Photoamusement

We found a perfect Deardorff Large Format Camera in the closet at school today. Worth about $1,700 dollars. HOLY FSTARKING CRAP. We hope the principal will let us sell it on eBay or something.

We also set up our studio to take portraits. Right now we're just working with two lights and nothing else. No umbrellas, no bounces, nothing else but the flash on my camera. It's pretty ghetto and makes for some funky lighting that ultimately didn't please me, but it's a start.
So here's some stuff I did for photo:


(Click for larger if you can't read the text)

Kids are two Photo III kids who had nothing better to do.

A New Member of the Family

Meet Inky, 160gb iPod Classic. First one I've bought for myself.

I could afford the iPod, but not the Applecare, which was an additional fifty bucks... it's worth it, but now i'm fifty in the hole.


But hey, movies! I've been putting trailers on my iPod while it loads all my music.

-Flip

A Suprise!

Remember This Post from a few days/week ago? Well, I had sent a letter to him same day I posted it, saying how much I loved his first book, Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, and how much he had inspired me when I was little.



I got a handwritten postcard from James Gurney!!




Omg I was so stoked. :) I am so happy. Totally made my day.
*dances*

-Flip

An Unpaid Job

Here's a doodle of the Lord:



He has a mouth now.

Today I might go to school and help Mrs. Whelan wade through our three closets full of old photography equipment.

I swear, it's like Christmas every time I go in there. We find so much stuff that I wish we had last year, but since the photo teacher two years ago left in such a hurry, everything was just thrown off into a pile and left uncounted. So we have a bunch of stuff, like developing tanks and a freakton of trays, plus three color enlargers and one large black and white one. We also have some old-timey antique equipment and really obsolete stuff that we can't use anymore.

So our plan is to go through, salvage whatever we want and can use, and the rest we're going to sell. We got the OK from Dr. Smith and Dr. Geihs, so the proceeds will come right back around to the photo department.

This is really cool for me. I found our backdrop stand, plus three rolls of backdrop paper, two of which weren't even out of the packaging. I'm now the one that's also in charge of all our 'Calls' from around school. I've got the sole responsibility of taking pictures for the Student of the Month display and all that crap, while the rest of my class learns Photoshop and fights with our extremely crippled computers. I get an extreme amount of joy and sense of accomplishment out of my Photo II class now. :)

A Rant

I've been a member of Deviantart since I was about 12. That's four years I've been faithful to them through everything.

Deviantart used to be a great service. Many tutorials, stock photos, and intelligent people, beautiful art, and a great social network for other artists of different mediums.

Recently, I don't know when, because I don't seem to remember them pointing this out, they have turned on the Mature Content Filter for anyone under 18. I'm 16, and have never turned the filter on. DA does not post pornography, but artistic nudes and sometimes references to drugs or violent images come across my radar. They do not offend ME, and my parents have thus far always been cool with it. I'm kind of pissed off because all of the sudden, I click on something and it says "You cannot view this until you turn 18."

Nobody told me this. There was no news post.

I post my grievance in the forum, and I'm instantly flamed with "I really don't care anymore" and "What's with all these diaper-changing complaints lately, grow the f*ck up"

Seriously, I addressed my complaint in a civil and adult manner, and these people are treating me like nothing.

I'm seriously in a shaking rage, mostly because of the response I got.

So, I quit DA today, once and for all. My drawings are taken off, and my photos will now only be displayed on Photobucket. Any drawings I do post will probably be either here, or on a seperate sketchblog if I so choose to make one. I might actually get to work on a portfolio site within the next few months...

Holy hell I hate people.

-Flip

Good things!

Well, good things may be afoot. This is May as in "Unicorns MAY exist, but until we kill one and eat it, we'll never know."

Firstly, there's a new section in the school newspaper titled Campus Life, or something of that nature. With a new section, they need a new section editor. I've since volunteered my extra time, and I'm feeling hopeful. Most of my Journalism class is Freshmeats, and I'm a Junior, so I have seniority over them. Plus, I'm taking three English classes this year. It's not really a section I'm ecstatic about, but it would be pretty friggin' sweet to be able to work on the paper.

I won't be a staff writer, but I still get to do something. :D

Also, last year I took the PSAT, which is a requirement among highschool sophomores. Apparently I scored high enough to get the attention of some smaller schools and institutes around the states, but I haven't enticed CalArts or the Brooks Institute of Photography. I did however get a letter from University of Nevada, Reno saying that since I placed so high on the PSAT last year, I should take it AGAIN this year, to see if I can be a finalist and win a four year $60,000 scholarship (Or, $15,000 a year) from the National Honors Society or something.

So, I have until next monday to register at the bank for the PSAT. It's only fifteen bucks, and not that hard. The only problem I have is the math part, and I still didn't fail. I take the real SAT at the end of this year, and this should help me prepare for that too, I guess.

Here's some art since I still don't post enough. :> I have some new ceramics pieces that need to be fired once we get the part for the kiln.

Gurney Journey - Dinosaurs!

I remember reading Dinotopia when I was real little. I loved the illustrations in the one hard-back book I had, and before I really read it, I only looking through that book just to see the pictures. I had the first one, I think. Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time

So I was so stoked when Drawn! had a post about James Gurney's Blog, Gurney Journey. He has a lot of tips and tricks, and I had no idea that Dinotopia was still going so strong. I'm going to have to pick up some of the books and look through them.

His stuff is really fantastic and immediately made me think of Artlad. :)

Autism Strikes Again

Today started off normally. The printer was out of ink, so when I tried to re-print my Creative Writing homework, it was all fuzzy and faded and stupid looking. Then I left it at home. Awesome. Luckily I had it saved to my thumb drive, so I could print it out in Photography. Other than that, the day went by with little problem. Nothing interesting happened.

So when I got on the bus to go home, Fletcher is obviously agitated. He's hitting his head and fussing, but nothing too serious as we first pull out of the parking lot. Then, he starts hitting harder. I was afraid of him knocking himself out, maybe a window, or hurting anyone (Bob forbid, the Bus Driver.) so I have to leap out of my seat and hold down his arms while he kicks and screams and keeps trying to hit himself.

Now, I may be older, but my feminine genetics and lack of dietary regularity have put me somewhere between 90 and a 115 pounds on a bad day and good day, respectfully. He's taller, chubbier, stronger, and much more ferocious. So while I hold his arms and scream at him to stop it while the Bus Driver and Aid look at me. When I have his hands, he stomps his feet and kicks and tries to get into the aisle to fuss even more. My new fear was that he would kick the fire extinquisher or hurt the Bus Driver or Aid, so I pull him back up in his seat as best I can (Causing my back to twinge something fsking bad) and scream at him to stop. He's hitting his head against the seat, just hell-bent on causing himself bodily harm while he bellows and screams for any reason. I don't know what set it off, but I know my hands are still shaking 30 minutes later, and I was afraid he was going to break my arms or something.

So that's an example of how bad he can get. That's not the worst, however. I know, because if it were the worst, I wouldn't have been able to stop him. And then I don't know what I'd do...