poetic?

I have had a poem (the best word to describe it) going through my head since yesterday, but I don't know if I came up with it or if I have heard it somewhere and it has stuck in my head... If anyone reading this knows which it is, please tell me! This is what has been in my head:

To bed, to bed
To sleep, to sleep
To dream, to dream
Of pretty things

Anyone?!

zoo reshoots...

The Zoo went well, except for the fact I only shot one roll of film for the entire day! got there at 9am, left at 5pm and only took one roll of film - all of the White-cheeked Gibbons. So tomorrow I am off with the animals again. A 9am start, with an early finish because I have to get home to get ready for work. Hopefully I will have a more productive day tomorrow. One of the major problems on Thursday was that the light was shitty. It was overcast for a lot of the day, but the breaks in the clouds brough 10min windows of light with which to take a decently exposed photo. So, hopefully, tomorrow will give more even light. The other problem was that, because I photographed monkeys who were in cages surrounded by bamboo the light was even more dim, so tomorrow I am going to photograph one of the animals that are in more open inclosures. And there is one more reason I want to reshoot - I got a new camera! I got a Canon EOS 3 and it is awesome! My old camera had become even less reliable with exposures and I was becoming concerned that because of the precision photography I am meant to be doing, an old and slightly crappy camera was not going to be of use. So now I have my new lovely thing that I am going to use! So off with the animals I go!

the folkie and the zoo...

The weekend (Port Fairy Folk Festival) was awesome! With my press pass I got to hang out back stage, and take all the photos I wanted. I got some great shots from back stage, and some awesome ones of Bomba. The Bomba gig was amazing. I got there just on their last song and Nicky Bomba just happened to allow six of the Sweethearts (a motown girl group formed by students from the high school I went to) on stage to dance with him and the group. I got some ok pics of that, but afterwards, once everyone was backstage, I got a group shot with about half the Sweethearts and Nicky Bomba. I plan to put the good shots on my website once I have updated it, and reorganised the photographs. Hopefully that will be done soon-ish, but I still don't have a design...

The next cool thing I am doing is going to the Melbourne Zoo on a uni assignment. On Thursday I am spending the entire day hanging out with the animals and taking a portrait of one of them. I've been trying to decide which animal to photograph. I was thinking maybe a hippopotamus, or a seal, or maybe a gorilla. I also have to incorporate their inclosure and show their features, ie. I have to show the animal truthfully, not the animal hiding, etc. It should be interesting. I think, if it works, I might include a couple of pics on my website. It needs some serious updating! And fingers crossed it doesn't rain on Thursday!!

cameras and old film...

It is nearing the end of my second week of uni. And it hasn't been such a bad week. Although, I did make one very silly mistake. I thought I had an excursion to the zoo today, good thing I listen in class (occasionally) because it is actually next Thursday. So today ended up being a lecture in photography, then a tut for photography. I only had half the tut though because my tutor is in Brisbane today, so we just had a guest speaker for the second half - as a result, I had a three-hour-long lunch! During that long lunch and stupidly walked all the way to Souther Cross Station (or Spencer St to most people) to get a train ticket for my trip home on Friday. I thought the walk would do my calf muscle (which I think I have sprained) a great deal of good - but it feels no different. Hopefully I will be able to succesfully ignore the pain for the weekend so I can dance and be merry at the Folkie.

On the subject of the Folkie, I have got some film together for it. 14 rolls in total. Four rolls are expired colour film (hopefully they will result in some great colour shifts) and lots of spare rolls that I haven't used yet. Hopefully that will be enough to last me the whole weekend. I probably should have got some more fast-speed black and white, but I think it'll be fine. I just can't wait! I am skipping one of my lectures tomorrow so I can get to Port Fairy at a semi-decent hour. And, if I catch it early, I will miss the end of the day rush - I figured that missing two hours of an incredibly boring lecture was better than having to put up with the crowd on the train, on a Friday afternoon leading into a long weekend. My program is starting to be coloured in, and my bag is about to be packed!!

second weeks a charm...

It is Sunday night before my second week oh uni. I now have all my textbooks, all the course descriptions and my stationary is organised - hopefully I will enjoy this week better than last week. I think I was just a bit freaked out by the new-ness of everything. New house. New school. New friends. New challenges. This week should be a little more settled, I hope. Although I do have my first Maths test tomorrow, and my first photography assignment on Thursday. We are going to the zoo to photograph the animals. I have to decide whether to catch the train or the tram to the zoo. I think the train will be the easiest, but I have to make sure I don't miss it! Well, I suppose that is a given for all public transport, so that shouldn't be a top concern. Actually my top worry currently is the other assignment I have been given. It is freaking me out but I am not 100% sure why. I think it is because I have never actually been told what to take a photograph of. I have directed people (friends, though, never strangers) so hopefully that isn't too hard. But I to plan the shoot, and that is something I have never done. In the past if I want to photograph a friend I just get them to hang out with me, muck around and snap a few shots. I have never been made to fix the lighting, meter the lighting correctly, use a stand-in model to get the shot correct, and have my subject fill only 1/3 of my photo - those sorts of guidelines I am scared of. But if I try I hope I will achieve something decent... It is a black and white shoot, so that's fun - it at least means that I don't have to worry too much about any colour casts.

And I have next weekend to look forward to. It is a long weekend and the Port Fairy Folk Festival! It is their 30th Festival which is exciting! And there are heaps of great acts. And I have media accreditation!! I can go back stage, and take photos!! Should be fun! It took a bit of convincing seeing I am attempting to get in with a guy (my stepdad) who has a radio program, but in the end I got it! I am really excited about that! I think I will just focus on next weekend when I start getting nervous or worried, and then I can stay positive. I think that should work. That or I will treat myself to chocolate - either way...