I finally was able to have my roll of film from spring break developed. Having never shot colored film before in my Canon Rebel EOS ii, I was really excited to see the results. I was not disappointed.

My week was spent with hardly any work and lots of walking around Jupiter, Florida. I caught up with family and enjoyed the week. Now that I'm back to the grind (and final push of school), I really appreciate those laid back days spent soaking up the sun and shooting film.

See full quality here: http://on.be.net/1C7ef6O

I enjoy projects that challenge me, be it a technical challenge, a mental challenge, or a mixture of the two. It is why I often spend hours in the preproduction phase just working out the idea itself be it for a photograph series, painting, or a time based piece as I did recently for Global Eye.

Originally an assignment for my 4D class, this piece spawned primarily from a dream I had after watching The Square, a documentary about the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt. I wanted to explore the idea of how technology has introduced a near constant stream of ideas via the media for us to view. In one moment we may view a demonstration in London while in another we might be exposed to a protest in Venezuela, and often through the eye level view of a lens that belongs to an individual participating in the experience.

I spent hours upon hours watching countless news feeds with the idea of showing a global view. One of the challenges, besides subjecting myself to the graphic images captured by the videos, was to create a completely objective view of the world. I didn't want this project to become a commentary on any individual event in the world, but rather introduce a scale for how much media there is out there from everywhere and how it is increasingly shared and viewed through television, internet, and radio.

So, taking found news footage from all across the globe from contemporary times, I created the piece Global Eye.

Global Eye from Frances Bukovsky on Vimeo.

I'm beginning to explore architecture as a photography subject for an upcoming assignment. Black and white just seems like such a great fit for architecture, and I'm enjoying considering line as a predominant design feature in the architecture photography that I'm interested in doing. 

I had been looking forwards to this assignment for a while in my Lens Based Communication class. The assignment was to capture 6 images of individuals in their environments. It proved to be an assignment of growth and portfolio building for me, and I tremendously enjoyed going out into the world to capture people in their respective worlds.

See the series on Behance: http://on.be.net/1AU4t6c

I cannot relate what a solid week of relaxation can do for an individual. Having spent the last week bumming around poolside or by the ocean, I can safely say that my batteries are recharged and I'm ready to go for the second half of the semester.

As much as I love adventures and action packed travels, there is something refreshing about taking a step out of the fast lane and removing one's self from one's own life. I find my perspective on life and course of action towards my goals to be reinvigorated.

My only regret is being without a digital camera for all but the last weekend. I've a roll of film that I need to develop from the rest of the week, but I sorely missed having my 50mm lens with me. Now however everything with the camera has been sorted because I was able to buy a Canon 60D. And my am I loving it.

It is finally Spring Break, and after the week I've had, I definitely deserve the break part. I've made the trip across state to visit my aunt and uncle and will be relaxing on the beach or poolside for the upcoming week.

I will be shooting more photography, however it is most likely going to be film as I am currently without a digital camera. So, I've pulled out the trusty 35mm and sold my soul for film (seriously, 4 bucks a roll and only in packs of 4?) and am looking forwards to finishing up a street portrait series I'm working on for a class.

Embarking on a 6 different portrait series makes me feel at home again within photography, so starting out with a self portrait just felt natural. And what was even more fantastic about this shoot in particular is that I was able to roll out of bed, set up the tripod, and plug away at the first portrait.

I showed the series to my mother who often likes looking at my work and of course her first reaction was "I hope you're wearing shorts." Typical motherly reaction, I suppose haha. So yes, exercise shorts were worn.

The assignment is to capture both the portrait and the setting, so I'm looking out for different people and settings to photograph. It is going to be a fun series to shoot before Spring Break next week, and then I embark on a relaxing, low key paced week of relaxing poolside, oceanside, and shooting a lot of photography.

Sundays are the best days to go to the beach, and as I live 20 minutes from the top beach in the United States, you can imagine how lucky I feel to have the option to spend an entire day at the beach painting, reading, and of course shooting photography.

I love walking at night, so when I got a less chilly night and some free time on Monday, I took advantage of the bus system to go downtown. Naturally I brought along my trusty camera and 50mm to see what sort of images I could scrounge up.

Being a woman walking alone isn't something I usually think about, if I'm honest. I'm used to being somewhat of a loner-I greatly enjoy people and being in good company, however taking a walk by myself is one of my greatest pleasures. It causes my mother all sorts of worry I'm sure, though I always tell her that I'm fine, I'm safe, and people know where I am.

If I am completely and totally honest, I don't feel that me being a woman should limit what I like to do. Sure, I'm certainly careful around dark alleyways and overly persistent strangers, though I've also found the greatest individuals through my walks downtown by myself, and have discovered that being open to others, even if it is just a smile and eye contact, can make the world feel a little less scary.

As far as precautions that I've taken as a woman walking alone at night in a populated city, I can't say there are too many. My clothing habits are pretty much the same, a sweater or blouse (or more commonly, band tee) with a jacket, jeans, and my all too comfortable Converse. Sometimes I'll tie my hair back, but again, that is more often because I needed it out of my face. I know how to defend myself and keep myself in good shape, but again, these are all things that I've done merely because they fit into my lifestyle. I enjoy soccer, so I play it; I run because I like to; I do strength training because being able to do more pushups than some of your guy friends can come in handy some times.

I'm definitely not naive about the world around me. I know bad things can happen, and might even happen to me in my lifetime, but I'm not going to be afraid of the world because of the what-ifs. I'm also not going to be stupid (I promise, mum), but I think people need to stop viewing the world as a dangerous place where one foot outside your door means death and start living more, experiencing more, understanding more. 

By learning about the world we live in, just maybe we can create a more peaceful one.