busy bee...

I have been a busy, busy bee over the last little while - nearly a week since I last blogged!!

Ok, so a rundown of my life for that past (nearly) week:

Friday morning I went to work with mum and cut boards for my folio, and stuck my photos onto the board - and thus finished my photography folio. I am absolutely proud of it, even if other people aren't (more on that in a bit).

Friday night I was meant to work, but it has been so quiet lately that my shift was cancelled. So, instead I went to the Queenscliff Music Festival! It was rainy wnd windy (with an awesome thunder storm) but it was fairly fun. I had got media accreditation as a photographer (which basically means I get in for free) so I raced to James' and borrowed his digital camera (because mine is still in NSW). John took me the forty minutes to Queenscliff with him, because he was recording people for his radio program. I saw Sarah Blasko and Ash Grunwald, as well as some other less notable performances. However, I had started to get sick on Thrusday, so running around in the wet wasn't the best thing for me, and I left feeling like crap - blocked nose, sore throat, headache, you know... I'm glad I went but I felt pretty crappy the next day.

Saturday I did work, but was sent home early because it was so quiet. When I got home I went straight to bed because I felt dreaful, then my mum called up my (other) work and told my boss (who is actually my aunty, so it wasn't that bad) that I was too sick to work. I stayed in bed from about 2pm till 7-ish pm, when mum brought me home some chips for dinner, then we sat and watched Harry Potter before going to bed drugged with Cold and Flu tablets and lots of Panadol.

Sunday mum and I buzzed around the house getting ready for my interviews for Uni on Monday and my Graduation Monday night. She finished my graduation skirt and fixed the necklace I wore, while I finished off all my interview things.

Monday I was out of bed at 6am... Horrible... Got ready, and mum drove me to Melbourne for one entrance test, one information session and two interviews. The entrance test, for Applied Photography, was ok, some of the question about science I thought were silly, but there you go.. The information session, for Scientific Photography, just hit home how much I really wanted to do the course - it is awesome! Then we had lunch, before I went to the Applied Photography interview. I didn't like that interview, the interviewers acted as if they were superior, which just didn't seem fair to me... The Scientific Photography interview was heaps better!! The interviewers (four guys, three American, one Aussie) were really nice. They are science/tech nerds who were debating Mac over PC before me interview (I could hear them through the wall - not that I was intentionally eves-dropping). They seemed really genuine. They chatted between themselves as if they were friends, as well as chatting to me. They were genuinely impressed with my folio (unlike the guys at Applied Photography, who just flicked through and said nothing), and even said that the quality of my folio (the way it was compiled) was better than the way their students do it - which I was pretty chuffed about. The Science interview really lifted my spirits. They were concerned that I hadn't done VCE science, but it was such a positive experience I wasn't that worried about the negatives. We had to race home from Melbourne, because I had to get ready!!

Monday night I graduated!!! I dressed up in all my finery (a beautiful skirt, which I may even photograph to post, a simple brown top and awesome jewellery) and graduated from high school!! When we get our graduation certificates we get them in folders, and on the back of the folders (for some people) are stickers to denote if you got any extra awards - I had three stickers! I got an Academic Excellence award, for receiving high marks for all of my subjects, a Citizenship Award, for being an exceptional student in the school community and helping out, etc., and another special award which I can't remember (it is a special award, that I receive on Awards Day in front of parents and the rest of the school) - I think it was a Community Award, but I can't remember. We get eat, and chat, and dance! The band were great, we boogied and had heaps of fun!! I was in so many photos, so goodness knows how much it will cost me to get the ones that I want - but they are all memories!! It was such a great night - and I can't believe I am done. I am no longer part of the school. It is highly scary, because I don't know what is going to happen now. Until offers come out, I am completely free, nothing in particular planned for the future. It is incredibly daunting knowing that, but also somehow incredibly exciting! The opportunities that are coming up and that I can participate in are amazing - I just hope it all comes together!! But I think it just might...

That pretty much brings everything up to speed, because yesterday I sat around with my sister and watched videos of Gilmore Girls all day, and now it is today. Tomorrow I am going to see the new Harry Potter with Megs which should be good - it looks somewhat scarier than the other movies, and I am looking forward to it. Then I am working on the weekend (hopefully. If my hours are cut I won't have any money to buy Christmas presents) and getting some things up on eBay to sell. The summer is looking pretty damn good to me!!

a Thursday afternoon rant...

