This blog is from a class project. I was enrolled in the Project Photography course and low and behold the whole class revolved around one project that we worked on all semester long. The blog was in lieu of an actual journal as a way of keeping us on task. Feel free to look around if you like.

Some more images

Here are some new images. I think that I have decided to use four main groups of images. These groups are happiness, sadness, surprise, and inquisitiveness. Many of the emotions on my list fit under one of these categories. Like depressed, hurt, and even longing can fit under a title of sadness as well as shock and appall can fit in with surprise. I feel that the four categories I have choosen fit the best with my ideas and shooting for this project. I am open to anyone's thoughts. I have a few more pictures and I think I have been a bit more successful and I think all the little kinks are working themselves out.

Question of the Week

What is your current opinion of the blogging process?

I like the blogging process in general. I do have to say that I have had my frustations with it though, ie pictures not wanting to post and such. Not a whole lot to be said, I think that the blogging process is a much better way of journaling since it does force us to think about the project more and helps to keep us focused. Well, at least it helped me, because I know that I would not have kept up with the whole journal thing otherwise. This has made me be more up on my thought processes and trying to convey my ideas so that others understand what is going on in my head (if that is possible). Overall I have to say that I like the process of blogging and hope to do more in the future.

Just A Little Refresher

Thought I would restate what my project is about. Okay my objective is to capture human emotion through the eyes. I am still leaning to the 5x5 final image size but I have noticed that since I have switched to a digital format, the images don't necessarily lend themselves to this size so I have some figuring out to do there. I am still using the strobe flash reflected off the silver lined umbrella as my main light source. I have a few more tweeks and this will be going great. I think I might finally have the formula that works with the digital camera. Anyway, I am really starting to feel the pressure now especially after seeing the physical calendar written on the board (I had stated this in an earlier post.) Also, I will be printing digitally now as opposed to making digital negs and then contact printing in the darkroom; although, I may still try this at another time. I still plan to incorporate areas of the face that surround the eyes but will not include the mouth at all.

Well that is all for now. I wish everyone well on their projects as we come down to the home stretch. Have a good weekend.

This weeks question

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What is your plan to continue making art after this class (and your project) are finished? What is your five year goal? (FYI, 95% of all BFA graduates no longer make any art five years after graduation!)

My plans to continue making art, well I'm not sure. Seeing as how I am not an actual art major, I don't always consider myself an artist. I do plan to work with some of the alternative processes that I have learned. My main reason for taking photography classes is so that I can tweek my skills as a photographer. In five years my goal is to be teaching English on the college level. Also in five years I will be preparing for my baby to be going to kindergarten. Oh how they grow up so fast. I plan to be continuing my photography on the side, shooting weddings and senior portraits on the side. I don't mind doing that actually. I also plan to shoot images for creative purposes as well. Probably mostly nature photos and lots of baby pictures. Yes my children will not be camera shy at all, being in front of a camera will be second nature to them. Anyway that is the way I see things.

Final Changes to Project?????

So after critique, I went home and really thought about it. I have decided that printing digitally is the best option for me. I will already have spent time at the computer tweeking and loading the images that I might as well do the whole process there. I can always go back later and print them in the darkroom. Time is also a crucial factor that I am considering. After looking at the little calendar that was drawn on the board I started to feel the time crunch. I know I will get this project done but I will probably be pulling my hair out before I'm done. Anyway that is what is going on with me right now.

Problems with Blogger

Okay, so I finally got my images up. I had to join photobucket and upload the images that way. I couldn't get it to work through blogger. I tried both the image upload as well as the file upload links. I just wanted to vent some frustration by letting everyone know what was going on. Thanks Brandi for telling us about photobucket or else I would still be sitting getting mad at my computer and the stupid website for not working the way it is supposed to. Anyway that is my rant for now.

New Images

Here are the images that I had hoped to get posted over the weekend. They have not been altered other than cropping them to the 5x5 size and grayscaling them.

Question of the Week: What decision, event, opportunity have you missed or been unable to take full advantage of during this project? If you had it to do over again, what would you do instead or differently?

Well this question is tricky. I don't know what I would have done differently. I do know that I have tried to use family gatherings to my full advantage. I have not pushed the adults in my family as much as I should have though in order to capture their eyes. This has changed and I have warned them. I'm coming after them. My Aunt that lives in St. Joseph will be over in the next week or two and I will be getting her eyes taken as well as my cousin's. I am going this week to get some of my other cousins that live here in Flint. I think looking at how my images have been coming out that I probably would have started with digital capture but the problem lies with the fact that I like the look of film better but if things don't go as planned turn to plan B, C, or D where ever your at in the process will determine the plan. Anyway that is how things go you wouldn't really learn if it wasn't for mistakes or trials along the way.

