Final project..GULP! November 17, 2009

This is it.  The time has come to make my PORTFOLIO. This little book will be as sacred as the bible to my future in photography. I will of course add to this book over time, but it’s good to start a professional one in case I go looking for a part time job.

I will need to complete an additional two pictures.  They can be done as a studio portrait, fashion picture, or an editorial illustration.  I think for what I am doing in my future I should choose fashion and studio portraits because I won’t need the illustration background as much if I’m trying to land a job at a studio.

I’m still not really sure where to get my stuff printed or how much it will cost.  All I really know is that it is due on Dec. 9, 2009.  That is sooner than it sounds.  One of the extra pictures will have to be presented in class on the 30^th of this month.  If I sound nervous, it’s because I AM!  I want this to be something I’m really proud of.  I want it to help me begin my career in a serious manner.

I’ll post my final pictures on this blog even though this is the last one that we are required to read, just in case anyone is curious.  Wish me luck!  I’ll need it!

Cut and Paste November 17, 2009

My biggest assignment yet, as far as stretching my creative side, has been my photo illustration. This is the assignment that makes a photojournalism major feel guilty.  It’s one of the only times in official journalism that I am allowed to use photoshop and move things around and go crazy with editing.

I chose to do my photo on a theme about caffeine and how it is running our lives in this busy age.  I wanted to illustrate the great heights we go to, to get our caffeine fix. I figured coffee would be the most universal drink for this concept.

I sketched out some thumbnails and lined up some models.  I got my mom and grandma to come pose for this one because I wanted to have varying ages in my end portfolio.

Here’s how it came out…

People have become slaves to coffee and caffeinated beverages as they seem to be the only thing that can keep one awake long enough to accomplish what he/she sets out to do in such busy lives. I shot this in the studio with a shutter speed of 1/200, an aperture of f6.3, and an ISO of 200. I shot the coffee scene first and then the two models individually. I used photoshop to cut them out and place them in the coffee scene then put parts of them behind the background picture to create a more realistic look.

November 3, 2009

Out of the three pictures that I posted in my last blog, I didn’t end up using any of them.  I decided on a more colorful version of the mechanic model  and a picture from a studio shoot I did this week.

Working over the engine of a 1997 Oldsmobile is Betsy Gurecki. She is in the parking lot of West Campus Village Apartments in Mount Pleasant, MI. My aperture was at f/5 and shutter speed was 1/200. My ISO reverted to a manual setting after I had set it at 400.

I used a gel on the light to make it appear as though the sun was setting and used a fast shutter speed to block out most ambient light.

Rocking fedoras and business suits, Rae Bersok and Betsy Gurecki pose as professional, modern women inside the Wightman Light Studio. My aperture was at f/8, and my shutter speed was 1/200. My ISO was at 200.

I had a main light on the right, a fill light on the left and a rim light in the back, although the rim light didn’t show up much in most of them.

Today in class we had a great class-bonding photo shoot.  We extended the Halloween spirit a little further by dressing up in our Halloween costumes and  posing for each other, then as groups.

It isn’t often that a class gets a day off from the books and lectures to just practice their craft.  It is days like this that I know I chose the right major.  I’ll get back to you all when I have a grade on the pictures above.

Stalking can really pay off! October 27, 2009

This week I stalked CMU’s Journalism department like a lioness stalks a pack of gazelles until I managed to walk away with the arm load of photo equipment I needed for my latest and greatest assignment: F-A-S-H-I-O-N!

Most photographers don’t grow up saying, “Oh, gee, I’d just love to be a war photographer when I grow up” or “Mommy, Daddy, won’t I make a terrific forensic photographer someday!”  Most photographers, male and female want to take pictures that convey a concept, but are most importantly, beautiful.  That’s why we stress over getting the lighting just right, or the angle to be perfect.

Fashion is one genera of photography that gives us the opportunity to take a beautiful person and make them spectacular!  Now, in JRN 420, we have to include an idea, it can’t just be a senior photo with a dreamy atmosphere, it has to at least have a theme.

Once again I’m putting my roomies to the test with their newly budding modeling careers for andiwithaneye.blogspot.com!  This time, I decided to turn my lovely friend Betsy into a sex kitten mechanic and throw her out in the rain under the hood of my crappy Oldsmobile aka “old lady mobile” and hand her a screw driver.  The results—not bad!  The photos are in their roughest form still, but I’m posting a few so you’ll get the idea of what I was going for.

