An Introduction

So, I've begun a blog. I'm still not entirely certain as to what this blogging thing is all about, however I hear for some people it's a pretty big deal. I'm not sure of what this means to me just yet...this is an introduction, after all.

I should introduce myself then. I'm Elise Tanner, a 21-year-old undergraduate student at Columbia College Chicago majoring in photography and minoring in fiction writing. I can't begin to tell you who my favorite artist and/or photographer is, nor will I talk big as if I

 know a lot about Art. I have a part time job working in the Slide Library of the school, which I think will turn out to help in furthering my "career." I have yet to shoot professionally (i.e. I've never been paid to take pictures), although my friend Christine's mother did frame and hang in her house a portrait I took of her daughter in high school (haha, what a small thing to be proud of). I've been taking pictures on a regular basis, film and digital, for a little over four years now, but I did have a Kodak Advantix point-and-shoot in middle school that took many pictures at lunch recess, haha.

It seems a lot of people end up having one major as an undergraduate, and then choosing a different one for their graduate; so, I'm not sure as to what major I should have come Graduate School considering I'm pretty damn sure I made the right choice to begin with. That's because I happen to enjoy this medium of Art which so many people take for granted. I enjoy it quite a lot, and while I'm not entirely sure of where I'm going with it (and that's only normal, I should suspect, as an up-and-coming Junior in college) I do know I'm going somewhere. I fear it may take me a while to get there, but I've never expected or hoped to be rich or live co

mfortably and have an easy life. The starving artist isn't exactly what I'm going for, but I'm not afraid of it. Happiness is the goal I wish to achieve.

This is the image I'm currently working on. It was taken on Sunday June 29th at the Chicago Pride Parade on the roof of a friend's apartment building (perfect view of Broadway from up there). The jpeg is cooler than the original, for some reason I can't seem to figure out. The original is warmer, especially in the skin-tone, and it makes the overcast day seem not so overcast. This image is a good example of where I'm at with my photoshop skills. About four hours worth of adjusting curves in layer masks...yeah I still have a long way to go, but I'm getting better at it, I think.

I should probably work on my final for Digital II that is due in less than two weeks. I'm using old images from the summer of 2006 when I toured Europe. This was pre-RAW format, so these jpeg images are tiny. But they will make do. I've wanted to print them for a long time, and since Ben (the teacher, really great guy) said it was

okay, I'm using them for the final. I have to have 10 printed images, and so far I have about four edited, and none printed. I have no idea when I'm going to find the time to print in the lab. This image is not finished, but I'm finding it challenging to figure out quite how to color balance sunset/sunrise pictures. You'd think after my final project for Photo II (silhouettes, lots of natural lighting) that I'd have some idea of how to make a sunset look beautiful yet believable in color. This was just outside of Venice, taken from the tour bus, July 2006.

I just bought a Canon 5D with the 24-70mm L series lens. I haven't really had a chance to play with it too much (I had a massive hangover today...don't ask), but I'm really excited to finally have a new, better DSLR. I've been a real photographic funk for the past seven months or so and now I'm trying to get myself back into it. I haven't really shot any images for myself. Last weekend at Pride was the first time in a while I've made images I really liked, and that one of Dana in the yellow shirt just might make it into my portfolio. Speaking of which, I have a long way to go with bringing together this portfolio. I'm finding the most difficult part about it is that I don't feel like I have enough work to go in it. I probably do, but I'm so picky and usually don't like my work, so it's hard to put an image I don't really like into my portfolio.

The only resolution I have to this problem is to SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT. And keep shooting. I'm at this point in my work where I need to make lots and lots of images. My new camera, and my rediscovered drive to make pictures may help me achieve this. I'm excited about this blog and I hope it will bring me closer to my peers and other members of the photographic community.

Alright, back to the editing.

~Elise