Photography 101; Wednesday, Second Period [02/08].

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Hey, guys," Prompto greeted the class from the front of the classroom again, lounging on the top of the desk at the front of the room until they arrived. "Welcome back. Today, we're going to be talking a little bit about landscape photography, which, you know, is pretty self-explanatory in the name, but it's basically the art of taking pictures of nature and the great outdoors! I wanted to save this lesson for the week before the school trip, but if I'm reading the school calendar right, that's the week after next, and there's a pretty good chance I'm not going to be able to make it class next week."

And why was that, Prompto? Oh, let him tell you, with a big grin blossoming on his face.

"My daughter's due to be born next week," he beamed, "so, lucky you guys, you get two weeks off in a row. Which also means, plenty of opportunities to get in some good landscape photos, both here on the island and wherever you guys end up going. I'm not going to be able to go, because I'm going to have newborn on my hands, so I'm depending on you guys," oh no, "to get some really good shots to show me how nice it was, yeah?

"But before we get into that," he continued, hopping off the desk and bouncing over to the projector, "let's see how you guys did on your assignment from last week, and then we'll start talking landscapes! Who wants to go first?"

Art is For Everyone, Wednesday, February 8th, 2023

[imafuturist]

The easels were back today, along with the pencils but the fruit basket had been eaten and the scale model of Avengers Tower was nowhere to be found. Instead, Steve was sitting in the center of the circle looking somewhat bemused.

"Today we're working on figure sketching," he said.

"And apparently I have enough of myself," Tony said, not at all hurt by this. No, nooo. "So, Captain Rogers will be your subject."

Steve gave Tony a small smirk. "When you have multiple oil paintings commissioned of yourself, it's time for someone else to have a turn," he teased.

"I'm just saying, I'm a great model," Tony insisted before clearing his throat. "But the model will be the same for all of you, and you can pick whatever medium you've enjoyed the most here."

"If you draw me out of string art, I will hang it up in the classroom," Steve promised, grinning. "And the paints are over in the corner."

All About Tea, Wednesday

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon fidgeted until everyone was seated, then began. "I, um. Well first of all, I should like to apologise for my absence last week. It was terribly unprofessional of me, and I will do my best not to let it happen again."

He waited, looking like he was trying to figure out what to say, then turned around smartly and gestured at the boxes on the table. "Today we're going into some of the more common varieties of black tea. Black tea is one of the most widespread and wide-drunk sorts of tea, and has probably the strongest flavour of the types.

"If what you have is unblended - that is, only one type of tea leaf and no flavours added - it's probably named after the region it's from. Assam, Darjeeling, Ceylon, and so forth. They each have their own taste and colour, some more distinctive than others. Lapsang Souchong, for example, is smoked."

He went to the next set of boxes. "Then there are also popular blends, like Earl Grey, which has bergamot in it. English Breakfast, which is a blend of Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan teas is also popular. Actually, a lot of Indian teas and Indian-tea blends are popular in the UK, largely due to Imperial appropriation of resources. Which is probably out of scope of this class, unfortunately." Don't get him started on the monarchy.

"Masala chai is another. It features a lot of spices and is generally brewed with milk and either honey or sugar. A lot of black teas are commonly taken with milk or sugar, or in some places lemon. Though I don't recommend mixing the two, as lemon juice will curdle your dairy and make it...rather unpleasant.

"Right, so, same as before. Try the teas, pick one you like, fix it to your liking, talk about it. Tell us what you like about it or a fun fact if you know one, or whatever you feel like."

You were, after all, having tea.