I tried to make it look as though the sun was setting behind her.  In reality, it was a gray, overcast sky and rain was pelting my equipment as I dashed around her snapping away and moving lights around.  I appreciate her wearing this outfit in the end of October.  It was a sacrifice only a true friend and roommate would make.

Penny for your thoughts, thousands for the photog. major??? October 20, 2009

If ever there was an assignment that made me want to pull out my hair until my bald head was a bigger problem than my potential grade, it would be this week’s Location Lighting!

Problem number one, CMU needs more light equipment

—or—

Problem number two, if CMU cannot attain more light equipment, I need more scholarships so I can afford to buy my own to complete assignments and to just take better pictures overall.

Admittedly, it took me the whole week of class to get a grip on how to use strobes, light stands, light umbrellas, even how to just fold and unfold a large reflector.  I am feeling much more confident with the equipment since then.  However, on Friday when I dragged myself to the fourth floor in Moore at 8:00 A.M. the journalism department had all the equipment I needed except for one cord.  One, seemingly insignificant cord, had me grounded in that office waiting for three hours.  I ended up giving one of my strobes to a fellow classmate who was equally desperate for equipment.  Needless to say, I didn’t get any laundry done that day.

Fast forward about 11 hours (one of those hours on the road) and there I was, at my parent’s house, begging my brother to pose for one of my environmental portraits.  I even had to convince him to let me paint his face for this one.  (Note to self: Owe bro a good birthday present).

I ended up having him lean over a pile of wood with a gun, wearing camouflage and aiming a hopefully unloaded shotgun directly at me and my camera.  Gulp!

I set my white balance to tungsten which turns the scene blue to make it appear as if it wasn’t 7:00P.M., but midnight with a full moon overhead. I was pleased with this photo.

The other photo I created wasn’t so pleasing.  I tried to use a snoot on my light which narrows the beam to a small concentrated area.  I had a great model with a great story, but the picture is lacking. Grades will be in shortly.  As for updates, I got a 94% on the still life assignment.  I can live with that.

Running an underground brewery in Stanton MI, is 76 year-old, Elton Baldwin aka “Mean Gene.” He has been brewing homemade wines for about five years and has mastered many flavors. His stock included cherry, grape, and rhubarb. Baldwin said, “Everything is grown in my own backyard except the sugar.  That’s the only ingredient I have to go to the store for.” I used a snoot on the light to pin point just his face and the bottles. (Andrea Rockafellow F5, SS 1/200, ISO 200)

A photographer/body builder/engineer October 12, 2009

Photography is nothing compared to the hard work it used to be with having to lug around cameras as heavy and as fragile as small children, load film, and develop pictures in dark rooms with great care, never knowing for sure if you captured what you wanted in the frame.  However, it is still a difficult assignment to be sent out on location with all of the equipment still used in the digital world of today.
For our next “learning adventure” in JRN 420, we are supposed to get a grip on location lighting.  This is a frightening assignment for a girl who is only just learning to set up tripods correctly.

This assignment will turn me into not only a well rounded photographer, but also a body builder by the time I get done lugging around strobes, tripods, reflectors, pocket wizards, and my own camera gear.  Setting this all up will make me feel as proficient as the top engineers of the country with all of the hooks, knobs and plug-ins I have to arrange.  (Not to mention all of the normal camera settings like ISO, aperture, and shutter speed! YIKES!)

The worst part of the assignment is not learning to set up and take the picture, but checking out all of the equipment from the journalism department where supplies are limited.  Each student has to check more than one of the items I listed above and most students like to wait until the end of the week to do their assignment so they can think about their concept for a while longer.

Planning a photoshoot requires a lot of forethought.  You have to find a willing model, work around both of your class schedules, hope for good weather if doing it outside, and fight teeth and nail to check out all of your photo equipment and hope it’s available when you need it!  And professors get excited when we forget to print things off correctly in assignments!?!  It’s amazing we even have time to put our own names on them!

As for now, I have no idea what I’m going to shoot for my location lighting assignment.  I’ll probably end up being one of those “end-of-the-week students.”

As for now, I took one practice shot in my class today and have posted it below.  I hope my real assignment ones have more variables.

Layla, a fellow JRN 420 student,
allows the arms of a pine tree to
envelop her outside of Wightman Hall,
as I flash away at her through an umbrella
to diffuse the light.

This is why I’m not a photo editor… October 6, 2009

My Still Life photos are done, done, done!  I’ve written the captions, toned and cropped them properly, and posted them to my photography blog.  I turned in the two required photos today in class and I love them, and yet, I’m fretting!

