Bump on a log

Playhouse

Here's a picture of a very colorful house close to City College. It's such an eye catcher with its bright colors and mural of the Virgin of Guadalupe. I think the mural is done really well because when I drove past it, I thought a cloth with the picture of the Virgin was hanging on the front of the house wall. Actually if you look closely at the picture, you'll notice it's just a painting.

Today I went to photography class and was a bump on log. That's the only way to avoid being scolded by the instructor. :-) I'm curious about my classmates and what they do for their day jobs. Some of them are students, but others have full time jobs. I found out that this one girl works for Petco and a woman works as a high school teacher.

This photography class has introduced me to the traditional darkroom and all the processes associated with it. For example, I have helped process film and today I made a contact sheet. Seeing how many steps are involved in processing film, I have a new appreciation for how easy digital photography is. Gone are the hours spent processing film or developing a print. To process film, you have to go through a 4 step process that can be broken down into the following general steps:

1. Develop
2. Stop bath
3. Fix
4. Wash

There are many chemicals and rules involved. Last Saturday I was in a darkroom trying to measure the temperature of my water, mix chemistry, and pay attention to the time in a very cramped space with a lab partner. Plus, when you first place the film in a reel, you have to do it in the dark because film is light sensitive. It was just crazy in there! The only good thing is that now I have a story to tell people if they ask. :-)