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Farewell - 2006-03-15 |
2002-09-15 - 6:43 p.m. You know you have a great friend when they let you throw freezing cold water on them. Here's the story... In film production I (the class taught by Mahaffy aka psychotic weasel), he gave us this group assignment to go out and take pictures on slide film. Actually, it's more ammusing with him trying to explain it: "So, what you're going to do is create an event. You know? And like... you'll take pictures of things and it will convey the experience but you're not going to tell it. You have to feel it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I can live my day and then tell you about it and that would be a story. But living isn't a story. It's an event and that's what you're doing. So you could take a picture of a tree or something, and that would have texture. And then one of a person's skin because that would be a contrast and then you could have someone running, and then jumping off a cliff, and then a car exploding and someone throwing a grocery cart in the air!" Yeah, and that's what I have to work with. My group is an interesting one. There was Danielle, the one with the car who spent a full 15 minutes trying to convince me that if she wrecked her car while I was riding in it that it would be my fault and I would have to pay for it (and she's in college why?), and Chrishawn, who is very nice and easy going. I came up with this great idea about man vs. nature. I took all the pictures because I was the one with the camera and Danielle "drove" (it was scary), and Chrishawn kept me sane while I was arguing with Danielle about car insurance. So, I took these pictures of a creek with these trees growing over it, and bees on flowers, and a shot going straight up the side of a tree (looking at the sky) and cool stuff like that. Then we went downtown and I tool similar pictures like a shot down the middle of the stree with buildings on either side, people peering in shop windows, and a shot straight up the side of a lamp post (looking at the sky). Then I took a picture of Chrishawn peering out from behind a tree, and the farmer's market, and a dog hanging its head out the window. And what does this have to do with anything? Trust me if you saw it, you'd feel it. *coughs* Right. Anyway, it was suppose to convey that nature and man (the city) can exsist quiet happily independent of each other. This was reinforced by the bright blue background, happy bees and happy people. But in addition, they can also co-exsist, which was shown by a person with a tree, fruit in the city, and an animal inside something made by man. Catch my drift? And the similarities were also reinforced by the use of the same angles and stuff. I thought it was pretty neat at least. So we get done taking the pictures and we go to get them developed. And low and behold... we used the wrong film. How about that eh? The film we used would have to be shipped off and developed by a professional chemist and would take two weeks. Needless to say, we would have to do it over again. Danielle bought a new roll of film and then we quickly discovered that she wasn't going to be around at all over the next week and weekend because it was some Jewish holiday. Which meant I would be taking all the photos alone. Oh, I forgot to mention that one of the requirements was that you have to shoot off campus which is why the use of the car was so important. "You know, I think we've really bonded. I can't wait! We can do ALL our projects together!" chirped Danielle with glee. I forced a grin on my face. On Wednesday of this week (it's my only real free day), Erin and I went out and re-did all the nature shots. Only this time, I didn't go off campus. I just went back into the woods a bit. I figure he's not really going to know every nook and cranny... I hope. Erin posed for my person with the tree photo and then we returned. Yesterday, was the day when Rebecca was going to drive me downtown so I could re-due the rest of the pictures, but it was raining... all day! I figured it would stop by this morning... but it hasn't. Turns out this is the last portion of some hurricane that hit the coast. Being in the general state of panic that I was in because taking pictures of a gloomy city isn't quite the same as taking pictures when it's bright and sunny and you can't really point your camera up towards pouring down rain (just doesn't work), I called Mahaffy. Oddly enough he was in his office at 10:30 on a Sunday morning. He told me I would just have to rethink my project and figure out something that would work with the first half of the film that I've already shot. Not only that, but he expects it to be even better than the orginal because I've already shot it once, and the rain is perfect to shoot in because it neutralizes colors. Nevermind that I didn't want the colors neutralized. *sighs* This is about the time I burst in the Erin's room crying because I couldn't think of an idea. I spent a good fortyfive minutes wandering aimlessly about her room trying to think of something... anything! And then... I got it. The effects of rain. I grabbed my camera, grabbed Erin, we ran outside and --- and ---- *long sigh* . . . it had stopped raining. Never-the-less, we hiked back to where we took the pictures before and tried to make everything look as wet as possible, some of it worked, some of it didn't. The creek that had been dry was now running, which was nice for the picture but not nice for me to wade through. And then came the last and final picture... Erin and the tree. We went into the library bathroom, turned the water on and I then splashed water all over her until it was dripping off her face and her shirt was soaked. Somehow I was able to get a picture of a drop of water running down the side of her face. (encounter next problem here) The photo place was closed. They're not open on Sunday. So, somehow I'm going to manage getting down there, getting them developed, and picking them up between 2 and 6 which is my only free time. Then go to work, put them in order and make sure everything is okay. And if it's not... well... I'm screwed. But at least I know I have a great friend.
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