Doin' Laundry in Prague
I write from the computer here at the launrodmat in Prague. Although I have a week left, I need to get some clean clothes as I have begun to reach the end of my outfit choices!
The laundromat is really cool! I love it! I would actually hang out here even if I wasn't doing laundry! They offer complimentary tea and coffee served on these cute little trays. There are tables to read at and there's a little lounge area with comfy red couches. The decor is funky with pictures of Prague and pictures of black and white Ansel Adams-y shots hanging on light blue walls. Odd and weird murals are painted at the front desk area. It's a place for travelers to come to relax while they take care of laundry.
We had a great trip to the Moravian wine region this weekend. Jan's trip was packed full of activities and meeting photographers. It was kind of comical because he rented this bus that just exactly held our number of people. So, there we were with 20 people stuffed close together in this van-like blue bus. As we traveled, it felt smaller and smaller. Rather like a large clown car.
We met two photographer friends of Jan in the two of Brno. Yup--no vowel there! But, it's pronounced like "Bruno". These were two of the "younger" genereation as Jan kept saying. Basically, they are around my age. We went to this young photographer's apartment. He was very welcoming of us and invited us into his living room. His wife had made delicious peach coffee cake and he offered us mate, a tea. Then, we all sat around as he showed us his actual prints of his work. It was amazing to be so casually looking at this stuff on his living room floor! And such a privilege to get his running commentary on it as he displayed each print. His work is related to the idea of mandala. He takes one image and then rotates it around the page four times so that it becomes abstract. Some look like mandalas others like kaleidoscopic images. I really liked the work--especially because of the abstract qualities the everyday scenes he took possessed once he put them in this form. He and his wife live this hippy artistic lifestyle. They played this low, kind of haunting and charming music the entire time we were there. Their other hobbies are building a Cob house (I don't know much about this, but he said that is his bigger hobby...beyond photography...) But, even for this "small" photography hobby of his, he won a competition and then recevied this huge exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Not bad!
Then another artist arrived at this man's house. We had already seen an exhibition of his work at the Leica Gallery in Prague two weeks ago, so it was fun to actually meet him. He does black and white and showed us his prints too--there on the living room floor! He described the way that he has fought to remain independent from doing any commercial photography, even though it is of course, financially challenging for him to do so! Both of these guys said how they don't have enough money to have a full darkroom, so they do all of their developing in their own bathrooms!
It was great to see the camaraderie between the two of them, and even cuter to see our photography teachers kind of sparring with them and teasing them about being younger. Jan made jokes with them like, "Ok--so, you say you will never go over to digital --just you wait! You won't be able to be pure for so long!" It's fun to see the way people in a field see the world together and interact with each other. Often I don't get to see several artists in the same field together. Jan and Miro, the teachers we have had in Prague these weeks, were great on the trip as they would come up with creative shots on the spot and then order us to get into place to do them! And Jan would tease Miro about his bad camera or how slow he was being in setting up a shot! Very adorable.
The night we arrived at our hotel Jan had arranged for us to be at this photography workshop. The Czech Republic's most respected photographer Jindrich Streit presented his work and gave a narrative of his techniques. He also showed a short film on his work and then answered questions. He had been arrested because of his photos (sometimes he used the photos to voice his disagreement with the regime) and taken from his job as a teacher and headmaster during the Communist Era. He was forced to work on a cooperative farm and then came back to photography in 1989. Since that time he has published many books and had many exhibits.
One more photographer finished off the evening workshop by showing his work. I liked it a lot--especially his scenes of public spaces. He is doing a project where he photos the sort of ignored landscapes that we see everyday and stop noticing. He had shots of parking lots, gas stations, train stations, etc etc. I have always had this idea of photographing parking lots as I think they are sort of this forgotten public space that we could use for more than we do. Like, at night, when cars are gone, they just sit there, empty, and they have this poignant kind of emptiness about them. Both dramatic and boring at the same time. So, encouraged to see that this work is something others are looking at, I am going to go out and photograph parking lots when I get home!
