Meagan Lily Glowa

Here are some pictures of my friend Meagan that I did for a DT assignment, check them out!!!

Outdoor - Sunlight

Outdoor - Overcast

Indoor on camera flash

Indoor off camera flash

Deep Background

Simple Background

Color Film Adventures!!!

So over spring break our Analogue Techniques assignment was to shoot a roll of color film on any theme that we choose and we had the entire week to shoot it! Well, I spent most of my spring break inside stuck in bed because I had all four of my wisdom teeth removed the Friday that spring break began! Not fun!!! :( It took me almost the whole week to recover and when I was finally feeling well enough to get out of the house I wanted to shoot outdoors, after a week of being cooped up inside! So I guess my theme would be the outdoors, but I specifically shot in two different locations that were as far away as I could get at the time! I don't know if any of you have noticed the pond/rock/water thingy at the corner where Kenaston turns into Bishop Grandin, but is is an awesome spot just to go to get away even though it is still inside the city! Plus there isn't much access to get there, but one of my friend's back yards goes onto that field, so I always have a place to escape to! It was the perfect time of the year that the water from the stream was just peaking through the rocks to get some awesome shots, but also a few wet toes! And we also went on a little road trip all the way down Brady Road... well I guess you can't really call it a road trip per say because it only connects Mcgillvary to the Perimeter Hwy right by Brady Land fill ( Oh the adventures of the south end of the city!!!) but, there are some awesome trees down Brady to shoot, so its so worth the far travels! hahaha It was definitely nice to get out of the house after being cooped up for dayyss! And even though I couldn't drive to these locations because I was still under the influence of T3's and what not... I still was able to take some shots, thank god I had my friends around!!!

MOVIE WEEK EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Last week at school we had movie week, which was an opportunity to view up to 6 movies that were photography related. It was a nice chance to take a break from all of our projects and enjoy some tasty treats! The three movies I chose to watch were O' Brother, Where Art Thou?, One Hour Photo and Pecker and I really loved all three of them!

I had seen O' Brother, Where Art Thou? before but years ago and didn't remember much about it. Before we watched the movie we watched a short documentary about how the movie was made. It is so interesting how they are able to shoot straight clean film and then post process it afterwards to give it that old looking feel. I never knew this was possible because before I never really thought anything about how movies are made. It totally makes so much sense that they go through similar post processing and editing techniques as photography because obviously it is not shot the way we view them, but it never crossed my mind how it was done... and now I know! Not all movies go through the same editing processes, like this one was shot, then digitally scanned and then put back onto film to be viewed. Not every movie goes through this for the special effect but they all must go through some kind of editing process and I give props to whoever' s job that is because that is A LOT of frames to go through!!! Having seen this movie the first time and then watching the documentary about the way they edited it before I watched it the second time I felt that I noticed a lot more in the movie the second time around and I also had a lot more appreciation for the technical side of things. Story wise, I also really enjoyed the movie! It had a cute but hilarious story line and amazing actors!

I'd give it at least 4 stars****!

The second movie I watched was One Hour Photo and wow what an interesting but slightly, no wait veryyy creepy movie! But, I wouldn't doubt there are actually people in photo labs who are just like that! It really opens our eyes up to realize we really aren't the only ones who see our photos and it is scary what other people can do! I'm totally not saying I think every lab goes through our photos but think about it people, somewhere in this world it has got to be happening!!! Before this movie we also watched a short documentary about how they shot this movie. They explained how they used different lenses for different feels in the different kinds of scenes, just like photography. They used wide angle lenses when the main character was working in the lab, this made the room look large and gave the feeling he was comfortable in there. They used telephoto lenses to make the main character look small when he was out in public and he didn't really stand out from anyone else when he was feeling alone. Just like the other movie I never thought about these things, I didn't know they could use different lenses when filming movies but now that I know it makes so much sense. I even noticed it while watching the movie and could tell the difference between lenses when I never have before when watching any movies. The coolest thing about this movie was watching actual color processing being done, I have never seen that before and it was really awesome! Beside all of the creepy things, I really enjoyed this movie as well!

