I realized recently that I hadn't updated about my progress in quite a while. So far I have taken and developed four rolls of my medium format film and scanned in two rolls. I definitely have some favorite pictures already and I am excited to scan in my other two rolls to see what comes out. I am really loving using film, it's sort of reminding me why I love photography so much in the first place. I have one more roll in my camera right now then I'm going to buy some more. I feel like I'm at a good place right now and I am actually looking forward to my midterm review. Yay!

Today in class we had our second visual exercise: Borders. I would have to say the most important thing I took away from this experiment is to know that borders aren't always cheesy, sometimes they can enhance your work. Feathered borders especially didn't seem like something I would ever want to use for my photos, but that border actually really worked for some people. For example, Allie Dupont's photo. I thought that on her photograph the normally cheesy, feathered border worked really well with the already uneven edges of her photograph. I also learned that a little can go a long way. Even the thinnest of borders can make all the difference in a photograph. In my case, it was decided that a medium thickness border works well with my photos and even supports them to an extent. In any case, borders are definitely something I will consider from now on.

I would like to follow up a little on my visual research projects. As for our first experiment, dealing with size, I would have to say the most important thing I took away from it would be that size does matter. I wanted nothing more than to print huge; I wanted to be engulfed within my image and I wanted to do the same for my audience. When I saw all of the different sizes of my work hanging next to each other, I began to notice that all of the photos had quite a different sense. While coming into the project I thought I wanted to see my work huge, but when I saw the different sizes, I sort of like the smaller version myself. They seemed so much more personal and precious. The class decided that a sort of inbetween size looked best with my photos, which I agreed on. I enjoy the smallness of the photos, but you seem to lose or miss something when it is too small. Likewise, the larger photo seemed too spaced out, not personal enough, so to speak. This was a great way to understand that size most certainly does matter, and I'm sure glad I tried it out!

Woohoo! I have successfully developed my first roll of film, the first in quite a while, in my very own basement. I'm feeling good about this and I just wanted share it with my blog. The pictures developed here are one roll from a trip downtown that I took over the past week to photograph people. I have a few more to develop and I feel like I'm on a roll. Hopefully it keeps on going like this because I actually had more fun than stressfull moments, which I'm sure is a good thing. I loved going downtown because I see and even meet the most interesting people; from the friendliest homeless man ever, to the girl sitting at the bus stop next to the pigeons who all, including the girl, have the same hair-do. I absolutely love it and can't wait to see how the rest come out!

Sooo...

Just wanted to update a little before this week began, cause I'm hoping to be busy, busy, busy for the next few weeks...I went ahead and rented out the twin lense, medium format camera from the photo lab so I could experiment with using film as well as digital for my ventures thus forth. Before work, I had planned on picking up some film for this camera but, alas, all the photo supply stores in my area are family owned and therefore closed on sundays. No worries, however, I can get an early start tomorrow, since I need to go downtown anyways, I can pick up some film and just get started!
I have a number of places that I want to set up and take some photos at that have tons of unsuspecting people that I can find: downtown, malls, parks, zoo(haha), bus stops, you know, pretty much everywhere. This thesis thing is beginning to sound almost fun, right. In fact, I took my digital camera into one of my jobs today while I was working(Buffalo Wild Wings) and took some pictures of some of the people that I saw there in between taking orders, and it was pretty interesting. I'm hoping to get that same experience in these other places I set up shop! I will let you know how it goes tomorrow and tuesday!!

So this past Tuesday was my first thesis meeting of the winter quarter. As brutal as I thought it would be, it turned out quite beneficial. I went in, thinking for sure where I was going with my work and I had planned out exactly what I would say about it, but then when it came time, I came to realize that what I was trying to force myself to do was not something I really cared for.

People. That is what I want to photograph. It was that simple. I am a people watcher; just yesterday, while driving in Clifton I saw a man, in freezing degree weather, walking around with a t-shirt and a pair of skin-tight, spandex pants, reaching only down to his ankles where he had on blue socks and yellow gym shoes. He looked as though he should be running, or jogging at the least, but no, he was simply gliding down the street, weaving in and out of people as he went, a huge grin stretching across his face. That is what interests me, that is what I want to capture and share. These people, or characters are constantly catching my eye and now my camera's eye.

We talked about this and my amazing committee suggested some fantastic artists to look up including: Garry Winogrand, Elliot Erwitt, and Robert Altman. I have been checking them out online and in some books and I absolutely love all their stuff. We also agreed that I should start photographing people other than my friends and family, and possibly try it out with film instead of digital.

So what am I gonna do? Well I am going to check out one of the twin lense reflex cameras and start photographing, again. I like medium format the most and I think I will experiment with the twin lense as well as the holga; and I think I will keep my dslr with me just in case.

some websites worth looking at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/movies/awardsseason/10clooney.html

http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/garrywinogrand/garrywinogrand.shtml

http://www.elliotterwitt.com/lang/en/index.html

I have been taking several photos in several different situations over the last few weeks (I even photographed some strangers, ha!) and so I don't think these images are at first cohesive together, but it is my mission to figure out what exactly it is I am trying to do... :)

I have been working now for an entire quarter on my Senior Thesis project and have thought long and hard about what it is I want to photograph. I love people and the way they act and interact, their desires, fears, and emotions. My thesis has to do with the study of exactly that. My photos illustrate people in ways that I interpret them, through their desires. Many questions are raised, even in my quest for answers; and there is nothing more I enjoy doing than using photography to figure them out!

My plan for the quarter is:
-solidify my final concept and work towards creating photographs to illustrate that successfully
-I hope to do this in the first couple weeks of the quarter so I can get to work.
-I would like to spend the bulk of the quarter shooting. I feel like I don't have enough to choose from yet to stop shooting. At least seven weeks I want to dedicate to shooting.
-I also would like to spend some time talking about the presentation. I'm excited to try the visualization experiments because I feel as though many of my questions will be answered.
-Wrapping up the quarter, I would like to be in a place where I can finally say I know what I am doing for my DAAPWorks show and I have some powerful work to present and think about.