Things are better.

I finally made it to Pontiac. I got my diopter filters and I also picked up a monopod, something I've been wanting for awhile now. I'm going to try a few more rolls of film to see if I get what I'm looking for. My last roll of film was a bust. If I don't get what I'm looking for with the filters then I am going to shoot digital, create my digital negatives and then do contact printing as planned. I have shot a few images with the digital camera and have had success with getting the type of image that I am looking for, but I still want to try this on film. I will probably be shooting both formats for the time being. Hopefully I will get all of these kinks worked out. Right now I'm still on schedule so I'm doing okay. I'll post some of the shots from the digital camera this weekend.

(QUESTION OF THE WEEK), where will your time come from that 1) makes up for lost time, 2) allows for any and all changes to your project, and 3) takes into account the SNAFU of the workspace just around the corner in April?

1. I think in reality you can never make up for lost time. Once it's lost it is always lost. You can't go back so you just have to push ahead. 2. The time that comes to allow for any and all changes will have to come from the original time that was alotted in the original plans. So what I may have to spend some extra time in the darkroom or where ever in order to complete my project but I know that I will get it done some how, some way. To be honest, I am not feeling crunched for time yet, maybe that will change over the next week or two. 3. The time that accounts for the SNAFU of workspace well, that I don't know about. I can always be mean and not allow others from outside the class use the darkroom during our "classtime." But I'm not that Mean now am I. ;) HeHeHe

Anyway you all will know when I start feeling pressed for time. I won't be so easy to be around. Besides I keep being told that in another 2 weeks I'll have lots of energy. Even some to make up for the energy that I felt like I lost the last few months.

That's all I have to say for now.

Things look better?

Okay I didn't go down to Pontiac today. So I am going to have to try and crop the images that I shoot this weekend. I will decide 100 percent on the diopter filter after I develop the film from this weekend. I will probably go to Pontiac on Tuesday or Thursday if I decide to go with the filter.

On another note, today was pretty good. I had fun today with my nieces. We went up to Midland, to the Chippewa Nature Center. They were having their Maple Days. We hadn't planned on this but it did give my four-year-old niece more to do while we were up there. It was nice to relax after getting so stressed yesterday over everything that had happened. I am looking forward to shooting at least two to three rolls of film tomorrow if not a few more.

Wish me luck for Sunday's shoot. And for a safe trip to and from Grand Rapids.

What else can go wrong?

Okay so today has been like the crappiest day. Nothing and I mean nothing has gone right today. I should have known when I woke up late that I should have just stayed in bed and called it quits. I had already had a wasted trip yesterday when I went looking for a diopter filter and Bill Meier did not have one. Then today I went to check out a digital camera and no one was there to check it out to me. Things did not get better from there either. We went to my Aunt's for dinner only to learn that she had been drinking again and was really in no condition to be having guests. I had so hoped that she was truly on the road to recovery but I really see now that if she is it is going to be a very bumpy ride. Then the icing on the cake was the worthless trip to Pontiac. We got to Camera Mart ten lousy minutes after they had closed. So now I have to decide if it is worth the gas money to drive down tomorrow morning or just crop the images so that I can achieve my goal. What a dilemma, what a dilemma. Anyone got any easy answers please let me know. I really want to know where to find them. Anyway that has been my life the last 36 hours. Wish me luck.

finally

Latest Image

Okay so blogger isn't letting me post my image right now. I will keep trying and hopefully I will get it posted. So I will include my list right now.

happy
sad
angry
depressed
elated
surprised
conniving
hurt
inquisitive
longing
desire
thoughtfulness
shocked
concern
silliness
fear
loneliness
boredom
appall

That is my list so far. If you have any others feel free to let me know. Thanks.

Answering Darryl's Question

"What has specifically happened in the last month which has altered your project -- IN ANY WAY? What changes or decisions did you make because of this?"

Okay, so I have already sort of answered this question in my previous post. Now that I can fully answer this question, I will.

I have found out that I am pregnant. Hence why my equilibrium has been out of whack. This has effected me in that literally all of my extra energy is not as readily available as it should be. I have felt constantly tired and fatigued. I do have to say that my morning sickness hasn't been super bad but it is amplified due to sinus drainage and mornings are not my friend. Anyway, I am happy and excited about my prospects.