We stayed up having wine after the workshop--the wine right from the vineyards nearby. Delicious and sweet. The next day we saw a lot of small towns with castles. The bus trip home was hilarious because everyone had bought wine and started passing around bottles on the bus. Miro, our teacher, was quite jolly and having a good time with the wine too. And, of course, all of this was on the world's smallest bus as the Czech countryside flew by. It was a trip home to remember!
Well, my laundry may be done. This is our last week coming up. And, while I will be sad to go, I also feel like I still have a whole week, and, already, today, I can feel that I am getting to know the city more and have more of a feel for it. So, I am enjoying the experience of letting the city sink in and make an impression on me.
This week we will be seeing Ivan Klima, a major Czech writer who also spent time in Terezin concentration camp. I purchased his book The Spirit of Prague and have been reading it here at the laundromat in anticipation of seeing him speak. It is quite interesting what he has to say about writing under the communist regime and the ways writers had to fight to preserve their artistic voice while also still keeping their jobs and lives under the regime. He also talks in the book about the underground publishing movement that happened. I think he may talk more about that this week in the speech he gives. Looking forward to it.
Final thoughts--today, as I was listening to the Czech language being spoken around me on the tram, it occurred to me that it is sometimes one of the best things to immerse yourself in a world where no one speaks the same language. And, while it can be frustrating sometimes to communicate (and really, for the most part, people know English) there is a beauty to having a foreign language and culture around you. It's a way of seeing the variety and complexity of life. And, sometimes I think in the globalization of a lot of our culture, it seems like we are being dumbed down to the extent that everything is understandable--languages are the same, stores are the same, music is the same. Everything becomes mind numbingly understandable-- culture can become oppressive in its complete and utter simplicity! And so, it can feel like a kind of poetry or music to sit on a train and hear this language being spoken around you that you don't understand. Czech's complexity as a language is discussed by everyone in our program as we try to learn even the fewest expressions! And yet, I think it is this complexity and richness within any culture that makes our lives richer. Here's to preserving the not easily accessible or understandable!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A Sense of Play by the River Vlatava
Creative. Sweaty. Inspirational. Dirt-covered. Spontaneous. And loads of fun. That is how I would describe our photography class this afternoon. We went with Miro Svolik, our guest teacher for this week, to a bridge a few stops on the tram away from our school building. The bridge allowed us to shoot in his style which is essentially the following: arrange people, scenes, props, etc on the ground, using the asphalt as the canvas, and then go up on the bridge, high above, shooting down, so that the scene that we have constructed below comes alive. Key component of the shoot: people arrange themselves on the asphalt as if in lying down they are actually "standing" up in the world of the asphalt or cobblestones. I may not be verbally explaining it right. But, it essentially means that we are posing on the ground, lying down, but creating the effect that we are, in fact, merely walking along...
Anyway--we started out with Miro's plan. He had us "walk" along --which really meant that we all lay down on the nasty cobblestones by the river, complete with cigarette stubs embedded around us and some of the weird smells emanating up from the water, and he shot from above. The effect was really cool. We looked like school children walking along holding each others' hands!
Once we did that, he got our creative juices flowing. The great thing was that our class, four of us, worked together to talk out ideas and concepts and set up scenes on the ground, so that we were able to be photographers, models and scene setters all at various points throughout the afternoon. And, the most amazing thing was the way our ideas and brainstorms built off of each other. For example, Bryon, our classmate who went first, created two stick figures using his clothing and then random "found" objects for the body (like tripods for legs and bags for heads and a large water bottle for an arm...) Then, we photographed these figures from above and they looked fun. Very cartoonish. Then, I was going to do my concept which involved trying to illustrated my character from my short story Eliza Looking Away. I had bought this beautiful flower (a pink lily with three blossoms) on the street to bring as part of my props. My idea was to show Eliza as lying down, sleeping (since, in my story she is hit by a bus and in the hospital). She would be holding a flower and then I would have two guys fighting over her. That was the scene I intended to set up. But then, as we spontaneously got ideas, we realized that Beth, one of our classmates who was wearing a beautiful white sundress (which later became a huge part of the shooting we did throughout the day) could lie down and then these two stick figure guys we had used for Bryon's scene could be the ones fighting over her (instead of using real human models...) So, we set it up. Someone had brought a long sheet of red crepe paper which we lay down for Beth to lie upon, since it heightened the color and separated her from the two stick figures. Then, we laid the flower over her. It was quite beautiful. She looked heavenly, while the two stick figures were a hilarious contrast! It was this type of organic inspiration which really made the day meaningful. The juxtapositions and funky shots we got were different from what we expected, but even better because of the way they evolved out of our sense of play and creativity.
