Sara Bennet

New Blog

2009-05-09T10:44:00.002-05:00

I've moved my blog over to Wordpress!
I'll no longer be updating this blog, so you should change your links to: http://sarabennet.wordpress.com

Thanks!

Special T

2009-05-04T23:43:00.005-05:00

Last Thursday, the people at Special T, let Dylan and myself go into their workshop and take pictures. It was pretty neat.

Cyanotypes

2009-04-27T22:24:00.003-05:00

We learned how to make cyanotypes this week, so much fun.
I can't believe that April is almost over. We have just over one month of school left... and even less actual class time. Portfolios and final projects have me stressing out, trying to get everything organized. It would be nice if everything just stopped for one week so I could get my thoughts together and be more productive. But things do seem to be falling into place, slowly. I just need to get my ass in gear and get stuff done! In the mean time, I will continue my "research" for my final AT project and go cuddle with my cats. Yes, I've accepted the fact I will end up a crazy cat lady. You should too.

Drive by shooting

2009-04-26T19:42:00.001-05:00

Easy Skankin' Tour

2009-04-21T00:26:00.009-05:00

On April 3rd, I went to Pure Nightclub to take some photos of the DJ's playing that night. I thought I'd take the opportunity to get familiar with my flash. Well, everything seemed to go wrong for me. Note to self, always have extra batteries. I need to practice using flash a lot more. Here are the few photos from that night..

Garson

2009-04-21T00:05:00.003-05:00

Garson, Mb is where I've spent pretty much every Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving since I was a kid. It's weird now that all us "kids" (being myself, my brother and my two cousins) are all grown up. Their yard seems so big and empty.

Lynn

2009-04-17T07:51:00.002-05:00

Spring time in the peg.

2009-03-31T22:41:00.005-05:00

Aside from the dissapointment of more snow, meaning summer and green grass is that much further away... it's actually quite pretty outside tonight. This is the kind of winter I love. Big fluffy snow flakes and warm weather so you can actually go out and enjoy it. Too bad tomorrow is the first day of April... sigh.

Fundraiser

2009-03-21T15:11:00.001-05:00

Belle and Sebastian

2009-03-18T23:11:00.007-05:00

I've always found the Belle and Sebastian's cover art to be quite lovely. The other day, a good friend of mine informed me that the photographs are actually all taken by Stuart Murdoch, the lead singer. I'm not too sure how many people know this, but I happen to be a pretty big fan of Belle and Sebastian (link: poetic interpretation board assignment)... and I happen to have a little bit of a school girl crush on Stuart Murdoch. So this news pretty much made my day, rofl.

Old Photos

2009-03-18T22:03:00.006-05:00

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to spend 6 months living in Australia. This is where I decided I wanted to be a photographer. I spent my whole time there doing nothing but taking photos (and going to the beach, har har - it's a hard life) However, this was pre-PrairieView - meaning pre-histogram, pre-RAW files, and of course, pre-Lightroom.
The other day, I found a few CD's with my images from the trip. I decided to revisit them. So here are a few of my favorite:

The last one is actually taken at Fiddlehead Joe's in Vancouver.
And how could I make a post about Australia without posting any pictures of koalas:

Self Portrait

2009-03-05T15:15:00.003-06:00

Fuji Instax

2009-02-27T11:23:00.004-06:00

Just a few photos from my new Fuji Instax camera. Since Polaroid film is way out of my price range these days ($46.50 for a 10 pk...) I decided to switch to Fuji for some fun instant pictures. I do prefer the squareness of Polaroids more... but the Fuji cam has a lot more functions than my Polaroid camera does. Flash on or off; lighten or darken, focus within 3m or 3m to infinity..... so many options, haha! These were just some test shots from a friends birthday party the other day. New toys are fun!

Korea & Sw@t

2009-02-21T21:28:00.004-06:00

Okay, okay... I swear I will get around to finishing my homework tonight. Late night coffee and some good tunes will get me thru the night. But first I wanted to post a few photos from a shoot I had a few days ago.

DJ Korea on MySpace: www.myspace.com/djkoreadropsbombs
DJ Sw@t on MySpace: www.myspace.com/djswat
& if you are looking for something to do on Feb 28th - they are playing a show together at the Academy on Osborne. $3 cover before 10pm, $5 after 10pm
Hi-REV Productions Presents: Locals DJs

Taking a break..

