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Pen & breakfast

Yesterday I could have had breakfast at a conference. Not just scones or small sandwiches (the usual conference food), but scrambled eggs and bacon, sausages or fresh crescent rolls with butter and jam. I could eat them at a decent table, covered with immaculate, white tablecloth. Too bad I had breakfast at the metro station — since I work from 8 in the morning, I got used to it. So I only had a cup of tea, and some fresh orange juice later.

Truth to be told, I seriously doubt that serving a large breakfast like this really increase the effectiveness of a conference. On the contrary: sometimes it seemed to me that the participants are more interested in the food than in the topics discussed. However, I, who is still not a burned-out professional, but someone who has still much to learn, really enjoyed that much less people felt it necessary to ask stupid questions or make even stupider comments than usual.

It was the first real (serveral page long) test for my new Stabilo ’s move pen I got from V. a few weeks ago. (This was the very first thing I wanted to get because of an ad I saw on the street.) Since I make most of my notes on my laptop, I very rarely have to opportunity to write by hand, but I am still much into well-designed pens. And I just can’t stop love this one.

(Almost) Entirely on our own

Since on the photo course we attend we have very little time for actual practice, we decided with V. to rent a studio and see what we can do on our own. We took two of V.’s friends (Ildi and Yza) with us as models. V. had some previous experience with both of them; I had my very first studio session with Yza. We carefully chose the clothes and made the make-up before going to the studio. We also bought two flowers on the way. So when we arrived, we could start making photos right away.

The place was much better (and a bit cheaper) than the one we worked previously. We instantly got four flashes, one was installed onto the wall and could easily adjusted to function as hair light. It was also very good that we were let to work on our own, we need not ask for assistance we wanted to change anything. (However, it was a bit scary to handle a several thousand dollar equipment.)

V. voted for soft lights and I gave in. However, it was mainly me who had the opportunity to set up the equipment, so I could still try out some things.

These two pictures (you may click on them for larger size) I used only one softbox placed just left from the models. We used black blacground with a red-colored flash on it. It’s light can also be seen in the shadows – an unintentional, but still cool effect. (I still have to remember to deal with that next time, though.) The shadows are quite definite, but not two deep — if I had not used a softbox, the right side of the picture would be much darker.

I also used this out on the first picture. I made Ildi to turn towards the light — the softbox softened her features, too –, but the folds of her dress are still definite because of the lack of the fill light.

Here I used two softboxes. One (providing the main light) was lifted as high as possible to produce a sun-like effect. The other one – this is the fill light – was lowered down and aimed upwards. This combination resulted in very soft, almost completely diffuse lights — only very shallow shadows can be seen on the face. The white lily also makes the model a bit more feminine. (You probably could not imagine how hard is it to get to a compromise with a model on the question which is the ‘graceful’ way to hold a flower.)

The concept of this picture was in my head all afternoon — however, when I got the opportunity, I still had to ask for the advice of the owner of the studio to make it real. Of course, I knew that I would need hard lights, but I wouldn’t have thought that one flash would be sufficient. With the rigid poses I and the blank expression I intended to make the models as statue-like as possible. The light is coming towards Ildi (in white), from the right, flattening her expression even more. Yza, already in black, get’s much more shadow. However, I made her to turn her fan a bit towards the light, making her figure a bit more prominent.

(Many thanks for Ildi&Yza for helping us out and being wonderfully patient models.)

My best friend’s birthday

Balu is one of my best and oldest friends. I know him since the September of 1996, when we were first-year students at the university. We, first years, spent far too much of our free time sitting in public computer rooms and exploring the Internet, which was absolutely new to us. I still remember (perhaps because I told this story many, many times) a tall, black-haired guy, standing right behind me, making annoying comments about my e-mail. When I reminded him politely that he probably would be able to find a free computer in the other — and larger — computer room, he merely laughed heartily and kind of apologized.

