Using the most of your suitcase

Traveling can be stressful, especially if you are packing last minute. In this post, I will show you how to pack most effectively and how to bring the essentials.

Here is a display of essentials when packing for a trip

Primarily, determine what the weather will be like during your stay. You don't want to pack shorts and tee shirts for the mountains. For hot climates, pack at least one pair of jeans and leggings, and mostly shorts. for cold places, pack jeans, thermal clothing, long sleeves and jackets.

This would typically be my suitcase for a one day trip to a warm place. In the suitcase, I have Converse, mom jeans, a Tower Records tee shirt, toiletries and a swimsuit.

Second is how to pack these clothes effectively. I am going to use a week long trip to California as an example. California is known for its hot weather and beach feel. But contrary to belief, California can be cold at times. Packing around 4 pairs of shorts and 3 pairs of  jeans or other warm pants because if you go out at night, you do not want to be stuck in the shorts you wore for the 80 degree middle of the day weather. In Liliana Vazquez's book that I have mentioned in previous blog posts, she describes packing essentials in a key part of the book, saying "Pack for one extra day in case of an incident or anything unexpected such as if your flight gets delayed and you must spend an extra night, or you spill on your clothes." (Vazquez 139). To continue on this topic, you must take into account the clothes you are flying in in. that counts as your outfit for day one of a trip.

Packing for a trip will always set the mood for your whole vacation.

Next, no matter how much you would like to bring your entire closet, you cannot fit it all in one suitcase. Pack at least an outfit that would be appropriate for a nice dinner, pajamas for each night, along with your day clothes. Packing only what you need is crucial. Start by laying out what you absolutely need such as pajamas, toiletries, and cosmetic and hair products. Then, pack your pre-chosen outfits. if you cannot fit an outfit for each day in your suitcase, you need to cut somethings out such as outfits that require bulky layering or multi-garment outfits. This should cut down the size of the suitcase immensely.

When preparing for a trip, the way you arrange your clothing is a major factor that goes underestimated. I find that folding then rolling into a tube is the best way, because it is easy to stuff together. However, that is what works best for me. For someone else, they may find that folding on top of each other is best or just stuffing everything in wherever it fits is most effective.

To summarize overall, to lead the most effective packing for one's trip, I would say to only pack what you need, lay out each outfit before packing, and pack for the appropriate weather. Thank you for reading and I would love to hear what you would like to read! How do you best prepare for a vacation? What is the number one problem you face in your style? What would you like to see next?

Source: Vazquez, Lilliana. The Cheap Chica's Guide to Style: Secrets to Shopping Cheap and Looking Chic. Gotham Books, 2013.

Working with Manual Mode. Photography Post #2

Owen Paznokas
The Beginner's Photography Guide
By Chris Gactum

It's time to take control of the camera. Working with aperture priority mode can alter depth of field and allow more light into the by width. Shutter priority mode is great for capturing motion, or blurring it for that matter and allows light in by rate. However, the next step is to combine these in manual mode to create more controlled pictures. Manual mode puts the photographer closer to the picture than the camera, you are pushing all the buttons, taking over auto focus points and altering aspects of the image that cannot be done with more basic renditions. 

"What it does...is allow yo to set the aperture and shutter speed yourself (as well as the ISO), and no matter where you point the camera it won't change the settings" (Gactum 74). No camera override can be daunting at first, but it can help in particular situations like low lighting. One thing to take into account when shooting in Manual mode is the Camera's metering system. Metering is a camera device that is designed to measure the light in the scene to create an accurate exposure (Gactum 76). Most camera's meter off the center of the scene and this can result to be problematic if there are different light levels in the whole frame. To combat this you can meter off multiple parts of the shot you want to take and determine what settings to shoot off then. 

I took my camera into my backyard a few days ago and worked with manual mode around sunset to create some vastly different shots. 

ISO: 400 135mm f:5.6 1/125 Sec

ISO 800 113mm f:5.6 1/1000 Sec

 The first picture had more light touching my subject, allowing me to use a lower ISO, my zoom lens put out it's full force to capture the plant, the shallow temperature blurred the background and the shutter speed fell into place to allow just the right amount of time in. This photo in other modes would probably not have had the same blurred background affect and would have washed out an image in that lighting. 

