Photography. It's much harder than you think.

We are well into the semester now, but most of us are measuring the days until the end, not the days since the beginning. Being in all 300 level courses, I understand that there will be challenges in my coursework. That being said, I can genuinely say that I'm enjoying nearly everything I'm working on in my courses. That seems to be the beauty of not being in high school anymore; I only need to study what I want (more or less).

The writing projects for PCM 300 have been fun, and no, I'm not lying. Of course, only those who like to write could read that sentence and not tilt their heads to the side, making an expression of pain mixed with confusion. SLC 303 is a relatively positive experience, and in PL 385, my course in Ethics, we are beginning our final project.

The other two courses are PCM 320 and 364, Advanced Media Studies and Digital Photography, respectively. PCM 364 has really fed the perfectionist in me. I find myself working on a picture for what seems like forever, just to tell myself, "It's not good enough!" (Amelia can vouch for this.) I get frustrated because some pictures, though I like them when I take them, seem to be unable to yield any decent product. Some turn out okay, like one I finished last Friday. I thought it looked good, so I printed it. It was a minor problem, but there was some pixelization in the sky in the photo. I thought, "I'll fix this up quickly." I made a second layer, blurred the bottom layer, and started erasing the sky on the top layer. Then I got closer to the tree trunk and zoomed in for accuracy. I started seeing more and more flaws I hadn't noticed before! What I thought could have taken a minute or two took almost an hour.
Now that you know this, I want to explain our latest (and final) project for PCM 320. We need to make a 1-3 minute video of our choice. I had no idea how to go about choosing a topic, but one of the other students was doing a kind of instructional food video. "I like baking," I thought. "I could just do a 'how-to' video." I taped my video on Sunday, but I haven't brought it up into the computer yet to see it on a screen larger than 2". If fixing a single frame is that difficult, what will I do when I have 24 frames per second?
I better start a pot of coffee. This'll be an all-nighter.

Hard News Story

As part of my Professional Communication coursework, I wrote this hard news story. This has not been published in any place other than this blog.

February 26, 2009

MILWAUKEE - A computer was reported stolen from a Southside Milwaukee home late Wednesday afternoon, according to Milwaukee County Police.

The MacBook belonged to Rebecca Miller*, the mother of the household. She last remembers seeing it around 7:00 am, when she says she coiled up the cord and left for work. Her son noticed it was gone at 3:30 pm when he returned home from school.

According to Miller, the computer was often left on the coffee table in the living room. Her daughter noticed the empty breadboard on which the laptop was kept at 1:00 pm. “I figured it was in my brother’s room,” she said. “It never occurred to me to wonder about it.”

Police suspect it was taken by someone who was familiar with the house. Officer Hart of the Milwaukee Police Department initially suggested one of Rebecca’s three children may have taken it and sold it. Miller and her husband strongly disagree.

“We all use the computer,” Miller explained Wednesday evening. “It wouldn’t make sense for them to sell it.”

Previous incidents and missing items lead police to believe it is a chain of thefts.

The family is limiting non-family members’ access to the home and plans to change the locks.

Miller has not yet decided whether informing their homeowner’s insurance carrier would be beneficial.


*Names have been changed