Well, it's not really a rant, but I thought it sounded light a cool title...

I got some news about my digital camera this morning. It is going to cost about half what it was to buy new, so the general consensus is that I will get a new camera - the new model. This is exciting, but I am pissed off with myself for causing this to happen. All I did was drop the damn thing - that's it. I suppose digital things are much more sensitive to the odd bump because of all the bits inside them.

Oh, did I comment about the fact that my film camera was playing up? Nope, I don't think I did. Well, it was playing up. The prints were having to be pulled out of completely useless negatives, so John and I went on a mission to figure out what the problem was. Turns out, it was overexposing the film by two stops. Not a good thing really. Now all my prints are turning out perfectly. And, the good thing about my completely-manual camera is that I can trick it! To make the "remembering to expose two stops less than what it wants" thing easier, I can just set my ISO reading two steps higher than the film I am using - perfect! And it works! I have been getting some pretty good black and white prints too, which is exciting. I have chosen about six for my folio. There will be six black and whites, six colour digitals, and one colour film (I think). The colour film probably isn't the best choice, so I might have to rethink that, and replace it with either another digital or another b&w - I'm not sure. It was so hard picking thirteen prints from about 30+. I spent about an hour slowly deciding that the prints I have excluded weren't required because they were a poorer quality duplicate-theme of something I already had, or they weren't as interesting as some of the other prints. I am sure when mum has a look at my choices tonight she will want to make some changes - so I have to make sure I am in a compromising mood. In fact, I really have to be careful because I keep getting grumpy at her - she is just so blunt. One minute we are looking at some of my pictures, then she comments (for example, and she did actually say this) that "this is a waste of space" and I feel crushed, then I get grumpy with her. Then I make a rude comment, making her pissed off, then we have problems. I did that last night, I made a really rude comment, but it is all good now - I apologised!

Yes, so I think I am a little bit stressed at the moment. I mean, I don't do that much each day, but it is because I can't. I don't have a car so I can't go out and take photos, but now I don't want anymore to choose from. Then I start fretting about Christmas because I haven't really done any Christmas shopping and it is only a month away. Then I worry about money, which leads me to worry about when I have to work and what I have to get done before work. Then, because I am working eight hours on Saturday, I start worrying that I might not be completely prepared for my entrance test, interview and information session that I have on Monday, or for my Validictory that I have on Monday night. Then I start feeling bad because I can't go anywhere and I spend my days doing not much, which gets me right back to the start... Argh...

Oh, and just before I sign off for another post, I have created a second blog for myself. It is located here and is called not so rejected. It is where all the photographs that I like, but aren't good enough for me to showcase on my website, reside. I started it today so there is only one image (which has appeared on this blog, but oh well) - but there are sure to be more! Enjoy.

the verdict...

So if yoy read this, you will know that I have been hoping to get into a photography course for University. I got some news about that yesterday (which I commented briefly on in the last post, but I thought I would elaborate). Two of the four courses were sending out details of interviews for the successful applicants, and I didn't get one. Well, not one this round, but I don't think I will get a chance for second round anyway. Now my complete focus is going to be Scientific Photography, and maybe the TAFE course. But the TAFE course was like an absolute back-up, so I think I will just hope that I get into Scientific Photography, or else I will (hopefully, anyway) go to the Uni nearby and do a plain Bachelor of Arts - maybe even try for an Education course for my second year and become a teacher. Lots of people I know think I will eventually become a teacher anyway - so why not bite the bullet and do it now. I will, of course, keep taking photos for fun - I was going to anyway. I love doing so...

But I am still very excited about finishing high school - just like I was yesterday. The funny thing is: now I don't have anything to do! I have to house to myself tonight, and there is absolutely nothing on TV, so I was thinking about what I could fill up my time with, and I couldn't think of anything! Well, I was contemplating tidying up my bookshelves, or going through my wardrobe (again), or doing a ruthless cleanout of all my years work and just my cupboard in general. Hmmm... it is incredibly strange not having anything to do! I have been giving lots of hours to work, though. But thinking about that, I will still have heaps of spare time! How strange! I think I will start selling stuff on eBay or something - have to fill up the time somehow... Suggestions, anyone?

