廢寢忘餐

The intensive printing class is finally done--for me, since I have to miss the last class next week because of the trip. I can't believe I've been spending 12+ hours a day several days a week in the dark room for the past week. It's hectic, but was definitely worth it. I love printing. Ansel Adams once said that taking a picture is like composing music score, whereas printing is like performing it. I shared this with a leica enthusiast friend last night, but he said Ansel's only for the text book :-)

Well, I know not every one buys his work/theory (but honestly, I don't know enough to find out the problem with that), but I can't agree more on the fact that printing brings life to a picture (presumably a good exposure and compostion, of course). A half a point difference in color filtration and density means a whole lot...

Oh well, I guess I'm so addicted to printing now I'm going back to do extra prints :-)

If you happen to think of taking a printing class, I would highly recommend Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) located in Captiol Hill area. They are expensive, but it's well worth it. Not all instructors are good though, but if you take the color printing classes, you can't go wrong with Seth Thompson's class. He's been my instructor for two quarters, and I really like his style. He sets a very high bar, very picky, never settle unless it's perfect. You'll lean a whole lot from him.

The reward of all the hard work? You feel like achieving something after Seth gives an OK to a print. And, ha, I guess Arizona is way too gorgeous my classmate asked me to give him a signed final print of the Horseshoe Bend Canyon :-)

I wish I can continue doing printing in Toronto. My alma mata Ryerson seems to be a pretty good school in photography (their film school is execllent in North America, btw :)

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It's less than three days before I take off for a month traveling solo in Europe. I'm budgeting 30 EUR a day including all meals and entertainment. Does it seem too much?

It's time to nail down all the travel details.