Then, it was super hot (literally one of the hottest days here...) so we took a beer/water/coke break at a nearby bar. After about 45 minutes, we returned, and it was cool because we did seem to be rejuvenated and have new ideas. Miro's son was with us. He is 16. He "painted" a model of the earth on the cobblestones using flour. We then posed in various "walking" states all around the globe. Later, we photographed just Beth in her beautiful white dress sitting atop the globe. And later still, we photographed Bryon "holding up" the globe as the lay on the cobblestones underneath the globe.
It was geting very cloudy and windy. Prague weather is very fickle. Or rather, it is quite predictable--on really hot days, it will always rain at around 5 pm--in a monsoon-ish down pour with wind and sheets of rain and cloudy dark skies. So, we were trying to get in one more shot before the rain. Maran and Bryon "drew" a large wine bottle out of flour on the asphalt and then two of us posed within the wine bottle drawing in various states of apparent drunkeness. Hard to describe, but the scene we shot was a hilarious view of drinking! And, as we lay there on the cobblestones, it began to rain. But we continued lying there posing as Miro shot from above--he protected by his umbrella, and showing out "Good!" "That's great!" "Hold that!" etc etc while we all became soaked below. It was hilarious. But we were so into the process we didn't want to stop--and were "suffering" for our art! hahaha.
Anyway--a really exhilarating day--and a great artistic experience. Honestly, the sense of inspiration and play was amazing. And, it was the type of thing that we all had to do together--the way our ideas worked off of each other and the way we got ideas in a split second from looking at our scenes was so fun. We were truly in the midst of a sort of deep flow there for awhile.
Afterward, we escaped into the tram just as the rain came down in sheets. We watched people outside the tram running for shelter, and Miro pointed out that these would make great photos! We headed to Cafe Slavia, an old cafe in Prague that has the look of the 20s about it. Many actors and artists from the National Theater used to go there since it is right across the street. We ordered food and drinks and talked art with Miro. He is a very nice man who was very pleased with our day of shooting--it was great to have felt that way myself and to also see that he too had been inspired by our day.
Finished off the night with going to a reading at the Ypsilon Theater. I took my dirty sweaty self there right after Cafe Slavia. Stuart Dybek and Cynthia Hogue read. I really liked Cynthia's work. Now, I am home, packing for our photo overnight trip to Lednice and Brno--the Moravian wine region. Looking forward to it, especially after all the work we did today!
Good night!
P.S.--Since I know it is hard to picture our shots as I describe them on here, I will be posting them soon on facebook. If I am able, I will try to post a few on this blog too (in the next few days)...
Creative. Sweaty. Inspirational. Dirt-covered. Spontaneous. And loads of fun. That is how I would describe our photography class this afternoon. We went with Miro Svolik, our guest teacher for this week, to a bridge a few stops on the tram away from our school building. The bridge allowed us to shoot in his style which is essentially the following: arrange people, scenes, props, etc on the ground, using the asphalt as the canvas, and then go up on the bridge, high above, shooting down, so that the scene that we have constructed below comes alive. Key component of the shoot: people arrange themselves on the asphalt as if in lying down they are actually "standing" up in the world of the asphalt or cobblestones. I may not be verbally explaining it right. But, it essentially means that we are posing on the ground, lying down, but creating the effect that we are, in fact, merely walking along...
