Uncharacteristically, I am out of things to say at the moment (a possible side effect of feeling obligated to write something.) I think I’ll focus on my new fascination with my digital camera. I never knew what the little ‘flower’ setting on my camera was (I subscribe to the “manuals are for losers” school of thought) until I ran across a mini explanation of the function on lifehacker. Macro setting! I never knew my little fuji digital camera, one I thought to be on the lower end of the spectrum, could produce such cool effects.

My faithful subject displays a particularly ‘un-phased’ expression at our Panera breakfast. I also took many pictures of the styrofoam cup and the receipt, but no one really needs to know how much I paid for my chai latte.

I don’t know much about developing photos the old school way with chemicals and dark rooms, that’s why I always hesitate to say I’m anything but average with photography. It’s something I love to do, something if I had loads of money and free time I’d invest in some better equipment and the introductory knowledge. I am my father’s daughter when it comes to photography; we both love the line structure and geometry of photographs, can appreciate color in image just as much black and white (I scoffed at a former roommate who insisted that black and white developing makes everything so much more dramatic.) To be honest, I think that it takes a lot more talent to make a color-image dramatic.

The first j-term class I took at Hollins was mostly a mistake on my part; while I got to sit in a stuffy room for two hours and listen to students wax poetic about what they thought about the history of photography, my then best friend got to go take pictures in her class with an old Holga camera. The one thing I did get out of my class though was an appreciation for the photographer Nan Goldin.

She was famous for her candid photography, taking photos of friends and family doing mundane things. I think the beauty in her photography lies in its lack of show; the fact that it isn’t a set up of elaborate lighting and ridiculous posed characters. Not to say that there isn’t merit in posed photography, I’m just not a huge fan. There is so much to the moment of a candid photograph.