photo 121: lighting

Still playing catchup! I am not so much a studio lighting person…but the intro class last semester was fun, I learned a ton and has made me look forward to taking the next level studio lighting class (strobes!). (OH! And yeah, THE FOOD was my favorite studio work!) So for now….I share:

“A”rt

This past semester kept my busy with the Capitol A “A”rt projects…and as much as the cynical side of me complains about taking these kinds of “foundation” art classes rather than more photo classes, I must admit that Art 13 (3-D Concepts) was fun. I still have a more arts less crafts mentality, but this class has helped me see art in new ways…which I guess is what college is for.

after the jump I break down each project…

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food…in the studio

So far, the favorite subject I have shot for my studio class is food…In my dreams, I will have time this summer to produce more food shots.

too much me

I feel like time is slipping by faster than I can shoot or post lately. The semester is going well and the new camera, in the few instances I have gotten to play, is beyond awesome. I have been thinking lately about how I feel like I am changing before my own eyes. If that makes sense. My hair is changing colors. My skin is thinning. I am thinning.  And I see a slow evolution of age more lately. Not in a bad way, but I find that I look at myself and see someone different than who I always thought I was. Time for a new self portrait maybe. Last semester I had the take-a-self-portrait-and-blog-every-single-day-for-school which beyond drained me and I felt really hindered my photography in some way- like the act of having to do it EVERY day regardless of quality or inspiration (while good in it’s own way) sorta put me in a funk. But! Spring has sprung! I have a new camera! The time has changed and I think I can get over whatever weirdness that project left in my mouth. But! Unless you had access to the special link you have no idea what I am talking about. So I have decided to bring here a few of my favorites of the ONE HUNDRED AND TEN that were taken. And funny, but with space and time and compiling this here, I see the project in a whole new light.

thoughts on a duel

thoughts on a duel from rachael olmstead on Vimeo.

Now that school is officially over, I guess I can officially share my projects. This was the final project (but not the final) for my digital video class. Many people made movies with real video cameras, but I am low tech and opted for stop motion. And black and white film. It is a funny story really, how this all came together. But I won’t bore you with the details. I can’t help but note thought that the second screens of text are somehow wonky when uploaded online but play fine on quicktime. I have tried many times to fix it even though it has/had no bearing on my grade, as it was not a online presentation. But still, I must note that as anal as I am, it is driving me nuts enough that I have still been trying to fix it almost a month after it was turned in, just so I could put it online. But alas, f-it. I’m cleaning the hard drive for the next year and off it goes to the external.

sjsu black & white part one

Now that my first semester at SJSU is winding down I probably should start posting assignments before I get too back logged. I am taking another black and white class, so not super exciting since I have had two prior…but the darkroom is always fun none the less…these are part one of what I guess will be four more b&w posts.

portrait

The final assignment for my photojournalism class was an environmental portrait. Robin was lovely enough to don her ballerina gear and head over to my place. I made my first makeshift studio with a roll of black paper rigged on the patio. My idea of lighting fell through when I realized I did not have the right adapters for my extension cords and going to get them would take time away from the existing natural light. We plugged ahead with natural light and I think it worked perfectly. There were some size limitations for sure, in the future I know to have a wider and taller background as well as more room to shoot, for that reason all of the shots had to be done close up. I was sad we did not have the room to get some actual ballerina moves…but there is always next time! But overall I am really happy with how they turned out and hope to do more portrait work in the future.

hwy 92

now that fall has officially started I am really behind on catching up on photos. but we chug along. as you  (may) know, I took a photojournalism class at SFSU and loved and hated it. But mostly loved it. The final was to tell a “story”, I chose to photograph the vendors and stops on highway 92 on the road to Half Moon Bay. Below are a sample of my favorites that made the story cut, but not the entire story or all of my favorites.

…you take my hand

working backwards on summer still. this summer my photo journalism course taught me oodles. seriously, i learned SO much. but at the same time i decided that photojournalism was not for me. i am still trying to figure out what is…but working backwards these are from water/motion assignments. we joke that i had to pay out of pocket and drive to San Francisco to really understand the use of my shutter….

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the dark side of the moon

I am starting to think maybe astronomy is my life calling. Or not, but it is crazy fascinating. Ask me to tell you all about the moon. Or Venus! I have been sorta obsessed with the dark side of the moon lately. Not the Pink Floyd album, but the actual dark-side-of-the moon. The side we never see. The side that has a thicker crust. The side that has this GIANT impact basin called Mare Orientale. I guess the idea that humans only have ever see one side of the moon trips me out when THIS is what the other side looks like. Imagine that in your night sky!

design class collage

design class: make a grayscale collage.

design class curves

design class: make a image using only curved lines.

design class 5

design class: make a textured image

design class 4

design class 4: make a repeating pattern.

dalai lama by richard avedon by me.

design class 3: make an image with only the negative space. dalai lama by richard avedon by me.

on a side note: we move out of our big grown up house in the suburbs to a quaint apartment near the hills tomorrow. we will save lots of money and supposedly someone will come and clean it on a regular basis for us. and there is a pool. work and school are also ridiculously busy. so with the move and the work and the school, daily will have to take a break for a few days.

design class 2

design class 2: make an image from cutting out of a square, so that the image is unrecognizable as a square. My teacher said my designs are “charming” which I find nice but odly folksy. Good thing I am not going into design.

design class, 1.

design class 1: using only horizontal and vertical lines, cut paper and make a design.