Fallen
I’ve fallen in love.
I’m borderline obsessed.
I want to spend every free moment with my new love.
I want to learn everything there is to know about this wonderful new obsession.
Nothing else matters anymore.
Everything else I once cared about just bores me now.
It’s only been a month, but man, I’ve fallen hard.
Photography.
I’ve fallen in love with photography. I itch to be in the dark room. I ache to snap shots everywhere I go. I’m just completely insatiable.
We’ve only been given 2 assignments so far, and I’ve already shot 8 rolls.
I’ve printed dozens of prints already, just this week actually. Only 6 are worth turning in. One I want to reprint because I noticed a smudge. Another I may toss aside because I’m not such a fan anymore. We’ll see. Time depending.
As a Photo 1 student, I’m relegated to Open Lab hours, where as advanced students have access 24/7. Lucky bastards.
But then again, as a Photo 1 student, I really know nothing. And it’s a bit frustrating. I’m trying to absorb as much as I can. Trying to figure out what to look for in my photos when developing to determine for myself when to add seconds or go up or down in filter. I may be getting the hang of it. My last print of the day, I made perfect in just 2 prints (save for the smudge).
That was pretty exciting.
Fuck painting. Fuck graphic design.
I just want to photograph!
Art, Random musings, school | 
Avah | October 5, 2007
By desire, October 5, 2007 @ 10:07 pm
so…whooooo wants to take some hot nekkid pics of their camp friend? ..please?
By Avah, October 5, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
Fuck, I’d take nekkid pics of you any day of the week! You’re hot stuff, baby!
By Sensitive Man, October 6, 2007 @ 5:16 pm
Fuck Art can be pretty exciting…
But now that your into photography, why not specialize in Fuck Photography?.. you have a flair for the fucking.. add to that a flair for photography, and you’ll have something totally amazing.
SM
By Adrian Hardhand, October 7, 2007 @ 3:56 am
Hello Avah
Shooting lots and lots of images is the way to develop as a photographer. As you look through the results you’ll realise what you like and what you don’t, and your own unique style will begin to emerge. As someone who trod this same path some considerable time ago, my advice is to let your own style develop before seeking help from others (teachers, and other photographers). If you decide after some time that you’d like formal training, there are several good options, including the Rhode Island photography school and Drexel in Philadephia. An apprenticeship to a NY advertising photographer would introduce you to tricks of the trade quite quickly.
Yrs in pervery, Adrian
By A, October 9, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
Good evening,
After playing around with photography awhile back, here is my advice i give to all new photographers:
1) Buy a UV haze filter, put it on your lens and forget its there. Replacing a scratched lens costs a lot of $$$, a scratched UV filter a few bucks.
2) Be anal about keeping your film clean. Seriously don’t know how many hours I spent trying to get film clean (and usually failing) after I got a finger print or something on it.
3) Photography takes an inordinate amount of time but the results are rewarding. Good luck!
By Nix, October 9, 2007 @ 9:47 pm
Do you have a flickr site? If so, wanna trade?
By Avah, October 10, 2007 @ 4:05 pm
I don’t have a flickr site (not with my photography at least) yet. I’m doing film photography right now, so I’ll have to sit down and scan my prints in at some point.
By Bianca, October 10, 2007 @ 11:17 pm
Ahhh, photography. First off, ditto on the UV filter. Also, if you’re doing black and white my solution to everything is just add more magenta. Okay, not everything but I love playing with contrast.
By Sensitive Man, October 11, 2007 @ 3:01 pm
LOTS and LOTS of photography classes still start with black and white film photography, and then proceed to the darkroom, and then to color film.
…. Welllll… I’m not ready yet to suggest that colleges and photography/art schools should abandon that long-standing approach (I am not a professional in the field of photography education). You still need to learn things like composition and shutter speed and f-stop and lighting and depth-of-field and interacting with human and/or animal subjects, etc etc. Plus learning all the things that you can do in the darkroom- focus, exposure, vignette, dodge, burn, etc etc
Knowing the concepts behind all these things is important.. very important.. they are the foundations of photography…
I am not convinced that knowing the specific technologies and processes of b&w photography is important any more (except if you plan to make extra large prints to put on museum walls).
… BUT you can learn lots and lots from using a digital camera. One of the great great benefits of digital cameras is that you can take tons of pictures and delete the ones that are bad or that you don’t like. Delete them in the camera, or delete them once you look at the images on your PC.
One of the ways to learn is to experiment. Try things, see what you like and what makes it good. The more you try, the more you will learn. Also, along the same lines.. many professional photographers will acknowledge that they take hundreds of pictures to get one “good” one. (of course their definition of “good” is probably closer to what most people would call “fantastic”).
So, bottom line.. what am I saying? Take whatever photography classes you want to take, and learn the key concepts, but get into digital photography as soon as you can.
Plus.. I repeat what I said in my first message..
Good luck!!
By Dov, October 12, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Lots of good advice i would add just one which comes under the heading of the UV filter. Once you have the Filter on your lens simply put your lens cap away, the filter will act as all the lens cap you will need plus its way easier to clean.
Little trick I learned having a documentary photographer as a teacher at SVA the time it takes to take off your lens cap youve lost the shot.