We soon became friends, and I remember him being the most interesting person I ever met during my eleven years spent at the university. He is also the only one who is always open to an honest and constructive debate. That’s how our relationship turned to be really serious, almost intimate: discussing countless topics through e-mail. I think he is one of the persons who inspired me to learn to form my arguments more clearly and logically.

Being someone really close to me, he also helped me getting through two or three serious break-ups. He was behind me when I had to make the most important decisions in my life. I can only hope that I was able to give back of this support during the years spent together.

When his girlfriend, Zsófi organized his surprise-birthday party in a cozy pub in the city, she asked us to bring some photos about Balu and about our common memories. She collected the pictures in two thick. nice-looking albums.

I only make photos regularly since I got my first digital camera in 2004. However, I was able to collect a lot of photos which picture important or memorable moments of us. Here are a few of them.

This photo was taken in May, 2004, on an excursion organized by the editor-in-chief of the university newspaper we — Balu and me — both worked at. What surprised me when finding this picture on my old computer, that he seems so young, while it was taken barely four years ago. However, when I thought it over, I realized that he did changed a lot in the last years — and not just his looks.

These are our footprints on the bank of the Danube, near to their house in Göd. Mine is the smaller one; the funny thing is that we basically have the same height. This photo was taken when I visited him at the end of the summer. We were walking and talking besides the Danube and somehow I felt that I needed to swim. It was strange, because I nearly never swim in natural waters. However, it was so much fun, that two days later I went back and swam again — now I even took my swimming trunks with me. Being at Göd with Balu is always a nice and peaceful experience.

In 2005, I started to organize small parties for my friends. We had a few drinks, played pool, and talked a lot. I always tried to make sure that Balu is there at these occasions. He is funny, and really easy-going; he is kind with everybody, so when he was there, he also helped me to keep the group together. It was really helpful, since my friends did not necessarily knew each other. I was always imrpessed how easily is Balu able to start a conversation with someone he never met. This is an ability I always lacked, and always admired in him.

An other newspaper excursion with an almost entirely changed staff in 2006. By that time, Balu became a very good and experienced columnist and editor at the paper. He also won two awards given for university journalists. A year later we started to held a course together on university journalism.

A trip to Szilvásvárad in 2007. We were on holiday at the same part of the country, so spent one day together. We made a small excursion, and then we went to Eger and finished the day in a very nice confectionery.

This photo (shot by V.) was also taken at Szilvásvárad. Once I stated Balu and Zsófi to be my “favorite dream couple”. This is a very nice and typical moment of theirs. I hope it is also a nice way to say thank you for the excellently organized surprise party to Zsófi.

Let’s dive into the murky dephts of studio photography!

V. and I started to attend a photo course, mainly focused on studio photography. The first three lessons was about lighting. I had to opportunity to work in a studio once or twice, but I never adjusted the light myself — it was made by the assistant provided by the studio. Here we were able to learn everything for the basics; how to choose the main light, its direction, how to add more light sources. We also learned how to decorate the background.

Unfortunately, after these really logical and thorough explanations, we had relatively little time to put our own ideas into practice. We were divided into two groups, five or six people in each, and the group had twenty to thirty minutes to make photos of the model. This meant that usually we could rearrange the flashes only twice, and we made all our photos under the same conditions. So, after discussing what kind of lights we want to use, our imagination was limited to the composition and the instruction of the model(s). However, I am quite satisfied with two of my pictures. Not because I think they are terrifying shots: I am just glad that I was able to understand the point of this three courses. (Some girls, for example, obviously missed this point, and instead of focusing on the lights, they played star fashion photographers, styling the models’ hair for minutes, and putting them into ridiculous poses.)

On that photo, the main light was set up by myself. The hard light (coming through a cell grid) is coming from the left. The model is turning away from the light, putting most of her face into shadow. The hard lights emphasize the texture of her pullover. I sat her to the back of the chair, which made the pose much more feminine — however, I cut the composition just below her waist, so (hopefully) it’s not vulgar at all. The light at the background is coming just the opposite side as the main light, making the contrast much more definite.

