Spring Boredom

Spring has shown up here in Iowa....after having 3 bouts of snow since April 1 I'm glad. Granted, the snow didn't stick around but still. Snow in April? Please. Yesterday was just beautiful outside, windy but mid-60s and sunshine. Finally!

Now, for the boredom. Summer at work is usually the busiest time. I started my current job on July 2nd of last year so I'm coming to a close on the first year. I held my head above water last year coming in right in the middle of the busy season and I can feel the rest of the office starting the summer race already. Me? Monday I ran out of work. I have things that are on hold - waiting for people to get back to me, waiting for other programmers to finish their part of a project before I can move on - the typical hurry up and wait. So, Tuesday morning I told my boss I was out of work. I actually admitted it. He gave me a few things to work on. Flash forward to Wednesday at noon. Yup, out of work again. So, now I have even more projects in a holding pattern and I don't want to ask for more work because all of it is going to come back to me at once. So, what do I do in the meantime? I actually did homework at work yesterday. I have no idea what I'm going to do today. If only I could knit at work, if only.

Here is my submission for my 5th photography assignment. We had to take a window light portrait with no flash. Basically stick a person in front of a brightly lit window to show the effects of shadow. I read the assignment. I looked at the example pictures. I thought I understood. When we were looking at the classes pictures I was sure that I'd gotten the assignment wrong. His criticism was "1/2 the face should be in light and the other 1/2 should be in shadow". He'd never said that when talking about the assignment, the samples all didn't have that affect and it wasn't written on the assignment sheet. So, I figured I'd have to redo the assignment. Oh well, right?

So, here is my picture of a willing subject at work, peeking out my office window. We had fun. The light was SO bright that he was squinting so we had to resort to him closing his eyes and opening them on the count of three for long enough for me to press the shutter. We moved the blinds to change the shadows and I had him pull the blinds down because why would a person stand at the window with the blinds tilted....we all pull them down to peek! I liked the picture, leading lines, a deep dark background you know, all that stuff. Yet, I was so worried because I couldn't understand what the teacher wanted.

All fear aside when grades came out I got a perfect score. And this comment:

"I thought this was the best effort from the class for this assignment. You did a good job using the light to add something to the image. Very good composition, very good technique and I liked that you had the subject pull down the blinds. A very nice touch."

WHAT? I'm glad I did so well but I was disappointed that I went through so much confusion. With other assignments he hasn't given me a perfect score but hasn't told me why...and I wish he would. How am I supposed to know how to get better if he doesn't tell me why I didn't get a perfect score.

I'm only 2 assignments behind now....but class is almost over. I'm looking forward to having my Monday & Wednesday nights back. I miss the knitting time and the puppy snuggles that always accompany my knitting.