everything's bigger in texas

so i'll admit it, kodak has corrupted me. i tend to like things centered and symmetrical. maybe thats why i like this photo so much, well that and it's of a ranger star. i really like the weathered look of the metal sign in contrast to the chain holding it up onto the classic style fence. it is just so typically texas, and now i want one, maybe i'll make one this summer cause i don't have anything else to do.

rugby

since my photos that i took at my team's rugby game didnt come out i searched the internet for some black and white photos. these are two of the pics that i really liked. the first is a line out, which is a set play where the ball is thrown in by the hooker on one team and is thrown between the two teams who lift 1 of 2 jumpers who try to catch the ball. its really confusing if you have never seen it and even then its still confusing. i like the symmetry of the two teams opposing each other and fighting for possesion. the second pic is of a rugby player after a game. yes the black eye and stitches are complements of the game. i think that i like it because it reminds me of specific rugby injuries on my team. at one point my teammate dee had two black eyes and looked like a racoon. mandy got stitches in her forehead after a bentley game. we have dealt out our fair share of injuries too, broken a few arms and legs among other things. the guys are much worse, our assistant coach, joe, hit a guy so hard that the kid was ceasing, had to be airlifted to the hospital, have brain surgery, and was in a coma for a week, but he's fine now. it was actually the guy's own fault he went to tackle joe then chickened-out, stood up straight and took the full brunt of the hit. rugby is like football but with no pads, no helmets, and no stopping.

comments on the final

i think that my presentation went well considering that i had a wicked sinus infection/strep throat and when i went back to my room i had a fever of 101 degrees, but i spent 8 hrs straight working on trying to get the prints right so i wasnt gonna miss it. i am happy with the prints i made and the physical presentation of my work. honestly i cant remember what i said when i presented but that could be due to the fact that i was so sick and in so much pain i just wanted to crawl into bed, which i did for the next 3 days followin the doc's advice (she thought i had mono, but i had that really bad last year).

final project

i think that my final project is goin well. i have more than 10 photos to print from my first 3 rolls and i have 1.5 more shot and need to finish up the last roll today/tomorrow. also i went to ac moore and found a frame that i think will work for presenting, i bought 1 and tried it out with one of the prints i had already done and i think tht it looks pretty good. guess im goin back today to get some more.

fourever the greatest qb

i love this photo by rick chapman. before i even saw his face i knew it was brett favre just by his hands. that may have something to do with the fact that i am a huge brett/packers fan, i even made my parents detour to green bay when we drove back from minnisota so i could see packers practice and go to the packers hall of fame when i was 10. what i like most about this photo is that the focus isn't brett's face, it's his hands, the things that have lead him to numerous records along with causing him pain through a chronically injured thumb.

a picture's worth a thousand words

well that maybe true, however the composition and combination of those words are not neccessarily going to be the same for every person that views that photo. photos can convey emotion and detail not always acheivable in writting alone, but a photo only portrays a limited view of a situation and what is outside of the frame can be totally unknown to the viewer. i think that in order to maximize the impact of a photo that is ment to tell a specific story is best when paired with a piece of writting. a photo alone can provoke interesting different thoughts on subject matter, emotion, intention, etc. when you read a story about something like war it is easy to write it off because you dont connect with the subject matter, but when photos are added to the piece there is a significant increase in the impact of the story.

stonehill really needs to have dark closets to load film in

i think that the worst part of processing film is trying to get it on the reel in the bag and you cant see what you are doing. it only took me 30 min to get 3 rolls ready to process today. i think that i will be able to get a good great depth of field photo off one of the rolls and i think that i got some good shots of the cows and the sheep, but i need to reshoot my light and shadow assignment and shoot a roll of motion. maybe ill go to rugby practice on thursday and shoot a roll. looks like im gonna be spending a lot of time in the darkroom this week. since my camera was not cooperating over break i took some pics with my digital after shooting the b&w film incase it didnt come out. here are a few of the shots i like.

"spring break"

for spring break i came home to snow everywhere and cold. today it stopped percipitating and there was actual sun shine so i put on my sweats and boots, grabbed my camera, monopod, and extra roll of film and went outside to shoot some pictures around my house and down on the lake. i thought that my boots were going to be tall enough to keep out the snow, no such luck, i didnt relize the snow came almost up to my knees at some places, but i didnt care because i was getting some good pictures. i trudged down the embankment behind my house to the lake then went down the our private neighborhood beach where i finished up my 1st roll then about 5 frames into my second roll i heard this racheting noise coming from the camera. i dont think that the film is advanceing anymore so im having my mom check it out and hopefully she can fix it before it starts raining. its cloudy out now but later its going to start raining and not stop raining/snowing til monday after i go back to school. im going to go see if my mom fixed it yet so i can go photograph the shaggy scottish cows down the road.

library assignment

i went to the library and looked through a few books with nothing really jumping out at me and it seemed to be the same story when i was looking at roger fenton's photos until i came to page 91 where i saw view on the llugwy, north wales. i love the motion captured in the water and the textural quality of the rocks with the contrast of the moss. there is a great depth of field created by looking upstream into the foggy mountians where you can barely make out the trees. there is a wonderful balance of light and dark, even the water cantains a contrast of bright spots and dark areas. i think i like it so much because it reminds me of scenes of the hudson river back home along a winding road through the back country that we would take up to a couple ski places.

the roll of film i shot came out well! yay! something finally went right this month! kathy was a huge help and is going to help me with enlargements tomorrow, well actually later today. i am hoping to go out and shoot and process another roll or two before i go home friday, but that may just be wishful thinking.

today we were told to photograph things that we really love photographing so i thought i'd find a pic or two that i took that i really like.

if it wasnt for bad luck i dont think id have any luck at all

well going with the theme of my week something went wrong with my camera and my negatives were totally blank. i didnt go to criminal justice and take my test but i went to photo and ended up with dummy film. to say the least im a little discouraged. now i need to shoot another roll and develop it tomorrow to see if my camer is actually broken cause im having surgery on thursday and dont know how im gonna hold up my beast of a camera to take my pictures.

tonight i releazed just how much i miss digital, so here is a picture i took in monet's garden at his house in france

pinhole camera

i was pretty psyched when my first negative i did with my pinhole camera came out well, i was expecting to have to tweak the exposure time but i got it on the first try. i still need to do another negative and play with ghosting before i start making my positives. i think that these are goin to come out well. we definately need to pump some tunes in the dark room though.

black and white gallery

I like the hippo photo because I have always loved photographing animal and this one looks like he is hiding, just checkin things out. I like the misty unknown quality of the bridge photo, how everything kind of gets swallowed up. The photo of the creek reminds me of home. there are scenes like that everywhere up in the adirondacks and my family used to go camping, hiking, and even on backpacking trips all the time. the last photo has the asthetic quality of the stairway tunneling up into the light, almost like its a strairway to heaven.

questions?

1. i'm takin the class as an elective, since i have been interested in photography all my life and due to a shoulder injury i cant do any drawing classes this semester, i thought it might be a good time to take photo 1.

2. my expectations for this class is to develop proficient skills in working a manual camera and developing my own film.

3. my goals are to pass the class while enjoying the work that i am doin. hopefully i will end up with some nice photos that are suitable for framing, for my room or as an easy mother's day presant

they don't have my signature font

well we finally had our first photo class today and i'm looking forward to exploring analog photography. i think that i will miss the instant gratification of digital photography and taking 902 pictures at one rugby game, but i think that the process of taking/developing photos will be intriging. from what the prof said photo sounds like it might be a lot like chemical research, lots of work with the potentail for few results, at least i don't have to write a thesis for this.