2009-02-21T19:42:00.005-06:00

Ah - shoot week comes to an end, and I still have a lot to do. I decided to take a break and post a few more Diana pictures from a roll I just got back the other day.
I also have a new camera to lug around with me all the time - the Fuji Instax :) Super pumped on it. I'll post a few pictures later when I actually have time to go out and take some!

Movie Week Extravaganza!

2009-02-19T14:16:00.006-06:00

This week, we had to watch some photo related movies and then give them a review. So here we go:

Pecker
The movie stars Edward Furlong as Pecker, a young guy who likes taking photos with an old rangefinder camera his mom found in her thrift store. His subjects are his friends, girlfriend, and the people of Baltimore. Basically, he takes pictures of everyone and everything. After putting on a show of his photos, an art dealer named Rory, from New York discovers his work. Rory takes his work to New York and makes Pecker a star. Everyone in the art world can't get enough of his work and Pecker himself. But once he returns to Baltimore, he realises that his photos "exposed" the people he cares about most. His world is turned over and his photos cause a lot of trouble for his friends and family. In the end, he turns the tables on the art world folk, and "exposes" them.
What I liked most about this movie, was probably the photos themselves. I believe they even said in the movie that they had a Diane Arbus feel to them. A lot of his photos did a great job "capturing the moment". Pecker was all about making art and I guess it was hard for some people to see themselves as "art". He wasn't trying to make people look bad, he just wanted to show the world how "beautiful" it can be!
What I liked the least about this flick, was that Pecker would often click the shutter after pulling the camera away from his face. Thats just something small, and not related to the storyline at all, that I happened to notice. But I mean, come on Ed!
Overall, this movie is hilarious and a must see.
I award this film with 4.73 teabags out of 5!

O Brother, Where Art Thou
George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Nelson star in this film about three convicts who escape from jail and are off on an adventure to find a hidden 1.2 million dollars. The movie takes place in southern USA, during the 1930's. Along the way they meet a number of different characters who help and hinder their quest. Like most Coen Brothers movies, in the end all the characters somewhat tie in together.
What was really neat about this film though, was how they edited and pieced it together. They wanted it to have a "dusty" look to really give it the feeling of the deep south during the depression. After trying a bunch of different traditional methods of developing the negatives, they decided to do it all digitally. It's one of the first movies to do so. They scanned all the negatives to do all of their editting. I think it's neat because this sort of editting opens a whole new door for the movie industry. However, it also makes me a little bit sad. In the special features, one of the people interviewed had said that this could mean that they could scan original negatives and then never have to look at those negatives again! I hope the movie industry doesn't go full digital -- mainly because .. analog rules.
Anyway, the movie was visually great to watch. The colours were fantastic. Quite funny as well.
3.83 soggy bottoms out of 5!

Born into Brothels
Out of the three movies I watched this week, it's definitely one I'll be remembering for awhile. This documentary follows a photographer, Zana Briski, through the Red Light District in Calcutta, India. I believe originally she had wanted to do a documentary on the women who work as prostitutes, and their lives. To do so, she lived in the area and spent a lot of time with them. However, after being there awhile, she developed a relationship with the children of these women. As Zana states in the film, she isn't a teacher, or a doctor; so she tries to help them with the thing she knows best - photography. Zana starts a photography class, and gives the children basic cameras of their own to document their own lives. During these years she really gets to know these kids, and does what she can for them.
The images that the children created were outstanding. It was very interesting to see the world from their point of view. It was also very inspiring to see how powerful photography can be. For a lot of these children, photography was the only thing they had. One of the children, Avjit, said "There is nothing called hope in my future." Avjit ended up being able to go to Amsterdam to take part in a photography group for children around the world. After that he decided to go to school at Future Hope. Photography really changed these kids lives.
How the documentary was filmed, wasn't anything special. A lot of the shots of the Red Light District were taken from the hip (but I'm sure that was for a reason) but overall, I give this documentary 5 gold stars & a thumbs up for turning me into an emotional wreck before I even finished my morning coffee.

People Pictures

2009-02-12T21:23:00.003-06:00

Lately I've been having a lot of fun with my digital camera. I think I need to try shooting with my digital camera as much as I shoot with my film cameras. I've also been having a blast playing around with friends, practicing headshots. Here are a few photos that I enjoyed taking this week of my lovely friends Kelly and Carly.

