Countdown

So we leave for Ireland exactly one month from today!!! I'm in full on packing mode. I also started to panic about money so I'm working full-time. Never a good combination for me. I will make it work!!

 

 

No Longer Homeless

Got my address yesterday for (at least) the first three weeks I'll be in Salamanca. I will be living with a woman named Africa Rodriguez. I have the choice to stay with her the whole semester or to find an apartment with other students. I am super excited. I've spent the morning on Google Earth exploring the neighborhood. I'll be living about a half a mile from Letra Hispánica (school) and Plaza Mayor (as seen in Vantage Point for those who have seen it). I am getting more and more excited about the experience. It is becoming far more real to me as the days go by!

I haven't taken many new images, just some fireworks on the 4th. I am not sure they were worth the day I had but I like them just the same. The other images are ones that I went back and looked at a second time and liked a lot more than I did the first time around. 

Kathryn

Flowers Part II

I don't have anything to say today, just LOVE this flower.

Also, I figured out how to make the images bigger. yep yep...

The Beginning in the End

Today was the last day of my photo class. I need one more art class for my degree and I am seriously considering taking another photo class. This one was a class specifically focused on digital photography, and even geared towards making great images when you only have a point-and-shoot. I think that I would like to take a real photo class where I learn about processes, spend time in a dark room etc... basically expand my base knowledge of the field while improving my images.

Before class yesterday most all of my classmates were complaining that this class was formatted the way it was. That is to say that it was focused on taking good, quality images, rather than a technical, here's how to use your cameras. I have two problems with that:
1: What is the point of learning the mechanics of the camera if you don't take good images. Isn't that the only reason you would want to know the mechanics?
2: HE TAUGHT US THE MECHANICS. I came out of the class knowing the difference between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I know what to change to create the images i need. He even taught us ways to trick a point-and-shoot into adjusting these settings without actually having the capability to do so.

Whatever, I got what I wanted out of the class and I honestly wish that it was longer than 6 weeks. I am so grateful for it and so excited to continue going out with my camera!

I went over and hung out with Lily for awhile today and she is INSANE and ADORABLE. One day I will get a good image of her, but in the meantime I have this image that would have been better if I'd gotten more of the chair she's under (see, I learned something!!!)








Not even gonna lie: I have been looking for a great image of squares for awhile. My friend Sarah in Seattle is in love with them and I wanted to find some for her.





Leon: I honestly believe that this is my favorite image that I have taken so far. I love it.

Final Project

For my final project I wanted to do something pretty original that I could actually do. I am not the most talented artist, give me a pencil or a paint brush and you'll get some lines or splotches of color. That being said, I felt that turning in a portfolio would be kind of boring when he told us to be creative and "think outside the box".

I ended up stealing the idea from Kathryn, she did an AWESOME landscape that actually won a contest with the Solar Physics group at MSU. (At least I think that's who it was - Kathryn, correct me if I'm wrong)

All in all I used images from 23 different magazines, but it should be mentioned that almost the entire fence was from one image out of 6 copies of the same magazine...

This is the original image I chose to work with. It's one that had enough detail to be interesting, but not so much that it was impossible for me to finish in the week and a half I had to work with.

I have to apologize for these first images, the first is with my broken lens and the next 2 were with my camera phone. I figured it out after that...























Final Product (with a flash):


Final Product (without the flash):


Overall I am really happy with how it turned out. My favorite parts to do were the wheelbarrow body and the grass. ESPECIALLY the grass. It was fun to work with the textures.

This is out of focus but the only one I have that shows the detail on the grass and wheelbarrow.

Portraits

Portraits are definitely not my strong point. I am an awkward person, especially when I am not sure what I am doing, which means that if I don't know what I'm doing, I for sure can't tell you what I want you to do for me. I think my images turned out ok in the end. Not my best assignment but not as bad as it could be.

We were supposed to have 2 images in natural light and 2 with artificial light. It was supposed to be 4 distinctly different images, but that didn't happen for me.


Natural Light #1 (Laura)



Natural Light #2 (Kathryn)


My camera broke (alright, I fell down some stairs again, and saved my ankle instead of the camera). BUT I have an awesome friend in Sierra, who lent me her camera AND cooked me dinner AND let me take pictures of her with it - it being the camera not the dinner. The two artificial light ones are supposed to be different artificial lighting techniques, but with a borrowed camera and an apathetic nature, you can't be picky.


Artificial Light #1 (Kyle)



Artificial Light #2 (Sierra)

Flowers

Kathryn got these flowers for her birthday earlier this week and asked me to come by and take some photos of them so she could paint them. These are my favorites.

I went for a ride up Peet's Hill and around the library and Lindley Park. It was a beautiful day and worth the hills.