Anyway--we started out with Miro's plan. He had us "walk" along --which really meant that we all lay down on the nasty cobblestones by the river, complete with cigarette stubs embedded around us and some of the weird smells emanating up from the water, and he shot from above. The effect was really cool. We looked like school children walking along holding each others' hands!
Once we did that, he got our creative juices flowing. The great thing was that our class, four of us, worked together to talk out ideas and concepts and set up scenes on the ground, so that we were able to be photographers, models and scene setters all at various points throughout the afternoon. And, the most amazing thing was the way our ideas and brainstorms built off of each other. For example, Bryon, our classmate who went first, created two stick figures using his clothing and then random "found" objects for the body (like tripods for legs and bags for heads and a large water bottle for an arm...) Then, we photographed these figures from above and they looked fun. Very cartoonish. Then, I was going to do my concept which involved trying to illustrated my character from my short story Eliza Looking Away. I had bought this beautiful flower (a pink lily with three blossoms) on the street to bring as part of my props. My idea was to show Eliza as lying down, sleeping (since, in my story she is hit by a bus and in the hospital). She would be holding a flower and then I would have two guys fighting over her. That was the scene I intended to set up. But then, as we spontaneously got ideas, we realized that Beth, one of our classmates who was wearing a beautiful white sundress (which later became a huge part of the shooting we did throughout the day) could lie down and then these two stick figure guys we had used for Bryon's scene could be the ones fighting over her (instead of using real human models...) So, we set it up. Someone had brought a long sheet of red crepe paper which we lay down for Beth to lie upon, since it heightened the color and separated her from the two stick figures. Then, we laid the flower over her. It was quite beautiful. She looked heavenly, while the two stick figures were a hilarious contrast! It was this type of organic inspiration which really made the day meaningful. The juxtapositions and funky shots we got were different from what we expected, but even better because of the way they evolved out of our sense of play and creativity.
Then, it was super hot (literally one of the hottest days here...) so we took a beer/water/coke break at a nearby bar. After about 45 minutes, we returned, and it was cool because we did seem to be rejuvenated and have new ideas. Miro's son was with us. He is 16. He "painted" a model of the earth on the cobblestones using flour. We then posed in various "walking" states all around the globe. Later, we photographed just Beth in her beautiful white dress sitting atop the globe. And later still, we photographed Bryon "holding up" the globe as the lay on the cobblestones underneath the globe.
It was geting very cloudy and windy. Prague weather is very fickle. Or rather, it is quite predictable--on really hot days, it will always rain at around 5 pm--in a monsoon-ish down pour with wind and sheets of rain and cloudy dark skies. So, we were trying to get in one more shot before the rain. Maran and Bryon "drew" a large wine bottle out of flour on the asphalt and then two of us posed within the wine bottle drawing in various states of apparent drunkeness. Hard to describe, but the scene we shot was a hilarious view of drinking! And, as we lay there on the cobblestones, it began to rain. But we continued lying there posing as Miro shot from above--he protected by his umbrella, and showing out "Good!" "That's great!" "Hold that!" etc etc while we all became soaked below. It was hilarious. But we were so into the process we didn't want to stop--and were "suffering" for our art! hahaha.
Anyway--a really exhilarating day--and a great artistic experience. Honestly, the sense of inspiration and play was amazing. And, it was the type of thing that we all had to do together--the way our ideas worked off of each other and the way we got ideas in a split second from looking at our scenes was so fun. We were truly in the midst of a sort of deep flow there for awhile.
Afterward, we escaped into the tram just as the rain came down in sheets. We watched people outside the tram running for shelter, and Miro pointed out that these would make great photos! We headed to Cafe Slavia, an old cafe in Prague that has the look of the 20s about it. Many actors and artists from the National Theater used to go there since it is right across the street. We ordered food and drinks and talked art with Miro. He is a very nice man who was very pleased with our day of shooting--it was great to have felt that way myself and to also see that he too had been inspired by our day.
Finished off the night with going to a reading at the Ypsilon Theater. I took my dirty sweaty self there right after Cafe Slavia. Stuart Dybek and Cynthia Hogue read. I really liked Cynthia's work. Now, I am home, packing for our photo overnight trip to Lednice and Brno--the Moravian wine region. Looking forward to it, especially after all the work we did today!