And now for something completely different...

2009-02-09T11:59:00.004-06:00

The past couple weeks in Industry Studies, we've been working on headshots. I'm really enjoying learning how to take better people pictures. So here are a few photos of Heidi from last week!

Pal's Supermarket

2009-02-07T09:39:00.003-06:00

Today I have an odd question for all you Diana/Holga people out there. How can I get more light leaks on my photos? Ha, not usually something you hear a photography student asking. I've been trying to roll my film up very slow and loosely in bright light, but the image above is the only photo that ended up with the kind of light leaks I was looking for. I guess it's kind of a random thing that happens, but it would be nice to get a bit more in my photos. If anyone has any suggestions - send them my way!

Carly - Pt 2

2009-02-06T15:15:00.004-06:00

Got a roll of film back yesterday, a lot of shots from the Carly shoot. I was playing around with multiple exposures. Some of them turned out really neat, I'm happy with the results.
I really like masks. I did my first series in Creative Imaging based on masks. I have some ideas rolling around also involving masks, so don't be surprised if you see them pop up from time to time, ha.
So here are just a few shots that I really enjoyed.

Carly

2009-02-01T18:16:00.006-06:00

On Friday, my good friends Brenden and Carly came over for a photo shoot. Carly is currently working on putting together a model portfolio and Brenden is currently working on getting into Red River for Graphic Design. We decided to collaborate and set up studio in my tiny dining room.
Carly is probably one of my favorite people to photograph. She is so easy going and easy to work with. Working with Brenden was a lot of fun too. He comes up with the best ideas and it was neat working with someone who usually has no limits because his art is all digital (you should check it out if you haven't already) These are just a few photos that I really enjoyed, but the project isn't over yet. Brenden is going to add some of his design elements to them, so I'm excited to see what he comes up with. Stay tuned for that!

Hooray for Friday

2009-01-30T17:33:00.003-06:00

This weekend I have a Yashica TLR in my possession. I plan on shooting as much as possible while I have it. So I picked up a few extra rolls of film today, just in case I have enough time after I finish the assignment. So exciting.
The photos above are from a roll I got back awhile ago, shot with my Diana. I'm really enjoying shooting medium format. I like thinking square. Square is good.

School is fun.

2009-01-25T17:55:00.003-06:00

Just some photos from around the school on Friday.

Sabattier

2009-01-20T20:23:00.004-06:00

After the contact sheet portrait assignment, I was left with 4 rolls of photos of small segments of my friends faces. So, I decided to blow them up to 8x10's and apply the Sabattier effect. When we learnt this in class a few months ago, I didn't think I'd use it very much. But I'm super pumped on the results, I think it turned out neat.

Coffee

2009-01-20T11:01:00.003-06:00

This weeks board assignment was to "sell coffee." I decided to try doing something I don't really do and step out of my "comfort zone." I set up a large piece of white paper, and opened up the blinds to try a coffee product shoot. It took me awhile to get some photos I was satisfied with, but in the end I think it went pretty well. I had a good time with these photos.
I also discovered soy milk, when given a good shake, makes an excellent faux foam for faux cappuccinos.

Diana: Take 3

2009-01-17T14:15:00.004-06:00

Last week I decided to throw some expired slide film into the Diana and combine the two things I've been doing a lot of lately. I had a good time shooting these pictures. This camera is just a lot of fun.
Also, just wanted to say thank you to an anonymous Photo Central person who left a nice note on my envelope when I got the film back. "Best. Roll. Ever." If you ever stumble across this post: You made my day!

Diana: Take 2

2009-01-15T17:13:00.005-06:00

Here are a few photos from the 2nd roll taken with the Diana. I'm having a lot of fun with this camera! It's a nice feeling getting a roll back with decent exposures when your aperture settings are "cloudy" or "sunny", and your shutter options are "normal" or "bulb". This week in Analogue Techniques, we got to use some other medium format cameras. I'm excited to rent out the twin lens reflex...
I'm have trouble getting dust off of my scanner. So excuse the dust on the images. I feel like I've tried everything, but I have a feeling my apartment is just very dry and dusty right now, and there is no hope. If anyone has any tips or suggestions for dusty flatbed scanners, let me know!

