Greetings Citizens. Well the Basic Students managed to get through the Exposure Index Test relatively unscathed. There were the usual problems though... one student had a dead battery (even after I implored them to change it three times!) and another student didn't load her film properly and ended up with a blank roll. (Ah, to be a basic student again)! But most did alright. Some of the kids had some goofy exposures but they were in the ballpark and should be fine. I saw a few negatives drying and they looked just as you'd expect.

One thing I forgot to mention to them (I'll remember tomorrow), was to congratulate them on the condition of the lab. It was in great shape. I'll give my kudos to the 19th Century kids today as well. When I first got here the lab was in a sad state... pathetic is probably a better word! Nobody seemed to care. But that is beginning to change for the better. I seriously believe that if the students take some ownership for the lab that they actually begin to make better work. Strange connection? Perhaps, but that's what I believe.

My 19th Century kids are working on VDB's again today. Problems persist with coating. But I am starting to see some images made with digital paper negatives that are looking pretty good in my mind. Most of the students are battling the process though. They keep trying to make prints with their negatives for silver printing instead of shooting new work and processing the film for the process that they are using. They'll learn (eventually... like I did) that it is easier to shoot new negatives than battle old ones.

There was a guest speaker last night. Her work was very interesting. Did she speak to the subject matter? No. Did she describe her working process? No. Did she tell us how big the images were? Over and over again. Yawn! It was horrible! The students were all squirming in their seats. And, quite frankly, so was I! Now I know a visual artist can't be expected to be a great orator but come on! Can't you talk to something more relevant to the work than the dimensions? (Hi, I'm Mark, my current work is 2 inches by 6 inches. Thank you very much).