Weekend Down Time

Written on Saturday & Sunday

Saturday:

Not two minutes ago, or so it seems, I was winding up my previous weekend and thinking "I'll write my blog post on Monday". Well, now it's the next weekend and today, Saturday, is a day for downtime. Not that I intended it to be downtime. Nor that I've been working so hard there's been no downtime at all, it's just that today worked out to be time away from photography. Other than for a while thinking I should be doing SOMETHING to further the cause (for which read final project) and getting out the hard drive with my photos I've done nothing. Well I did take a fruitless wander round a local craft store for final project supplies, but aside from that it never got past the thinking stage. I've taken a day off and holed up instead... probably the first non-photo day since the course began.

Peace

Most days since I got here have involved studying photography (lots of class time), doing photography for myself (sometimes I think not nearly enough), or working on photographs on the computer in some shape or form. Today the nearest I got - aside from the craft store - was thinking about it. Instead I watched a film... and shortly I'll watch another. OK, so maybe if I finish writing this blog today (Saturday) I'll put some photos in here though I suspect that will wait till tomorrow. But I did make soup and do laundry and go to the food store - does that count as productivity
:-)

No shortage of these in Montana

It's odd the way time has flown by. As a former student described it to me in an email the other day, "Time felt very different too. It's as if it slowed down and sped up all at the same time", and it does seem that way as the end of SI approaches. She also described the approaching end of term as "bittersweet", which it is.

I'm looking forward to the end of the course and some time away... not to mention getting that final project finished and getting out to explore photography on my own. At the same time I'm aware that it will also be the last time I get to hang out with some really lovely people. Some will be back for Professional Studies and Advanced (And Even More) Intensive but others will not. Yes, there is the phone and there is Skype, but it's not the same as studying together in a local cafe (highly recommended and a place I often go if I want to get work done), or doing a late night photo shoot with multiple flashes and multiple students in a Missoula back alley, or experimenting with second curtain sync flash with a bike and fellow student. Those are times when photography seems fun, in fact it's all been fun, but, like chocolate cake, you can have too much of a good thing. Which is why I'm content to leave the camera in its bag and chill out for a day. Charging my own batteries if you like.

A dark night in a back street of Missoula... a bunch of students armed with flashes... and a dog

Sunday.

Yesterday's break from photography worked well, as did watching a couple of films once I'd let go of the idea of doing anything else and was able to relax. This morning I've been out bowling and had a great time, and now I feel ready for work on photography.

Architectural detail from the Missoula Art Museum

So what have I been up to these past two weeks? There have been the many photographs I took of various crafts people for my final project... I'll be working on them next. There have been photos of the Celtic Festival held in Missoula recently, there have been photos of some of the scenery nearby, pics of architectural detail inside the local art museum, general photos of life in and around the downtown area. I've also revisited the Saturday Farmer's Market with my camera and sound recorder to put together another slide show (see below).

Celtic Festival performers - audience view

Celtic Festival performers - view over stage into Caras Park

Sound technician's view

Celtic Festival

Thirst was well catered for

Ok, so I like details :-)

Looking back over the past couple of weeks I realise how much has been recorded as video files on my point and shoot... albeit a more advanced one typically used for still pics in manual mode and raw format. I've also started to use my sound recorder to capture ambient sounds from the market.

Missoula Farmers Market - slide show of random pictures and ambient sounds recorded at the Missoula Farmers Market. Click here once to download (it's a 32Mb file size so give it a minute to finish downloading. It should start by itself when ready).

Here are some of the other things that have caught my eye over the past two weeks...