Adelaide St.

2009-01-14T00:16:00.003-06:00

I uploaded the rest to my Flickr account!

Poetic Interpretation

2009-01-13T11:02:00.004-06:00

Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
Belle and Sebastian

Sunbeam shine, mousy girl on the end pew
You'd stay home, oh if only I let you
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie

Municipal pool, you're a junior life saver
And your friends are all serious ravers
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
Reading Judy Blume
But you came too soon

You're too tall, much too tall for a boyfriend
They run and hide, from your buck teeth and split ends
Don't be scared, like the books you've read
You're the heroine
You'll be doing fine

Wouldn't you like to get away?
Bestowing the memory of good and evil
On the ones you left behind
The heartless swine

And you love like nobody around you
How you love, and a halo surrounds you
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
In the Autumn cool
Say cheerio to school

Listen Dear, I've been watching you lately
And if I said all these things you would hate me
Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie
At the church bazaar
I think I went too far

Wouldn't you like to get away?
Kerouac's beckoning with open arms,
And open fields of eucalyptus
Westward bound

Wouldn't you like to get away?
Give yourself up to the allure of
Catcher In The Rye
The future's swathed in Stars and Stripes

Brenden

2009-01-11T11:42:00.002-06:00

Last Wednesday, my friend Brenden agreed to model for me so I could shoot the board assignment. Afterwards, we continued taking some photos because his room gets some gorgeous light around sunset. I had fun playing with the shadows that the dramatic light created. In the first photo, it reminds me of Peter Pan! Here are a few photos that stood out for me.

Diana Test Roll Results

2009-01-09T16:47:00.006-06:00

These are two photos (and probably the only two that worked out really, haven't tried printing any of the others yet) from my first roll of film shot in my Diana F+. I'm really excited because now I have a little bit more of an idea about what works, and what really doesn't. But practice makes perfect, so I'm already working on a second roll that will hopefully be a bit more successful than the first!

Contact Sheet Portrait

2009-01-06T20:33:00.001-06:00

Sometimes mistakes turn out neat!

<3

2009-01-04T22:23:00.004-06:00

Over the break, I fell in love - with cross processing slide film. Here are a few photos from a roll I just got back today. Excuse the dust, I got lazy - might re-scan later.

Break was amazing. I forgot how much I love sleeping in til noon then going for breakfast. Or having an actual weekend - two days off in a row! I know things are going to get hectic again with school starting tomorrow. But I feel refreshed. Things are good. It's going to be a good year.

Series

2008-12-28T19:46:00.006-06:00

Merry Christmas! The holidays have been good. I got two very exciting presents this year. 1) a Diana F+. Working on a roll of film right now, I'll be sure to post the results! & 2) a printer/scanner. So now I can post more stuff from the darkroom! Yay!
Here is my first series from CI:

Andrew

2008-12-17T16:02:00.007-06:00

One of things I find myself being asked quite frequently is "So.. what exactly do you want to DO when you are done school?" My answer is always "Be a photographer!" And they reply "Yes, but how do you plan on making a living?" Truth is, I don't really know. But who cares! I know I want to travel, and I know I want to work with people - but really I just like taking photos!
Today I had the perfect opportunity to practice two things I definitely need to work on - conquering the scary studio light & giving direction. My friend Andrew is home visiting for Christmas. He is currently attending York University for theatre. Being a theatre major, you need to have photos of yourself for cast lists, etc. After months of putting off getting headshots done, and using self taken MySpace-esque photos - he asked me to help him out!
We had a great day taking photos around the school and I got to practice with the scary studio light. After that we ventured into the Exchange District to get some natural light photos as well. Andrew is a super laid back guy, and was very patient with me as I tried to figure out the technical stuff. That made it really easy for me to give direction when taking the photos. Overall I feel it was a very successful day, and I'm happy with the results :)
Here are a few photos from the shoot today:

35mm Cross Processed

2008-12-17T13:43:00.006-06:00

I started shooting this roll of slide film with the intention of re-doing the first ADFH assignment. Well, I didn't end up finishing it in time. So I finished off the roll of film and just decided to get it cross processed to see how it turned out. Mainly because: a) it's cheaper to get developed, and b) I think it looks neat.
For those who aren't familiar, Wikipedia says this about cross processing: "Color cross processed photographs are often characterized by unnatural colors and high contrast. The results of cross processing differ from case to case, as the results are determined by many factors such as the make and type of the film used, the amount of light exposed onto the film and the chemical used to develop the film."
So here are a few that I think turned out super neat:

And a link to the picassa album if you want to check out more - click here!

