Hello. It never ceases to amaze me how well students can participate in a critique if they are allowed to do just that... participate. The students in my digital class has a good one (in my humble opinion) yesterday. There were many insightful comments on the Photography, on digital photography (in general), on Photoshop (specifically), and (most importantly) on the attributes that each of the photographers in the class bring to the medium. I found the whole affair quite refreshing.

Today... in three hours... I have my first ever school game in the sport of basketball. Last season I was prodded into doing some kiddie ball and this year I am stepping up a notch. Not only is it a good excuse to get my fat ass up and do something, it is a fun (for the most part) activity. I've been going over the official's manual to make sure I understand the major mechanics and know the signals. It's an odd place to be given that I worked upper-level softball for 25 years and I just finished my 24th year of refereeing high school football. But today I'm a rookie again.

After the game, I'm heading over to Hubba's house to watch the Cowboy vs Packers football game. Luckily, he has Direct TV... and the NFL Channel. Of course I have to bring food.

Man, was I ever sick today! Puked my guts out & had a 'splitter' headache all stinking day long. I still feel crappy but I drank some tea... English-style... and now I'm not tired. I'm not overly thrilled with this image but I am impressed at how easy it is to use the new & improved Photomerge feature in CS3. Peace-out.

Washington State University Cougars 42
washington huskies 35

Gobble, Gobble! Just finished looking at Slade's latest imagery and I figured I better put a pic up myself.

A few days ago, Hubba asked me if I'd photograph an old rock house in Fielding for him to give to his wife for Christmas. Since he had helped me rake leaves, I really couldn't say no. I brought my digital camera and my reliable Ferrania Eura film camera. (The Ferrania had some color film in it & I needed to shoot it up to get processed). Anyway, as an afterthought, I thought I'd shoot some zone-plate images with the digital camera. That's what today's image is... a heavily manipulated zone-plate image. I like how the approaching storm appears in the background. I also made an image of his Audi in front of the house. That image didn't turn out too bad and I made a tritone of it for him helping me. Saturday, I think I'm going to drive the Falcon over there and make an image of it with the house in the background.

Wow! They're are going to sell beer in Nimbly on Sundays! The world is going to Hell in a hand basket! What's next lottery tickets?

Good Morning. Last night the Photo Guild had a opening at the Cafe Ibis. It was well attended and one of the students sold both of her pieces!

I have kiddie basketball in a couple of hours followed by some flag football. The flag games are a benefit to help out a policeman who broke his leg while hunting. After the games, we'll come back to my house and watch the Aggies get toasted by Boise State and eat some lunch.

I'm excited for my independent projects class next semester. I finally made the decision to require the students to use a Holga.

Many of the students are thrilled with the notion of doing their projects with a camera that emphasizes "seeing" over technical controls. I had one student who wanted to rebel... didn't want to embrace the "plastic fantastic" and I tried to point out the positive aspects of using a Holga. She initially wasn't buying in but after thinking it over for a day decided it just might suit her imagery. The class will serve as a nice backdrop for Photo II. The Photo II class filled almost immediately and at least seven of my students (who plan on becoming Photo majors) couldn't register. So, either the class is going to be overloaded or we're going to have to add another section.

Hello World. I have a trip to the dentist today. Joy.

Last night the kids from the Photo Guild hung some work at the Cafe Ibis. There are images from seniors on down to some of the basic students. I think it's a great opportunity for the kids to get their work out in the public arena and be seen. Unfortunately, I think a couple of images are going to be excluded because there might be a little too much skin showing. Well, I guess there's a lesson to be learned there too.

I've been pondering the notion of having my students in next semester's Independent Projects class use plastic cameras for their projects. Many of the kids will also be taking Photo II (which is a seriously technical class) and I'm thinking the freedom of using a plastic camera and the inherent emphasis on seeing will be good for them.

I taught a plastic camera class in Alaska this summer with high school kids and was mildly surprised at the quality of the work that was produced. I've always wanted to have a low-tech class in college and this looks like my best chance. I've polled some of the students and they seem interested so I'm thinking it's Holga time.