Snowpocalypse

Posted on February 26, 2011 by ben

It is snowing. Not just the average amount, 2 gargantuan feet and counting. Don’t get me wrong, I love snow. If I could bath with it without catching hypothermia I would! Problems arise when it gets in the way of my sanity. I live on a 5000 foot mountain. I live on a campus that is not anywhere near the center of town. If we do the math, wait a minute here…

2ƒ + school – realfood – coffee x 23 = INSANITY

Snow is, however, a great way to lie to yourself to relax. I can’t do math, it’s SNOWING! Now I wonder what I will do today…I sit here and debate wether to work or to eat cheez-its and watch an absurd amount of Law + Order SVU. I obviously have TONS of work to do. How about picking out belts for prom, or organizing files. Talk about tiring. I will probably do a few sketches in my sketchbook and then spend the rest of the day saying, it’s snowing! I might as well be getting used to this, seeing as next year I will be living on snow mountain, aka, the Northeast. I will go brew a cup of coffee, clean up my room, and then ponder wether or not this snow is out to get me. Does snow get to you?

Cheers from Narnia.

Posted in Idyllwild, Winter | 1 Comment

How To: Collage Negative Film

Posted on February 19, 2011 by ben

For today’s tutorial, we will learn how to cut and collage a photographic negative film to make a new, exciting composition. It is incredibly simple, easy, and fun. I enjoy doing it to make creepy compositions, but you could use this technique for all kinds of photographs! Turning old negatives or ruined negatives to exciting new pictures. Let’s begin!

Step One: You will need clear tape, scissors, and the negatives you wish to cut. A pen or pencil is optional but not necessary.

Step two: Find a light box or any bright source, and place the negatives you want to use. You then need to find what negative is closest in density to the other negative. This means a negative that is most similar in value to another. In this case, the red line points to the two negatives that are most similar. You may use different density negatives, but I have found that the more similar the better the outcome.

Step 3: Once you have the two negatives picked out, cut a strip of tape longer than the negative. Place this tape sticky-side up, and then tape it down. This will be used to hold the negative together and in place. Decide what parts of the negative you want cut, and then overlap them with the other negative. Cut out the other negative which will hold your first cut negatives. Once this is done, place the largest area that was kept negative to the tape.

Step 4: Once the negative has been placed on the tape, put the remaining pieces onto the negative. It will stick because of the tape. Once this is done, take the tape off and voila, you have a negative ready to use. Now do the usual processing and developing to see what it looks like!

Step 5: Enjoy the final product! Here is what my negative turned out looking like once I finished developing it. It might take a couple tries to get it right, but I love doing this to my negatives. It adds another aspect to a negative and is just plain fun! Try it out and tell me how it goes! And if you have any requests for the next tutorial, or questions, feel free to ask in the comments below!

(Some More Examples)

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

My Name Is….

Posted on February 14, 2011 by ben

I spent a long time looking at various blogs that I follow and their first post. I could not find a single one still intact, so I am wingin’ it.

I go to a boarding arts high school in southern California in the mountains, not many rays are soaked this time of year. I am also embarking on a lot of exciting adventures! A boarding arts high school, senior year, Universities and the occasional teenage angst, there is much to be written about. It’s always hard to predict what will happen! I am, however, new to all of this! Finishing applying to universities, creating new and torturous ways to photograph my friends, and surviving truly awful cafeteria food, I learn everyday.

Though I don’t exactly fit the put-spaghetti-on-your-face art student stereotype, I might fit a few stereotypical art student stereotypes. So kick back, relax, look through some of my galleries and take this odd journey with me! Hopefully it will be full of too much coffee and teenage angst.

Posted in College, Idyllwild | 3 Comments