Self Portraits

2008-12-10T10:26:00.004-06:00

This was my self portrait assigment for Sarah's class.

I've decided that over Christmas break I have to clean up my computer. It just took 15 minutes for my computer to turn on and stop seizuring. I have too much music and too many photos on this piece of junk.

A little bird told me...

2008-12-08T22:05:00.004-06:00

... that Santa is getting me a printer / scanner for Christmas. Yay! No more photos of photos. But for now, this will have to do. This is a photo I shot and printed in the darkroom of Wendy spinning fire poi. Again, the quality is not great, but this is probably the most successful one. I'm still having trouble figuring what shutter speeds to use in order to capture the trails. This was taken at about 1/2 sec and it seemed to work out! I'm happy with the result. I have a feeling this was one of the last nights out though, it's definitely getting cold out there.. :(

(PS. In the actual print, the borders are white. I don't know why it turned all yucky in this photo.)

Who needs a scanner anyways?

2008-11-26T20:54:00.006-06:00

I've been wanting to post some of the stuff I've been doing in the darkroom for awhile now. However, I am lacking a scanner at the moment. But I decided to do my best and try to photograph - with my digital camera - some of the prints I made today. I had some extra time to make some prints for myself (not for any assignments, just for fun) and decided to share them with you! They aren't the best quality, but if anyone is interested I'll gladly show you the actual prints. I have a stack of photos sitting over there... *points* ...that I'd also like to post but I'm off to go take some more photos.

Sharla meets Lightroom

2008-11-21T20:33:00.005-06:00

This is my friend Sharla.
I can't tell if this is just really tacky - or kind of neat. I'm hoping it's kind of neat, but whatever, I like it. Instead of working on homework, or going out on a Friday evening - all I've done today is play around with Lightroom. I'm excited to actually learn how to use the "develope module".

Rocky

2008-11-20T15:59:00.008-06:00

Just a quick post before I go out and brace the cold in the name of photography. Last night I spent the evening with some old friends from Selkirk. I got to see their new house for the first time, and the newest addition - this little one named Rocky.
Rocky was found on the side of the highway with internal bleeding, an infected eye, and rocks crushed into her itty bitty kitty face and up her itty bitty kitty nose. She was rescued by a friend of a friend and the vet said she probably wouldn't make it. My friends were able to nurse her back to health and now she is in a very loving home.
Hearing the story made me angry though. I'm really hoping that Rocky was the kitten of a stray cat but if she wasn't... what kind of person can dispose of a living creature like that? If you aren't responsible enough to find kittens or puppies nice homes, or too lazy to take them to a shelter - please neuter your pets. Don't leave them on the side of a highway in a box for someone (or something) to find - especially during Manitoban winters. There is no way an animal this small could fend for itself. I hope I'm not coming off too preachy... but I just needed to vent a little.

Metro

2008-11-15T23:25:00.008-06:00

A few weeks ago now, my friend Wendy and I, went out to spin fire poi one last time before the snow came. I had a bunch of images I was going to post on here, but they seem to have gone missing. Luckily, I also took some photos with my trusty film camera. When I have some extra time to actually make some prints for myself in the darkroom, I will try to find a scanner to post some of my film images up here.
So instead I am posting a couple images I took of my cat Metro. I was trying to play around with long exposures, and using a flashlight to light up certain areas of the frame. I don't think I was very successful, but hey, I had fun and I think these two turned out kind of neat.

(PS. Don't worry, the snow isn't going to stop us from spinning fire this winter. There is actually supposed to be a Winter Fire & Drum Jam up at Assiniboine Park. I haven't been yet, but I'd really like to go. If I do manage to get out there, I'll for sure take my camera and post lots of pictures!)

Duaflex Results

2008-11-14T14:03:00.009-06:00

A few weeks ago I made a post about picking up a Kodak Duaflex IV. I shoved some 120 expired film into it and today I got the results back. I'm actually super pumped on how well this test roll turned out! Now I kind of have a better understanding of how the camera works. Next time I'm going to use some black & white film so I can make my own prints and play around with it in the darkroom!

