Saturday, September 20, 2008
Victory is ours for the taking.
I believe this week has been everything but uneventful. In fact I've accomplished more than I could ever dream of in the span of these 5 short days. Thank goodness for the arts program in SCPA because having the first hand experience to shoot, develop and print your own photos for a class is absolutely amazing. Despite the limited time we have as a class, with the help of my COMITTED & HARDWORKING & TRUSTWORTHY group members, we were all able to print our own pictures and turn them in on time. Having a cooperative group sure helps get the job done. So let me take this time to introduce the lovely faces of THE ALPHA TEAM (well the name isn't known yet, but since I'm group leader I guess this will have to suffice HEH.)
From left to right: Bubbles; Liza; Mojo jo jo; Deajahah; Canada; Rico; & Blossom
and together we form
THE ALPHA TEAM (the real name to be announced next time)
So not to brag or anything but our group is seriously NUMBER 1 and at all times with our photos, we will be VICTORIOUS!!! We're fierce but friendly and hardworking but humble. We're the perfect combination for each other and if we get separated or if someone gets added to the group, nothing will be the same. I guess we just don't have the time to get use to someone's new rhythm or work without the charisma of one of our already established member. Our different yet similar qualities are just LEGENDARY and hopefully we won't fail.
First hand experience in taking pictures. It's harder than it seems. You don't just set the camera, and shoot, you need the right lighting, you have to set the camera at the right number to adjust its setting to the light. So many factors involved to get the perfect picture. This week was portraits, and to convey the right emotion in the picture, I tried to use dramatic detail in the light. During the process I experimented with the fan to try to capture a windy type of day, but that failed. Then I put the light closer to my models' face to catch shadows and it worked perfectly.
Positioning the model was a very difficult process since we only had a limited amount of time to shoot in the period. Thinking fast, and with a cooperative model, the work became easier. I was going for intense facials instead of the normal smiling portraits. I wanted to display intense ferocity. Shooting is time consuming and when you shoot, you should already know what you want so you don't waste others' time.
The darkroom is your friend. No matter how pitch black it is. The darkroom is your friend. No matter what creepy noises you hear. The darkroom is your friend. No matter who or what touches you. The darkroom is your friend. No matter who is breathing on you. The darkroom is your friend.
Note to reader: Do not scream or freak out in the darkroom; might mess up the developers.
The darkroom was a very emotional experience at first because it was awkward standing in a quiet room, pitch black, with about eight people standing close to each other. But the process of reeling the film in the dark was intense because I had to do it carefully, not to mess up the film. Being very precise and very careful is key to not ruining the film.
Printing takes a lot of time, effort, and PATIENCE. Doing test strips, putting them into the chemicals for a certain amount of time and then washing; checking how much time your paper needs with light to get a good color on your photo; doing the same process with the chemicals again. It takes about the whole period to at least print two papers. With the limited amount of time you can't afford to mess up any steps. In order to have a good print, you can't speed up the process of putting the film in the chemicals. PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE! So having a cool group makes the time go by quickly. Trying to focus the print onto the paper was hard because the light was subdued and i couldn't really see the machine i was working with so I had to feel around to find things. Make sure you don't expose your photo paper before you print! It's very sensitive so don't turn on the light when people are in the process of printing. Put the photo paper into the chemicals for 1 1/2 min, water for 10 sec, transfer to the other chemical for 2 min, then put it in the wash bath. HANG UP TO DRY. and the next day you're done.
The finished product:
Model: Deaj Quimen
Taken by: Krystle (Blossom)
I'm more than satisfied with how the picture turned out and thank you Deaj for practicing my fierce face in the mirror, it shows. Well until next week, bye bye bicycle.
The End.
4:35 PM