Good night!
P.S.--Since I know it is hard to picture our shots as I describe them on here, I will be posting them soon on facebook. If I am able, I will try to post a few on this blog too (in the next few days)...
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Went to Prague Proms at the Municipal House tonight--Prague's gorgeous Art Nouveau theater. We had some champagne beforehand in the theater and watched all the well-dressed people stroll in. The performer was a Norwegian singer and her band plus the Prague National Orchestra (or something like that)--she wasn't that amazing or anything--but the setting was great.
Earlier today--we met up with a new photographer, Miro Svolick who showed us his works and then had us experiment with taking silhouettes of objects that we might then be able to incorporate into photo collages later. Our assignment for Thursday is to come up with a concept for a book cover. We are to use the human body and paint, colors, even flour if we want to paint or shade the background we are working with (which will be somewhere out in the outside environment...)
One thing that was really cool about seeing his life's works was that his earlier photos are of walls that contain either damaged or rusty paint/stucco, etc. This is the type of thing I like to take pictures of now. It's all about texture and shading. So, I am going to show him some of mine and see what he says in terms of critiquing them.
Must sleep!
Earlier today--we met up with a new photographer, Miro Svolick who showed us his works and then had us experiment with taking silhouettes of objects that we might then be able to incorporate into photo collages later. Our assignment for Thursday is to come up with a concept for a book cover. We are to use the human body and paint, colors, even flour if we want to paint or shade the background we are working with (which will be somewhere out in the outside environment...)
One thing that was really cool about seeing his life's works was that his earlier photos are of walls that contain either damaged or rusty paint/stucco, etc. This is the type of thing I like to take pictures of now. It's all about texture and shading. So, I am going to show him some of mine and see what he says in terms of critiquing them.
Must sleep!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Hello from Monday night....
Here's a quick entry to keep up on things!
Today was our new teacher for fiction class, Melissa Pritchard. Although it was a bit hard at first to let go of our attachment to Bret, I think she will be great in a totally different way. She is all about writing as an art and she brings in other arts into her study and preparations for writing. She is a bit new agey--which, I actually kind of like! She says she writes all of her drafts in these big art notebooks--the blank, big sketch pads you can get at art stores. That way, she lets herself write and draw if she needs to or bring in any other thing that comes up. I think this would be a great technique for me to try. Even seeing her big art notebook as she was reading from it totally opened up my view on what writing can be--it makes me think of it as a craft. Gets me thinking outside the lines on the page. It also might enhance the ability to see the story as it unfolds visually--to see it spatially on the big page--I can see myself using a notebook like that to sketch out scenes in relation to each other--like a storyboard of sorts. She also talked about thinking in threes--how that's a good number for characters. events--any number of things. One hint she gave that I really liked was the idea that you should simplify on the surface and then go deep. That means--fewer characters, perhaps, but more depth to the few you have.
Also--another great idea: When writing the story and figuring out how events or scenes are going to go, you can list possible events that might happen to a character on a continuum from outrageous, life changing events to mundane, hum-drum actions. And then, as the writer, try them out in the scenes. It helps you make decisions and see what is available to you.
One other great quote that came up in class today, in relation to some things classmates were saying about committing to writing and the risks you have to take to do so, is "Leap, and the net will find you." I love that! It applies in so many ways--not just to writing. But, I think when it comes to writing or committing yourself to this work, there is a certain leap that one makes or needs to make. And it is scary. Whether it be the leap into the story when you sit down to write. Or, whether it be a leap into the writer's life where you decide to put writing first or at least take a step toward making it more serious or a bigger part of your life. All leaps. Big and small.
So, she will be very valuable in teaching us.
Well, off to bed. Tuesdays are busy days here.
Went back to the little tea place that is becoming a favorite. Tried out funky new one today--a cold tea that when poured into the pint glass they serve it in comes out looking like beer. This, of course, would be a great hit in Prague! But, it tastes really sweet, and is quite refreshing. Downed two of these tonight at the little tea shop!
