with the curves to bring the highlights down.
So, I learned about that after the second shoot. Another big problem was my camera’s focusing. I couldn’t figure out how to make it stay focused on people’s eyes. I need to mess around with it more. In any case, the editing wasn’t all too bad, printing went alright. I actually finished printing a few days earlier since people were so generous as to not show up on their reserved printing time.
Then came my dreaded Advanced Color final. I submitted my idea to Brad about four weeks ago I think. I was to photograph shopkeeps at the many Chicago food & liquor stores. I thought it would be a good challenge for me since I’m super-shy and I hate (x3) talking to strangers, much less asking them favors. So the whole idea was for this to be therapeutic. Which I guess it kind of was. But then, it was full of fail.
I went to around fifty liquor stores over the course of shooting this and I only got eight (8) people to let me take their picture. Many said they can’t because their boss isn’t around, some just didn’t want their picture taken. In any case, the failures were rather discouraging. If I had the time to concentrate on this project throughout the entire semester (which is what most people did in my class) I think it would have gone tons better. But, I didn’t think of it until it was time to turn in ideas for the final projects and that’s where I was.
So, for the crit, out of the twelve required prints, I only had 8. Most of them had something wrong with them too, like the focus was slightly (or very) off, or the curves could have been improved, or the cropping should have been a little more thought out. And I’ll admit, all those comments that Brad made were totally spot-on. The project may have failed, but only temporarily. It was a great exercise, and a great crash course on how not to be shy and try talking to people. So, I see myself continuing it in the future, and maybe retaking Advanced Color and doing it there.
Also, the History of Photography II final was rather a breeze. I’m not too worried about that class. I just have to remember to try and take the same teacher for History of Photo I.
So, the semester’s over. I’m all registered for the next one, and now I have a month or two to kill off. Or get killed off during, seeing how I’m gonna be working throughout my break for pretty much the entire time. We’ll see. For now, I bought myself a six pack of the Three Floyds’ Robert the Bruce Scottish Ale. Cheers!