And last but not least I watched Pecker! All I can say is STRANGE! But don't get me wrong it was a great movie and I actually enjoyed it, but it was just really different than the other two movies I had already watched and every other movie in general! We didn't watch any documentary about how this movie was made before, but even after watching the first two movies and paying attention to what was going on in them, I payed more attention to the technical part of this movie as well when I watched it. There wasn't anything super special about the technical part of this movie, but this movie was based more on photography and actually taking pictures of people! The main character in the movie was actually a photographer and the story was about how people noticed his photos and he became famous, but with all the fame and fortune he ruined his family and friends lives! Now I wish that could happen to me... minus the family ruining part! How amazing would it be to actually have some famous person notice your photos and make you famous for them! I can tell you now it is probably something that never happens, but I guess we can always dream! I think my favorite thing about the movie was how real Pecker was! He took pictures of anything and I mean ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING... and he was never afraid to admit when he was wrong. He admitted he didn't always have proper shutter speeds and sharp pictures, but that didn't matter! All Pecker cared about at first was taking pictures because that was what he loved to do! I think the biggest thing I got from this movie is that I want to be more like Pecker! To be able to take pictures of everything and go beyond my boundaries and what other people think, to let myself go and just be like him! All I have to do is try!!!

My Christmas Holidays!

The last thing that my christmas holidays were was a break! Those were definitely 3

extremely busy weeks filled with lots of family, friends, and .... HOMEWORK!!! But, I did my to fit in as many fun/relaxing/exciting activities as a could to enjoy my time away from school! Here are a few of the things i did;

So one of the first things I did was head out and get all my christmas shopping done, it wasn't easy but at least if was kinda fun! I went all over from the malls to the Forks, and this was just a cute frog I had seen a little girl staring at. Although I waited until she was gone because I didn't want to be the creeper at the toy store taking pictures of the children! haha

One of my favorite things on earth are pickles!!! And my parents actually bought me a pickle wearing a santa hat for the christmas tree this year! It is like the best tree ornament EVER!

Every year my mom bakes the best sugar cookies at christmas time. When I was younger I always used to help her out, but as I grew older it wasn't always possible. So it was really good to be able to have a chance to help her out again this year!

My boyfriend's friend got a tattoo over the holidays and wanted some people to go with him, so we both went and sat with him for the entire 5 hours. It was a long time, but I got some awesome shots and we kept him company!

I have always wanted to take pictures of snowflakes because they are so unique and wonderful! I spent some time one afternoon shooting these little miracles and got some really amazing photos!

The holidays are a busy season for everyone and since my family and I don't have the same schedules they weren't always home when I was, but my cats were always around doing something crazy! If you had trouble finding Cali, she was always hiding underneath the christmas tree!

Even if my family wasn't home it was good to be able to not have to worry about getting up early every morning for school. It was nice to sleep in and take your time doing things. I gave my mom a hand putting up christmas decorations and minutes later I found Kaspurr hiding in them!

Every year we have an annual holiday dinner with our family friends, we alternate who's house it is at each year and this year it was out at my Auntie Lori's. I love going out to her house in Oak Bank because she has a beautiful yard with two horses who I used to ride when I was younger. I love getting a chance to see them whenever I can. This is a photo of Sarah and as you can tell, she isn't camera shy!

One night we had a family game night. We pulled out our version of Monopoly, the Corvette Version because we have a Corvette and my parents are car fanatics! I hadn't played Monopoly in forever and guess who won? That's right... ME!!! wooo

Finally one of the last days of the holidays we had a christmas party at my dance teachers house. Being at the end of the break all of the girls in my group were warn out from too much partying and what not, so they wouldn't let me take any pictures of them. That sucked, but I fell in love with the chandelier in my dance teachers dining room. I dunno what was so special about it, I guess I just hadn't seen one like that in a while, but I think I took at least 50 pictures of it.

Yes my christmas holidays were busy, but none the less some great times!

