Photography 101; Wednesday, Second Period [03/22].

[hashtag_chocobro]

When the students came into the classroom that morning, they'd find they weren't entirely alone. A small collection of mannequins had joined them and the photography equipment, each wearing a highly moddable striking and fashionable sort of outfit. Well...as close to striking and fashionable as Prompto could get with his resources. He supposed he could have tapped into the danger shop for some simulations, but he felt that wouldn't quite be the same. He grinned a little as everyone got settled before he got the ball rolling on today's lesson.

"As you can see," he said, gesturing toward the mannequins, "we've got some guests to help us out this week, but we'll get to them in a moment. We're going to start by going over last week's assignment, where I wanted you guys to take some shots with commercial photography in mind, and then we'll move onto the next thing. So! Who's got some good shots to try and sell me on whatever products you decided to shoot last week?

And once everyone who wanted to had the chance to show off some work and inspire little points of discussion about them, Prompto launched into this week's topic. "Now," he said, "as far as potential careers in photography go, a bit one for a lot of photographers....and something that I myself had always wanted to do one day...is fashion photography. Fashion, after all, is a huge industry with a lot of different avenues to take, so we're going to dive into some of that today."

With that, then, Prompto took the time to really break down the different types of fashion photography, everything from high fashion to runway to commercial and catalogue and everything in between, what made them different, and the usual tips and suggestions to help elevate their own pictures.

"And, of course, this is where our very well-dressed mannequins come into play today," he concluded with a grin. "You've got all sorts of lighting and set-dressing stuff to play around with and practice getting some good shots of the fashion on display today, and for next week, I'd like you guys to try and put together a small fashion shot portfolio. Work with each other, your roommates, your friends, pets," he knew you were already thinking it, Sakaki!, "and see what you can come up with. Anything you guys want me to go over again, about the style, the industry, any of the types? Or you guys think you're ready to get shooting?"

Art is For Everyone, Wednesday, March 22, 2023

[heroic_jawline]

Today's classroom had been set up with safety in mind--there were coveralls, eye protection, and heavy shoes for everyone. There were also sheets of metal and blowtorches.

"Today I'm going to let Tony take the lead," Steve said with a proud smile, "since this is his area of art expertise."

"It's metalwork day," Tony said cheerfully. Because, yes, this was his sort of art. "Now this can be dangerous, so Captain Rogers and I will be keeping a closer eye on you guys for it."

With that caveat, he went into the possibly too detailed explanation of the process and equipment being provided to the class.

There was the sound of banging on the door and Steve opened it to the sight of Dum-E, Tony's helper robot, wielding a fire extinguisher. "Oh no," Steve said before he could stop himself.

"And... also Dum-E to help supervise," Tony said, sighing as he just knew the flame retardant was in his future.

"Make something simple," Steve said, "like a bookend. Get a feel for the equipment and the metal. Don't burn anything or anyone."

"And the safety equipment is mandatory!" Because Tony was allowed to get burned a little, but the students weren't.

All About Tea, Wednesday

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon was a bit fidgety today, but he was doing his best, and hopefully today would at least be a little more interesting than watching tea grow?

"I believe I've mentioned before that tea was largely spread to western Europe, the UK especially, through...well, some pretty awful Imperialism. Not that any Imperialism is good, but I suppose there are degrees of awful. Which is to say, actual wars have been started for the sake of ensuring the Empire would have access to its tea."

He frowned disapprovingly. "In the mid nineteenth century, the British felt the Chinese were being unfair in only taking silver instead of British goods in trade. Apparently they decided the solution to this was to smuggle enough opium into China to pay for their tea, rather than dealing in good faith. When the Chinese tried to push back, the British went to war. 20,000 lives were lost in the conflict, but at the end, they had their tea."

Look, Jon enjoyed tea well enough, but some things were a bit excessive.

"The British and French did it again a little later, too. So, let's drink tea and discuss the evils of Imperialism and capitalism."