014

This fall semester I am going to be taking a jewelry-making and metalsmithing class. This is good. I already make and sell jewelry but I generally wing it and I am fairly limited by the small amount of knowledge I have. I am also probably preregistering for level 1.5 tribal belly dance as well to keep myself in shape. Also, I am taking a crapload of photography classes (duh).

This summer, once I stop working SO MUCH, I intend to get crafty and reopen my Etsy shop.

I am eating baklava and being lazy until I go back into work.

013

Today I bought some cake. Delicious cake.

I brought it home and looked at the label and thought I ordered a slice of strawberry shit cake.

012

Today I photographed glass in the studio. I placed the glass on black plexi and pinned a clean white piece of paper to the wall for a backdrop. I set a flash up on a floor-stand and pointed it at the white backdrop. All of these photos are backlit using the reflected light.

PHOTOGRAPHING GLASS IS INFURIATING. I constantly had Windex on hand and was wiping the glass off every other shot because dust would show up or fingerprints or SOMETHING. INFURIATING.

011

Last time in Studio Lighting we messed around with color gels and whatnot. The teacher has always been hesitant to let us do what we want with them because the entire class starts OVERUSING them and it gets annoying/tacky-looking.

We used green, blue, and yellow gels. We had 3 flashes set up. 2 shoot-through umbrellas and one snoot placed on the floor aimed at Nikkita's face.

We messed around in class for a while. She split us into two teams and forbade us from using the seamless backdrop for in-class photos. Some of us worked well together ... and others really did not. It was kinda funny seeing a classmate retreat and hide in the digital lab because his group really got on his nerves. I had to leave class early because I got about 2 hours of sleep and had not eaten yet that day and around 5pm I just got dizzy and felt faint and decided to split.

ALSO: My school's cafeteria-coffee sucks. I went for hazelnut cream blend and the jug was only able to fill half of my cup. I filled the rest of my container with vanilla mocha and then I went and checked out. Let me tell you: THAT COFFEE WAS COLD, CHUNKY, AND NASTY. Even though when it came OUT of the dispenser it was steaming, by the time I got to my seat and started working it was ice-cold and disgusting. I tried for another cup [DESPERATE FOR CAFFIENE]. It was warmer but just as disgusting. I pinched my nose and chugged it since I was dead on my feet. Please, school, improve your purchasable caffeine so that your students may survive the day.

010

I bought some tea about 30 minutes ago. Rooibos Rose Garden -- it is delicious and I drank all of what I had in the tea cabinet. I usually buy it and blend it with Queen of Babylon White Tea. Makes for a very good cup. I like adding a drop of rose syrup to half a spoonful of sugar for the perfect sweetener. It is fragrant and refreshing.

Also: Rose Marzipan Delight? KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME. I will go into that tea and eat all of the candied violets. Crunchy, almondy, and so good.

Also also: My bent-fork bracelet arrived and it is awesome.

Tiny wrists represent.

009.

Today was a nice day. I went to a local tea house with my grandmother [they know me by name, that is how often I go there]. Today was a golden and warm day, so I chose a very light black tea and sweetened it with vanilla cane sugar. My Lubitel 166B also arrived, and I can't wait to take it out and shoot with it. YAY FOR NEW CAMERAS!!!

My light meter is powered by AWESOME LOOKING SELENIUM CELLS. Woo.

Today was a good day.

008.

WELCOME TO MY LIFE, LUBITEL 166B!

Also, I managed to get my old Kodak Duaflex III to work, but it only takes 620 format film. It is pretty much identical to 120 minus the size of the reel holding the film. So I wound 120 film onto a 620 reel in pitch black darkness. Cut my finger because 620 reels are thin metal. :( I would love to shoot with this camera more often but it is a pain to fit film into it AND a single roll of 620 film is like $12. Which is why I splurged on a little Lubitel. I'd like a TLR that doesn't need film modification to work. I do believe I can also modify that to take 35mm as well. I prefer 120, though.

I'm such a sucker for TLRs. Any camera that looks like it could be in Fatal Frame sounds good to me.