02 March 2007

Junk boats and English boys...


For awhile I have been meaning to write a little about my past working experience and my somewhat tepid relationship with the camera.

When I was in college, my last semester I had to take a studio class that was not part of my major, which was painting. I was excited yet approached the class with the nervousness of a freshman taking Drawing 1. I was the "it" girl in my painting class and around the campus. A favorite professor even said to me, what is the college going to do without our cheerleader. I was the person to get people involved. Where did I lose my way.

Back to Photo 101. The teacher was a prick. He was a grad student who had a handlebar mustache and rode a Harley. He couldn't afford an apartment so he lived in his studio, which was in the sculpting dept. (He was a sculptor.) Anyway, he gave me lots of grief and tried to take the piss out of me, but he failed. He hated that I so well liked and was a huge jerk to me in the process. I ignored him. He also failed to make me love photography. I find taking photos a quick means to getting a sketch to paint something later on. Don't get me wrong, I love beautiful photographs, but I have a hard time making them myself. (The Beat photographer Robert Frank is my favorite.)

On to my job. My big time career which lasted about 5 years was spent at Creative Loafing in Hotlanta. I was the one to scan in all the photos, color correct, and prep them for newspaper printing. I would get rid of specs and dust and sharpen all photos. I think I was the one to make a really good bw photo newsprint friendly. The ink bleeding for newsprint is terrible and mushy so you have to allow the shadows to be saturated and the whites(just in highlights to be blown out)I loved this job for the first couple of years. I became a pro with photoshop and I could clone a whole band out of a photo leaving only the singer. It was exciting until it got boring and tedious. Not to mention, I also had to hand strip the paper together. 3 papers in 2 days, with 2 other women. We worked hard and that exhausted me.

I think I just don't want to work on photos like I did for my job. It takes time, and I never feel like it's worth it to me. I was really upset before I left my job and I don't feel I can rehash those bitter feelings. Except for here on my blog.

2 comments:

JC said...

That sucks that your photography teacher was such a blankety-blank. I wouldn't censor except for the fact that I'm at work. I think we've all had an experience like that at one time or another that has turned us off to a particular subject.

I've always thought of photography as a modern method of painting. They're both primarily concerned with portrayals of light and shadow essentially.

I kind of like messing around with Photoshop, but I can see how it would get tiresome over time. And I've been messing with it a lot recently due to those specks!

paintergirl said...

He was more than all of that. He smelled up the whole scupture dept because he smoked cigars and one time he brought his bike in the building. Mmm..I love to work and smell fuel. He thought he was this hot shot maschismo art dude. I would be surprised if he was teaching.

It's really good that you love photography. I think I'm just a no fuss girl. I haven't gone into the gory details of having to develope my own photos in lab. (Note to self-another blog entry)


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Rockin' the Catskills, United States
Love number stations.