And, of course, had a great red beer earlier in the day at lunch--Herold beer or something like that. Divine.
more later!
Here's a quick entry to keep up on things!
Today was our new teacher for fiction class, Melissa Pritchard. Although it was a bit hard at first to let go of our attachment to Bret, I think she will be great in a totally different way. She is all about writing as an art and she brings in other arts into her study and preparations for writing. She is a bit new agey--which, I actually kind of like! She says she writes all of her drafts in these big art notebooks--the blank, big sketch pads you can get at art stores. That way, she lets herself write and draw if she needs to or bring in any other thing that comes up. I think this would be a great technique for me to try. Even seeing her big art notebook as she was reading from it totally opened up my view on what writing can be--it makes me think of it as a craft. Gets me thinking outside the lines on the page. It also might enhance the ability to see the story as it unfolds visually--to see it spatially on the big page--I can see myself using a notebook like that to sketch out scenes in relation to each other--like a storyboard of sorts. She also talked about thinking in threes--how that's a good number for characters. events--any number of things. One hint she gave that I really liked was the idea that you should simplify on the surface and then go deep. That means--fewer characters, perhaps, but more depth to the few you have.
Also--another great idea: When writing the story and figuring out how events or scenes are going to go, you can list possible events that might happen to a character on a continuum from outrageous, life changing events to mundane, hum-drum actions. And then, as the writer, try them out in the scenes. It helps you make decisions and see what is available to you.
One other great quote that came up in class today, in relation to some things classmates were saying about committing to writing and the risks you have to take to do so, is "Leap, and the net will find you." I love that! It applies in so many ways--not just to writing. But, I think when it comes to writing or committing yourself to this work, there is a certain leap that one makes or needs to make. And it is scary. Whether it be the leap into the story when you sit down to write. Or, whether it be a leap into the writer's life where you decide to put writing first or at least take a step toward making it more serious or a bigger part of your life. All leaps. Big and small.
So, she will be very valuable in teaching us.
Well, off to bed. Tuesdays are busy days here.
Went back to the little tea place that is becoming a favorite. Tried out funky new one today--a cold tea that when poured into the pint glass they serve it in comes out looking like beer. This, of course, would be a great hit in Prague! But, it tastes really sweet, and is quite refreshing. Downed two of these tonight at the little tea shop!
And, of course, had a great red beer earlier in the day at lunch--Herold beer or something like that. Divine.
more later!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Week Round Up:
I just went to another student reading. I really liked listening to the playwrights since they get to, essentially, write all in dialogue or voice. It gives you the chance to be really real and casual. I would like to try it sometime. Earlier today, Bret Lott took our class to this really good Italian restaurant today for lunch. It was to celebrate our last class with him. I have to say, Czechs really do Italian well! I had raviolis that totally looked delicately hand made! We gave Bret at T shirt that said "I know nothing" in Czech. It is essentially his motto. He loved the T shirt and kept folding it up and then unfolding it again to look at it. I think he was really touched! We also all read something aloud in the restaurant. He coached us on how to read for our own student reading next week. I may not be able to read next week as I am going on a photo field trip. That is still yet to be determined. I have to say, reading in front of this audience is a bit intimidating. I have definitely read my stuff before at other conferences. But, I feel intimidated here. Oddly so, since I get along with a lot of the people. I just think it's a really high caliber group to read in front of! Perhaps it's because I get along with them that I am intimidated--I want to do well in front of people I like!
I wanted to describe the other day going out to our photo teacher's village or "willage" as he calls it. We took metro, tram and bus to get out there and finally arrived at this old building he has access to as a place where he and the town do art installations. He demonstrated studio lighting techniques which were really cool. Then he demonstrated a way of taking photos so that you get multiple exposures of one person in one shot. That was super fun. We partnered up and I worked with another student Bryon to figure it out. It took a ton of trial and error, but by the end, we had created a few pictures that contained multiple exposures of ourselves in ways that looked kind of funky.
