Creative Teams

Written 2011/10/30

I would like to come back on my first blog post. I talked about Jeff Koons and his use of the workshop process. As I said, his idea of a workshop is really useful considering the amount of time it needs to complete a piece of work. During the Renaissance, this process was also used for this reason. At that time, it took so many years to complete one work. 

In my entry, I also made a comparison between the workshop and the creative team. This is something I want to talk about today. 

As a freelance photographer, I realize that it is mandatory to build my own creative team. Nothing big can be achieved on my own. It takes too much time and too much energy. I used to work alone and got tired really fast and frustrated. I spend so much time looking on different websites for new ideas, great images etc. and every time I am amazed by the quality of work I see. When I look back at my own work after that, I get really frustrated. My own isn't as polished as theirs. But why? Yes, I need more experience, its obvious and it is something I have no choice but to go through, but also, the fact that I am working on my own makes me forget about important details. I cant see everything at once and I am not good at everything. If I want to do a fashion shoot, sure I will need a makeup artist, stylist etc. to complete my work. I am not specialized in that field of work. I am the photographer, my job is to understand light, composition and technical photography aspects so I can achieve my goal in having a breathtaking image. Their job is to make sure the clothes are well placed, the makeup fits the model etc. This is one job I can't do at the same time as taking pictures. Moreover, the final result will look way much more professional if professionals to their own jobs. Its logic!

So well, I think I will start looking for a creative team. The more we will work together, the best the results are gonna be, the more I will improve. Also, the more people there are in a team, the more ideas we have. Together, we can build something big!

As a last example of how useful it is to work with other people is me getting involved in the Bishop's Photo Club. I am now the Vice President of the club. The head of the photo club and we complete each other. Without each other, the club would go nowhere. 

After the Test

This week I wrote an entry about my future exam, now I will write about my past exam. 

The exam went well, but I didn't have the mark I hoped I would. I made stupid mistakes as not writing Florence twice. I also have problem explaining things. Well, I know I wouldn't be good as a teacher. 

I said I had links to remember words or important information. We did a group study just before the exam and we mixed our links to create new ones. It was very funny and it made absolutely no sense. 

Mary Anne came up with Ambassadors: Ass adore, adoring ass 

We had different ideas with Vellum. I said Vallorum (Star Wars again) Mary Anne saif Venom (closer to the real word) and I can't remember what Linsday said.

I finally made a sentence with some of these: ''We are adoring Jar Jar Bink's ass while smoking tomatoes''. This cannot be translated I think! 

Before the Test

I just finished studying for tomorrow's exam and I actually think it's funny. This post will not be directly on a subkect we learned in class, but in a method of study. 

I was never someone who liked to study. Actually, the first time I really studied is when I was 15 after I failed a biology class. Even though I loved this course, I was allergic to opening my books. This was until I failed more than one test and got a really bad mark for my whole semester. I forced myself in doing so, having no other choice. I drew the parts of the body and wrote and wrote and wrote until I knew the subject really well. It worked, I had a very good result on my tests later. Still, other than biology, I never felt the need to study.

University is then a big change in the way I approach things. I study, maybe sometimes a little last minute, but it is never as worst as in Cegep. I also write good essays, which is surprising coming from me. I'm not a bad writer, but I was lazy before. Now, I spend more time for school than anything else. But let's say that I dont work and its the first time it happens. I'm work sick and I have good reasons to be. I promised myself I wouldn't work while at university. I have all my life to work after. 

Now I have to find tips and tricks for studying. I wrote down over and over what I remember from my study sheet. I do that until I memorize everything. The funny part is how I memorize the words or names I don't know. I made links between things to be able to remember easily. Sometimes it makes no sense at all, but I still think it's very funny and I hope I will remember all of this tomorrow. 

So here are a few examples. I also notice it is useful to speak more than one language for that. 

• Georg GISZE makes me think of Gisele, my mother's name.
• Hans Holbein didn't have panels
• Rogier van der Weyden = Jar Jar Binks. Yes! Jar Jar Binks! Weyden = Dayden. Den = day in slovakian so then Dayday = jour jour in french, then ... Jar Jar! Easy! 
• All places are Santa Maria
• Dürer love himself, and ugly doctors
• Sfumato: Fumer des tomates. I'm laughing at this one and my cat is staring at me with eyes that says: ''Ok, time to leave NOW!''
• Brancacci = brankar which means goaler in slovakian. 

I hope I will be alright for my exam and I hope I wont make stupid mistakes or mixing words I learned from what words really are! 

Perspective

Written 2011/10/30


At the beginning of the year, I was given my first assignment for all my classes. So, excited to start university. I was seeing big. I always liked challenges and I started my very first project with one big. It may sound bad, but I'm in Fine Arts and I can't draw. Ok, I can draw, but I have absolutely no practice. How shameful! Saying this, you may understand more how much of a challenge it was. 

The assigment was for my printmaking class. It was the only course in which the project was free. I could do my personal work. I started with an idea I had for a conceptual photo that was really complicated to do in real size. Here is the project. 

You can already see where I would have struggled. First, you can't find the eggs at the local grocery store. I had to build it. Second, I wanted here to play with perspective, so I decided to do it an ''esay'' way: drawing a tilled floor with 2 perspective points. Yes, this is coming from the girl who can't draw. I had to calculate and take mesurements in order to complete the floor. I must also add that I had some help from my engineer boyfriend. I must say I sweared, frustated, blamed myself for liking complicated  things and promised I wouldn't do this again. I actually spend a week trying to find a solution and draw it. I finally managed to finish it and I may admit that I am proud of my achievement. I mean that I haven't burnt it down or teared it appart! Ok, seriously, I do like the outcome and I received a good mark for it. 

What made me smile later, was to hear about this in my art history class. Yes, in the Renaissance, some people went into the same process as me. They ended up with a result that is quite close to mine. Back in their time, they might have sweared as much as I did. It seems that the problem is still the same today for those who start trying to understand it. Many years later, I come to the same process and thoughts as they did. Understanding perspective still is something that is very important today. Now, we are lucky, books have been on this subject. Its very easy to find the info we need. People have also pushed it further and everything is more detailed. 

This is one good thing about evolution. But still, the problems remains the same for everyone that is too lazy to do their own research and for those who really want to understand the process by themselves.