AT 11.2 Karsh

Jacques-Henri Lartigue 1981

Last week we went on a field trip to the WAG to view a Yousuf Karsh exhibit. I had never seen any of his work before, but after viewing this exhibit I became a big fan. Karsh was able to capture each of his subjects so realistically. He went beyond capturing their 'picture faces', the ones we all know so greatly, and captured the true Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Winston Churchill, Earnest Hemingway, Audrey Hepburn and many others. After looking at the entire exhibit, not only did I notice that Yousuf was really a master of the darkroom, but he was also a master of light. He knew exactly how to light his subjects properly to help show the true side of them, it wasn't necessarily the kind of light he used, but they way he used it on his subjects. Karsh overall used a wide range of lighting from front, back, side, and top, all in the best way possible to bring out his subjects true features. A lot of Karsh's photographs expose so much detail from the wrinkles on the face's to each individual hair, there was nothing to hide in his portraits.

On the technical side of things, Karsh's prints were nearly perfect. All captured using a large format, usually 8x10 camera, each print was so clear and each told the story of its subject so well, yet were all so simple. This print of Jacques-Henri Lartigue stood out to me so much because I fell in love with the expression on his face. His eyes look so inviting and friendly with the smile on his face, and you can tell they have many stories behind them. After viewing the exhibit and choosing this photograph as my favorite, I decided to research who this Jacques guy was. I found out that he was also a photographer for many years and now knowing that and looking back at the photo that Karsh captured, I believe he captured him perfectly.

I believe that when Karsh printed this photograph he used the following techniques; burning, dodging and contrast. He would have used a higher magenta filter to make the darks darker and the whites whiter. I am guessing that he could have dodged Jacques-Henri's face and shoulders to keep it lighter than the background. It is hard to tell in this copy, but it was more noticeable on the print at the WAG that he probably burned the corners to add a vignette to the entire image, which isn't really noticeable at the top because it is already super dark, but you can see it on the bottom corners on his sweater.

Overall, this and every other image in the Yousuf Karsh Exhibit were amazing! It really gives you an appreciation for true darkroom printing, Yousuf Karsh truly was a darkroom master!

Ci 12 Color Block

Colors play a big part in the way we view and perceive images. A color image verses a black and white image can give two totally different feels to the same image. Just like certain colors specifically can give different feels. I found that in the end half of my images looked 'happy' and half looked 'sad'/'lonely' in a way. The brighter colors like cyan, yellow, green, bright orange and blue are 'happy' colors because they brighten up the image and draw the eye. The dark green, blue and soft orange in the other images were dull colors which gave them more of a down feeling. All colors have feelings linked to them, the brighter the happier and the darker the more sad, scared or angry they are. We automatically link red to love and romance, yellow to happiness, etc. When shooting the fish cracker I thought it would have gave a happy feeling, but as I tried to capture it, it ended up looking more lonely than anything. So I crushed the cracker which gave it even more of that sad and lonely feeling to the entire image, and to me this proves even though we have these feelings we automatically link to the colors, it doesn't mean that that is the only way they can be perceived. Color is only on part of an image, yes it helps us determine how a photo makes us feel, but it also depends on all the other design elements in the photo. Although I would definitely say color is one of the most important elements in an image because it has the greatest effect on how we read the image!

Cyan: Bright, Happy, makes me want to eat it!

Orange: Sad, Lonely, I feel bad for this little fishy!

Blue: Strong, Bold, but for some reason frightened!? I don't know why, but I think the depth of field and tonal perspective (?) give it that mysterious feeling as well.

Green: Sad, Lonely, Unwanted. Makes it feel forgotten.

Complimentary (orange/blue): Happy, Excited, Energetic. A Strong, Big flower!

Harmonious(yellow/greenyellow): Happy, Bright, Playful and Fun! Love how the one yellow one sticks out!!!

CI Field Trip #!

This Monday we took a field trip to The Zoo in my creative imaging class. After a long shoot week and tonnes of homework the week before, it was nice to be able to just go out and shoot without having a specific assignment in mind! I had gone to the zoo the monday before we went to complete an assignment for a different class, but I was still able to get some new and interesting photos. I tried to capture a little bit of everything and think I ended up with a good variety of images. Take a peak at the shots I took!