i really can't wait

to finish school.






I have 1 assignment due this month, but I'm really busy with lots of other things!
Here's what I've been up to. So last week I presented my "no photos please" assignment in class, we were asked to present something that had a tie to photography, but was not simply a printed photo. Some people made collages, one of my classmates made a dress with prints on it. I chose to make two videos, the first was an extension of the "lonely part" I made this fall, the other video I made is a short video containing all of the photobooth pictures I've taken. I'll put them both up at the end of this post.

Other things going on in my life include a Film Festival I am organizing, this is a student event, in its 8th year. This year, Jeff Parker and I are at the helm, and the festival is going to be on March 29th at 7PM at the Vogue Theatre (yup, we booked the theatre, that's how cool we are). The Film Festival is actually held at the Vogue every year, and if you are reading blog as an outsider to Sackville, then I suppose I should tell you about the Vogue. Sackville has one movie theatre, that plays current movies, it has one screen and the place is awesome. The building is rather old, and there is a unique charm to viewing a film there. Seeing as I'm advertising, I might as well tell you about Film Society; every Thursday during the school year, an independent film is shown (these are major films that do not circulate your average movie theatre, but are show in film festivals around the world). Film society is great, as the films really bring something to Sackville that we wouldn't have if it weren't for the organisers.

So yeah, the Film Festival I help organise, we show films made by the handful of student film makers who happen to go to school here (Mount Allison does not have any form of a film program(although we have equipment to make them)). I'm excited about this years stuff, although a bit stressed, as I haven't finished everything I'm going to submit.

In other video related news, I had a presentation for the Beatles course I'm taking (wait, I don't think I ever told you I was taking a class on the Beatles, well I am, it's rad) and I made a video analysis of Revolution 9. The song is intense, but I'm not 100% satisfied with my analysis, so I think I'll hold off showing it to you until I am. But the people in my class seemed to like it.

Alright, so I should update you guys on some stats!

Before I graduate I have

• Four papers
• One photo assignment
• One take home exam (which will essentially be another essay)
• A final photo portfolio
• Two exams
• A presentation

To do. All this in under 6 weeks. I'm not looking forward to it at all.

So, I shot a lot of film last semester, and somehow, even though I felt like I had nothing to shoot this semester, I've managed to shoot more. I'm rather confused I must say. As of last week I had shot 44 rolls of black and white, but since then I think I've shot around 6, although I'm not so sure. Colour numbers in at 14 or so.

Jeez.

Anyway, that's all for today, my two no photos please videos are posted below.

Enjoy,



View My Video lonely v2 on videos.skateperception.com

oops

well that was fun,

Ha, so I wrote a blog at the beginning of reading week, but one thing lead to another and I'm posting it now.

Jeez, here it is:

So I haven't written since two Sundays ago. This is because, well, I'm sure you can guess. SCHOOL. Yup, it's bizarre too because my last two weeks weren't even that bad. Well, actually I think I told you what I had to do academically in my last post, so what shall we discuss now?

So I've thought about my last two weeks, and nothing out of the ordinary happened, I went home last weekend, hung out with my family, and went on a short photo adventure with my brother who was also home visiting. The adventure was short because it was cold, and as I mention my brother, I think it's funny to share with you that I hadn't seen him since Christmas 2006, but there are two things to say about this. First, this is about as frequently as I see him, and second, it's amazing how we pick up right where we left off. Siblings are amazing for that reason.

To continue on the discussion of photography, I'm going to share some pictures with you. First, a few weeks ago I went to Amherst with Peter on a photo excursion, I just got those rolls back today, so I'll post a few pictures and talk a bit about them. Second, I scanned part of my portrait assignment for my photo class, so I'll post those and discuss them as well!


So here are my favorite pictures from Amherst, these are from the colour rolls I shot, and the black and white stuff I took I did develop this past week, but I doubt I'll ever scan them :(

To view a larger version of any of these pictures click em and it will load a new page.

So here we have a picture of my partner in crime for this photo adventure, meet Peter!


Peter took a picture of me with my camera as he wanted to see what it was like.


We parked on one of Amherst's main streets and proceeded to walk down an ally, this is it.



Here is a window in said ally


Upon emerging from the ally we were attracted to this steam duct, it fascinated us, and I have some rather amusing pictures of Peter posing alongside it, either way,


this is my favourite picture I took of the steam and the building.


Nearby we say this building that had a roof with some intense melting action.



As we were leaving Peter showed me this ally that was again nearby and I ended up with this photo.



So towards the end of our adventure, we're standing in this doorway, and we here a cat meowing, REALLY LOUD. We follow the sound, and find this cat chilling outside of a convenience store.



