Lady with earring

Another assignment for my lighting class.  This is the last class in the intermediate course, and I've decided to stick it with it another 6 weeks for the advanced course.  I took the first class hoping I'd learn to use my nifty flash attachment, but so far we haven't even talked about flash.  He promises in the final class we'll finally learn about it.

Our final assignment was to create a photo (or series of photos) that bring together the body of work we've done in the past two classes.  We were also asked to choose an adjective to evoke a certain feeling.  The choices were "scary" "lighthearted" "emptiness" "desire" and "strength".

Here is one of the shots of a series I'm hoping to get done by Tuesday.  I've ruled out "scary" and "lighthearted" but haven't decided whether I'll head toward "emptiness", "desire" or even possibly "strength"....

One thing I've decided is a self-portrait with studio lighting (and no assistants) is pure torture.  I took over 100 shots yesterday and today and only have 5 that work at all.  Not my favorite assignment.  If I decide to do more portraits, I'm finding a model!

Still life in morning sunlight

This week our lighting assignment was to photograph a subject using a combination of ambient light and "built" lighting.  I did the assignment yesterday afternoon using this subject and lighting the dark corner to balance with the existing light in my dining room.  This morning I went in to clean up and saw the lovely natural light coming through the windows and casting prisms throughout the room through the crystals of the chandelier.  I decided to take a quick shot with this lovely light (but no "built" aka "studio" light).  I liked this shot better than any I took yesterday and I liked the color better than the black and white.  I edited it with a great deal of clarity and saturation, so it took on a "painterly" quality that seems to fit the subject.