Oh Tennessee, What did You Write?

At the end of May I traveled to Tennessee to climb in the Obed.

The first stop was Knoxville.

And the World is at a Standstill

Things can change so quickly.

One second, I am staring out at a clear blue sky,

only to be greeted by snow covered rooftops, and frosted trees.

Only to be greeted by the scent of flowers, and the sun on my skin.

The world outside my window is a constant reminder that time has passed.

Day into night, then day again, and nightfall after.

Through rain or shine or sleet or snow.

It is a constant fluxuation, a reflection upon the self.

I am learning the lessons of the seasons while I grieve over my mistakes.

They will always be there--like the seasons as they change.

Evaluative Blog Post

Overall, I would say that my thesis turned out exactly the way I wanted it to. The only thing I would really say now is that my project is far from finished and that I can only move forward and continue photographing my father.

I felt that my critique with Justine Reyes went well. While she related to my project and life with my father, she was definitely a tough critic. However, she brought up some very good points. She talked about how technically I should be more wary of my lighting and the amount of details, such as in my highlights when I am shooting and editing. She also recommended that I used film to compete with the loss of details that occurs when shooting digitally. I suppose that is something I would change about my project. I would have liked to use film for my project, but I didn't really have the time for it. Digital made the most sense for time because I

could see what I was shooting and whether I needed to reshoot immediately, as opposed to waiting to develop my film, then having to go back and reshoot. She said that my project was a good starting point because I am by no means finished and because after school I'll have more time to refine my work. Personally, I thought my technical details were good, but I understand what she is saying. As much as this is my project and my ideas, it has been ruled by deadlines and crowded with other projects for other classes. This is my jump off point, my outline for later.

When talking about the book, I realized that there is some editing that still needs to be done. I would probably remove some pictures, when I think about it now, or include re-edits. Justine mentioned that my text could be more personal, but I felt that it was just enough--I didn't want to reveal too much (overly emotional), but I also didn't want it to not be enough--I suppose it's a matter of opinion. She said there was no reason not to be more emotional about it because it is a difficult situation to deal with. However, she mentioned that my images were strong in comparison to the text because the book wasn't really about the text, I meant for it to establish a sort of timeline, or narrative.

Basically, I realized that I need to learn to take my time. To work for images; focus on lighting, on color balance, etc., while I shoot. After school, I will have no deadlines, I will be working for myself and really fine tune my project. In general, I am happy with things. I have a lot to look forward to. I need to be more honest. While I have opened up, I am still a bit closed. It's time to hone in and push the envelope. To refine my work and technique.

Better Late than Never

In Decemeber 2008 to January 2009, I took a trip to the Philippines with my parents... I eventually started scanning film, but due extended abscenses from the country and laziness, it is only now that I'm getting around to finishing scanning, as well as editing some of the film.

I will say, it is nice to have a fresh look at things.

Playing with HDR

Industrial Landscapes

As a contintuation of my exploration of space, I decided to try something a little more industrial. This building was formerly an indoor recreation center called Rex Plex in Elizabeth, NJ. They have an overall blue tone to them because silly me forgot to set my white balance and I haven't yet edited them. However, I quite like the cold feel it lends to them.

During critique a funny thing was brought to my attention. Almost all of my pictures share the same horizon line and almost line up perfectly when put next to each other. I always noticed that I have a certain style of framing things, but I never realized how geometric it was. My teacher referred to it as my way of looking at the world and my compositions are completely subconscious. From that we got into discussing composing my own landscapes due to how easily I could stitch these photographs together to create a world out of my vision. It could be very interesting.

Thesis is Coming