i was standing on the surface of a perforated sphere

Well! Today was an adventure. The photo shoot for the President's Report happened down in Climenhaga, in Miller Auditorium. I've never spent much time on stage down there, but today I did - documenting the documentation, mostly (Donovan Witmer did the photography, Christina Weber organized, and Dan Custer and I took video and photos of the whole photo shoot process). The cover design adopted, as its theme, a conglomeration of faculty, employees, and students ala Annie Leibovitz's Vanity Fair covers (except without the Hollywood stars).

I learned a lot, hanging out in the wings and running a video camera (or trying to slyly take notes in my sketchbook. Pretty sure I fail at slyness, though). Most of it was just little stuff - the tone of talking to large groups of people that you're photographing, what gets best results, how planned all that body language that seems so natural is. I learned how much equipment you need to get such a simple-looking effect, and how much knowledge successful people have imbibed through years of work, and they just whip it out instantaneously. Also, I learned that sometimes a photo shoot containing seven people involves just sheer blind luck to get the perfect photo.

What hit me in the face the hardest, though, during my day of aiding the photo shoot (basically as a gopher) is this: I am so little prepared to face the real world. I haven't got hardly any skills. Like, wow. Also, I lack social grace, which seems to always come in handy.

On the other hand, I felt an immense vitality going into this shoot - so many people with so many ideas and so much experience. You know how some people seem flat and dull, like they just never pay attention? And other people are vibrant and full of vitality, eyes wide open all the time? I want to be one of those vibrant people who's full of vitality, and I want to be out in the real world acquiring that vitality and vibrant experience.

Sure, I'm not ready to graduate in an actual "skills acquired" kind of way (I'm sure as heck not ready to face my senior show even!), but I'm ready to graduate in an I want to get out there and learn all this stuff and be kick-butt at what I do someday kind of way.

I guess I just need to be stubborn enough to keep working with what I like even when I feel totally inadequate. And. . . if there's any character trait I do have in abundance. . . it's sheer stubbornness.

The End.

P.S. Countdown to my apartment: 1 day. No more of the other countdown - this is my 600th post. I'd planned to do something special for it, but silly photographs are trumped by actual thought. Sorry.