my first year at Columbia so far has given me great inspiration because the city, the school, and the people have shown that there is so much art and design that surround us in so many aspects of everyday living. i love art so much cause i feel it has the potential to change thinking from the most basic level of putting a smile on someone's face, to changing their perspective of how they might see something, someone, or even themself, and the place of each in the world. if an artist is able to shape or redirect someone else's thinking, they are making an impact with art only few people have the ability, or opportunity to do. it's great to be in art school now so i can take my art to the next level. i'm so stoked to turn my love for art into a career. an artist that has given me a ton of inspiration lately in terms of photography would be Tokihiro Sato-i find his work really unique because he mostly does nature prints and plays with the lighting in all of his images. to achieve this affect, he has long camera exposures that can be hours long and uses mirrors/flashlights to get a desired affect, such as below. v
i also really like the high contrast that he uses (extreme darks and lights). my photography class is all black and white flim and my teacher wants us to achieve high contrast as well. one picture i took is a self portrait below. it just had to be basic...i hate taking pictures of myself haha, but anyway this is how it turned out...i am still getting used to the film camera, since i am so used to everything digital. my first roll was a bit underexposed cause i'm still trying to figure out how to achieve good lighting...but i'm not gonna worry too much about it. i just need more practice with it. at first i was getting really stressed out about it, but i have become more patient with it. hours in the darkroom at a time definitely helps cause the more time i put into it, the better the final product turns out.
anyway, in terms of music...i can't stop listening to Dropkick Murphys...mostly because they have a new album coming out soon (going out in style) i'm sooo excited about that...! i posted one of my favorite songs by them, surrender. it's addicting, so def listen to it! but yeah, i also really love The Spill Canvas and Plain White T's lately. <- you can't really go wrong with any of their songs. both of them have a lot of meaning and great lyrics. oh! and in october i went to chicago's riotfest which was pretty much amazing. my favorite bands that i saw were bad religion, bouncing souls, circle jerks, and the lawrence arms. i might be missing some, but those were by far the best. they all bring so much energy to their performances and it gives you the best feeling ever...kinda hard to explain haha. i have shows i'm going to coming up this week, which should be great. i really gotta start searching for more shows, but i have been getting lazy about that lately since i'm busy. the local shows are good too, so i go to those more often than big events.if you have made it this far in this post, then congratulations. you must be super bored! :P hahaha. but yeah i should really go to sleep now and stop rambling...it's 2 a.m. and i gotta get up early for a 3 hour long math class, then an art history exam directly following. ugh not looking forward to that! haha...cya
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