Last day

Today finally came - last day in Canterbury. 

I wrapped my busker shooting today, working on those final edits now.

Then putting all of my final work into PDFs to email to Neil before the end of the day.

I went back and checked out my list of what I had hoped to accomplish while over here...

I did... most of it?

Kind of?

I didn't get to shoot a rugby match, as even the home field would have required a taxi (and I'm poor as shit.) due to distance and the fact that all the games are played on Wednesday afternoons, and that's my busiest class day here (9-11 then 145-430). There was no way for me to get to the field and make it to class. 

I also didn't get to shoot the piercing/tattooing, mainly because the day a few people decided to go get piercings done, I was already scheduled to shoot one of my models for the American English Fashion piece. Go figure, everything always happens at the same time.

There were no riots or rallies in quiet little Canterbury about the election, I'm sad to say. Therefore, that one didn't really pan out for me.

But!

I did my entire fashion shoot (and re-shot some more journalistic shots of Liz earlier this week [the day I came down with the flu, no less] until my battery completely died on me), the catalogues for Sachsenhausen, and the extended look at street fashion. I think the Street Fashion will have to be considered my long-term project, but my in depth project was shooting Ellen busking. I got to know all about why she does it, how long she's been doing it, and her favorite parts about performing. I didn't even know she was a Canterbury street performer until I shot her for the Fashion piece!!

So four solid projects? In the time I had between the overload of work here, and travels? It's not perfect, and of course I wanted to shoot more, but I'm pretty happy with what I've produced in these three months. 

Now I just need to pull it all together. I hate this part. This is the part where I get graded for things I've put my heart into. Grades ruin everything. It might just be an art-major-esque way of thinking, but being graded on creativity completely hinders actual creativity. 

Next time you hear from me, I'll either be taking a break to post busking shots, or I'll be back home on the East Coast <3 

It's been fun.

This is just because it's Tuesday

I need to make a note here: I hate written finals. Writing research papers about something I don't have interest in is an act in futility. I am not actually learning anything, I am simply looking for something, anything, a useful quote somewhere that I can later cite and regurgitate everything I learned in class. This is a waste of time, and is mentally exhausting.

Honestly, I never thought I'd miss editing all-nighters in the A&D, with nothing but my photoshop, mac, and a solid large-scale printer. Spring semester's photo course load never sounded so appealing as it does in the midst of these mind numbing papers.

I do not care about Henry VIII, public transportation in the UK vs. the US, or socialist theory of gender. I swear, the way they learn over here makes so much more sense than how we learn back in the US, but it's completely useless if we're not learning how they've been learning for the past 4 years. Students over here get to start focusing on subjects when they're 16 the way we do our Junior year of college. The freshmen in my first-year classes here already have two years experience on me. I'm taking classes over here because Tierno says I have to. 

It's so frustrating. I very definitely wasted a semester of "education" in every sense of the US College theory, but I'll never call this trip a waste of life.

Mark Ellen Mark*

Did some research:

www.maryellenmark.com

She's an American photographer, is a contributing photog for The New Yorker, and has been published in LIFE, New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Vanity Fair [not to mention her own books]. She's a multiple award winner for her journal work, and has spent over 4 decades taking pictures that "reflect high level of humanism." She still shoots Tri-X film, and has for over 45 years. She likes the grain and texture, "with a huge range."

She wants to take documentary photos that are as "good technically as any of the best technical photographs, and as creative as any of the best fine art photographs."

She is not an essayist, she prefers single strong images that "stand on their own."

"There's nothing more rewarding than looking at your contact sheets when you feel you've achieved something that is possible."

"If you're a documentary photographer, being honest and fair is your ultimate responsibility."

Almost fittingly, after digitally going through her books, I definitely liked individual pictures over the entire series. Her individual pictures are much stronger alone than telling a story entirely. The single frames tell a better, more in-depth story.

LookBook part5

  

LookBook part4

 

LookBook part3

LookBook part2