Alas, The Day Is Done, I Say Goodnight, and Somebody Turns Off the Light

I started off the week wearily.  Visual week…great. I worked on my photoreflection  while reading a bit about photography, its form, and the basic principles and techniques involved.  I think the video helped me most, because of Eskenazi’s general composure.  He seemed a bit uncomfortable in front of a camera, but rightfully so: he was used to pointing the camera, not having it pointed toward him.  But his presence also helped me realize that anyone can become a decent photographer.  I really don’t mean that in a condescending tone, as it may seem, because he seemed to be at a loss for words throughout, while delivering solid advice. The video itself felt like

This week, unlike last week’s summary post  I’m not going to spam this post with a slew of tweets arranged in a haphazard manner. Instead, I’ll just link to my Twitter profile  in order to note my activity.

I had a blast completing my photo safari, which I detailed thoroughly.

For my Daily Create assignments, I completed the Droodle at a meeting (or elsewhere), Making 2048, and Make a paper sculpture assignments here.

For my character assignments, which amounted to a total of 5 points, I completed the requisite What’s in Your Bag?, and added in a more personal Post-It Notes assignment.
To fill out the remaining 5 points, I completed the Shiny Like Silk assignment revolving around abstract digital art, which I now have bookmarked for later use, and the Poetry Art assignment, choosing to focus on Carolyn Forché’s “The Lightkeeper”, which put me up to a total of 10.5 stars for the week.

My final post for the week was for noir cintematography. I wasn’t very keen on Kubrick’s “Killer’s Kiss”, but I absolutely loved the Coen brothers’ “The Man Who Wasn’t There”.

I’ve learned more in this week than the past two weeks combined; practical knowledge, at that.  I visited the Digital Knowledge Center to get a brief overview of GIMP, wherein I specifically learned how to properly save a file (Export as .png) for transfer, rather than the typical “Save as…”, how to use the crop tool efficiently, and how to properly layer and create works of my own.  I can now proudly say that I’m sufficiently efficient with this program in order to include it in my repertoire of useful skills.

Another important lesson I learned is to never doubt yourself.  It may sound cliché, but you can’t get any kind of critiques without putting yourself out there. Your work being moved at the whims of others is an intriguing feeling that I experienced when I saw a significant increase in site visitors after my LEGO noir shots.  I was weary of the task of completing a noir diorama, but it was my own decision, I was fully invested in it, and I couldn’t have been more receptive to the critiques of others. I wish there had been some negativity, to be honest.  Praise helps continue work, but critical views of your own work help develop your skills further.