I had the opportunity to take a short photography class at RISD. (That’s kinda like the time Haylie Duff said she was going to Harvard, and it turned out to be online “extension” classes. Haha.)
It was one of the most challenging things ever! Physically challenges, I’m used to failing (ie swimming, skiing). But mental/academic things? That was tough on me. I felt like every picture I took came out flat, boring. Not engaging and interesting the way everyone else’s photos were – we spent more than half of each class critiquing.
At the end, I really came to appreciate the professor’s teaching style. We spent only one class on the mechanics of using shutter speed & aperture and the rest was up to you to practice & figure out. We never went over rules of thirds or composition formulas & theories. Or how to do lighting. He wanted us to learn how to feel and see through the camera. Which frustrated the hell out of me.
(middle of the semester, starting to get better)
It wasn’t until the final assignment where I thought… okay… I’m starting to get the hang of this. Coincidentally it was supposed to be the most challenging: self portraits. First, I could finally sort of get hold of the aperture/shutter speed thing. Not good enough to have fine control over depth of field, but enough to have correct exposure and not be blurry (unless on purpose). And most importantly, I finally had visions and feelings about how I wanted the picture to look before I set it up. According to the feedback, it came out exactly how I wanted it.
I was envisioning movie-stills. I even considered color shades, and light sources. And my compositions came out balanced even though it was a crapshoot whether would be able to stand in exactly the right place because I wasn’t looking through the camera. So the professor was right; these things kinda came naturally once I was able to open my eyes. Also, I learned a secret of the trade. Photography looks easy, but for every one picture you see, there are probably about 50 on the “cutting room floor” so to speak. For each assignment, I took 200-300 shots that I had to edit down to 30. And even then I was reaching. I think I usually had 20 worthy of showing.
Somehow I developed a fascination with film photography. I get kind of awestruck now when I see a beautiful shot in a movie. I just watched Frida and the scenes were so beautiful I wanted to cry. I have a friend who worked as Director of Photography on movies (including the upcoming Vincent Gallo project) and he just moved to California for some project he can’t tell us about. I wish I could’ve picked his brain or followed him around when I had the chance.
Next week, I start a two-session workshop on film photography. Like, actual film! I ordered a cheap Holga camera, and I’m gonna learn film developing, which I did a few times in high school and once last year. I’m not in it to fancy myself a photographer; just wanted to get better skills for taking family pictures and casual stuff.
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