Maybe he was looking at this building in the last picture?




Naw, he wasn't, as that building isn't in eyesight of where the cat was.

It's fun to dream though.

As for my portrait assignment,

I had two works, one of which I scanned and will show here.

They are three photos depicting individual experiences with old age.


Grandchild


Companion


Solitude


So that's all for this week.

I'll be back next week with another post catching you up on my life!

yay!


As always, if you have any questions, email me at:
jzstrsf@mta.ca


wow

Here I am posting one week after the last time I posted. We'll see how long I can keep up with this. This past week has been pretty interesting for me, because I really didn't get all that much school work done. On Monday I had my second last radio show and then somehow managed to lose the rest of the day. Tuesday night was spent helping Jonathan Clark finalize a music video for Mike Allison (http://mikeallison.ca/mikea/) and then Wednesday I did the same thing, as well as film the Wilford B. Jonah Lecture, given by Richard Florida. Thursday I believe I finally got some work done, and then Friday night was spent working on some videos (as well as getting a haircut). I have a lot due coming up, and I suddenly am a lot busier than I thought I would be.

Before reading week I have to:

• Write 2 papers
• Write 2 midterms
• Finish the next photo assignment (portraits)
• Document the "Sweetest Little Thing" at the Owens.
• Work on several videos for the www.mymta.ca site.
• Acquire music rights for songs I would like to use in the Film Festival
• Most likely I have other things to do I've forgotten.

So from that list I posted the first three are fairly self explanatory. The "Sweetest Little Thing" is something I don't know a whole lot about, because for whatever reason I have yet to attend this annual event in the 3 full years I have spent at this school. SO, instead of telling you what I think I know about it, I'll wait until I've gone, and then tell you what it was like! Maybe I'll even post a video in the weeks following.

So hmmmmm, I've got a ton of video content for this blog, but in the interests of only posting one thing a week you guys will have to wait on some of the stuff. I'm excited about the videos I'm going to be making for the mymta site, and hopefully they turn out well and end up both here, and on the site.

So about my radio show. It got to the point where making a show every week wasn't a fun synthesis of all the new music I was listening too, instead I was having trouble figuring out what I wanted to play, and so I decided that I should end on a high note. So after tomorrow, I will no longer be hosting a radio show. It's kind of bittersweet, but all in all, it will be nice to have a bit more free time on Monday's. That having been said, I'm SO glad I finally made myself have a radio show. It's something I wanted to do since I came here, but just never committed to, because when I do things, I like to be able to commit to it 100%, or not do it at all. So yeah, lets do some more list work.

• I've hosted 13 radio shows, tomorrow, my 14th will be my last
• This is my 13th blog
• I actually have lost track of black and white film shot. But I know I've shot something like 4 or so rolls in the past week.
• I processed 6 on Saturday night

So yeah my radio show last week, looked like this:




And well, I shall depart now. Here is that music video I helped edit. Hopefully you guys like it:




As always, if you have any questions, email me at:
jzstrsf@mta.ca


School, school

So this past week I had some epic fun writing two assignments that were among the hardest I've had to do in a while. They were both completed on time though, so that's nice. Either way, I'm not behind on the reading for all of my classes and will have a fun time trying to catch up (and likely failing) for the rest of the semester (failing that is, in catching up on my readings, not school). A few weeks ago we had to present our self portraits for my photo class, and I was proud enough about them that I scanned them! Unreal isn't it!

I'll post those... um. But first! how about a list?

• Number of colour rolls shot since I last counted - 8
• Number of black and white rolls shot since I last counted - 22
• Number of black and whites rolls I developed on Saturday - 17
• Number of rolls I shot today (on an adventure with Pete to Amherst) - 6
• Number of assignments passed in this past month - 3
• Number of papers/take homes till I graduate - 7
• Number of assignments/final portfolios till I graduate - 6
• Number of months left in school 3
• Number of trips I am going on this summer - 4 major ones many small ones
• Possibility of me having a full time job this summer - 0%
• My feelings about that - SO STOKED.

So yeah - self portraits!

(click the images to view larger versions)

This one is taken with a 28 mm lens looking at another camera, the reflection appears in the filter at the front of the lens.




This one is taken looking into a mirror, the camera is positioned in such a fashion that the light from the window is caught as a reflection in the filter at the front of the lens.



Zero photoshop involved here, just good old reflections.


I'm kind of feeling a bit stuffed because I went to Amy's family's house for supper tonight and ate a ton, so I think I'm just going to lie down and leave you with what I've written (as well as the requisite closing video).

So yeah - here's the mantage (obviously not made by me):




As always, if you have any questions, email me at:
jzstrsf@mta.ca