November has been an interesting and busy month to say the least. All my classes have picked up steam and its a race to the finish line to get everything done, including finishing portfolios for Mono Printing and Adv Traditions as-well and doing a switch from what I'm doing in seminar. The work that i have been producing so far in seminar i have loved and its a project that i have been doing for almost two years on an off has me losing interest compared to my Adv Traditions final project. In that class i have been creating dramatic photographs consisting of hard shadow and shape and line with a person emerging in the highlight. That project and making that portfolio has really consumed me and that why i want to tackle it head on and a bigger scale.

Thanksgiving is coming up in less than a week and i get to go home in less than that and it will be a sweet relief from school and this chaos. Even though i will have about two papers to right one due when i get back and the other on Friday, i have to also put together two presentations as well as one take home test. To think thats not enough on my plate i decided to have a crack at 4x5 camera and a "fresh" pack of polaroid 4x5 black and white film (expired in 2007) . The Camera that was loaned to my by the school and my seminar teacher, he said "if you can find it, you can have the film and shoot it.

The camera is a Graflex Speed Graphic and i found a Polaroid 4x5 back for it as well as a Polaroid 405 back to take 3.25x4.25 Polaroid or Fuji Fp-100c/3000b. It took me and hour to find the camera and the the backs but i was in business and like using a new camera the joy of Photography came shooting in to me. Since film has really consumed my life this year and Polaroid has been in my heart for the last 3-4 years it was only right to be happy and tackle this on in the middle of finals. When i got some i was so excited and opened her up and pretty much self taught myself with a little help from (Mijonju video on youtube) and set her up in my living room. When i finished focusing with the help of a pillow case as my cover to look at the ground class to focus i loaded the 4x5 pack with the first instant sheet film and took the picture and shot it at box speed and waited ever so patiently, bitting ym nails and passing back an forth. I finally cracked it open and nothing. I was so gutted to see that it didn't work, so i loaded another one to see if the whole pack was dead and i got this

I was so happy, and just wanted to go out in the rain and shoot as much as i could but i waited till the next day to go out and shoot. I got up early for work and packed my bag with the camera and a Cracker box filled with three shots and went to the beach and took two shots and wasted one like a moron because i didn't devise a plan to tell spent roids from non used roids. but i did get some great images when i was there.

And i did a double exposure by accident because the cable release fell out and wasn't sure it it tripped the shutter so i did it again.

This picture i love so much the shine off the water and the the tones in the sand and water are down right beautiful. Even though its a little dark it looks great for me.

After taking those pictures i sealed the film in a zip lock bag and wrapped up the box in a plastic bag and store for none until i can come up with something that i want to shoot with it. Since the film is not being made anymore and it is going for big big bucks on eBay, i want to do right by the film and make a series out of it and maybe it will compliment my Adv Traditions/ Seminar work but how knows. I also ordered two packs of Fuji Fp-3000b to use the 405 back and get more aquatinted with the camera and not at the cost of my 4x5 film. This for me is torture because the film is waiting for my at home to give it ago.

And thats pretty much been November for me and i will but up a following post to this one about the 4x5 madness I'm doing. But it defiantly seems like I'm stepping up my blogging game with all the pictures and what not. I will b back with more posts and images when finals start to die down and i get time to scan some of my print and post them on here.

( to see fill res of the 4x5 head over to my flickr page)

time keeps flying, and this month has been all types of crazy. i had my first panel review for seminar and it went pretty much how i thought it would go. they told me that my work was strong and that i needed to find out why the color blue is so dominant or present in all of my pictures. They also told me a bunch of photographers to check out and some movies from the 1950's. i have been going in to Boston a lot to shoot and just enjoy the city, it is really nice going there frequently and wandering the buildings. In my Advance traditions class i finally got my warm tone 11"x14" paper to start making some prints for my portfolio for that class. Im so excited to put together a portfolio together for that class because I'm having so much fun shooting and learning all these darkroom techniques that i haven't done before. i think I'm enjoying it so much is because its something that i have wanted to do for so long is just shoot film and print in the darkroom. I know its not practical to shoot film but that where i feel i have been flourishing and evolving as a photographer. Other things my internship is staring to pick up a lot i have hung up two shows so far and its an intense process of hanging pieces but its really fun and i could kind of see myself working for a gallery or something along the lines of that. Also i went to Portland, Maine with my girlfriend Candace (candacebonfiglio.com) and it was the first time that we have gone there and it was really beautiful and i could maybe see myself living there but we will see. My post on Japancamerahunter.com was posted in late September or early October i can't remember and it gave my pictures and everything great exposure and it was awesome. One of my teachers gave me some expired Polaroid Polacolor 669 film one pack from 1998 and 2004 and i just finish the pack from 1998 and the pictures actually came out and i was so happy and surprised (will be posted on my flicker later). and i took a polaroid back for the hasselblad the school has lent me for the year and there was two shots of film left in there and i shot those and they came out, So exciting! He also gave me a role of Polaroid Polachrome 135 color slide film which I'm excited to shoot sometime if we find the processing machine. And the last thing i can think of for October at this moment was today that i saw a post car my school made that gets sent out had one of my images on it and they didn't credit me for it which makes me upset and I'm looking to get to the bottom of it. but thats it!