inside scoops to my education this semester

This semester I am taking four classes and all of them are photography based. There are absolute pros and cons to this: I get to focus on my favorite subject across the board, but it also involves me being on my creative game constantly and producing excellent work four projects at a time. It has been a challenge, but the challenge is making me a stronger artist - at least I feel like it is. : ) 

I start to the week off with Color Photography taught by D. Jones. Honestly - I wish this class was stronger. The curriculum is there, the ideas are fun, the assigned reading is interesting and helpful, but the teacher cannot teach. She is a nice lady (once you get passed the fake high pitched enthusiastic voice and yoga-bun-spice girl's mom haircut) but she cannot teach. There is that stupid quote that goes along the lines of "those who can't, teach." Well I am here to testify that teaching is a very hard position and not everyone can do it. Take Miss Jones for example. She is an established photographer, clearly knows how to work a camera, gets paid to do some weddings, (i may disagree with her stylistic choices, but that's an opinion,) but goodness gracious that woman cannot teach photography for the life of her. Most of what I have taken from this class as been me spending hours trying to decipher what she was showing us in class and accidentally stumbling on some other technique. It's sad because I think color photography is very important and very interesting, but I am not getting what I need to from that class. I am learning more color theory from my other teachers as I go to them for help and advice about this class. Oh well. Because I do not know what I am doing in this class, it has led me to experiment and explore my tools (my camera & photoshop.) Look at me, trying to turn a negative into a positive, again. Goodness Audrey - stop being so optimistic. : ) Heehee. (D. Jone's photography: http://www.photosdiannejones.com) 

this was a play with white balance and setting your own custom.
*it happened on accident - the learning part came after  

this was the most recent assignment: developing a concept map.
yes, this is something you have been doing since you were little with bubble charts.
it is for an upcoming shoot for my midterm project. i am really excited for this shoot so i put i little extra time into the map than i think most people are going to.
oh well. : ) i like it. 

Tuesday, which is my favorite day of the week in general, holds the spot of not only my favorite class but my favorite professor. A little white bearded biology major named D. Wasserman teaches Concept & Design. This class is a work out. Photographically it is pretty easy, no fancy technical work (unless you want to count the endless photoshop youtube tutorials I have had to watch to figure out of to remove subjects from backgrounds in three simple steps without crying,) but the key to this class is creative, simple, ideas that get your point across instantly. Oh dear. I have never stressed so much about what idea or emotion i can provoke with one object and one photograph. I freak out, call my parents and beg them to give me the answers, text my sister pointless ideas until she says she likes one, and spend too much time googling the words "apple" and "matches." I have gone on day long journeys to find a same-sex wedding cake topper (not as easy as it may seem here in the good ol' SF.) I have printed and reprinted until they kicked me out of the lab at 11:00 pm. BUT the weird thing is after all this work, I go to class excited and I love how it turns out. I actually have confidence in my pieces and that is an excellent feeling. It also helps that my teacher adores me (in a student teacher appropriate way of course.) He is very critical and honest. I love the way he writes on my pictures and pin points the exact points that you went wrong AND THEN TELLS YOU HOW TO DO BETTER. He is engaging, to the point, and funny. Also, he has good taste in music and I have recently turned him into a Trampled By Turtles fan. I love his class and never want it to end. (For some reason I cannot find his website, but here he is: http://www.cactitransects.com/index.php#mi=1&pt=0&pi=2&s=0&p=0&a=0&at=0) 

The following are images from the project from hell. The assignment was to take three objects and following the formulas: A + B, B + C, and A+B+C come up with something conceptually different using on those three objects. I over though this assignment like none other. In fact, I had this elaborate complicated idea completely finished and ready to turn in, but I hated it. My heart wasn't in it, so at 9:00 the night the before it was due I changed my direction. Lucky for me, it was one of best in the class. (I don't want to boast and say it was the best incase my classmates read this - i am still trying to make friends. heehee.) 

object: B

object: C

object: A

B + C = segmentation

A + C = imprisonment

A + B + C = "hardcore" 

M. Sims has gages and tattoos. He may be only five foot seven and sometimes I think he is wearing a bit of eye liner. Somedays I think he is straight. Somedays I think he is gay. This is my wednesday morning Photoshop Level Two class professor. Last year my photoshop class was long, a bit boring, and tedious. I walked out of that class only knowing three fourths of what I was supposed to know and only knowing the basics of those three fourths. This semester it is fast paced, but Sim's is thorough. We learn four or five tools a class and for some reason I walk out confident in all of them. He has a style of making sure we grasp everything in depth and with multiple examples. Its crazy! My love/hate photoshop relationship is mostly made of love this semester. It has made me excited to try out some ideas and shoots. Last class we learned the "liquify" tool. This is the tool that makes your boobs bigger and your stomach smaller. But the first thing we did in class was learn how to make you look like an alien with huge bug eyes, teeny lips, and no nose. Mine kind of looked like Voldemort (GG be proud!) Our assignments are both technical and creative and we get to work on our own images. This is something we didn't get to do until the final last year. I find it helpful because I am actually utilizing the tools in my own work and therefor are more interesting in learning them. Why make someone else's picture look good when you can do it to your own? (he is so cool: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelhughsims/) 

here are some image composites and portrait retouching i have done for class: 

sutro baths: before

sutro baths: after

miranda: before

miranda: after

My last class is People Photography. I hate to use the word stalking, but ultimately that is what I love to do. For anyone who has seen my instagram, I am completely fascinated with people. I take street photography seriously and this class utilizes this obsession of mine and directs it into actually thinking about what I am shooting and why. I used to look at street photography as just capturing the instant. It is something that is here one moment and gone the next. This class takes that element and expects me to compose it correctly in seconds. I am not only taking pictures on the street, I am taking photographs of the city around me. See what i did there? My teacher has a thick New York accent and every time M. Hirst says my name I cannot help but laugh a little because it sounds more like Ohdray than anything. He is like your favorite grandfather. He has been around for a while, knows what he is talking about, likes Jack Daniels, loves his children but thinks they are crazy, and goes off on tangents about random things but somehow always ends the run on sentence with a life lesson. This class is pure critique so it is a bit long (going through everyone's photographs can put a cramp in your legs and your bum falls asleep,) but it is always an entertainment. (he is old fashioned - he doesn't seem to exist on the internet.) 

"creative use of street light"

"unique angle"

So there it is. My classes in a nutshell. I have already signed up for spring semester - i know right, don't let me even breathe. I am also considering taking a few graphic design and film classes in the future. I have become very interested in producing work that included some design and film but do not know where to even began. That is the problem with an art school - i want to try it all! 

Have a lovely week my friends. : ) 

xoxo