On this picture we were running out of time, so I did not have the opportunity to change anything in the lighting (and for the record: they are far too soft for me). All I could do is to arrange the models. With this composition, I tried to put some stress on the differences between the two models. At first they kept smiling — it was a hard time convincing them to take on a bit more serious expression.

The Maltese Falcon

I was really looking forward watching this film. When I was a kid, I have seen a few minutes from it. I was always curious about the rest. I always knew that it is a great classic. I also wanted to see Humphrey Bogart in other films than Casablanca.

The Maltese Falcon turned out to be an excellent choice. If this is what film noir is about, than I definitely want to see more. The protagonist isn’t a hero, isn’t a legendary gunslinger (doesn’t even carry a gun) he is just a smart, tough and cynical private detective. There is no happy end in any means. The hero survives, and that is all — there is no large financial gain, there is no love found, there is no real justice carried out.

Being an almost 70-year-old movie, the plot was surprisingly complex for me — I expected a much simpler storyline. And, unlike many modern thrillers, there is a lot of mystery, but absolutely no confusion.

The only thing that was a bit strange was that the characters were far too one-dimensional. We expect a much more complex performance from the actors today. Sydney Greenstreet and Lee Patrick plays extremely well, but I, being someone who was born in 1978 (the premier of Star Wars) would have been a lot happier if I could learn a bit more about their character’s background.

That was painful

I agreed to go skating on the afternoon. Of course, I knew that there were no ice-skates on my feet in the past ten years or so, but I thought that I will remember enough to survive. I also relied heavily on my excellent skates I got maybe 15 years ago.

Well, I not only forgot how to skate, but the delicate art of putting on the skates also slipped out of my mind. First it was so tight that I simply could not bear the tight grasp of plastic around my feet. When I loosened the buckles, I almost left my skates behind. It took me an hour and maybe 10 test circles around the rink to adjust it properly.

However, that was nothing compared to my other problem with my skills. It seemed simply impossible to hold my balance. I must have seemed like Tom from Tom and Jerry, constantly leaning back and forth, occasionally (well, frequently) windmilling with my arms. And when I finally fell, I landed with a mighty crash, causing the young girls to scream around me.

V.’s performance also increased my frustration. Skating wonderfully, in a regular style, backwards, in “skiing style”, jumping, spinning etc she was just the exact opposite of me. Of course, I never ambitioned knowing this kind of tricks, but if I recall that I was able to skate for hours without the danger of falling, that literally hurts.

I need more practice. Soon.

Experimental holiday photography II.

During the holiday we made one more photo project: we decided to take pictures on a toy seal, Pufóka on and in her igloo built by me and V. (The process of building could even be an entire post in itself, since the snowflakes didn’t stick together. So we built a large mound of snow first, then we removed the enterior of the igloo — the wall were hold by their own pressure. The entrance tunnel was built the same way.)

Speaking of a white object on white background, we had to deal with the exposure first. Of course, the built-in light meter of my camera could not deal with the situation, so I had to give a little help with the exposure compensation function. Setting it to -2EV provided quite satisfactory results, many details can be seen on the fur of the seal and even in the snow.

(Truth to be told, she proved to be a bit dirtier than we expected.)

The second question was: how to take pictures of something that is hidden in a small building. First we tried working from the entrance tunnel. It looked really funny, but it was not what I wanted.

Then we cut a small window on the wall of the igloo: it was just wide enough to be able to push in the objective of the camera. This resulted in much satisfactory results: you can sense the inner space of the igloo much better (the entry tunnel is in the background):

A quiet end of the year

We had a really excellent New Year’s Eve. Last year after visited Mum, we went home and tried to find out what to do. We ended up watching Friends all night — the same thing we did every other evening.

This time we were much smarter. Unlike last year did not planned to do anything special (besides being at V.’s house). Ee played on the computer, talked, had some champagne with V.’s Dad. We did not watch television — in fact, we just swichted it on just to know when midnight was.

