Photography 101; Wednesday, Second Period [01/11].

[hashtag_chocobro]

As tempting as it was to just call in a favor and have a sub sweep in to take over his class this week, Prompto was back and ready to be a functional member of society again, and he absolutely was sunburned all to hell, and he definitely was banking on people being generally too polite to point out that he probably looked like a freckled lobster with questionable facial hair.

"Hey, everyone," he greeted the class with a smile, "and welcome back. I hope you remembered the homework from last week, otherwise the first part of class is going to be a little awkward. But I asked you guys to go around and take some pictures with your sweet new cameras, and I'll show you how we'll hook them up so you can share them easily and use them to talk about who you are and why you took that photo. And then we're going to start diving in to some technical aspects and talk about something known as the rule of thirds, which is sort of the biggest general guiding principle when it comes to framing a shot....which can also extend to other arts, like film, painting, drawing...

"But we'll get into that soon," he said with a grin. "After we get a look at those pictures!"

All About Tea, Wednesday

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon nodded to the students. "Today we'll start with a bit of the background of tea. First of all, a lot of what we call tea isn't actually tea. Proper tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant, which is an evergreen native to East Asia. We can track tea drinking back to at least the third century in China, and it was brought to Europe in the sixteenth."

Was this starting to sound more like an academic dissertation than useful information? Look, Jon was a researcher. He did his best.

"It's the second most popular drink in the world, after water. It's still grown widely in Asia, but also now in Africa, and in other places to a lesser extent. It's all largely the same plant, but there are a number of different sorts, mostly divided by how it's processed and aged. The two most common are black tea, which is wilted and fully oxidized leaves, and green tea, which is unwilted and unoxidized. There's also white, yellow, oolong, and Pu'er.

"After that, the next difference is in how it's packaged - loose leaf, tea bags, compressed, bottled, or, erm, instant." You could probably hear the disgust in his voice. Look, he was awful with tea, but even he had standards. "We won't be covering that one. Apparently even soldiers who got it in rations hated it, if that tells you anything." And that was saying something.

"Next, sometimes there are flavors added in - like Earl Grey, which has bergamot in it. Mint, cinnamon, and ginger are also popular. Sometimes different types of tea are combined. And then of course, there's how you fix it. Sugar, milk, lemon, honey - there are a number of possible additions."

He was probably boring the students now, wasn't he? Damn.

"So...erm. I hope you'll all speak up with any questions. And - oh! I have samples, so you can see what black tea and green tea look like, and I've got pictures of the others and some leaves and...I'll just put those up."

He fiddled with the computer to show the pictures. "But anyway, if you have questions. Or a favorite tea. Let us know."

Art is For Everyone, Wednesday, January 11, 2023

[imafuturist]

Today's classroom had easels standing in a circle around two still lifes: a basket of fruit and a scale model of Avengers Tower.

"We're going to try sketching today," Steve said. "Nothing fancy, just with pencils and paper. It's what I like to do when I have some time on my hands."

"We'll be trying out a variety of different mediums and you can decide which you like best along the way," Tony said. "So, if this once isn't for you, don't worry about it."

"We really mean it about art being for everyone," Steve said with a nod. "It's not about being perfect. It's about trying things out. We've given you two things to choose from to sketch--one is a building so it's all straight lines and architectural features, and the other is fruit, so there's lots of different shadows and textures."

"You can try both or just one," Tony added quickly. "Just go with what you feel like."

Straight lines were about as daunting as hands without a ruler, after all.

"Just like last week, Tony and I will be drawing along," Steve said with a smile.

"We will?" Oh no.

"We will," Steve said, nodding. "Art is for everyone."

Even Tony.