I'll admit that I have not been as focused as I need to be on the project. I have been spending time contacting my family and letting them know what I am up to and that I need their help. I have plans to get pics of a lot of my relatives that live on the other side of the state next weekend when I go to my cousin's baby shower over in Grand Rapids.

Okay now on to some of my thought processes. I have been thinking about the different types of emotions (I'll post my list tonight). I have also decided to change my presentation. I like the idea that I display these images by category. I am trying to divide the emotions into four categories of five imaages each. But as DB will say it is a bit early to be making these decisions but it is part of the process that is on going in my head.

I will try to post some of my images that I have from my first roll of film tonight as well as my list of emotions. If I do not get it up tonight I will have it posted by tomorrow.

Minor Changes

Okay so over the past few days a lot has happened. I developed my first roll of film and realized that I had a huge obstacle to overcome. I was using my C330 twin lens reflex medium format camera. Okay problem. Trying to do close ups with a twin lens not so easy. I only got one image to even line up the way I thought it had. So to solve this dilemma I am now trying to use the Mamiya 645 single lens reflex camera. So one issue has been solved. Another issue that has arisen is my equilibrium being out of whack and not making it fun for me to be in the film loading room for any length of time without becoming totally out of balance and nauseous. So I am now going to try shooting in color and making digital negatives with which I will possibly make contact prints with, if this does not work then I will be printing digitally but this is completely a last resort. I am still going to shoot black and white until I find that I am not going to be able to do this at all. Who knows maybe I can find a willing body to help me out and load my film in the developing tank for me. That doesn't sound like such a bad option. I'll have to look into this a bit more. Anyway I feel that this is enough ranting for now. Thanks for listening or rather reading.

First Roll Shot

Okay so I have my first roll shot. Things have not gone as planned this week. I was hoping to develop today but with the weather I'm not sure that I want to go out in the conditions that are out there right now; maybe later today if the weather clears up. We'll see what happens.

Response to Critique

I guess I need to explain a few things more clearly. My project is obviously from the previous post about eyes. I am attempting to investigate the human emotions conveyed through the eyes. My plan is to display my final images in a block grid. The images themselves will be 5x5 inches in size. Although, I am now considering a few other ways of displaying the images. I will have to do some layout testing in order to know what I will finally end up with.

Okay now let's explore the way I plan to go about this lovely process. I will be shooting these images with a Mamiya C330 medium format camera. I am also using Ilford PanF (asa50) film. I love fine grain. :) In order to obtain the quality of light that will be necessary I will be using a master strobe with a silver lined reflective umbrella. (I can't wait to get my first roll shot.)

I have a list started in which I have been writing down different types of emotions. (I will include these in a later post.) I have also spent quite a bit of time looking up the word eyes, finding the definition as well as encyclopedic references.

I am starting to feel way more comfort in my project. DB had me a bit scared. I hadn't totally committed myself to the project until I was at the funeral of a family friend. During the funeral it was mentioned several times about how he had never really smiled with his mouth it was always with his eyes. After about the fifth or sixth mention of this, I was like 'I need to do this project.' So here I am forging my way through. I pray for wisdom and a successful end.

Response to feedback

Thanks for the great feedback. I guess I had always planned on including the nose and forehead to some extent. It's just that my main focus was going to be the eyes with no inclusion of the mouth. I guess I needed to have conveyed this idea a little better. I like the use of the 5x5 size because it causes you to be more intimate with the subject and isn't that what emotions are all about.

rest of images

Finally, I got my second post to show up. I actually posted it last Wednesday but it would not show up on my blog page. Anyway I think I have worked out the kinks.

My project is slow to start. I had a few financial problems which prevented ordering supplies. Now I have my order on the way to get me started. I have been playing with some of the images that I have taken digitally in the past. I am planning to do this with the Mamiya C330 medium format camera for my final images. I think the reason I was playing with these other images was to settle in my mind whether or not I could actually complete this project.

I do have a few backup plans just in case. I still feel that I can pull this project off though. I'm including the images that I have played with to get others feedback about what they think.

Well I guess I should give an overview of my project, so here it goes.

My vision is to capture the human emotions through people’s eyes. While this may be a daunting task, I feel that it is possible to be done. I, personally, find a person’s eyes to be their most interesting quality. I believe a person’s eyes hold a threshold of information about them. My main focus will be on my family member’s and close friends.

Because of accessibility of materials my size has been limited to the 20 images (5x5) and will be framed with a matte size of 32 inches across and 39 inches down. I am planning to use traditional dark room black and white processing, then toning the images to help define the desired effect that I am looking for.

Beginning

Hopefully I can get this thing working.