Next day, I was a bit sad while packing my things. Usually I do not mind going home after a few days of holiday, but this time it was too nice, too peaceful, too perfect to leave it behind easily. It was a very wonderful way to spend the holidays: I hope we will have some more Christmas like this.

On the 2nd of January, a very few people of the staff could be seen at my workplace. As it turned out later, even I wasn’t obliged to go there. I did not mind it, however: that day with the dizzy people around and with the small amount of work to do was an excellent warming up.

Complaints and fun

Yesterday we spent a really interesting afternoon at Pécs. I reinforced my dubious reputation of making complaints everywhere, too.

Though Kökény is only 7 kms from Pécs, it was much simpler to go by bus. We got on the bus — the driver typed “250″ in the ticket machine, asked for 350 forints, and gave no tickets. Naturally, I made my complaint at the station. Then I only thought that the driver steals the money of the bus company. Going back to Kökény in the evening, it turned out the two tickets actually cost 250 forints. I realized that the guy was stealing from me, too. I am eagerly waiting for the company’s answer. (V.’s Mum said that I should have solved the situation with the driver. I do not think so. First, I am not dealing with bastards. Second, if I make a written complaint, I have some chance not only to solve the given case, but to improve the overall situation. As I know Hungarian bureaucracy, the driver will regret stealing, if we only look at his administrative tasks concerning the case.)

Our primary destination was a small, unique restaurant where V. wanted me to taste the tartar steak. It was better than good, it was gorgeous — finely grounded, excellently spiced and served with fresh, just perfectly toasted bread. The place also had a really nice atmosphere. If you are at Pécs and want a nice place to eat, drink or have a coffee, I really recommend Áfium Restaurant.

After lunch, we planned to visit the Vasarely Museum; unfortunately, the exhibition is currently on a European tour. So we went to see the Csontváry exhibition instead. He is one of my favorite Hungarian painters. A few years ago, when I sent postcards more frequently, I regularly picked the ones with his paintings.

On the street of the museums, V. showed me two grids made of iron bars, covered with padlocks locked onto them. V. was surprised that I never heard of this place. Each padlock was put on by a couple which wanted to demonstrate the strength of their feelings.

We had some shopping to do, so we went to the shopping mall. We bought what V’s Mum needed for the supper and the tomorrow cake, and we decided to have some icecream. There is a large confectionery in the mall. We were there in the summer: they had superb ice cream and V. definitely wanted to have some more today. Being full with the tartar steak, I was rather sleepy, so I also had some cofee. The ice cream was just as good as in the summer.

After finishing the ice creams, we sat there, talking, spending the time until we had to leave for the bus station. Suddenly a waiter come to our table (not the waitress who served us). He stood their motionlessly for at least thirty seconds, like the Angel of Death reminding us to our mortality. I told him that he can take away our glasses if that was why he was here. He did not say a word, just tugged our bill on the table, murmured something and left. I did not understand the situation so I got up and asked him to come back when he is not busy. Then our waitress came to the table and asked what the problem was. I told her that we had this little embarrassing scene — she assured us that we did not have to bother with it.

A few minutes later, the guy came back with some cakes wrapped in paper and a plastic bag, put it on our table and left without a single word. Again, I got up and asked for explanation. He said these were our biscuits. I told him we had not ordered biscuits, while he tried to convince me that we not only had, but we had even paid for it. It took a long time and a really tedious conversation to make him understand that someone probably mixed the tables. I definitely felt that I needed the manager — this was much more embarrasment than I was prepared for by having an icecream. The manager was also stunned, so she offered us not to pay for our ice creams. That’s how we had two enermous glass of icecream for free. However, we still felt that it would be really uncomfortable to stay, so we went to an electronic shop instead and V. bought me a new mouse.

It fits to my hand, and its roller is much better than my previous one’s was. It does not glow for a change. I am happy with it, just like with our afternoon. I like when there is no time left to be bored.