Autumn

2008-11-10T19:57:00.006-06:00

Here are some photos from the last days of fall. The first three were taken on an adventure I had through St. Boniface along the Assiniboine River. The last photo was taken on Langside, between Broadway and Sara Ave. I love that street. All the houses are so pretty and full of character. One of my favorite areas - so close to all the good eating places, lol.

Prairie Skies

2008-11-09T11:15:00.004-06:00

Just a few images from a few weeks ago now? Or maybe it was last week. I have no concept of time anymore! What day is it?! Sunday. Okay. Well, the sky was pretty that evening. Actually, it was only about 5pm when these photos were taken - but I guess thats normal now since the sun is practically gone by that time. I took these standing on the Main St. bridge (I don't know if it has a proper name, but it's the one that goes over the Assiniboine river to St. B - I think) facing Osborne Village. We have very lovely sunsets in the prairies.

Outta the attic, onto the dance floor!

2008-10-31T18:35:00.006-05:00

My best friend / old roomate, Kelly, played for the first time in public last night at Dylan O'Connor's. So naturally I had to go, not only to support her but to take pictures of course! She's only been spinning for a few months, & she did a great job! Very excited to see what comes next.
I also have to mention how much I love my new lens. I "splurged" and bought myself a 50mm 1.8 for my digital camera, and oh boy, it's awesome. I had a lot of fun taking pictures and I am definitely going to be practicing some more live music photography!

Zoom Bursts!

2008-10-27T21:29:00.013-05:00

So now that shoot week is long gone, I decided to upload a few more photos. These were my attempts at zoom bursts. To get the zoom burst effect, all you need to do is have a longer shutter speed (most of my photos were taken at about 1/4 sec or 1/2 sec) and zoom in (or out) while the photo is being taken. I also tried a few different things, like holding the lens and just twisting the camera, to get some cool abstract photos. Most of my daytime zoom burst photos were a flop, but the nighttime ones turned out kinda neat. Even though I can't really see myself using this effect a lot, it was still a lot of fun to go out and try.

Kodak Duaflex IV

2008-10-25T19:34:00.006-05:00

I just picked up this camera today from work. Haven't tried it yet, but should be fun to play with. If anything turns out, I'll be sure to post them up here!

Pomme de terre

2008-10-22T19:03:00.006-05:00

Ah yes, the potato. To be honest, it really wasn't all that bad once I got into it. I think the hardest part was getting into it. These are my end results! :)

Keepin' it Riel

2008-10-17T18:29:00.004-05:00

Slacking off

2008-10-11T15:04:00.009-05:00

Last night my friend Brenden came over to help me with my homework. I decided to do "People & things" for the industry studies shoot week assignment. Well, we got distracted and I wasn't getting into it.. so we just messed around with shutter speeds, flash and lots of randomness. I posted a few pictures that stood out to me. Not the greatest, and can't use them for my assignment, but we had fun!

( PS: Brenden's name is a link to his Deviant Art profile. He does some neat graphic stuff! Chchcheck it out! )

TGIF

2008-10-10T16:18:00.005-05:00

So I haven't been writing in here as much as I would like to be. So here I go! I took that photo a few weeks ago when the leaves first started changing. That was when I was excited that it was autumn. The last few days have been pretty cold and miserable, so I've been pretty cold and miserable as well, ha.
We have no classes this week but shoot week should be interesting. Lots of assignments, but I think I have a pretty good grasp on everything so far. We'll see how it goes.
But now, I'm off to go buy a potato..