Then, our teacher said he was going to take us out to the field to shoot an installation of sorts. Basically, he has these giant paper rings that are made by another artist. And, in his own work he lays these out in a field or wherever else and then photographs them. So, he took us out to a poppy field in his town. The only thing was, he hadn't told us he would be doing this, and several of us were wearing skirts and sandals. And, of course, several of us, or just me, are not fond of bugs and brambles and sweating. Regardless, we finally arrived after walking through long grass and poppies and no path whatsoever. Several of us got nettles in our feet. I was showing my true suburban roots by not smiling! I honestly would have been MUCH better if I had had jeans on and sneakers! But, we finally arrived there and set ourselves up and then our teacher and his son threw these ring-things into the air as they came to settle on the poppies. We got some kind of cool shots. The best thing about this teacher, Jan, is that he really is both a photographer and an artist. And he is just as much about thinking of interesting designs and creative installations as he is about photographing them. So, we photographed and then headed back to Prague on the bus and metro and tram.
Last night I also got to see my friend from NJ Caylie as she and her father have also been in Prague. I haven't seen them that much as we are both kind of on different schedules. But we were able to meet up last night at her hotel and go up to the rooftop bar her hotel has. There there was an absolutely unobstructed view of Prague Castle. We had wine and beer and looked at the night.
Tomorrow, the program has planned a trip to Terezin, a concentration camp. I think it will be a lot to take.
Good night.
I just went to another student reading. I really liked listening to the playwrights since they get to, essentially, write all in dialogue or voice. It gives you the chance to be really real and casual. I would like to try it sometime. Earlier today, Bret Lott took our class to this really good Italian restaurant today for lunch. It was to celebrate our last class with him. I have to say, Czechs really do Italian well! I had raviolis that totally looked delicately hand made! We gave Bret at T shirt that said "I know nothing" in Czech. It is essentially his motto. He loved the T shirt and kept folding it up and then unfolding it again to look at it. I think he was really touched! We also all read something aloud in the restaurant. He coached us on how to read for our own student reading next week. I may not be able to read next week as I am going on a photo field trip. That is still yet to be determined. I have to say, reading in front of this audience is a bit intimidating. I have definitely read my stuff before at other conferences. But, I feel intimidated here. Oddly so, since I get along with a lot of the people. I just think it's a really high caliber group to read in front of! Perhaps it's because I get along with them that I am intimidated--I want to do well in front of people I like!
I wanted to describe the other day going out to our photo teacher's village or "willage" as he calls it. We took metro, tram and bus to get out there and finally arrived at this old building he has access to as a place where he and the town do art installations. He demonstrated studio lighting techniques which were really cool. Then he demonstrated a way of taking photos so that you get multiple exposures of one person in one shot. That was super fun. We partnered up and I worked with another student Bryon to figure it out. It took a ton of trial and error, but by the end, we had created a few pictures that contained multiple exposures of ourselves in ways that looked kind of funky.
Then, our teacher said he was going to take us out to the field to shoot an installation of sorts. Basically, he has these giant paper rings that are made by another artist. And, in his own work he lays these out in a field or wherever else and then photographs them. So, he took us out to a poppy field in his town. The only thing was, he hadn't told us he would be doing this, and several of us were wearing skirts and sandals. And, of course, several of us, or just me, are not fond of bugs and brambles and sweating. Regardless, we finally arrived after walking through long grass and poppies and no path whatsoever. Several of us got nettles in our feet. I was showing my true suburban roots by not smiling! I honestly would have been MUCH better if I had had jeans on and sneakers! But, we finally arrived there and set ourselves up and then our teacher and his son threw these ring-things into the air as they came to settle on the poppies. We got some kind of cool shots. The best thing about this teacher, Jan, is that he really is both a photographer and an artist. And he is just as much about thinking of interesting designs and creative installations as he is about photographing them. So, we photographed and then headed back to Prague on the bus and metro and tram.
Last night I also got to see my friend from NJ Caylie as she and her father have also been in Prague. I haven't seen them that much as we are both kind of on different schedules. But we were able to meet up last night at her hotel and go up to the rooftop bar her hotel has. There there was an absolutely unobstructed view of Prague Castle. We had wine and beer and looked at the night.
