Just Another Tuesday

So it has been a fairly busy term as you can tell by my lack of posts in the last few months, but I am back and will be posting again on a more regular basis.

Well to kick start my return to blogging I thought I would share with you all the details of my fabulously exciting Tuesday practical last week. Our lecturer Sophie Smith set the class the task of taking one commercial/fashion photo outdoors. We were all given a week to come up with a concept and decide how we were going to use our limited lighting - which consisted of two reflectors, one off camera external flash, a white umbrella (to be used as a diffuser) and a large white sheet just in case.

Now this term we have been given five projects to complete - three photo stories and two soundslides - most of which have to be based in the small farming town of Alexandria (more to come on these projects in future). So basically to cut a long story short my eight classmates and I have been spending majority of our weeks in Alexandria, where there is in most places absolutely NO cellphone reception. Yes, you heard me right there are indeed still places in South Africa where no network will work. It is both a blessing and when you are trying to get hold of your lift or are locked out of a farm those house is a 2km walk in the pitch dark - a curse. But back to the point, in true student procrastination fashion, most of the class (myself included) did not even give the fashion shoot a second thought until the day before. Yet despite our dis-organisation we learnt so much about using studio lighting outside and how to direct models. 

Our final images were put up as our PAW (Picture A Week) photos for the week. Seeing as I went first I decided to shoot some behind the scenes photos of our class at work. So check them out below:

My final image of Cougar Caeri Dunnell, one of my lovely classmates. 

The still of life

Last term my photojourn 4 class was working mostly in the studio in order to learn how to work in a completely controlled environment. Our studio work was divided into two section. They were studio portraits and studio still life. Now portraits were no problem and loads of fun as you could interact with your subject, put them at ease and try and get different shots. Still life on the other hand was well .... very still! What can I say? I was not inspired at all. I mean yes there is the challenge of dramatic lightning or finding the perfect lightning to suit the object being used but I found that I really missed having an actual subject in the studio.
But as we all know you live, you fail, you learn and you do better the next time. So I put my differences with still life aside and threw myself into the project.

I will let you all be the judge of whether they are any good. I was not unhappy with them in the end and found that in a way I did enjoy photographing a subject that listened completely me :)

A small wooden mannequin possessively holds his Hunter's Extra Dry in studio, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 29 March 2011. (Tarryn Liddell)

Lucky beans from a Erythrina tree and coffee beans lie in a pile on a wooden table in studio, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 23 March 2011. (Tarryn Liddell). 

Condensation drips down an ice cold Hunter’s Extra Dry in studio, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 28 March 2011. Hunter's Gold was launched in 1988 as one of the first alternatives to beer within the South African liquor market. Ten years later Hunter's Dry was launched (Tarryn Liddell).

A small wooden mannequin poses with his paintbrush in studio, Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 28 March 2011. (Tarryn Liddell)

A quick succession of bubbles flow in studio, Grahamstown. Eastern Cape, South Africa, 1 March 2011 (Tarryn Liddell).

The Casablanca lily (more properly known as Lily ‘Casa Blanca’) is an oriental lily and is one of the most popular in this class. Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 24 February 2011.  It is generally accepted that the meaning of this lily is celebration.

A high key studio photo of a Barberton Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii), Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 24 February 2011. (Tarryn Liddell)