Wide Angle

WOW. what a busy day today. like outrageously busy.

I don't know that much about lenses yet, but what I do know is that there are many different types of lenses. One type of lens is a wide angle. They allow you to photograph the widest view. So it gets in lots and lots of information.

WELL.

today started out around 10:30 with a 2 hour architectural walking tour, on which i took almost a whole card full of photos. After that, it was out to lunch, and then the group split up. Some went to the beach to play volleyball, while others, including myself, went to check out the turkish festival. We went out to lunch (foolish foolish move - should have eaten there), stopped by the apartments so I could unload my memory card, and then we were off. Turkish festival was okay, but we missed all the performances so we'll go again tomorrow. BEST BAKLAVA EVER, and nice vendors too.

so because there wasn't much happening at the fair, three of us out of that group of 4 decided to go to millenium park and hang out. We ended up hanging out near this really big fountain that is like... a walk in fountain. Picture if you will: two columns, far apart from each other, spilling water from the top, a small grate around the bottom. Now picture between the tow columns, large puddle of water and lots of people and small children walking around and getting wet. AWESOME. so we spent a while there taking photos of all the adorableness and getting soaked. Afterwards we walked back, split up, ate dinner, then a few of us went back to Millenium park for the gospel concert, which was decent, but absent of moses hogan, and i was sad :-(

also took portraits of fellow scholar! awesome!

now some folks are headed out to an improv club, but i am wayyyy too tired. well, that was my first saturday. hopefully more good times to come, when i'm not completely wiped!

Macro Shots

When a photographer references using a macro shot, he/she means an extreme close up of something with no depth of field. Often, these types of photos are used on flowers, insects, eyes, anything that one wants truly isolated from the scene.

yesterday I began my job at the history museum - i got there 100% okay, albeit 1/2 hr early (which i expected). Around 9:20 I walked into the north entrance, signed in, and someone came down to security and got me. I was introduced to a few people before being handed off to the intern coordinator. She talked to me for a while, then took me back to the person who was walking me around before, my bosses secretary (or assistant?)

we talked somewhat awkwardly while waiting for my boss to come out of a meeting. once he did, he met me, gave me a report to read, and went into another meeting. After that meeting he came by the random desk that they had set me up with, told me he was sending an email that way, and described a small project i was going to work on.

My boss goes to schools in the area to teach them about the great Chicago fire, and makes detailed notes while he's there...stats about the school, who he met, if they come on field trips to the museum, etc. My job was to take these notes and put them in report format and find the stats online that he was looking for. He gave me some sites to start me off (the reports i had to read were the reports from last year) Before he left for his next meeting, he told me "After you're done with the first one, email it back to me, and then i'll send it back with major edits. after those are corrected, we can figure out how we want to organize it." He left, and I set to work. A few hours later i emailed him the first report, saying i'd start to work on gathering all the info for the others while he edited that, and then as soon as I had the edits I'd fix them. I never got an email back, and by the end of the day finished gathering all the information for the other schools that he sent me. Except for when I was invited to lunch with him and the soon to be director of a new holocaust museum. I was really nervous, not supposed to say a word (essentially just shadow) and listened to them talk museum politics. Afterward, we all went down to see the new catholic chicago exhibit (soon to be followed by: jewish chicago and muslim chicago) which was really cool to see with the pres of the museum...really neat actually. I didn't really ever know how much stuff a museum just HAD. it's weird. makes me think back to the props entry...people in collections must have that debate with themselves a lot. so much stuff. they even have abe lincolns bed!!

Not knowing when it was typical to leave, around 5:05 I went out to see his assistant/secretary to see whether he was still in a meeting/in his office. She saw me and looked shocked: "get home!" she told me in a thick italian accent, "he went home a while ago! get home!"

so I did.

afterward I had an email talk with Sylvia (Skippy for all those who know her this way) and we're having dinner on sunday which should be fun!

I still don't really know what i'm supposed to do today at work...he's not coming in till 1:00...guess...i'm not sure. kemper scholars are supposed to be there all day looking for work. So right now i feel like i've been given a very macro presentation of what i'm supposed to be doing...little things in a grand, blurry scheme. we'll see where it takes me.

ps: there is a HUGE photo program at the museum...right down the hall from me = HUGE photo lab...darkroom AND digitizer.

for all those that don't know what a digitizer is...have you ever seen the photo "migrant mother" by dorothea lange? http://www.masters-of-photography.com/images/full/lange/lange_migrant_mother.jpg

that is a digitized photo. the original photo is not as clear as that one is in the least, and it certainly would have looked a lot fuzzier without a lot of post-digital work.

lots and lots of photos. I would almost prefer to work for them! but we'll see how this goes...

Aperture

The Aperture ring in a lens determines how much light is exposed to the film (or CCD card, which is what acts as film in a digital camera), and also determines the depth of field. The less light let into the camera, the larger the depth of field.

I feel really stressed...lots of things have been happening, lots of papers have been handed out, lots of money exchanged, lots of change (as earlier predicted...boy am i good). And tomorrow, I begin my internship. I feel very much like my F stop is at 2.8 (for those non camera techies, this means that my aperture is WAY open...lots of light, no depth of field). I'm being blasted with information to the point where I feel as though I'm bleaching out...however, all of the information seems very superficial. There's no depth...I walk around the city, see everything, and everyone is telling me how good it's going to get very soon. Very soon seems very fuzzy though. I can't see past the immediate present for the moment. It's quite dazzling...much like the picture above. All the lights and and attention grabbing things can get quite dizzying.

