A Great ClassWednesday, September 27, 2006 | 1:40AM |
My Photo Arts I class has been the single best course I’ve ever taken. I know we’ve only met a few times, but I’ve never learned so much every time that it’s already made grad school worth paying for. The best day was last Thursday when we essentially learned solid digital workflow. It sounds simple, and may be to many people, but personally, I lacked the basic understanding of color management and the like. And now, after a mere 2.5 hour class, I feel like I can work competently in the digital world and come out with a good print. I only assumed I could do that before this.
It’s been tough to get started in the darkroom. I’ve moved into my space almost 100%, and I had to get one of my enlargers from storage to actually start printing. I’m supposed to have the 8x10 enlarger before long, but the bulbs were broken by the movers, so they’re waiting for those to come in.
This past Thursday we had a potluck primarily for photo grad students, and some printmaking and painting grads joined us as well. And I finally met Elizabeth Turk, who is the alternative process professor at SCAD-Atlanta. I expressed my interest in wet-plate collodion, and though she’s never used that process, she was interested in working on it with me. In order to do it, I’ll need to get a wet plate conversion back for my 8x10 camera and the chemistry will cost around $200.
For now, I’m concentrating on faux-documentary with the Rolleiflex. I’d like to be shooting with a Hasselblad, but I don’t have a spare $1100 laying around, and I can’t check one out to leave the building… at least not at this point.
In my Digital Craft class, we’re working on our second project which is essentially supposed to be a photo montage. Not my particular cup of tea, but I’m finally beginning to formulate some ideas.
We have to write a 7 page paper about a current artist in my Contemporary Art class, so I chose Sally Mann. I like a lot of her work, and I recently sat down with one of her more recent books (possibly the most recent), Deep South. I’ve thought about calling one of the galleries that represent her to ask if she takes calls from students researching her work. We’ll see if I follow through with that. I’m also interested in contacting Raymond Meeks.
Comments
Maaaaan, you have got it made. Your prof sound seriously awesome. I love Sally Mann, good choice.
Polly Chandler | Thursday, September 28, 2006 | 9:27AM
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