The second picture was being shadowed by my deck and created more of an orange light, it was slightly darker which made me bring the ISO up a little more. I got really close to my subject and only had to zoom my lens into 113mm. I used the same aperture to create the blurred background and allowed a very small amount of light in by a time of 1/1000 of a second. 

My question is, what cool affects would you try to create by taking manual control of your camera? How would you create it?

Recources
Gactum, Chris. Beginner's Photography Guide. Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 2016.

Two-Point Eye-Level Perspective Drawing

                                     Two-Point Eye-Level Perspective Drawing by: Olivia Nguyen 

The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte  is a historic baroque in Paris. In my newest drawing however it is a two-point eye-level perspective drawing. When you draw you can express how you feel without writing the details. The paintbrush is your friend and the words are the paint. This sketch was by far the most time consuming, it was not however as tricky as last posts, but still i needed help. I am using Understanding Perspective by Stephanie Bower as a reference in my follow along drawing. In this drawing I used my Pang water color eight set, Bic pencil, Pentel aquabrush, and notebook paper. This time I decided against pen. I thought it might give the drawing a more realistic work, because obviously in real life there are no lines just shadows and contrast. 

When doing two-point perspective sketches Bower says "Try to place the closest vertical edge off-center to create a composition with better movement. Placing that corner in the middle of your drawing splits the image in half and leads the viewer's eye out of your sketch" (Bower 53). When I was sketching I placed my vertical edge off just a little bit. It made a huge difference. The drawing had much better composition and flow. The viewers eye now was directed off page. It has a cool effect where everything seems slightly taller and gives a worms eye perspective. Many great and everyday artists use this technique in urban sketches, such as Eduardo Bajzek, Paul Wang, and Josiah Hanchett.

The reason why most sketches aren't straight on are because of the effect you get when it is angled to the side. When a drawing is not straight forward you can usually see more than one side of a building. This gives a more natural and raw way of looking at the drawing for the viewer. Bower explains that extending converging lines on each side will take the vanishing point separate ways. Both of the ways on the eye-level of the sketcher or viewer (Bower 52). In these types of drawings the vanishing point will be off the page. This will make things much harder as you might have to guess where many of the lines will lead. This can lead you to inaccuracy and make your whole drawing off. 

I will leave you with a question, do you believe the risk of inaccuracy is worth the better drawing in the end if you leave the vanishing point off the page? Also what is your favorite drawing of mine so far?

Working with Aperture: Photography Post #1

Owen Paznokas
The Beginner's Photography Guide
By Chris Gactum

Hey! I'm Owen, I aspire to be a better photographer everyday! In the past I have worked with basic digital cameras and 35 mm film cameras, but I want to be able to head out of the darkroom on certain occasions and start shooting on DSLR's. Photography is certainly a passion of mine and despite previous knowledge being able to work a DSLR and produce a quality image is integral for me to succeed in the world of photography.

On this post I will be fiddling with Aperture priority mode on my camera. Aperture is the size of opening your lens creates when you're taking a photograph. This influences the amount of light reaching the sensor of you camera and creating an image. "When you choose the aperture, you're deciding what depth of field you want in your shot, which is one of the most important creative decisions you can make when taking a photograph" (Chris Gactum 54). Basically, you are deciding what you want to hone in on.

I recently went into Seattle to take Pictures and the sights of the great wheel and the shops in Pike's place didn't catch my eye as much as other things, signs with Graffiti and fishermen down on the pier struck far more chords than the same things everyone else takes pictures of. I was able to create many photographs with different subjects in mind but I think the two below show a very good representation of how depth of field controls a picture (Gactum 55).

The first picture above is shot at an aperture of f12 which has a relatively small opening. It isn't small enough to get everything in focus but the background is clear. This picture also had a slightly longer shutter speed than it needed which overexposed it slightly.

The second image was shot from an aperture of f5.6 which is a smaller opening and is able to capture the sign in detail while removing the sharpness of the background.

My question for you guys is what image looks better? How does changing the focus of an image alter your perception if the photos meaning?

Recources
Gactum, Chris. Beginner's Photography Guide. Dorling Kindersley Ltd, 2016.