Tomorrow, the program has planned a trip to Terezin, a concentration camp. I think it will be a lot to take.
Good night.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Painting with Light
Spent an amazing night doing light painting in photo class. We gathered at the studio at 6 p.m. to practice this technique in which you set your camera and then paint the light in front of your scene with a flashlight or really any type of light. Because of the long exposure time of the camera, you get these funky effects that add a sort of painterly or cartoonish quality to the photo. It was really fun to experiment with it in his studio. And then, at around 8:45 p.m., we started on a 20 minute walk to a specific part of the Castle where Jan knew the light would be good between 9:15 and 9:45. He kept stressing that we had only a very small window of time to catch the best light. He then told us to set up, frame the shot, set our apertures and shutters and then go. It was pretty much a lot of experimenting. And the photos are certainly wacky! But, it was really neat. The best part about the whole thing is that as you do the "light painting" in front of the camera, you look sort of like a mad magician with a magic wand dancing around. You can't stand still because you don't want yourself to appear in the phot--just the light. So there's the hilarious scurrying action that everyone is doing in front of their tripods...it was quite a fun sight to see. Anyway--this light painting is really Jan's main medium. He looks very free and artistic when he dances around with the flashlight. And his results are certainly much more controlled and done on a bigger scale than ours. We will continue working on this technique Thursday.
Today--sat out at a winebar by the vineayrds of the Castle. There was a great view of the city and we had lunch and tried different wines. It felt like sitting up there we were surveying our domain--the owners of the castle!
Had a great lecture from this Czech scholar on Feminism in the Czech Republic both before and after Communism. There are lots of paradoxes because of the way that in some ways, Communism granted more equality to the sexes! It was only after 1989 that women started to feel the effects of being forced into gender specific roles due to the way money-earning dictates roles in the family, etc. The Feminine Mystique became really popular in the Czech Republic after 1989--even though it had been big in the U.S. in the 60s and 70s.There are a lot of other facts--I will try to include them in some point on the blog. Basically, one of the most intriguing lectures we've had so far.
Good night!
Spent an amazing night doing light painting in photo class. We gathered at the studio at 6 p.m. to practice this technique in which you set your camera and then paint the light in front of your scene with a flashlight or really any type of light. Because of the long exposure time of the camera, you get these funky effects that add a sort of painterly or cartoonish quality to the photo. It was really fun to experiment with it in his studio. And then, at around 8:45 p.m., we started on a 20 minute walk to a specific part of the Castle where Jan knew the light would be good between 9:15 and 9:45. He kept stressing that we had only a very small window of time to catch the best light. He then told us to set up, frame the shot, set our apertures and shutters and then go. It was pretty much a lot of experimenting. And the photos are certainly wacky! But, it was really neat. The best part about the whole thing is that as you do the "light painting" in front of the camera, you look sort of like a mad magician with a magic wand dancing around. You can't stand still because you don't want yourself to appear in the phot--just the light. So there's the hilarious scurrying action that everyone is doing in front of their tripods...it was quite a fun sight to see. Anyway--this light painting is really Jan's main medium. He looks very free and artistic when he dances around with the flashlight. And his results are certainly much more controlled and done on a bigger scale than ours. We will continue working on this technique Thursday.
Today--sat out at a winebar by the vineayrds of the Castle. There was a great view of the city and we had lunch and tried different wines. It felt like sitting up there we were surveying our domain--the owners of the castle!
Had a great lecture from this Czech scholar on Feminism in the Czech Republic both before and after Communism. There are lots of paradoxes because of the way that in some ways, Communism granted more equality to the sexes! It was only after 1989 that women started to feel the effects of being forced into gender specific roles due to the way money-earning dictates roles in the family, etc. The Feminine Mystique became really popular in the Czech Republic after 1989--even though it had been big in the U.S. in the 60s and 70s.There are a lot of other facts--I will try to include them in some point on the blog. Basically, one of the most intriguing lectures we've had so far.
Good night!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)