Mentor Meeting 3/22/11

    So I had a mentor meeting with Mrs G. on Monday and it went very well. We talked a lot about how I am doing well with my project but I am not pushing myself out of my comfort zone. So my mission for this week is to push myself outside of my comfort zone
      She suggested that I do an enrichment program at one of the elementary schools. For those of you who don't know, enrichment is a bunch of programs that are open to elementary kids. People from around the community come for an hour after school to teach classes on a variety of topics. Unfortunately elementary school ends at 2:00 and enrichment starts at 2:05 and goes until 3:05 this is smack dab in the middle of my 7th and 8th period classes and I can't miss those. I am going to think about solutions to this problem because leading an enrichment class for an hour once a week for 8 weeks would definitely put me outside of my comfort zone.
      Another suggestion was going to local coffee shops and asking if I could display some of my work for a while. I mentioned the fact that I was thinking of holding a photo show at my house and Mrs G. was a little hesitant because she really wants me to get out of my comfort zone and therefore my house with people I know might be too comfortable. I totally understand this and I think thats why I was leaning towards holding the show at my house because it would be more comfortable for me.
   Mrs G. also suggested that I interview a local photographer. I talked to Judy but I know her rather well and I am comfortable with her so talking to Judy wouldn't be getting out of my comfort zone. One of the photos I used in one of my earlier was taken by Jenna at Jenna Leigh Teti Photography. Jenna said that I could email her with any questions or to just talk about photography in general. I think that I will take advantage of her offer and see how she got into photography. I am also planning on contacting a friend's mom, who is an equine vet at cornell, and seeing if I could get in to take pictures of a workout on the treadmill or something like that.
    I also need to talk to Judy soon to see if she would be willing to let me print my photos at school using school paper. I would pay for the paper and ink I used. If I can't print at school then I will have to find another place to print.
     I think thats all for now. I will be posting pictures of my long exposure experiment and some nice Wednesday night polo pictures at a later date.

Mentor Meeting 3/11/11

      So I have been in somewhat of a rut for the last few days. I was happy with my project, where it was headed and my progress but I wasn't satisfied. I don't know if that makes sense or not, I hope it does. So when I met with Mrs. G I voiced these concerns and she had a lot of ideas that she thought would help to keep me satisfied throughout my project.
    This meeting came at a really good time because I have a problem continuously planning so having the meeting helped me to get back on track. I am now planning for my show opening as well as continuing to plan out the collage. I think the collage will be my main focus this week.

         One of her ideas was to get my photos up in a public area so that many people could see them. Because my project doesn't rely on me learning a lot of photography skills, I took Photo classes last year, she thought that publishing was the next step. I totally agree with this one. Mrs. G suggested putting up my favorite works in a coffee shop or something to that nature, or putting on my own photo show. I then mentioned that Judy puts a photo show on every year and that I could ask Judy if she would be willing to let me put some of my photos into it as well. Then as I was talking to my mom about this she suggested that we hold a photo show opening at my house. We would set up my photos all around the dining room and living room and invite friends and classmates to come over, have food and see my photos. I really liked this idea so I'm going to start planning it for mid to late April. That way "The Wiz" is over and I will have more time.

 
     I guess I should explain my main purpose behind this project as I have neglected to do so until now. I want to show non-horsey people why us horsey people are so absolutely and utterly obsessed. Any horse person out there can tell you there is a bond between horse and rider but are unable to put that bond into words and still have it make sense to a non-horsey person. My goal at the end of this project is to communicate that bond. Maybe the reason why we can't explain our bond with horses because there are no words that would do it justice. The closest I have ever seen anyone come to describing it perfectly is Susan Richards, author of "Saddled." So I aim to convey this bond through pictures because as they say: "A picture is worth a thousand words."

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

     So finally I chose the style that I want my portfolio to be in. I have it all pretty much planned out and I am relatively happy with it.
    Unfortunately I feel like I am not doing as much as I could be for my project. I have been reading my fellow classmates blogs and it seems to me that I am on track but that I seem to be working on my project in large amounts and then not working on it for a couple of days. And maybe thats ok because I have been getting lots done but I want to try to work on my project a little bit every day and still do the large portions on the weekends. That is one of my goals for the rest of the week.
      I also am realizing that my idea for the large collage is not going to happen unless I start talking pictures all the time. I also need to start planning out the collage so that I can take pictures with that in mind. I am going to polo tonight so I will bring my camera and hopefully get some good shots in the barn.
   I really want to make this project a success so I need to start doing even more for my project. We'll see how it goes as the week finishes.