Reading assignment #1

OK…I hope Im doing this right and finally getting all caught up with everybody and reading your posts! I found this first reading assignment, likewise, helpful though a little overwhelming with all the technical terms to get straight. However, taking some notes and drawing a few little pictures to help me remember how the camera works and some techniques to try out totally helped me in the field…I felt more confident using my camera, and felt my eye was a little better informed.

Frederick Sommer

Garth suggested that I check out Frederick Sommer for his amazing textures in photography and they are indeed amazing! Although some of his subject matter (like road kill) is pretty gross, some of it is presented in such a beautiful way that I can look past the guts and see the beauty in the patterns. I also really enjoy his use of texture in portraiture as a background and as a double exposure.

 

see website for more: www.fredericksommer.org

Winter 2012: Visiting Artist Speaker Series Information

CLICK HERE TO FIND INFORMATION ON THE VISITING ARTISTS!!

Gosia Wlodarczak
Noon, Tuesday, January 17th
Walking Tour

Harrell Fletcher & Wendy Red Star
Noon, Wednesday, February 1st
Fairhaven College Auditorium

Sarah Burns
4:00 PM, Tuesday, February 14th
Fine Arts Room 238

James Lavadour
4-5:30 PM, Thursday, February 16th
Communications 105

James Sellier
3-5:00 PM, Wednesday, February 22nd
Fine Arts Room 238

Cable Griffith
4-5:30 PM, Tuesday, February 28th
Communications 105

Jonathan D. Katz
3:30 PM, Tuesday, March 13th
Old Main Theater

Olivia Bolles

purple haze

Just wanted to holla at one of my favorite photographers. Olivia Bolles, she’s from Portland and a few years younger than me. I’ve been following her on flickr for a few years and her work is always so interesting and refreshing. A lot of shots about just being a teenager and stuff, which I’m definitely a sucker for. Anyway, check out her flickr stream…here’s the link.

Reading Assignment 1 (8 am)

I HOPE I am doing this right since I am useless at blogging…

I know I am not the first to say that the reading was very informal and helpful especially for a rookie like me! I’m pretty satisfied with how much is covered in the book, and so much in addition besides cameras. I honestly did not know that you could turn a watermelon into a pinhole camera, or I suppose anything that is hollow could be turned into a pinhole camera…

I was planning on looking at instructional videos to make sure I was loading my film correctly but the book pretty much covers all I need to know.

It also helps to get a grasp of aperture and shudder speed in visuals, so you have an idea on what to expect. I have seen other examples when my father photographs moving waterfalls and streams. Its when the camera is set on a tripod and the shudder speed is very slow, so the motion of the water is very slow and the water has a smooth texture.

Jordan Stead

As an aspiring designer, I feel it’s my duty to promote local creatives. I also hope they’ll be nice enough to return the favor one day [hah].

Jordan Stead is a friend of a friend. They recently teamed up to form ‘The Emerald Collective’ operating out of Seattle. I stumbled across these photos from the NYE Resolution show at WaMu Theater. As a huge NERO fan, I was drawn in by how well Jordan captured their style and energy. I also appreciate that he seems to have some intelligent commentary about the state of the Electronic music scene in the US. Enjoy!

Reading Assignment

The reading was overall an informative and helpful to operate our cameras as I am mostly used to using a relatively simple digital camera. Relating it to human eye sight was a smart idea as a connection for the reader and helpful to understand how cameras work. I now know the technical terms for the workings of the cameras and have the skills to operate it effectively with a few techniques to help make my photos interesting.

Reading Assignment

Wow. There’s nothing I love more than reading 50 pages of technical writing. There’s a very specific reading format I like to  follow each time I have to do something like this:

(1) Start by flipping through the pages to see what’s in store.

(2) Progressively become more and more irritated that this lengthy pre-reading can’t be compressed in to three short sentences.

(3) Attempt to ‘skim’ 50 pages in 10 minutes, magically absorbing everything using that handy speed-reading technique you picked up in 7th grade accelerated reading.

(4) Allow the obsessive tendency to kick in…

and finally, (5) go back and carefully read through each ‘skimmed’ page, hoping to get by without dosing off more than a handful of times.

Forever-and-a-day-later, I can say I’m only a little bitter and picked up some handy camera knowledge that I could have used about 700 photos ago. All sarcasm aside, the reading had some good, comprehensive information to offer. I especially appreciated the short section at the end of the chapter covering aperture settings to apply to Part B of the assignment.