Think Outside the Box

Using the Headline"Think Outside the Box" produce a very creative ad for the Company: Shueskys & Such, Fine Shoe Craftsmen.  You can include a subhead if you wish.

OK, so I am really glad I reread the directions before I sent this file off to be printed.  Due Tuesday.
Grading Criteria:
                        Image is lit beautifully
                        Concept is carried out properly
                        CREATIVITY!!!


Grade: C+   :(

Here are the concerns:   "From the top, there is an odd little piece of black, which has a bit of a dent in it.  I think it may be best to just have the purple go to the top or to have the black part be straighter if it is necessary to show.

The slight shadow on the background bothers me, but not as much as all the marks on the seamless by the shoes... Cynthia!!!! I am giving you a look right now.

Finally, the shoes themselves.  The highlights on top are blinding.  I am having trouble seeing now without spots in my eyes.  Even though these are glossy shoes, we still need to light them correctly.  Also watch the inside of the shoe we are seeing - distracting.  (Might as well take out the little seam thing below the "Think", and leave just a bit more space between the k and the O (Think Outside).

Persimmons

My friend Pat brought me a bag of persimmons today.   I decided to photograph them as a resubmit for my assignment on quality of light.  This image includes a gobo.  I'm glad I decided to photograph them early, because we have eaten most of them - they were delicious.

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland, a set on Flickr.

So here goes. My first post about my personal work on this blog.  An Alice in Wonderland Party. Yes - I like children so much that I even enjoy their birthday parties. Spending some time capturing images that they may someday share with their own children is like ice cream on the cake.

Posting from Flickr may not be the way to go about this - BECAUSE it looks like you still have to click over to Flickr - will make up my mind if I like this grid way of presenting the images - lots of decisions.

Organizing my Images

I spent some time last night updating this blog.   I have kept this blog strictly for school/workshop type assignments but think I should probably add "personal work" here also.  Up to this point I have been uploading my "personal work" to the Cynthia Terrell Photography blog and they don't make a lot of sense - mixed in with portraits of newborns and happy families.

So from this point on, I'll be posting all my personal work in Photo School News and More and restricting the Cynthia Terrell Photography blog to portraits and such....

 “The choices we make by accident are just as important as the choices we make by design.”

Sell the Sizzle

Eyes the Window to Your Soul  is the byline for this assignment and this is the image I created.  I'm pretty sure I will need to resubmit.  I didn't use any supplemental light - which resulted in  a bunch of noise because I had to shoot at a high ISO.  I'm sure the instructor will notice the mashed pixels on the front of the helmet where I removed reflections from the garage ceiling.

If you look carefully at a copy of the original image you can see the reflections I worked so hard to remove.

I planned to work with another model and use supplemental light - but she canceled the day before we were supposed to get together :(   Getting models is not easy - I guess it is time to take out the wallet.

Miranda July at the Pacific Design Center

I gathered my friend Julietta and took off to see the Miranda July exhibit.  We drove down to MOCA on North Grand and found the museum closed.  I walked all around the building searching for the installation. Nothing - well not nothing - but no Miranda July installation.  Luckily, the Museum Store was open and we found out that the installation was not downtown but on the lawn at the Pacific Design Center - so off we went.  

Miranda July invites visitors to interact with her sculptures Eleven Heavy Things.  I thought I would time to bring Brooke back to see the exhibit - but it closed before I had time to make a "Play Date" with her :(

Read more about the installation here...

Field Trip to LACMA

The Contemporary Photography class spent the afternoon at LACMA. We met at Chris Burden's Urban Lights installation.  I was all prepared to capture some great shots and found that I had forgotten to slip in a CF card before I left home.  Thankfully, Carol Omata had an extra and was willing to loan it to me.  How does a "real" photographer forget to put a fresh CF card in the camera?   All that ends well....

Here is my favorite image from the set I captured

It makes me feel a little dizzy looking at it from this direction - but it looks nice as a card - may try to print it as a 16x20 and see what it looks like a bit larger.

While we were in the Broad Contemporary Art Museum we met Franklin Sirmins, the department head and Curator of Contemporary Art.  He talked to us a bit about his background and the work he was doing in the museum.  I think we all enjoyed meeting him.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to ....

A funny thing happened in class today:

The instructor was talking about the fries arranged on the plate as he critiqued our image  - and said something like "Years ago McDonalds used to cut the fries at the restaurant" and then he said  "Do you remember that Cynthia?"   Well of course I do - but I got a little chuckle out of having him recognize me as the oldest person in the class.  I think he was a little embarrassed and wondered if he hurt my feelings  - but it was OK.

I don't often think about being the oldest person (probably old enough to be the grandmother to most of the students) and I don't think they give it much thought either.  Sometimes it gets noticed, like today or when I am carting something heavy or have my arms full of stuff, then, invariably someone wants to help me - and I let them.  There should be some benefits to being the oldest person in the program :)

The Burger

Had our critique on the food shoot today.  Our team created a scrumptious looking cheeseburger meal.

Here are the client's comments:

Looks real tasty everything fresh.    

Suggestion of moisture on cup good.    

Burger, ingredients looks like a good portion.   

Moisture on meat good.  

Looks hot.

And these are the instructor's comments

Excellent arrangement of fries

Cloth handled well in back

Watch sesame retouching-double images 

Bun looks great

Good selection and arrangement of produce on burger

Watch little lettuce area on far left...

Finally got an A, unfortunately not too sure it is the grade I would have given myself :( It's not terrible, but after seeing it projected on a huge screen - I see some things I think we should have changed.  

That little piece of lettuce leaf on the left side has a bit too much oil - instead of making it look fresh and crisp and looks a little oily and flat. Wish we had pushed the pickle under the bun a bit more and pulled the meat out on the left side.