Some more Inspiration

Here are two more images that have given me some more direction in my self portrait project. In class we have also been learning some more skill in photoshop and im really starting to love that program. We did an exercises in class where we took an image of a close up shot of a models face who was wearing bright pink lipstick and edited it. First we changed the image to a grey scale and then layered it over top of the original. Using the eraser tool we lightly erased the lips of the grey scale model so that the pink could come through. The result was a striking black and white image of a model but the lips were pink. I think I may be able to use that skill in my own project later on.

Great Idea

As I was searching for different idea's for my first photoshop project on the website http://www.photodisk.com/ I came across this image. I started thinking that it was exactly what I wanted to do for my project. I have a thing for balance and contrast that this piece exemplifies extremely well and I think with a little help I may actually be able to reproduce this same effect on my own. Now I just need to go find a few more images that can further inspire my own self portrait.

Photoshop practice

As I was working on this project I suddenly noticed that I did not have a pic of myself on this blog and I was pretty sure everyone was wondering what I look like.....so here it is!!!Now I know that everyone is feeling so much better.lol.
Coming up soon we are going to be starting our first photo shop project by doing self portraits, im am really excited about it. We have been learning a lot about photoshop the last few weeks and it will be fun to try and apply it for the first time to a project of our own. The thing that I have noticed about photoshop is that to really become good at it you need to just start playing around with it and see for yourself what each thing does. Our teacher tried showing us a bunch of different techniques but I dont think i remember much. Evey time we start up a new exercise I forget how to do everything and that is a little frustrating. The other day we did some practice work on a image our teacher gave us, it was of a bald man with a tattoo on his head looking up while in a squatting stance. It was amazing what we learned how to do, we took the man and cut him out of the background using different tools and then applied some filters and other effects. We then took a different background and placed him over it but made him more opaque than normal. It looked really cool! The more we work with photoshop the more I am starting to realize that you can really change almost anything you want about a picture and that nothing is final.

Random Info

ok so here 5 of the websites that I use the most. they are really not all that interesting but they are useful: (all of these can be found in my side list) and my 3 fav magazines.

1. Hotmail- A basic email service

2.MEC- Stands for Mountain Equipment Co-op and is basically a site which allows you to shop, or read up on new gear. They also have a page that is called the gear swap, pretty much like the news paper classifieds.

3. Google- probably the best search engine around

4. UofL website- This one allows the students here to access their email, grades, class lists and other use full info.

5.ebay- This one is for online auctions

Fav Mags

1.Climbing- Basically a rockclimbing oriented magazine.
2.National Geographic- A true classic
3.Readers Digest- what can I say it has some good reading!

Whats coming up

Now its time for me to tell everyone about my aspirations, I have for quite some time wanted to be a dentist and I cant honestly say it is not for the money. I know that money is not everything and that it does not buy happiness but I also realize that being poor does not buy happiness so I think im going to take my chances with the money thing. To be honest there are many reason I have chosen to be a Dentist the only problem standing in my way of this goal is school. I suppose I can be a bit of a pessimist sometimes and because of that I look at school not so much as an opportunity for learning but more as the great beast that is trying to destroy innocent hopefully young people trying to give the world what it wants. From my experience school is not so much about knowledge and applying that knowledge but more about fulfilling useless requirements and having unrealistic teachers thinking that their class is the be all end all of higher learning. That said I choose Biology as my major partly because it would fulfill my requirements for dental school but also because I am actually interested in it. Biology actually holds for me a glimmer of hope when it comes to learning, I see it as something that I can grasp and has practical logical application. As for the UofL being the school of choice for me...well it isn't, but im here and the reason for that is it was close and easy to get into. I really do have goals and dreams in life but most of them are more centered around family and providing a good quality of life for them. Even thought biology is my official goal right now im actually looking more into getting a Medical Lab degree from the UofA. I know that I have kind of hashed school in this post, but to be honest I am kind of encouraged by the classes im taking this semester they seem to be more about learning and helping me achieve my best instead of about just filling a requirement. The shift in attitude comes from the fact that finally I have the opportunity to interact in a creative environment with doing things that are well different from the norm and yet stimulating. From this class I expect to have my mind exercised in a way that it has so far not been.
My experience with programs like Photoshop and Dreamweaver are limited but my experience with premier is non existent....but hey at least I want to learn. When it comes to photography I actually do have a fair amount of technical experience but not to much in the art department. Unfortunately most of my photography deals with film cameras and not digital ones but at least I do have access to a digital camera.

Number One

Hey All

Well here goes my first attempt at blogging but before I really begin, who came up with the word blogg???I don't know if its just me but I actually avoided doing this for so long because the word seemed so utterly retarded that I had no desire to participate. That being said I suppose I am in higher learning and by virtue of that I need to expand my horizons and experience the phenomenon of BLOGGING. I tent to get easily addicted to things involving a computer and or the Internet. MSN and email being the first followed by computer games and even worse online computer games like star craft and most recently The World of War Craft. This is another reason why I have avoided experimenting with blogging, don't get me wrong I'm not saying it isn't useful to some people, I have a friend who for instance used it to report on a trip she took to Costa Ricia. She was able to keep people updated and post pictures. I'm sure my opinion of this useful service will change dramatically for better or worse in the coming months as I have the opportunity to experiment and participate in this online sensation.