She cuts her diamonds so they look like a decoy lover.

We just got our next two assignments for Intro to Photography II and I am so excited to start them. Both assignments are based on experimental photography. The first assignment can carry over into our final or we can do a completely different technique. My teacher wants to teach us the importance of technique and the relation to the subject.

I decided to do two different techniques, the first being burned negatives. I'm still not sure of the subject matter I want to use, but the images come out so interesting.

For the second experimental technique I wanted to try distressed photographs by decaying them. It's kind of gross, but the results are amazing. It's done by having micro-organisms eat away your photo. Here is an excerpt from a book I checked out of the library that explains this further.

"To work prints, choose well-washed fiber based materials. Resin-coated papers are protected by their outer coating, which is difficult to penetrate. An east way to create a humid environment for decay micro organisms is to enclose a print with organic material inside a plastic portfolio sleeve. As micro-organisms grow, they will start to physically break down the gelatin and paper fibers, causing damage to the image on the print. Waste products are produced that further enhance the changes, and the micro-organisms themselves will probably cause distinct color changes."

Like I said, it sounds gross, but here is a before and after image.

I think that this is such a different idea for my final project and I can not wait to experiment with it further.

I just stumbled across this blog while researching for my photography final. It's nice to to scroll through and look at the photos. Film is not dead...

Some day I'll find the one with eyes that say those words I cannot find.

So, I finally took pictures of Wednesday lunch with Julie. The one above is of the back room in the cafe we go to. It was the first time in maybe 2 weeks that it was nice and empty. I took pictures of the delicious food we got (and we get the same thing every week) but they came out pretty blurry, so next time I'm going to bring my digital to get better pictures. Julie mananged to snap a picture of me, but I forgot to get one of her :(

I have been crafting like crazy the past couple days. Pearl has made some good business off of me (I've gone there 4 days in a row). I'm trying to sell a lot of my jewelry on my Etsy page. So far I only sold one item to someone in Iowa. But I have the same feeling as Julie (http://www.juliepeach.etsy.com)that I probably won't sell anything for another month.

I know it's sad that I never gave a damn about the weather, and it never gave a damn about me.

Spring break officially started, and I don't have any major plans. I'll most likely spend most of it cleaning & doing homework. My main goal is just to shoot some film for color and continue doing non-silver work. Last class I took one of my van dyke's and printed a cyanotype over it. I did a really uneven coating of the chemicals so when it was printed it would come out kind of messy and I really liked the outcome. Where the chemicals were really thick there was practically no exposure made and vise versa. My mom sent me a picture of my Great-Grandparents wedding photo so I'm going to make a negative from it then use that for my final 3 prints at the end of the semester and apply the same technique.

The weather has been so crappy today and I just want it to be nice out for Spring Break, that really is all I want. Just one nice sunny warm day that I could spend outside and cramped in classroom.

...and you may find that we're alright.

I ranted about this on myspace, but never posted it here, so here it goes...

So about 4 or 5 months ago I was asked to do a photo shoot for a massage therapy place in Philadelphia that my neighbor was making a website for. I did it for super cheap, a whopping $75, but never got paid. A few weeks after the shoot my neighbor told me the owner didn't like the photos and refused to pay. Which is not right, even if she didn't like the outcome she would still have to pay for the service.

Out of curiosity a few nights ago I decided to check the website just to see how the re-shoot, that someone else took, came out. Come to my surprise, my pictures were being used on the website with no photo credit and of course no payment. I was furious and immediately tried to get in touch with my neighbor. I talked to him about the situation and he took all the blame for not putting the photo credit up and corrected it right away, but he said he hasn't talked to the owner of the business and had a difficult time getting in touch with her in the first place. I explained to him that earlier I had spoke to my mom about the situation and she was about ready to call an attorney and that if I wasn't paid by next week I would have asked for an amount that was way more then $75. Then magically he got in touch with her the next day! So I'm still only going to get 75 bucks, but that's a lot better then nothing. That is the story of my first paid photography job, and now I already have something extra for my resume.

Here is a sample of the photos I took:

This is just the main waiting room, I also took pictures of the massage rooms, steam room, the owner and one of her employees, the front desk, and then details of the decor.

Live your life with a compassion you can be proud of.

We had a party at our house on Saturday night for BJ's birthday. He was an immature dick. We got in a verbal brawl. I won. He apologized. I apologized. I would type out the details but it's really not even worth it. But the cupcakes I made were delicious and our house was full of pink and black balloons, which is always a good thing.