by Matt | Apr 9, 2003 | Imported Entry
I’m now convinced that the following is one of the most perfect meals possible. I had the extreme pleasure of eating the following mere moments ago:
1 Sundance Margarita
1 basket of Texas Tonions (shared with friends of course)
1 9oz Flo’s Fillet cooked medium-medium-well
1 Sweet Potato with butter and brown sugar
1 Greens salad (with dressing of choice)
All this plus a health supply of A1 sauce and warm delicious bread makes Longhorn Steak House one of my favorite restaurants and this one of my favorite meals.
My stomach is very happy at the moment.
Oh, and photo stuff is going well too… more later.
by Matt | Apr 7, 2003 | Imported Entry
Wondering through DC++ hubs I came across a few very interesting tracks that Chris really might be interested in finding a copy of (mp3) or trying to find on vinyl.
Sundawner – Flakes (V-side mix)
4×4 (aka: Ferry Corsten) – Indigo (original or passiva mix)
Ghostland – Guide me God (PVD mix)
Solid Sessions – Janeiro (Armin Van Buuren mix)
Licht & Schall – The Squad (might be labeled the other way ’round)
Megara vs DJ Lee – Full Intension (Chemistry or Club mix)
Cosmic Gate – The Wave
Just thought I’d share. Enjoy bro. Let me know if you need any of those sent to you if they’re hard to find.
by Matt | Apr 6, 2003 | Imported Entry
Yesterday I took a few hours and had a little shoot in the studio. I say “little” because the only person that volunteered to come down was Jason. Not that Jason is little in any way, just that it was a poor turn out. I also asked Liisa this afternoon if she’d be willing to have her picture taken. She said yes but that she was busy today and tomorrow and that next weekend would be a better time. This is why I hate 10 week semesters. The average professional photographer would have at least a few weeks to plan his shoot, I have 2 days. A professional photographer would be asked by the client to create such-and-such a picture and then be given a deadline a month away. This allows for planning, equipment prep/acquisition and time to find a model and location for the shoot. You can be flexible. If a model is busy on Tuesday, no problem, shoot on Friday. I don’t have that luxury. I got this assignment on Thursday, it’s due Tuesday. It take 1 day to get film back and scan it (Monday) so that leaves us with Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If you plan your shoot on Friday, the model is busy Saturday and they don’t process film on Sunday, this doesn’t leave much of a window to get a shoot done. Still, I’m grateful to Jason and anyone else I’ve used as a model for their willingness to step in front of the camera and for working with me on various things. I just wish we had a more open ended schedule around here.
Not really that much else to talk about. Lauren and Liisa are downstairs talking about who’s going to be invited to the wedding shower and I’m upstairs being groggy from the Excedrin PM that I took last night. Anyway, today I’m going to start my Photoshopping work and see how much I can get done. Monday will be pretty much the same. If things turn out well, I’ll post links to’em.
Later.
by Matt | Apr 4, 2003 | Imported Entry
Or lack there of. I’m having the age old problem of finding models. I was told by someone who had taken the class that we would have the opportunity to team up with fashion students and take pictures of their models and/or clothing. This hasn’t happened yet and I’m concerned that it won’t. I think there was some confusion and the person was actually talking about a student group called Fusion that puts together fashion/photo portfolios. I’m heavily considering going to one (or more) of their meetings.
Anyway, back to the problem at hand. Models. Or lack there of. We were told point blank that this was not a “shoot your friends” class. That it’s purpose was to build a strong fashion oriented body of work and that you needed model type people to be your subjects. While this is blatantly unfair to us “normal people” it’s what sells and since we’ll soon be in the business of selling ourselves as photographers, it would be in our best interest to use marketable models as a way of indicating to the client or the potential employer that we work to the best of our abilities with the highest quality props. I say props because, let’s face it, most models have the IQ of a light stand. I have this personal problem that makes me quickly irritable when I’m around stupid people, so perhaps taking this class was a bad idea. Actually, that was my original purpose in taking it. I was going to try to be a little more of a “team player” and work with people I obviously don’t like. “Works well with others” isn’t something that appears on my resume very often. Regardless, I need to take pictures of people. This is were my acquaintances come in. I have many of them, I’m sociable in a non-work environment, I talk to people in my classes, so I figured I’d be ok. Apparently not. Perhaps it was some strokes of brilliant miss-fortune but apparently 90% of the photo department is leaving for the weekend. All of my friends in the department are either busy or out of town and that leaves me with a very small pool of people to draw from.
