My photography class’s second assignment was: Use the white balance of your camera, photograph all the colors of the rainbow. Select a scene, object, etc for each color which adheres to your "inner association" of that color. Here are the photos… I’m happier with some of them more than others. :)
I just started a "Digital Photography 2" course at the Photographic Center Northwest. I’ve had two classes so far and am liking it a lot (though having 10+ hours of homework a week is both LOTS Of fun… and a bit tricky). The first assignment was to photograph 15 letters – but not real letters. 🙂 Here are the results of my first assignment – can you guess which letter is which? (You can click through to my flickr site to see if you’re right.)
My new D80 has arrived! I’m very excited to play with it (especially in Argentina, when I travel there during Thanksgiving). I tried it out over the weekend. Here are some shots from the Pike Place Market in Seattle. (You can tell from the ambient greyness that it’s officially fall in the pacific northwest.)
I took these photos on one of my favorite hikes ever: Oyster Dome in the Chuckanut Mountains last April. My friend Archana and I caught one of the first sunny spring days. As you can see, there were some amazing views of the San Juan islands. I remember being somewhat heartbroken when I picked up the prints. I hadn’t meant to do a silhouette (although I like it more now). And, the sunspot in the middle of the frame *killed* me. But last night, I took out the sunspot, blended away the negative scratches… and lighted the tone a bit. It …
Just got the last of my film developed (yes, developed 🙂 ) from Thailand/Cambodia. This roll was b&w of Angkor. I’ve posted the ones I liked. On the camera front, some news: I’ve just ordered my very first digital camera, a Fuji V10. This means I’m officially retiring my trusty 8 year old film point & shoot. I’ll still be using my film SLR… but I suspect that once Nikon’s digital SLRs, like the D200, come down to a reasonable price (AKA not $1600) I will probably be swayed. The practicialities of digital are hard to deny… Not carrying around a 10 lb SLR w/ a bag of film. Preview …
…. but I can’t. 🙂 Fortunately, photoshop can help me fake it. Here’s a digital sketch, from a digital photograph: Seattle, on one of its rare clear May sunsets. (Also check out this panoramic, taken at the same time.)
I just read on the Flickr Blog that Polaroid will be ceasing its production of instant film. The company (now 150 employees compared to 21,000 in its 1978 hay day) will continue working on its Polaroid branded digital cameras & cell phone camera printers. I switched to digital last year. And, I love the power that digital gives me (picture preview, digital darkroom, unlimited # of exposures)… but I do still miss the texture and tone of my film prints. I never used polaroids that much, but there’s definitely a “beginning of the end of film” feeling with this announcement. …
ImageKind is a digital printing online service that just announced a partnership with Flickr. It is “one community for creating, buying, and selling art.” They’ve got a bunch of interesting advantages for folks with digital pictures: I like my prints from Adorama… but when I print out the “digital size” (e.g. 11×17) its almost impossible to find frames for them. (And my crops to 8×10 or 16×20 just don’t look as good.) ImageKind provides framed prints at digital sizes. Canvas prints. Flickr integration, which means no uploading of huge files in two places. And of course, the amateur’s dream of selling his/her photos …
Yesterday, I picked up what may be my last rolls of developed film. I have to say, there’s definitely something to the delayed gratification of seeing your photos for the first time as prints in your hand. A couple things I hope to still do when I convert to pure digital: Compose the shot right the first time. I realized, with my digital point & shoot, I would take 20 photos to try to capture a picture (instead of 2 or 3) just because I could. To some extent, that’s the benefit of digital… But I think if I’m not careful, I’ll just get sloppy. Printing photos. I love …
My SLR is dead. 🙁 It’s been on the fritz the last few weeks, but last night it refused to respond the shutter button at all. I have to say I’m really sad. It was my first SLR, and I’ve traveled to a lot of places with it. And I was really excited about shooting pictures of China with it. Hopefully the film that I’ve already taken will turn out. Looks like I’ll be going completely digital when I get back to the States…