Silhouettes, sequence and everyday life.

Much has happened in my life since I blogged the last time. It's been two weeks! Without going too much into details, I can tell you that I have also been sick for a while now. But I'm on the road to recovery. Today I made breakfast for myself for the first time in a long time. And I felt inspired again! I can not tell you enough how much I really love photography. I so do! Ahh, and it breaks my heart when I think of the possibility of not being able to do it anymore. 

So, let me show you what I have done since the last time. It is a great deal. Again, I have had some boring tasks where I have had to show the difference between using a flash indoors and outdoors, with different objectives - and to measure the temperature of the light and see the difference between the different temperatures, etc., etc. Such tasks are not about the picture itself and do not communicate much, but we have to do them because it is practical, and we learn a lot. They are only test shots, so I'm not gonna show them to you. However, I'll show you some silhouettes. 

It's always fun to try something new, and I can tell you that I have never made ​​silhouettes before. It was a little difficult at first, to be honest. We had a lot of fun on this shoot, especially with all the posing that was required. It had to be a bit dramatical so it would look interesting. And we were all very creative when we were finding new ways to pose. It was a good day. 

I was going to put up more pictures, but it looks like the server failed to handle more than three silhouettes. Sorry folks! Moving on to the next thing. 

I had to make a sequence as well the same week. We had the chance to choose whatever we wanted, and many people in my class chose to take a pictures of their food as it becomes less and less on the plate. I chose to focus on facial expressions and took pictures of Sophia. She was getting tired for sure. A picture speaks a thousand words, right?

I got good feedback for the sequence. My teacher said that although he usually hates the color I've used in the pictures, he likes it in this setting. I don't usually use this greenish-sepia-color, but I wanted to achieve an old film vibe also because of the way the images are put together. Instead of having it in black and white. What do you think? Do you also hate the color as much as my teacher and me? He liked the fact that she looked like an adult. Almost like a little person who is nervous before a giving a speech.

The next thing we had to do was to read a text by Paul Graham, called "Photography is so easy ... ... ...". If you want, you can read it here: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/07/theory-paul-graham-photography-is-easy.html

We had to let Paul Graham's text inspire us to create a daily diary from our lives (a series about what you observe around you when you begin to see). 


I decided to use my analog images to demonstrate what is around me.

I have not learned to scan the negatives yet, so these images have been photographed with my digital camera but not manipulated. That's the beauty of analog images. They are as they are. No changes, and no possibility of deleting if you are not happy with the result. The film that I've used for the color images is the Kodak Portra 160. It gives a finer grain structure and a natural skin tone reproduction. You can read more about it here http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/portra/160main.jhtml

For the black and white, I've used Ilford Delta 100. This is a very expensive film if you want a lab to develope your negatives and also make the copies. You can read more about it here: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/product.asp?n=8

I'll try to put up more analog shots when I'll have the time. The camera that I use, is a Minolta XE-7, with a 50mm f1,7.

Here is a picture of me with the camera.

So now you know how my Minolta looks like, and how my Minolta and I look like together!

That's all for now, folks! Maybe I'll write a new post very soon. Next time I'll be talking about phobias, dreams and shapes. Stay tuned!


PS: I need models every week. Please contact me if you live in Oslo, or if you can come to Oslo for a photoshoot. I don't ask for a perfect body or a flawless face, and you don't need experience with modeling. We'll figure it out! My e-mail is monica_tormassy@yahoo.no. You can also find me on facebook: Monica Tormássy, or on Twitter. Thanks!