IS3 - Street Photography

2008-09-25T10:59:00.007-05:00

Street photography is definitely a genre I would like to explore a lot more. For those who aren't familiar - I found this definition on nonphotography.com:
"Simply put street photography includes any photograph made anywhere in public places. Some people narrow it down to urban settings and some people think there must be people present in these kinds of photos. But the bottom line is that each street photographer will find their own meaning and approach therefore whatever definition they might arrive at will work just as well."
I love taking pictures in cities. I like the busy crowded streets and people hustling about with very important places to be. I like wandering through backlanes and alleys and photographing dirty brick walls. I like seeing what people wear when going to get milk from the grocery store. After a few hours of surfing the net, I think that street photography is a genre that would allow me to do all those things! I would really enjoy learning how to capture city & urban lifestyles a lot better. I also like taking pictures of just regular, everyday people. Theres always so much going on within a city that most people don't get a chance to see or experience it!
Some websites I found interesting and useful while doing this assignment were:
MattStuart.com
StreetPhoto.com
StreetPhotography.co.uk
For my first photo example I chose Alley, Downtown LA, 2004 by Nitsa. I really enjoy this photo a lot, I love how dark it is. The puddle in the photograph does a great job showing how tall the buildings around the alley are in the reflection. I like how you can only see the silhouette of the man walking through the alley. Back alleys are neat because even if it's light outside, they always feel dark because of the narrowness.
My second example photo is South Bank by Matt Stuart. I love this picture cause I think it'd funny. The old man with his bike tire on his back, looking up at the giant one in the sky. The way he framed the trees around the ferris wheel, makes it look like a giant bike tire! I chose this picture cause it's quite different from the first example but it's still street photography!
The third image is one I found while cruisin' through some Deviant Art profiles. In Bus by Beste Zeybel. I like this picture a lot because it's so colourful. I really like the way the model is positioned and the angle the picture was taken at. Again, I chose this one because it's so different from the first two shots. There is just so much you could do with this genre. I think it would be super interesting to explore futhur. :)

I♥Fake

2008-09-23T15:45:00.006-05:00

I♥Fake Magazine is an indie fashion magazine aimed towards young people who like art & design. The editor, Jolijn Snijders, is a photographer who takes a lot of the photos herself. It says on their website that it's a bi-montly magazine... but they haven't updated in awhile. But if you have the time, you should definitely read though some back issues. There are some neat photographs and some digital art as well. The articles are fun to read too which is always a bonus :)

ilovefakemagazine.com
or
ilovefake.com (to check out Jolijn Snijders portfolio site)

Black & White

2008-09-19T14:03:00.007-05:00

So I decided to add some photos I've taken with my film camera since school started. I've been having so much fun with film. Can't wait to get in the darkroom!

IS2 - Lines!

2008-09-17T18:04:00.005-05:00

This weeks assignment for Industry Studies - lines! ...Go!
No real specifications other than a few blog, and Picasa things - and the theme "lines". At first, I thought this was going to be really easy. I mean, there are lines everywhere, so how hard could it be - right?
I think Sarah's class today gave me a better understanding of what type of lines in a photo make it more appealing to the eye. So I really tried to keep that in my mind when I went out to shoot this afternoon. It definitely wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be, but overall it wasn't too bad! I had fun with it. I took a lot of shots inside my "safety zone" but I also tried a few different things. Even though those pictures aren't my favorite from the bunch, I think it's good to "take chances" or try something new.
Only having 10 - 20 frames made it bit more difficult too. It made me really think about the photo and how I wanted it to look before I took the picture. Not being able to delete anything is hard!

Homework :)

2008-09-10T17:17:00.006-05:00

I think what attracted me to photography was the freedom that you have with a camera in your hand. You get the chance to capture a moment, and show others "Hey, look at this!" They get to see it the way you did. I took photography in high school and really enjoyed being in a class where you got to create something and show it off. Taking that photography class was probably what really put the idea into my head. It wasn't until I was travelling, and spending the entire time with a camera in my face that I decided "This is what I want to do"
Other than the things I had mentioned in the post prior to this, some the things I'm really excited to learn about are:
How to take better people pictures, more about nature photography, and basically just how to make my camera do what I want it to do!
As for a "brush with greatness" .. I can tell you that I once met the legendary Robert Munsch, haha. I was seven, and he signed my copy of Love You Forever. And he spelt my name wrong.

Second Day - Blogging

2008-09-09T15:18:00.002-05:00

When it comes to photography, there are a few different styles that interest me. I really enjoy portraits, travel photography, snapshots, fashion photography, and landscape photos as well.

I'm interested in learning about older techniques for photography. I love my Polaroid camera, my old Canon that's build like a tank, and I am currently working on stealing my friend's Holga. I'm excited to get into the dark room and use different types on film other than 35mm.

I love working with people and can usually be found annoying my friends by constantly taking pictures of them. I'm sure my cats feel the same way.

It's going to be a good year :)

Photo by Duncan McNairnay