Photography course
lamp, grate lock and door
Originally uploaded by blmurch. Monday January 29th, I received an email from SAEC with a listing of the week's events. There was the photography course I had signed up for at 5 PM. But, I had signed up for it at 4 PM. I sent them an email asking for confirmation of the correct time, but never got a response. (Grrr, how hard is it c'mon guys) I showed up at 4 PM and was told it was at 5. Guess it's better than the other way around, but still that was annoying. So, I went wandering. I found a shot of 4 of the 12 scavenger hunt items (lamp, lock, door and grate), which is my personal best so far. I found a couple of interesting murals, a decorated tree and a bookstore.
La novela - close up
Originally uploaded by blmurch. This bookstore had paper mache puppets in the window and all throughout the store! They were exquisite and creepy. I talked a bit with the owner/artist and asked if I could take some photos. He agreed. I went around shooting all sorts of interesting objets d'art. The most intriguing was the one he called "la novela", which reminded me of "The Naked Lunch". He found a typewriter in the street that had been smashed up and was inspired. I was amazed by the result. After photographing the store (except I forgot his pin head, D'OH!!), I went back to the SAEC. The full photo set is here.
Shoes in the light
Originally uploaded by blmurch. We gathered the troops and walked through San Telmo to the Hostel Ostinatto, which is RIGHT across the street from our hostel, the Tanguerea. We headed up to the fourth floor and sat on a bunch of bean bags and listened to Ryan as he talked about how to get the most out of our cameras. I re-learned about ISO (film speed), and learned about white balance and light metering options and played around a bit during the lecture.
Hostel Ostinatto stairway
Originally uploaded by blmurch. He told us one of the "most important" things is to edit our shots and throw out the duplicates, duds, etc. I really have a hard time doing this and don't really feel it's all that necessary, since storage is all but free on Flickr. But, in the last two days, I have been ruthless and have a higher quality photo-stream on Flickr as a result. There are lots of people who use Flickr to post only their best shots and I use it almost as a back up of my photo library. There's no longer an limit on how much you can upload, so I don't feel bad. On the other had, you have to weed through an awful lot of crap to get to the good shots. I was thinking about creating another Flickr account specifically for my good shots, but it seems like I hassle. I have enough trouble (i.e. spend enough time online) just managing "blmurch". I'm still mulling that over. In the interim, I'm having fun practicing the new lighting techniques that Ryan taught me and am squirming as I weed through my photos. I hope you enjoy the results.