Thoughts.com

A couple weeks ago i got the opertunity to attend Rolling Thunder, the biker rally / protest in honor of the POWs and MIAs around the world in various conflicts.  That sunday, in a matter of four or five hours i took over 900 photos with my Nikon D70 (before my battery died, if it hadnt it would have been closer to 12 - 1300).  As i was sorting through the photoes, i deleated almost all of them, keeping only 55 total.

A lot of them were ok pictures, but easily could have been better with a couple minutes each in Photoshop, but that goes against my views of photography.  I am proud to say that i have never digitally edited any of my photoes, unless it was for an assignment. 

The reason for this is my views of photography as an art.  People have taken this art and raped it with the ability of digital editing.  If you are to claim to take an amazing picture or even a good picture, you must have the ability to actually be able to take a picture with your camera.  An image that has been digitally altered is no longer a good or amazing picture, it is a digital image, not a photo. 

Yes, i may seem harsh, but after working behind a camera for the past 6-7 years, it pays off in being able to see the image and capture it without the use of Photoshop or any digtal alterations. 

Another thing that has brought about a demise of photography as art is the digital age.  Yes, i own and use a very nice digital SRL, but with the ability to snap out 7 images a second and over a thousand at a time, i find myself taking a lot of snapshots, hince the reason i only kept about 17% of the images i took at Rolling Thunder. 

Without a comprehensive understanding of a camera and how to work it and capture a photo, one can never call themselves a photographer.  If one needs all this fancy digital equiptment and computer programs to save their images into something better, they to cannot call themselves photographers. 

Its harsh, and i know i may seem like a snob, but photography is one of my passions and i will defend it against the constant assault of insults and demise.

Hope i havnt offended anyone.

So, this week i basically wor fixing up some small things throughout the series and then figuring out how to present it bound in a 'book'/'journal' format. 

So, i spent a couple hours (2ish) fixing every little detail that i saw wrong throughtout the week.  Then on friday and saturday i sat down for hours on end and tried to figure out how to bind all of it together.  I tried like seven or eight different techniques that i researched online until i finally figured out one that i liked after about 9 hours of working on binding alone. 

So, this week i worked about 11 hours total.

With this it brings my total number of hours to 131.5 hours of working this semester. 

To try to critique any piece of art is to say something about the piece in front of you that tells the artist how they can be better and build upon what they have done in the piece.

I am not to fond of talking about other peoples work because I do not know everything behind the piece. One can make assumptions and guess, but unless they see the whole process the artist takes in their work, one will never be able to improve what the artist has thought about through out the process of creating art.

Yes, we can talk forever about technical features of art, but I, for one, believe that art goes beyond the technical aspects and into something that cannot be measured or put into words easily.

To be effective when assessing ourselves and others we must cause each other to see things about our works that we haven’t been able to see before.

I enjoyed this semester of drawing because it challenged me to see things with different eyes and focus with a different intention than the original thought.

I have found that, at times, it is beneficial to change directions, because it frees you to explore different ideas without getting stuck on the same one time and time again.

This semester has been a blessing in disguise. It has shown me my strengths and my weaknesses in journaling. It has given me the inspiration to continue this experience into next semester and this summer as I go into Uganda for missions work.

I have come to realize that words can be powerful, but at times, overwhelming. I plan on using more images than words next semester, because I realized that words do not speak as loudly as an image ever will.

I noticed that some of my most powerful pieces from this semester are the ones that do not have many words, but convey the emotion through images and emotions of the media used.

I hope to continue to experience journaling this summer, through writing, sketching and capturing moments of time through a lens of a camera while serving over in Africa. I plan on using this experience this summer to propel into next semester and next year.

To give myself an assessment is hard because I don’t like saying I’m good or bad, I like to let others make that decision. But, I wouldn’t give myself an A because I don’t feel like my pieces are as strong as the potential that is there. Earlier in the semester, I didn’t work as much as I needed, and I believe I am around 9 hours short (I’ll figure it out at some point).

I would probably give myself a B because of what I have learned through this experience.

I look forwards to what is ahead and next semesters projects to come. I am glad for experiencing this group of students in class and being able to share this journey with them.

God Bless and PEACE

So, i thought i wold have had more time to work on some stuff during the Presidents Gala Rehersals, but it just didnt happen, to much stress throughout the whole thing and the fact that my Sr. Project Painting Critique kinda didnt happen untill Wed. so i was still stressing over that. 
On the flip side of that, i did get some work done throughout the week, mostly during the afternoon hours and on Wed, night in which i didnt have the Gala stuff goin' on.  During the week, i probably only worked about two and a half hours.

Then on Saturday i sat in the student center, yet again, and spread some stuff out over the floor (and killed the bugs that dared to crawl over my papers).  I got in there at about 11ish and was in there for quite a long time.  I worked on and off (while getting a little distracted) until dinner @ 5:30ish (worked only about 4 hours in that time) and then returned after dinner and really dug into trying to figure out what i was doing.  I worked after dinner from about 6 to when they kicked me out a little after midnight, but due to distractions i probably worked only another 4 hours or so. 

Sunday, i didnt get any work done, but today (monday) i was able to get about an hours or so worth of work done.  

Mostly this week was trying to perfect what i had and come to a completion, per say. 

I worked a total of about 11.5 hours this week.

God Bless and PEACE

So, i was drawing the other day... well, more like had all my drawings spread out over the floor and was being picky about how i really wanted the images to be presented and what ones needed more work.  I was working on details, while trying to not get into arguements with certain good friends about faith... but thats a different story for a different blog. 

But i was basically figuring out how i wanted to present this series of drawings.  Or the order, im not really sure what exactly i was trying to acomplish. 

Anyways, i was working on details for the most part and realized that i needed to redraw some of the drawings that i have already acomplished.  that happens at times, You figure out what you want, and then you have to redo what you have already done because it isnt what you want. 
I actually enjoyed working out all the details because it gave me time to see everything in front of me.  Eventually i will have to take a couple images and put them up here. 

my two favorite are the very first image and the one with the child.  I enjoy these because they convey the beauty of the country so well. 

I have also realized that i am going to make a journal/book thing about my experiences in Uganda this summer for next semesters Sr. Project in Drawing.  I am planning to use more photographs and drawings and using more color and different techniques to create this next series. I also am thinking of burning some of the pages and papers for effect.  I think it'll be lots of fun.

this next week i will be working out how to bind all these together.  Im thinking of using a cover sheet of paper for both the front and back of the series.  How all that is going to work out, im not sure, but i will figure it all out eventually. 

God Bless and PEACE