Oh, and in response to that exciting comment from Megs - no news on my camera, it is still in NSW getting a quote about itself. Hopefully it will be ok. Thankful James has decided he will let me use his (new) camera for the music festival that is coming up at the end of November - all very exciting. Actually, I am incredibly jealous of James, he got the new version of my (injured) camera - and it has better megapixels than mine!! Hmmm... I think I shall enjoy borrowing it!

Oh, and I found out I am going to Port Fairy Folk Festival next year - highly exciting!! It is it's '30th Festival' and they have heaps of international and national/local performers coming which I am looking forward to. But I have to wait until Labour Day weekend next year (March) before I get to boogie on down at PFFF... Exciting!!

i'm done...

Yes - I have finished VCE, year 12, high school, and my first 13 years of schooling. And I am unbelievably excited!!!! It is taking a whole lot of composure to right this without multiple exclamation marks - so here are just a few: !!!!!!

I had my last exam today - International Studies. I am actually really pleased with it all. I got to do a little bitching about the Australian/US alliance and what it is doing to the country. The question was something like: "Do the costs of the Australian alliance with the US outweigh the benefits?" Or something like that. Is was pretty cool!

But on the down side, today I found out that I'm not getting an interview for two of the photography courses I applied for. I am a bit sad about it, but I had decided that one of the other courses is the one I would prefer to be doing - so fingers crossed.

That is pretty much all the stuff I have to write about at the moment. Oh, I might put a few more exclamation marks: !!!!!! There, now I'm good!

it is tuesday...

And I am about to do my second exam for this end of high school exam period - finally! I haven't had an exam since the 28th of October (the English exam) and I am going slowly insane being on my own all day. However, this past weekend did give me some fun and laughs! And some (pretend) tears.

On Saturday morning I took my camera to the camera shop. I was told it would take eight weeks to repair, and that was after the quote comes back. The camera has to go to the Fuji factory in New South Wales for repairs - and I miss it already! However, John has reminded me that now I can focus more attention on film photography (which I am not very good at, more info on that comment later). And Sar got her Christmas present early and I have control over it until mine is fixed - oh, it's a camera, the present, by the way. It is a little Digital Pentax with 6mp and three times optical zoom. And it even lets you change the shutter and aperture as you want - which isn't a bad deal for $300. But it isn't my baby - my little Fuji...

Then later on Saturday I had a photographic session with Jess and Josh. They wanted some portraits together and I wanted some practice to it really worked out quite well. I used three films and took the photos down at Buckley's Falls. Now, the thing about me not being very good with film cameras happened during this shoot. My film camera is completely manual, no shutter priority, no aperture, no automatic reading of the ISO needed for the film - and this is where I stuffed up. I shot all three films on an ISO of 125, even though two of the films were meant to be shot on an ISO rating of 400. So, basically, I completely overexposed two roles of film. On the two can (hopefully) be saved during processing, but the other film is basically a colour film that shoots black and white, so it is ruined. Hopefully I find some good stuff to use for my folio in the two pure B&W, otherwise I'm stuffed. I have to have my folio together by the 21st of November - not long now.

Then another good thing happened, Saturday night I went out for the first time! Jess L and I went to see Bomba play at the Nash. We were asked for ID at all, which was kind of a shame because we were actually legal and wanted to show it off - but oh well. I bought my first alcoholic drink, and danced until 1am at a pub for the first time. Bomba were absolutely awesome!!! Really!!

Then Sunday I had to work, which wasn't too bad. It is money! And I have another four shift already lined up. I was working at Baskin Robbins which was good cause I got free ice-cream! And the next four shifts will earn me a lovely sum of money!! I definitely need it for uni! And then today I was given my first shift for the Christmas/holiday/Summer season at Griffiths for December - more money! If this continues, and I don't spend any money over summer, I might actually save a fair bit - 'twood be nice!

Now I have to go study - my second/third-last exam is happening in one hour - just enough time to polish up on the five things I don't yet have sorted in my head...

broken...

My...camera is...........BROKEN!!

Yes, sad, sad news. My gorgeous black Fuji S5000 is broken... And I know exactly how it happened. At Muck Up Day I dropped it - my hands were full and it wasn't around me neck so I suppose it was inevitable, but I am still very sad. Very, very sad! I tried to use it the other night and it kept freezing up on me. Then it wouldn't turn off... So dreadful!

That is all I have to say except: I hate studying on my own!! I keep getting fidgety... No good.