Guess Who's Back (back back...)

That's right! The Niiiizz. And this was the product of a crappily executed Flash test. I really love that floating hand though, and creeping her out with her own eyes is a nice bonus. ;) Speaking of creepy...

More poor execution on my part. "Ello, dahling" is her title for it.

I may be posting more than a day late every night this coming week because tis the time to go to Indiana for my many shoots! Wish me skill. I'll definitely be needing it. :D

A Folder I Can't Open

No fancy photo today. I've been cleaning, doing laundry, or looking for ideas for the next week's photoshoots aaaaall day, and I'm pooped. Wait, I lie-- I also conked out for far more hours than I wanted to. Now, the plan for the day was to quickly finish straightening up my room and then write an essay I have been wanting to write for over a month. As you can see, I'm not quite there yet. In fact, I'm not even on the way yet. I'm still trying to find the keys to the car. -sigh-

Writer's block sucks. Especially the day before a final you'll inevitably fail for lack of memory. Yay. lol

EDIT: I've officially wasted every Thursday night of this quarter, as I've opted to retake the class next quarter in hopes of actually passing. Better get an A next time, man... :'C

The Ides

Tuesday, the Ides of March: The day I officially became an Arts major rather than a Business Administration major. A DAY TO REMEMBER!

The Key

Literally. Keys were another of the items my friend Liz needs photos of for her project. :)

I spent the entire day writing an essay, and then when I was finally finished with that, I had to get to class to take a final I hadn't yet studied for, so needless to say I've been pretty stressed today. My own fault, I know, but on the plus side, having all the information I studied in the car fresh in my mind helped me get what I'm pretty sure is an A on that final! Whew! Procrastination wins again. Now I desperately need sleep. Goodnight.

The Greatest Day I Should Never Have Had

As you might have guessed, today was a great day. I woke up to my grandparents ready to walk out the door, so I slipped on some shoes and hurried after them, camera in hand and purse on my shoulder. We went out to breakfast (or lunch, seeing as we're an hour ahead of ourselves now) and then did some shopping all over the place. While I should have been writing that Art History paper, I was busy playing with photos. (Whoops.)

Of course, my grandfather is no better than I am. He kept finding awesome places for me to take photos. One of those locations was the river near the Y bridge.

  

Another was the same river quite a few miles away, behind his job. Where just last week was a small park, there was river. Geese were swimming in the parking lot!

            

The, after some running around, I bought my very first flash unit (for my DSLR, that is)-- a Promaster 7500 EDF--, some things I had been looking for last week but couldn't find, and an orchid for a project my friend asked me to take photos for. I love orchids! They're beautiful.

Know what else is beautiful? MY FLASH! I'm so excited!!! Um... now to get to that paper...

It's a Two-Post Day!

So I took over a hundred photos yesterday and then completely forgot to post any! I need to get on the ball here. Gosh! lol. I decided to post twice today because I have so many photos to post that it would only confuse or overwhelm you.

Firstly, I forgot to tell you all that I did get an A for my portfolio and therefore an A in the class. WOO! *relief*

Speaking of classes, I have a paper to write on a 16th century piece of art for one Art History class, so I headed to my town's museum. They have an amazing room that was literally taken from England and put into the museum. Inside it is all 17th century art with the exception of one beautiful triptych placed right in the center. The piece is called Adoration of the Magi by Joos van Cleve. I really love it for all its intricate detail and slight oddity.

click for large size

While I was waiting for my grandmother to pick me up from the museum, I took a few quick snaps outside (photography inside is extremely limited, so I'd rather not take the chance). They remind me of my darkroom prints, so even though I'm not sure why I like them, I'm quite pleased with them.

After the museum, I felt like making a photo that was somewhat out of the ordinary, and for some reason this is what I did. Hmm.

The Tear

Alright, post one complete. Sorry about that!

I Solemnly Swear...

... to re-edit these photos whenever I actually feel like sitting in front of this computer. :) Until then, understand that this is just a post for the sake of posting, as I should have yesterday but was way too tired to stay up for. lol

Yesterday's snap: My darling doggy, Ursa.

Today was the Art Show I've been frantically preparing for for weeks. It was great, even if I didn't sell any prints. The place was smaller than expected, so there wasn't room for vending. :-( However, I did meet two women with 3 children each who would love to do a shoot with me. Everyone who commented on my work (whether they knew I was the photographer or not, as I was somewhat incognito for awhile) was in love with the photo of the little Wilson boy in the McDonald's Playplace. It really made my day. :D

Know what else made my day? Getting a snazzy new haircut! I decided to go with something out of the ordinary, and the stylist chose the color. These photos don't show it off too well, but mostly because of my editing (or lack thereof). Like I said, I will re-edit everything. Here they are for now, in all their contrasty non-glory.

Off to bed! *muah*

Portfolio and A Ditch

Oh, what a creative title.

My image for yesterday: BW Film Photography Portfolio-- Lines. Click for full size.

I spent 8 hours printing yesterday. Can you believe that?! EIGHT HOURS! That, my friends, is why I was not up to posting by the time I got home. Eight hours left me with a plethora of prints that were not perfect but were very decent, so I'm going to sell them for different prices depending on their quality at the art show on Friday. Yay! However, the above prints turned out perfectly (the scanner wasn't doing a very great job, so just take my word for it LOL), so they shall be my eight portfolio photos. The professor himself chose all but the first and last one, so I'm hoping for an A- or so. Maybe. *nervous mode* I can't believe this is due tomorrow already. ARGH!

Alright, enough of that.

Today's challenge was to take a photo featuring water in some way, so I headed down the street. With all the rain we've had lately, there was bound to be some water, right? Here's my shot in my preferred crop:

However, Sandra liked the flowers better and suggested this crop:

I find this amusing because we had such conflicting tastes when it came to this photo. Believe it or not, I detest flowers. I don't know why, but I do. They're great to photograph sometimes, but I just don't want to look at them very often. I favored the rock and the water on the left side of the photo instead, but figured the flowers would add some contrast and interest. Sandra, on the other hand, could do without the rock and the water and is a big fan of flowers. Most people-- normal people-- probably do.

That brings me to my somewhat photographically irrelevant question for you. What would you prefer: a rock, water, or a flower?

For Sandra

The competition. AKA the result of my practicing blurred water motion. Note to self: 1/10 is not slow enough! Use the tripod.

The Bokeh Challenge

f/5.3, 1/160 sec, ISO 640, 42 mm

Sandra challenged me to try her bokeh method, so I busted out the Christmas lights and wrapped them all over a bunch of champagne glasses that were sitting out on the table like they were just waiting for me. It was a lot of fun, but I definitely need more practice.

f/5.3, 1/30 sec, ISO 640, 48 mm

I didn't feel like editing today, so I cropped these photos to 5x7s and slightly burned the edges. Otherwise, this is what they looked like in-camera.

f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 640, 55 mm

The Town Attraction

The country's only Y-Bridge, Zanesville, OH

Also known as the most confusing bridge to drive on, especially if you're going left. I thought I'd retry photographing this bridge with my 200 mm lens, but it was far too cold and windy, so I took this one quickly and ran back to the car. LOL

Aaah, I took THIS one at home, where it was wind-free and warm despite the snow that covered the land overnight. Hopefully tomorrow will be a brighter day. I'd like to spend another hour or so outside taking photos. It's so relaxing, don't you think? :-)