Jue's Blog (tag:photos)

A full day of PhD interviews tomorrow.

Flying from DC to Boston reminded me how much I love airplanes. That, in turn, reminded me how much I love Flickr. Exhibit one, two, three.

From the snowy, moody, and sometimes sunny city of Washington, DC.

It’s because I’ve been practically living in the darkroom. After a 7-hour session yesterday of developing film and making prints of an impromptu portrait session of my roommates, I’ve put a few more scans up on Flickr.

This is my friend CJ. I did my best to impose an aura of existential despair on her. You can’t tell from looking at the picture, but the darkness of the collective unconscious (er, black blackground) is actually a blue fleece blanket which I thumbtacked to the wall behind. There are some hanging edges, and a label that says “L.L. Bean,” which I’ve cropped out of the frame.

Lucas (thumbnail on the far right) and Pedro also gave their best shot at an expression “purged of all mirthful expression,” which I admit was not the most straightforward instruction to have given to my hapless roommates / portrait models. Thankfully they knew what I was going for, and I’m pleased with the results.

I’m hoping this shot inspires CJ to become a character in a Japanese No drama.

A month ago, my roommate Zach discovered a darkroom in the basement of Mather tower. After seeing some of the prints that he developed, I had to give black and white film photography a try. Seven rolls of film and twenty hours in the darkroom later, I have my first few prints. Check out the scans below.

Took Lucas’ digital SLR camera out for a spin today. That camera absolutely drinks in colors, sometimes to the point that I don’t believe the colors were from the original scene. I took this opportunity to get a few more recent shots up on Flickr, along with a couple of re-discoveries from a long time ago. Most of the pictures tell the same basic story — hiking in Maine, my infatuation with trees, etc. An exception is a couple of recent shots of Mather House (where I live) and nearby buildings. Sometimes, in enough sunlight, there are some serious shadows just waiting to be photographed / drawn.

[via My Photostream]