The problem in this case is I actually I liked too many of my pictures.  I posted three on my blog, but was only allowed to turn in two.  Just as it is difficult for a mother to say which child she loves most, it is hard for the photographer to say one brainchild is better than the rest.  Each one embraces a unique concept and I had a hard time deciding which two I wanted to submit for grading.  Even after I finally decided on the two, the last one that was posted on my blog received several positive comments from JRN 420 classmates, so now I’m left worrying if I chose the right pictures?!?  Time will tell and I’ll get the verdict back from my professor next week in the form of A, B, C, D, or dun dun dunnn, the ever feared E!  (Nah, I won’t fail, this class is for my major, I have to at least aim for a C+ or better).

I chose the following two based on how different they are from each other.  My goal was to show what I meant without the viewer having to search for the caption to understand. I was happy with the lighting for all of my photos but I liked the edgy gradations from black to white in the heels photo.

<<Females around the world know too well the truth to the cliche, “Beauty is Pain,” as they stuff their square feet into a pointy pair of pumps hoping to make a good impression. These heals are shot with only one light coming from the back right positon. The shot was done with a 200 IS0, at F8, and with a shutter speed of 1/20.

I thought this was a pretty solid concept for my assignment and I knew this was going to be one of the pictures I wanted to submit for grading.  The next ones gave me more trouble when deciding which one was the best.  It came down to the fact that I didn’t want to turn in two fashion-based pictures.

>>”Moo,” the rat is caught doing what rats do best, making messes and eating everything they can get their tiny hands on. I photographed her with one light coming from the back right and with a white bounce filling the other side of her face. My camera was set at a 200 ISO, F8 aperture and a shutter speed of 1/50.

My concept for this one is that rats are messy critters and it was fun to shoot.  I had to have helpers to keep her positioned correctly on the light table.

This was the last picture I did that had positive comments, but that I didn’t choose because I felt it was too closely related to the heels picture. I think all of my pictures had a hint of humor to them, which I’m hoping will keep them afloat in the sea of my classmates amazing pictures. Any opinions on which ones I should have chosen?  I’m open for suggestions!  This is why I’m not a photo editor, I’m not good at choosing between all of my favorites.

“Still Life” in my busy life! September 28, 2009

This week I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out what to photograph for my new still life assignment in JRN 420.  Automatically, I picture paintings of fruit or flowers, but there is just one problem with these subjects; BORING!
The difference between my still life, and the still life you picture from paintings years ago is that mine must have a concept, not to mention it must be a clever concept if I want to earn an A, which I desperately do!
I’ve considered everything from a “smoking-kills” theme using a skull, smoke, and a cigarette, to “beauty-is-pain” with a picture of high heels with Band-Aid wrappers all around them.  This last idea is ironic because as I write this I’m applying bandages to each of my heals…ahh vanity!

I have lots of ideas, but non are wowing me yet.  Sketching out thumbnails is supposed to be helpful (for photographers with skills in drawing, I guess) so, I think I will try it out before even entering the studio, even if mine are all stick figures.
I know I want to do something I can zoom in tight on because doing so often gives the composition a more artistic and quiet feel in my opinion.  Lighting helps with this effect too.  Keeping the picture simple is my goal.  It’s easy to get carried away with throwing objects into a frame when you’re trying to convey a concept.

One thing I learned about still life in lecture is, it doesn’t actually have to be still.  I can have a ball dropping or a pair of dice being thrown as long as it relates to my theme by texture, shape, age or function.

I’ve got to shoot two completely different images, so I’ll have to keep thinking because I want them each to be equally compelling.  By my next post I will have shot my still life pictures and edited them.  I’ll post them on here as soon as I can, so watch for updates!

September 22, 2009

The grades are in!  As far as light, composition, personality, and technical elements I earned an A on the “Studio Portrait” assignment.  Sadly, I lost 5 points because I didn’t know how to print proofs from the necessary photo organizer on the college computers.  Thus, my grand total is an A- on my first assignment.  This grade will have to suffice for now, but since then I have learned how to print properly, so hopefully my grades will improve.  Lesson of the day:  ask how to do things you don’t know how to do before the day you have to turn everything in!

Although I admittedly quiver at the thought of graduating and having to find a job after majoring in something so unusual, I am still enjoying the class and still want to make it my major and career.  Only as of this fall semester is Photojournalism a major all on its own, so I’m excited to sign over to it very soon.  (Right now I am a Journalism major with a photojournalism emphasis).