Due to a very long meeting today I didn't get a chance to go down and try to get to the museum (where i'm working) ahead of time, so as a result, i'm leaving way too early tomorrow morning.

on a brighter note, I discovered that not only do two other scholars speak french, but they will also be in france next semester!

I'm sure I'll be fine, but it's still a little nerve wracking...i'm working on focusing at a better depth of field. Tomorrow i'm sure will help.

Location

Photographic location is extremely important - where you place your subject can either make your photo, break your photo, or create interesting effects within it.

The road trip out here was pretty good. We covered about 800 something miles total, getting it pretty early. unpacking was pretty good too.

I think something else interesting about location is fitting into it. I've never lived in a city before, so i guess we'll see what happens.

more later...tired for now.

updates!

So my roommate isn't coming until friday, and I'm living in this huge huge room (that i think is meant to be a triple) all by my lonesome. We've got a nice kitchen, stove top (no oven), microwave, full size fridge/freezer, my lil' george foreman grill, hotpot, sink, and cabinets. Apparently the room is supposed to be a triple, so we've also got a loft with a bed in it, and a huge extra cabinet for clothes and the like. MUCH different than my college experience i've got to say. Unfortunately, when I got here, i noticed they hadn't done a really good job cleaning, and had to go over everything with the antibacterial wipes i had bought at the beginning of the roadtrip. today, after a trip to the local target (french pronunciation please ;-) ) i now have more cleaning supplies to get down and dirty with.

living in the city is good so far...i like being able to walk out of the house and just into the middle of everything...all the hustle and bustle. Also, I really like cooking for myself. even if all i've made so far is some garlic lemon chicken and a bowl of raisin bran, i'm still very excited about the possibilities of NOT being on a meal plan.

on a bonus note, there's a WaMu bank very close. no extra charges for cash!
also so far the budgeting that i worked out with mom and dad is going great - i've actually been underbudget so far, which is nice. :-)

it's supposed to storm later...hopefully that means i'll get to meet more of the other scholars. so far the dorm is really quiet...i think everyone is shy and kinda unsure of who the other scholars are. It's nice that I know ben so well, so we've been spending time together, and my next door neighbors on one side are two REALLY sweet girls that I met at the confrence, so we spent time together last night. Most of the scholars live on my floor, and those that don't are on the floor beneath, so we're all really close...just shy i think :-)

all is well, let me know what's up with you guys!

Props

What I notice most when i take photographs of people is that they do much better when there's a prop on hand. Be it a bebe gun, violin, lipstick, or what have you, people seem to be much more relaxed when there are "things" on hand. I'm not sure why, but it seems to be that they feel like there is a purpose to the prop - that they are not standing there making a model face for no reason, but there is something more happening within the shot when they interact with an object.

I think if one were to take this principle and apply it to everyday life, one would call the relaxed feeling around objects materialism. As in, the concept of "one needs things to relax." As in, "I had no business shirts, now I have three. I am much more relaxed now." or, "I had no proper shoes. Now I have a pair. I am much more relaxed about soon to be daily commute." It's really weird, but i think it's true. people are much more relaxed with things.

"I had no home, now I have a cardboard box. Life is better."
...I don't know about you, but if the above quote applied to me, I would certainly think so.

That's kinda what I see myself doing. I'm assembling props right now to make myself feel relaxed. Materialism, or pre-nesting? Necessities, or comfort items?

I know that in order to make a good first impression on my boss, i need to look presentable in the right dress code, be hygienic, confident, and capable. Isn't it true that to accomplish this appearance that I require the use of things? How many things?

Shopping has never seemed so existential as it does at this moment.

Composing the Photograph

So the time is quickly approaching when lots of things will Change. That's definitely with a capital "C." Chicago is coming up next weekend, I'm working to secure a visa for France, and lots of things seem big, overwhelming, and very scary.

I think I can safely say that I feel like I'm standing at the edge of the "black hole" for the first time...first of all you're in a bathing suit - completely exposed, secondly, you're standing at the edge of a high, wet, rocky cliff in the middle of nowhere, Adirondack. Thirdly, you're expected to either swing off this cliff by rope, or simply go for the plunge. Fourthly, you will fall either way into a freezing and deep Adirondack river. You've heard from everyone else that if you don't keep your arms parallel to your body they will smack the water and sting for a while, and even if you do keep them parallel to your body, your feet will sting and your lungs will feel like they're gonna explode momentarily from the cold. well...maybe no one actually says that last part, but I'm pretty sure at that point you just assume.

anyway, so you're at the edge of this cliff. Everyone climbing up from previous jumps are laughing, talking, having a grand old time. You know it's gonna be great. But at the same time, you don't. What if you don't let go of the rope in time and fall too close to the cliff and get hit on the rocks? What if you jump too close to the cliff and get hit by rocks?

what if I do terribly at my internship? what if I forget how to speak French? what if getting my visa is a terrible experience and everything goes wrong? what is going to happen on this like thirteen hour ride to Chicago? what if we get lost? what if my boss hates me? what if my roommate and I don't get along? what if when I get to France, I realize (like in a dream) that I'm completely naked and forgot all my luggage in the states?

I'm 90% sure at this point that my brain has lost the custody battle for every other weekend and thursdays with rational thinking, and now solely resides with crazy, paranoid thinking.