Quite a Project

Here is a pretty neat photography project done in Detroit.  Start thinking about what you're going to do...that's right...each of you will do an extended project before the term is over.  It might not be on this grand of a scale, but it will be something that you spend some time on.

CLICK HERE to see the essay on Time.com.

Sunsets

I hate sunsets...except when they're really cool.  The sunset tonight was really cool.

This shot was made by stitching six images together.  This is looking east from my front doorstep.  That is my dad's old red truck.  It is for sale.  Anyone wanna buy it?

Be sure to click on the image so you can see it larger.

Assignment #2 - Numbers

Assignment number two.  It's really your first real REAL assignment.  Kick some tail.

Here are the requirements:

You will make 100 images. No more...no less.
You will make your first frame contain the number zero (0).
Your second frame will contain the number one (1).
Your third frame will contain the number two (2).
Can you guess what your fourth frame will contain? Yep, a number three (3).

Rinse and repeat.

You will end up with 100 images, starting with number 0, ending with 99.

Remember, no deleting, no re-shooting numbers, if you make a mistake on the exposure, go on to your next number. Fix your exposure for the next number before shooting (duh).

DO NOT TAKE THIS ASSIGNMENT LITERALLY. Be creative in how you represent the numbers you will shoot. Bonus points if you photograph them in braille. Extra bonus points if you can photograph 99 Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) for the final exposure. DO NOT have your parents drive you all over town. DO NOT go walking up and down the street looking for addresses that work. You can shoot this assignment within the comfort of your own home. There are easily 100 sequential numbers in your house.

DUE DATES:

Y Block: Images shot by Thursday, September 24th
Y Block requirements:  5 prints, 10 on the blog.  Prints due on October 1st.  Make them perfect in the camera.  I will NOT allow you do to ANY POST-PROCESSING FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT.  Print the most unique ones.

Quote for the day:

"Photoshop is a crutch for those who are too lazy to get it right in the camera."
I said this, it is my quote. If you quote me, attribute me. If you don't quote me I will be sad.

Good luck!

Guess who shot this?

Yep, yours truly shot this about 3 years ago in Moab for one of my clients.  They have had it in their library for a while and are just now finding a use for it.  I think it's pretty sweet.  They are shipping me the product to photograph very soon...sometime this week, and I don't even know exactly what it is.  I'll share with you in class how the shoot goes.  I can't post any images to the blog until the images are released from the client...top secret and all.

Shooting - Camera Setup

Here's how I want you to have your cameras set up:

Shooting on Manual, ALWAYS.
Shooting in B&W, ALWAYS.
Shooting w/out flash, ALWAYS.
Shooting on 80 ISO, ALWAYS.
Shooting on Superfine JPG, ALWAYS.  (when we talk about RAW, you shoot in RAW...)
Shooting on Large JPG, ALWAYS.
Using your brain, ALWAYS.

Shoot more images by class on Thursday.  Bring cameras to class and we'll go over some other cool stuff.

Here's an example of cool stuff...

DSM-1

This is what I was up to yesterday. Needless to say it is quite a sight when 3.6 million foot pounds of thrust get started. The ground was shaking and I was 1.8 miles from the motor. I was yelling at the top of my lungs and I could barely hear myself. It was very cool.

Assignment #1 - Scavenger Hunt

Ok gang, this first assignment is designed to get you used to using your camera, understand it's functions and really, most importantly, to have some fun.

I want you to follow these instructions for this assignment. Following instructions with exactness is crucial to many of the things we will do in photo. It is a very process-intense thing to do all of this right, so pay attention and you'll do fine.

1. Take your camera and set it on 'P'.

2. Try and find the following objects to photograph: tree, bird, dog, car, cat, platypus, friend, mom, dad, sky, floor, hand, something red, something green, something scary, something funny.

3. Try to mix it up with your shots. Get close, get closer, get REALLY close. Let the camera focus before you take the picture.

4. Get at least 30-50 shots of whatever it is you have found. It is NOT important that these images are perfect works of art. These images are PRACTICE! These images will give us some files that we can work with next week to teach you how to upload your images to the server, how to set up your blogs, etc... Something to work with is better than nothing to work with, so be sure you get something in your camera.

5. DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR CAMERA TO CLASS ON MONDAY! This is really important...if you don't have your images to class then the assignment is LATE and your grade will suffer. Not only that, but if you don't have your images with you then you won't be able to follow along with me as I do my demo on Monday.

6. Open your instruction manual read it and play with the various settings on the camera. Learn it's controls as much as you can. You don't have to understand everything, just the basics for now. We will go over in class in a very detailed manner everything you will need to know. For now just the basics are good. This will be the only assignment you ever shoot on 'P'. The rest of the shooting will be on 'M'. If you are really ambitious you can set your camera on 'M' and mess around with it.

7. If you are REALLY ambitious, start over from the beginning and re-photograph what you shot at first. You might be surprised at what you learned and how much better the images turn out.