I love photography, which I learned in high school. Students were separated into different levels based on experience. Photo 1A was for the beginning student. Photo 1B, the next level, was for students to begin with basic assignments. Photo 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, 4A, and 4B completed the eight semesters of class. Upon completion of 1A and 1B, I moved on to 2A, and so on, until I finally completed my high school career with 4A. As I moved up into the higher levels of the class, the projects become more difficult and technically challenging.
I learned about the camera and its parts, developing film, and picture printing in 1A. There were four exams that measured my knowledge; in these exams I scored no higher than a B- and my lowest score was a D+. Fortunately, these exams didn’t affect my semester grade; I easily raised it with my projects.
Some of the different assignments included: worm’s eye/bird’s eye (1A/B); panning, frozen-frozen, action photography (2A/B); 3-D juxtaposition and sepia tone (3A/B); color photography and bar relief (4 A/B). Levels 1, 2 and 3 were dedicated to black and white film and prints. Fourth level students were given the privilege to develop color slide film and print color images. The processes for B&W and color are very different; processing color film and pictures is regulated by the state because of the chemicals.
Developing both B&W and color negatives is a very precise activity. The chemicals and wash baths must be a specific temperature. The process for developing film is: developer, water bath, fixer, water bath, permawash, and photoflow. Afterwards, the film is removed from the tank and hung up to dry.
Once the film was dry, I took the negatives into the dark room to print pictures. I first made a contact sheet, which shows positive images of the negatives in the 35mm size. After consulting with Mrs. Record about which image best satisfied the assignment, I went back into the dark room to make the print.
Being in the dark room is like being on a different planet. There was an orange colored safe light; any photo paper that was exposed to it would not be damaged. Looking around the dark room, everything looked gray. It is very different from a white light world. In a white light world, you can see all sorts of colors, but in this room, every color was a different shade of gray.
After putting the negative in the enlarger, I put the paper in the easel, and exposed it with my image using white light. I put the exposed paper into the developer tray and suddenly the image slowly started to appear on the paper. I can’t tell you how fascinating it was to watch my image appear. At first the paper was blank, but then all of a sudden, my image was there; it was just like magic. After two minutes, I put my picture into the fixer, the permawash, and water wash. At this point, the picture was ready to dry.
After all of the assignments were mounted and displayed on the wall, Mrs. Record required oral critiques. This was an opportunity for each student to explain their project and all that went into completion of the assignment. Then each presenter critiqued two other different images, describing what was good about it and what they might have done differently. Unknown to me at the time, oral critiques were an opportunity for the students to teach and to learn from their peers. As my experience increased with oral critiques, I volunteered to critique first, to show to the other students what was expected.
I love film photography better than digital. With film, as an artist, I can be as creative as I want to be. Film manipulation can be done when the picture is taken or in the printing process. Print processing allows me to be flexible and creative with how I manipulate my images. To me, these advantages make film photography superior to digital. Film photography is a form of art and expression.
My vocabulary words:
Foibles: a minor weakness in a person’s character. I found this word in an online article about Senator Kennedy shortly after he died.
Ambivalent: conflicting feelings. I found this word several times in a textbook.
Benevolent: kind and charitable. I find that I’m now confusing the definition of ambivalent and benevolent frequently.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
8/25/09 I forgot my vocabulary words.
I posted my first blog too quickly. I completely forgot my vocabulary words: parsec and proliferation.
As a fan of Star Trek: TNG, Voyager, and Enterprise, parsec was refered to and I didn't know what it meant. I could infer from the context that it is a unit of measure, but I am not sure what that measurement is. I looked it up and learned that a parsec is a distance of 3.262 light years.
As for my second word, I chose the word proliferation. This is an important terms in the context of political science. This is defined as the rapid increase or rapid spread of something. So then and anti-proliferation agreement is an agreement to stop the rapid spread of something, such as nuclear weapons.