My latest assignment in JRN 420 was “Painting with Light.”  My theme was heaven and hell.  I enlisted my roommates as models and, using some interesting lights, transformed one into a demon and the other into an angel descended to earth.

The representation of an angel on earth

The representation of H-E-Double hockey sticks

<– I flashed her using a strobe covered in a blue gel. The flames were made by twirling a red glow stick. I used an f-stop of 8.0, a shutter speed of 30 seconds and my ISO was 100.

–> Painting her with a blue gel I had my camera set with a 5.6 f-stop, a
shutter speed of 30 seconds, and an ISO of 100.

Although these images tend to look like they were made in a photoshop program,  they were taken like this with just my camera on a tripod.  The trick is to leave your shutter open for a long time and to be in darkness.  When the camera first looks into the dark it sees nothing.  The magic comes from when  I flashed a blue light on the angel for one second and my camera recorded the lit up image of her.  Then, when I faced the camera lens and drew wings in the air behind her with my flashlight covered in blue paper, it captured this light as well.

The devil image was made after I tacked dark sheets up on my bedroom walls, covered my window to block outside light, and turned off the overhead lights.  I had to make the room completely dark so my camera would read only the light I drew into it.  For this one I had one friend (the devil) sit on my bed in a black shirt and had another friend sit behind her holding up her hair to make it appear messy.  This friend was also covered in black clothes.  Next, I had to flash the demon girl with a blue strobe to keep the image of her from blurring.  (When your shutter speed is slow even the slightest movement will blur unless flashed with bright lights).  Then I took a red glow stick on a string and twirled it around very quickly so  red flames would appear to curl around the demon.

I am so glad to have learned these techniques in this class.  It creates an image with so much more punch than the typical portrait.  It feels more like painting, because that’s essentially what it is.  Tune in to the next blog to see my official grade on this assignment.

Painting digitally is less messy September 13, 2009

Artistic people never seem to care much about timeliness or things set in stone.  For example, I love my studio photography professor for his creative ideas, his enthusiastic outlook on photography, and his passion for learning as well as teaching new things.  However, since he is a very busy and creative man, he has not been able to finish grading the first assignment in photography.  Thus, I do not have a grade to share for my portraits yet, but I’m not too worried.

In class on Wednesday, we had a group critic of everyone’s photos.  I am happy to report I received only positive feedback on my portraits so far.  Receiving good comments means a lot when coming from my professor, because in addition to teaching this class he is also my advisor and the head of the photojournalism department at CMU.  His comments, good or bad, will mean more to me than those of any other professor if this is really the career I am going to pursue.

Although I do not have a grade yet, I do have the promised definitions from my last blog.
1)  Hotshoe:  Not a shoe dipped in bubbling lava, but the place on the camera (usually the top) where you can slide and lock an external flash which is designed to work with the camera.
2)  Snoot:  It may sound like a stuck up person, but it fact, it is a cone shaped shield used on spotlights to direct a cone of light over a small area.
3)  Rear curtain:  This has nothing to do with theater or opera.  It is the option on the camera that fires the flash at the end of the exposure, so your subject is frozen with the motion blur behind them.
The first two terms are important elements of studio work.  Overhead lights are normally turned off inside studios, so hotshoes are important for controlling all of the flashes used in the dark.  Snoots are also important in this process because you can create rim lights and direct exactly where you want a light to show up on a person when using only a small amount of light.  The last term doesn’t have a lot to do with studio work unless your subject is moving quickly through the photograph and you are using very little light.

Ironically, this may be just exactly what my next assignment calls for.  This second go-round in the studio is called “Painting with Light.”  It requires limited spotlights and minimized use of ambient (natural) light.  Instead, we will be using small, colorful lights as digital paintbrushes.  Monday the class is going to practice this technique using flashlights, lasers, disco balls, and anything else students can find to bring in and light up.

This assignment sounds fun and unlike anything I’ve ever done before, but it won’t be as simple as throwing some color on to a canvas such as a Jackson Pollock painting.  My images have to “communicate a concept.”  I’m still working on what that might be.  I’ll write again soon when I have a firmer grasp of this new way of photographing (and when I’ve come up with an earth-shattering concept).

Until then, here’s a little tip for all of those reading this photography blog.  When taking any picture, remember to tuck your elbows in to your body and hold your breath when depressing the shutter release button (the one that makes your picture) otherwise you might end up with camera shake.

Below is an example of a typicall Jackson Pollock painting.  Hopefully, my photographs looks nothing like this!