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makeshift studio

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TONIGHT I’M DOING SOME WORK in the studio. My night started with photographing a few little objects for a graphic design project. I set up my little seamless backdrop and borrowed a few lights from the drawing studio to construct a makeshift mini studio…

I’ve learned lighting so many times — through working at Otis & James and during my internship this summer—but it always escapes me. It’s trial and error, really. I’m hoping to come up with a technique so that I can photograph a bunch of stuff for my etsy shop (that has been dormant for a long, long time) and get the ball rolling. So it was nice to experiment with the setup!

To demonstrate, here are a few samples of my purse. I used hard light coming from just one angle, and photographed with my point-and-shoot Canon Powershot.


…and the contents inside:
The best part is, the whole setup cost me $0 to make! Score!
Any lighting tips welcomed and appreciated.
Lots more to come!
xx
j
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I WAS WATCHING ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS, Pawn Stars, this afternoon on the History Channel. There was a marathon on and I think I watched for 6 hours straight.


During one episode (Season 2 Episode 6), a customer came in with a 1758 lottery ticket signed by George Washington. As the story goes on Pawn Stars, Rick (part-owner) sees something he likes but doesn’t know enough about, then scoops into his mile-deep bag of experts to come take a look at the object at hand.
A handwriting expert and historian of sorts came in and verified that the lottery ticket was indeed, the real deal—very similiar to this one:
The ticket was cool, no doubt. It was in mint condition and had b-e-a-utiful typography and embellishment on it. The layout was simple and clean. But what really captured me was George Washington’s signature!

Which got me thinking about other beautiful John Hancocks. I remembered seeing a mighty attractive signature by Thomas Jefferson, too:


And also, ours truly, Mr. President:



I love signatures, and handwriting in general. I think being a handwriting analyst would be a pretty sweet gig! Handwriting reveals a lot about people.

Coincidentally, I came across a few handwriting blurbs posted within the past few weeks. Check out this ditty about Obama’s signature, or this well-done blog post about famous signatures (I love them all, and had no idea Hitler changed his autograph so frequently…the more you know)!

And to take this post full circle:
Write on.

xx
j

reworking

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I’ve been doing a lot of reworking on my projects, and it’s starting to get to me. The moment something is done, it isn’t. One second it’s straight, the next look it’s crooked, unbalanced, off-color. Last night I took a project and ripped it apart (not literally, but on the computer), practically starting from scratch. I am never satisfied!


A good friend would argue that this is a good thing. I’d agree, with moderation, it can be beneficial for an artist. Work should never be complete, just satisfactory; as my friend claimed, “the moment you think your work is good, it sucks.”

I suppose I keep those words in mind when I work, but I can never recognize when I’m going overboard. I once learned from a wise woman the secret to keeping your sanity when working on a project is recognizing when you’ve hit a plateau. I would work for hours—late into nights—on projects and go to bed completely defeated. What I never admitted to was the moment I told myself, “this is enough.” I continually hit that point, maybe at 9pm or at midnight, maybe at noon, and kept pushing the work regardless, until I felt exhausted and disappointed.

I’m looking for answers. I often figure that the best way out of a project is to muscle through it, but that’s not always the case. I need to remind myself to set things aside, approach them later with a fresh, positive mindset, and not strive for “perfect for everyone,” but for something I love.

I suppose, maybe, I just never want to suck.


Also,
I don’t want to go to work! No!

the wink

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A LONG, LONG TIME AGO, or junior high, I discovered the wink. I loved the wink. I used the wink vigorously.
Past records show that winks are typically used for one reason: Picking up chicks/dudes. Winks are one of man’s most trusted non-verbal pickup lines. True. Does that mean if I’m not single I can’t wink? No. In my book, there are no rules for winking. Zero (that I can recall). Wink at your grandma. Wink at your local librarian, at a funeral, or at the driver in car next to you at the stop light. Sure, people are going to think you’re coming on to them, but you know better. Wink away.
There was always one problem with the wink: it was too much wink. It would cause a stir, and was more than once the topic of heated debates about wellness and winking. It is so much wink, in fact, that the receiver of the wink would often question if I were having a seizure. Normal winks span anywhere from 0.2 to one second in length, but the wink is six seconds long and includes intricate hand gestures and head movements. Like I said, it’s a lot of wink.

So I’ve been working on it, along with my moonwalking and rapping. It’s getting better, I think.

What do you think? Too much wink?
Then again, it could always be worse, right?
(Wink. wink.)