Mid Semester Update

Who knew I could shoot, edit and print almost an entire midterm project in a week and a half. I have been in a time crunch with all of my school-work, to say the least. And while the project is finally "done," it's by no means finished. All of it could have been done better, but the project was a learning experience. At the start of it, I felt very uncomfortable using the strobe lighting system, and by the end it was starting to become fairly easy. I was also unfamiliar with the process of staging and setting up a scene. I approached the project with the intention not to stage at all, but quickly realized the benefits (and subsequently the validity) of using such a process. As always, I struggled most with my concept as it evolved and subsequently began to take shape during the shooting process. And now I think I've decided I will continue with it. We shall see.

Essentially this is the concept: The idea came from the fact that I have two roommates who I almost never see because we all have busy, conflicting schedules. It's strange to me that I live with these people, never see them, yet can still sense their presence. I became interested in this idea of seeing a person without actually seeing them, and tried to think of ways I could use photography to show this idea. And that's what I've done with this project, I've photographed areas and things that contain traces of a person, that make you think about them and essentially feel their presence, without actually seeing them. I decided for the sake of time and immediacy I would photograph just within my apartment, focusing specifically on myself and my roommates.

Note: These images are not color balanced for the web, so the color isn't exactly correct-looking.

During the shooting I was able to receive immediate feedback from Grace, my roommate and fellow photography student, and after the project was completed I briefly discussed the final images with my coworker and grad student, Grant. Both of their inputs helped a lot, and come this Tuesday's final critique, I'll be curious to see what people think, especially if I want to improve as I continue with this concept.

The project is barely polished, with weak composition/staging of the subject, not the most professional or interesting of lighting situations, and the post work could definitely use improvement. But these are all things I know I could work to improve on as I continue with this.

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I sign up this Tuesday for my classes next semester. Originally I was going to take both Photojournalism I (with White) and Documentary (with Evans), but both are 4 credit hour classes so taking them simultaneously puts me over the 17 credit hour limit per semester. I've settled on taking Documentary next semester and PJ while I'm in my senior class.

I keep having to remind myself that, even though I'm going for a B.A. and not a B.F.A., and subsequently taking less studio classes, it's okay because I'm doing a minor. Few photography students seem to be doing a minor, and I kind of wonder why. As for photography classes, I want to take everything, but can't fit it in before I graduate. If I did the math right, I should have four open slots for whatever classes I want to take.

I think I'm going to buy www.elisetanner.com really soon, even though I won't actually have a website for a while. I'm simply amazed that nobody has that name domain name already. For now I'll stick with elisetanner.carbonmade.com, which is still under construction.