Photo Fun Continued

It sometimes seems like the quality of students changes from semester to semester. Sometimes for the good, but lately it has been for the bad. This Saturday when I went in to the college to help out with a photo shoot, I found some stuff out of place. In Studio 2 there was a ladder hanging on the door. This was really out of place and a safety hazard. I have a feeling that I know the student that did this and I am going to have someone talk to him this upcoming week. Also there where only two students were working in Studio 1 this weekend and there was some black seamless taped to the wall with masking tape. The first student might have done it because they were arguing with Krista about it being ok to tape stuff to the wall. The second student in the studio my have just as easily done it also. When I went in there to help him with a problem with the power pack that they where using I didn’t notice it up at the time, but I really wasn’t looking for something like that though. Hopefully we will start correcting some of these issues with students misusing the equipment in out labs and studios.

A Latin Evening Five

Friday was the fifth Latin Evening event at Cypress College. It was put on by the Patrons of the Arts and the ticket sales are going towards scholarships for the students within the Fine Arts Department. The evening started a little early when the house went off queue and opened the theater early to the audience. This gave people a little something extra though; they where able have a seat and see some of the sound checks and what goes into the setup the show.

The music was the main focus of the evening with everything from folk to jazz. They even had an entire choir for several of the songs. The end of the first half of the night the choir ended with an audience participation of La Bamba from Ritchie Valens. During the second half of the show I noticed some of the students that are in my Jazz History class performing. I remember hearing our instructor singing the song that they sung during some of our classes for example of jazz styles, but I can not remember the name of it right now. Throughout the night there were several dances. There were two dancers that really stuck out. They had donated there time and skills as professional dancers from Disneyland to help put on the two tangos for the night. All the dances and dancers that night did a great job and put on an excellent show.

The lighting designer did a great job for the show. The lights really helped with the mood and added great accents to the show. I also liked the gobo affects that were used on some of the moving lights to give scattered light patterns to break up the flood lights. The use of the harmonious colors also played well with the stage setup. The choice of lighting looked great throughout the entire evening.

During the entire evening the Patrons of the Arts sold tickets for a 50/50 drawing. At the end of the night the winning ticket holder decided to donate the $110 winnings back to the Patrons of the Arts scholarship fund on behave of his two children. That was a very generous gesture that some student will be very thankful for. I never got his name but I did manage to get a picture of him and his two kids to archive with the Patrons of the Arts.

Photo Fun

Today started out like it was going to be a great day. Once Grace and I got in, Krista had a cake waiting for Grace. From what Grace calls it, it is a better than sex cake. Another name it might go by is a heath bar cake, but either way it tastes just as good. Later in the day when a student was working in studio 2 there was a big crack, a slam, and then a loud boom. Apparently the student decided to have their model pose on the schools product table, which is designed for thing maybe 20 to 30 pounds at most. The product table broke under the weight and what a sound that was. Everyone in the immediate area was able to hear it, Grace, Ron and Greg from the stockroom, Jerry from his office, and myself from the digital lab. From what Grace told me the model seemed a little dazed from the fall and had a minor cut but other then that was fine, unlike out product table which had its plexiglas broken beyond repair or salvage. Well I am hoping for a less destructive day tomorrow.

Greg with the plexiglas


What was left of the better than sex cake

Lighting and Studio Techniques

The other day Cliff had his students split up into two group for a mood lighting exercise. Craig and Shellee wound up being the digital techs of the groups. Craig worked with a Nikon and their capture software Capture NX 2 which wasn’t really cooperating with his team that much. Shellee’s team also had some problem working with Canon and their capture software. It would stop downloading to the computer after about two images. She decided to just use her laptop the she had tested prior to the demo. After some initial setup problems with the computers everything wound up working out in the end. While the demo was going on I decided to document it for archiving purposes and maybe some promotional uses later in advertising the Cypress College Photography Department.

Janice was modeling for Craig's group over by the pool table. I took this once the shot was winding down.

My Camera's Return

Well yesterday I got my camera back from Canon. Everything looks good and it is working fine. Soon I should be shooting again with my own camera.

Also my best friend Shawna Bennets had her second daughter last night at 9:08. Welcome to the world Violet Lee Bennets. I will be down to visit during spring break.

Little Shop of Horrors

It’s that time again. The Cypress College Theater Department is putting on its first show for the spring semester. The play will be running on the 13th through the 15th and the 20th through the 22nd of March. Tickets are available at the Cypress College box office for $15 and you can get further information by calling (714) 484-7200.

Camera Issues

Well, I went down to the Canon Service Center yesterday and had them take a look at my camera and lens. When I opened up the back cap to my lens the Canon rep said they had never seen anything like it. Luckily the mirror did not scratch my lens and everything was ok with it. As for my 5D it will be in the shop getting serviced for about the next week. It won’t cost anything to repair because of the service notice that the mirror can fall off. When Grace took me down to the repair center we also took two of our instructor’s (Robert Johnson and Max Gerber) 5Ds to get the mirror reinforced. Well, at least it looks like it is going to at least end well. I should have my camera back soon, and this has taught me that I really need to get some money together to buy a second camera like the Canon 5d Mark II.

Mirror, Mirror, where is my Mirror

Well I saw a while ago that Canon had a service notice on the Canon 5D cameras because of the mirror falling off. About three weeks ago when I took my camera in to get the sensor cleaned I asked about the problem. They said they would fix it for free, but to just wait until it fell off and then bring it in. Just my luck while I was shooting tonight it came off. The mirror managed to get wedged in my 70-200mm lens and while taking it off my camera body the mirror broke. Right now the mirror is still lodged in the lens and is uncomfortably close to the rear lens element. I am hoping (expecting) to have Canon take care of the lens also since I had already come in asking about getting my camera fixed. Now I am out a camera for until I can get it fixed, which should be about a week from tomorrow if everything goes well. I recommend if you have a 5D to maybe insist that Canon fixes the problem before it winds up hurting more then just your camera body.

Mom’s Portrait Assignment

Well, today my mom needed a model for a portrait assignment that she is doing in her photo 103 class at Cypress College. She wanted me to model but I am never that interesting in front of the camera so I volunteered Krista for the job. I think I really owe her for the help this time. At the end of the shoot my mom finally got me to sit in front of the camera for a while. I finally stopped the shoot once I smelled something funny. The old Norman power pack she was using was starting to over heat from the continuous shooting. Well just another thing for me to check out on Monday.

Cover Shot Photo Shoot

Last night Grace had Krista, Vergil, and I setup a shoot to go on the cover of our Photography Department brochure. We set everything up and Grace started shooting but was soon called back to work with the students in the lab. After Grace left, Krista was still modeling so I took over shooting, so we could have as many shots to choose from. Once Grace got back, I grabbed my camera and started shooting for myself and wound up with some nice shots.