capturing a moment
My fingertips smell like chemicals.
Although it's tedious and time-consuming, it's wonderful to have a required film photography class, with a 3 hour lab, fumbling to wind and unwind my film in the the dark room.
My teacher is horribly rigid, and so I love reading quotes by Ansel Adams, that say things like, "There are no rules for photographs, there are only good photographs.
There is something oddly fascinating and fulfilling about exposing a white sheet of photo paper with light, and then waiting patiently as you slide it into the plastic tub of liquid. For seconds you feel on edge, wondering the outcome, and then before your eyes, it changes. Like magic, over or underexposed, an image develops from nothing.
I love Imogen Cunningham, who went to UW from 1901-06. One of her first photographs was supposedly a nude self-protrait, which she took in an isolated spot on the UW campus with a mail-order camera. And while she established herself as one of the very first professional woman photographers, when asked if photography was a "feminine art", she pertly replied, "No indeed; photography is a matter of individuality, not sex."
No comments:
Post a Comment