I needed to shoot today. I didn’t, or more accurately, I don’t see it happening. I can’t find the phone numbers of anyone I had as a possibility and like I said before, everyone else is gone or busy. That leave me with tomorrow if I’m going to be able to get the film back in time to be usable. I need to find a model today. Man, now I’m really regretting taking this class. It was supposed to teach me social skills and how to “direct the model”, one of my shortcomings, but if I don’t have a model, I can’t really direct them can I?
Or, instead of actually doing something about it, I could bitch and moan on my website and throw a little pity party for myself. That sounds like a great idea. I love pity parties….
I should go get in the shower now. Later.
by Matt | Apr 1, 2003 | Imported Entry
What a really nice day it was. It was 70 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. Just right. I was cruising down the highway on my way back home, enjoying being able to have all four windows and the sunroof open. Ten minutes later however I was cursing myself for not taking any Claritin today, but that’s more of a side note. It was a nice day is what I’m trying to say.
So nice in fact that even my critique went well. Actually, it went more than just “well” and the class seemed to be in agreement that what I had was in fact a portfolio-worthy piece. I don’t know if I’d go that far. I certainly like it, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t beside myself with awe when I first saw the negatives. Maybe I should be, I dunno. You’ll have to see for yourself. I’m going to upload it to Deskmod and maybe make a wallpaper out of it. We’ll have to see. I’ll also be posting it on DT2 for those of you (Chip) who know what that is.
I was also excited to get my “Photographing People: Portraits, Fashion & Glamor” book yesterday. I’m not using it as a how-to-guide as it seems to be written in the style of, but more of a resource book. A “try this and see if you like it” sort of thing. It’s basically a big reference book for different types of lighting setups, something that I’m usually good at but could always need inspiration for.
Anyway, that’s about it. Lauren’s downtown picking up Sara and then they’re coming back and I think we’re having Chicken Salad for dinner. That would be tasty.
Matt out.
by Matt | Mar 30, 2003 | Imported Entry
Umm, someone want to tell Texas, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alaska, Tennessee and Colorado that bills like this are a bad idea? Apparently not. Did I mention that Michigan already did it? I think Chip’s dad lives in Michigan, so he may want to read these (1, 2, 3) since they go into affect fairly soon.
Seriously, who would think that a bill banning the use of any technology that conceals “the existence or place of origin or destination of any communication” would be a good idea? I guess you could come up with some bullshit “terrorists might use the internet” scenario but come on, that’s stretching things a little thin. These laws need to be rewritten if they’re even going to be vaguely acceptable.
If you send encrypted email, you’re in violation of these bills. If you use NAT and/or a router you’re in violation of these bills. If you use “Internet connection sharring” you’re in violation. Hasn’t anyone told these people that these things are important and are used on a daily basis for completely legitamate things?
All I can picture is that scene from Fight Club where they confront a city council member in the bathroom and tell him something along the lines of “we are the people who fix your meals, we deliver your mail, we drive your cars, we guard you while you sleep… do NOT fuck with us.” Only I can see an army off seriously pissed SysAdmins shutting down state capitals for days at a time. Wouldn’t is be great if we could catch congressmen sending secure emails to each other and shut down their offices for breaches of the DMCA. That would make my day.
Oh, and you may want to check out my new favorite webpage: Freedom to Tinker. Their slogan is “Freedom to Tinker … is your freedom to understand, discuss, repair, and modify the technological devices you own” and I couldn’t have said it better myself. That’s always been my main concern with things like the DMCA. After a short while we won’t have the freedom to open up our PCs and change stuff. I don’t know about you, but that scares the shit out of me. I won’t go on a long tirade because it’s late. Just read the web site. Be informed. I don’t want to be the only person concerned about this anymore.
More information:
Story from the Inquirer
Story from Freedom to Tinker
State “super DMCA” page from Freedom to Tinker
Sleep tight.
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