Good.Art.Photo.Me&Darkroom.

Good.

God is good. My friends are good for me. Skittles are good. Music is good. Stars are good. Color is good. Fashion is good. My hard/passion for art/fashion/music/creativity is good. Shopping is good. Thrifting is good. Love is good. Differences are good. Life is good.

Art.Color. Music. Sadness. Happiness. Fashion. Love. Passion. Ugly. Beautiful. Quirky. Gross. Expressive. Hard. Thoughtful. Messy. Photo. Inspiring. Silly. Bright. Fun. Necessity. Life. Experience. Feelings.

Photo.

Eye. Light. Inspiring. Silly. Serious. Pain. Love. Art. Feeling. Expressive.

Me&Darkroom 1st Semester.

Awesome. Chill. Learning. Getting the hang of things. Great teacher. ADD. Bryce hated us all. =]]

♥

What is Art?

Eric Victorino, formally of Strata and presently of The Limousines, has this crazy thing on his Myspace where he's out to have the longest "About Me" section of all time. He's also highly opinionated, and reading his "About Me" really fascinated me. I disagree with a lot of things, but the fact that he actually has an opinion and sticks to it was really interesting. In the beginning of that section he wrote this:

"I'm on a mission, I don't know what the plan is or how I'll know when I've succeeded but I know that if the wheels aren't turning I would rather just get out and walk... I like to make things. I love to draw, paint, sculpt, sing and write - I'm not necessarily great at anything but being good at things isn't really the point. Art isn't just beauty, tragedy, happiness and hurt - it can be anything - sometimes sitting in a theater and absorbing a perfect movie can feel like making art because we are all part of the same big circle, together... making history. Violence makes me sick but so does watching people kiss if either one is left alone too long to feedback on itself. opposition is what makes balance make sense.

So sometimes I sing songs in front of people and sometimes I write down how I feel - I believe in the spirit of independent art."

This quote is beautiful and incredibly true. It is so easy to say, "wow, that person's really good at art." But is that really the point? Is it simply enough to be lucky enough to be born with the skills to take a good picture, make a good sculpture, sing like a goddess, dance like Doris Humphrey, or paint a beautiful painting? If it is, then why is art any different then the mundane? What makes art so different? Art has the ability to connect people who are nothing alike. Art has the ability to stir up any emotion. Art is therapeutic. Art saves lives. Can something this powerful really only require skill?

It's not like I actually have an answer, either. I think it's a matter of opinion. What art means to YOU.

So tell me, what DOES art mean to you?

♥

Snow People.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
♥

Just some thoughts.

I'm actually going to begin write things besides assignments in here. I know. Gasp, right?

Today is a perfectly normal day. It's been rainy lately. I fought the traffic to get to PFA, got incredibly annoyed with every driver in the road besides myself, and even stopped for some caffine on the way. Being rainy out, there's no light in the art room, which makes it incredibly hard to do projects, sometimes. The room was cold, as always. I had a crappy lunch. I talked, I laughed, as always. It's weird to think that today marks three years since my life changed totally and completely, and--as much as I wish it could be in some ways--will never be the same, ever, ever again. Today, three years ago, was anything but normal. It was almost surreal, like I wasn't actually living it... I was standing outside myself, watching from a distance. And now, three years later, I feel as if it was all a dream. Of course, with two vital people missing from my life and no other explanation, it was most definitely not a dream. As much as I wish it was a dream, part of me can accept that it wasn't, and be thankful. As much as it hurt, I took a lot out of the tragedy I was forced to face. I've used it to tap inside myself and find the artist in me. My focus is fashion, yes, but contrary to popular belief, fashion is more than just the clothes you wear. I love putting a little piece of me into everything I create. I enjoy telling my story through my creations, whether it be a top I made, or a self portrait I draw. I can honestly say that I am glad that I'm where I'm at, and that I can reflect upon it and realize that it did teach me something, and my suffering wasn't in vain.

♥

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is very easy to understand. It is simply the amount of time the shutter is left open, controlling how in focus the photo is. How will one know what shutter speed to set their camera at? It all depends on how in focus you want your picture to be. For example, if you wanted to take a picture of a bird flying through the sky, and it was flying relatively fast, you would want to make your shutter speed faster. Vice versa, if you wanted to take a picture of a chair, you wouldn't need to set your shutter speed as fast.

Aperture

Ok Mr. Reeder, I'm finally writing about aperture.

Simply, aperture is a small hole through which light is admitted. This hole can get bigger or smaller depending on how exposed you want the film to be.
A part of the lens that causes aperture size is called the diaphragm. The diaphragm works a lot like the iris in the eye. The diaphragm controls how wide the aperture is.
Oddly to some, reducing the aperture size does not reduce the depth of field (the amount of the photo that is focused). It actually increases the depth of field, bringing more in focus. So if one needs to take a picture with as much of the photo in focus as possible, they would want to decrease the aperture size.