As a fan of Star Trek: TNG, Voyager, and Enterprise, parsec was refered to and I didn't know what it meant. I could infer from the context that it is a unit of measure, but I am not sure what that measurement is. I looked it up and learned that a parsec is a distance of 3.262 light years.
As for my second word, I chose the word proliferation. This is an important terms in the context of political science. This is defined as the rapid increase or rapid spread of something. So then and anti-proliferation agreement is an agreement to stop the rapid spread of something, such as nuclear weapons.
8/25/09 My evolution in writing.
I have made it through another first day of school. As this is my senior year, I assume that this will be my last "first day" of school. Writing a blog for a writing class is an unusual tool, but it is one that I think will be fun to use. This semester I have four poli sci classes. After listening to the professors discuss the green sheets for their classes, I expect this semester to be busy but rewarding.
There will be a lot of writing required for my classes, but that does not scare me. I am a competent writer. When I was younger, I had a real problem with my language skills. I think my first word was 'puppy'; I was not happy to find out that my first word was not 'mommy' or 'daddy'. My parents eventually became concerned with my lack of vocabulary. I was tested by a speech therapist who reported that I had 10% of the vocabulary that other children my age had. When I was three, I started speech therapy at Stanford University.
In elementary school, my writing assignments were very simplistic in structure. They were as simplistic as 'see Spot run' or 'see Spot bark'. At that time, reading and writing were difficult for me. I remember that twice a week six of us would leave our classroom after lunch to go to a dark room. I didn't realize it at that time, but that dark room was speech therapy lab. My classmates and I had private lessons with our teacher, Mr. Stone. We completed many different exercises and activities. These lessons helped me to expand my vocabulary and my language skills.
Over the years, my language skills have improved dramatically. Mom commented about the improvement in my skills between elementary and high school writing assignments. As we cleaned out our garage last summer, she found a short story I wrote in fourth grade. I reread the short story along with a short story I wrote my junior year. I must say, the difference was remarkable. I can't believe how simplistically I wrote.
I think the most important grammatical lesson I learned in elementary school was about the term 'a lot'. The teacher told us that this term was to be two separate words. She threatened us and urged us to never write it as 'alot'; I have never forgotten that lesson. It drives me crazy when I see this term written incorrectly in essays written for college classes. 'Alot' is my number 2 pet peeve. My number 1 pet peeve is the incorrect usage of 'there', 'their', and 'they're'.
There will be a lot of writing required for my classes, but that does not scare me. I am a competent writer. When I was younger, I had a real problem with my language skills. I think my first word was 'puppy'; I was not happy to find out that my first word was not 'mommy' or 'daddy'. My parents eventually became concerned with my lack of vocabulary. I was tested by a speech therapist who reported that I had 10% of the vocabulary that other children my age had. When I was three, I started speech therapy at Stanford University.
In elementary school, my writing assignments were very simplistic in structure. They were as simplistic as 'see Spot run' or 'see Spot bark'. At that time, reading and writing were difficult for me. I remember that twice a week six of us would leave our classroom after lunch to go to a dark room. I didn't realize it at that time, but that dark room was speech therapy lab. My classmates and I had private lessons with our teacher, Mr. Stone. We completed many different exercises and activities. These lessons helped me to expand my vocabulary and my language skills.
Over the years, my language skills have improved dramatically. Mom commented about the improvement in my skills between elementary and high school writing assignments. As we cleaned out our garage last summer, she found a short story I wrote in fourth grade. I reread the short story along with a short story I wrote my junior year. I must say, the difference was remarkable. I can't believe how simplistically I wrote.
I think the most important grammatical lesson I learned in elementary school was about the term 'a lot'. The teacher told us that this term was to be two separate words. She threatened us and urged us to never write it as 'alot'; I have never forgotten that lesson. It drives me crazy when I see this term written incorrectly in essays written for college classes. 'Alot' is my number 2 pet peeve. My number 1 pet peeve is the incorrect usage of 'there', 'their', and 'they're'.
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