smile for the camera!

The last week has been absolutely exhausting. I had ...

an IPHS paper on Candide to write [ended up writing it at five in the morning ...]
a paper comparing two scientific articles on baboon behavior to write for Biological Anthropology [let's not talk about it ... ]
an essay about my break in German [I was so bored, I made it up. Oddly enough, all of the most bizarre stuff was the stuff that was true.]
a German test [about fairy tales. Why the hell do I need to know about fairy tales? Excuse me, Herr Stranger, would you mind telling me the story of Snow White und ihrer sieben Dwarfen? I think not.]
a Solar energy quiz [erm. I think it was about greenhouse gases or coal refining, neither of which I know anything about ... ]
Blocking rehearsals for the Dessert Theater production that I'm stage managing ... [ha. barely went. I have an ASM who took it all down for me ... I was at other rehearsals ... ]
Tech Rehearsals for the Edward Albee play that I was stage managing ... [for this thing. Which sucked, by the way, not that our audience ever figured that out. I'm pretty convinced that most of them were high, or drunk, or Episcopalian ministers, and therefore shocked out of their minds]
and a photo shoot to organize.

Yes, that's right; a photo shoot. It was, hands down, the absolute highlight of my week. Kenyon College bought this dinky little house out behind Bexley Hall (the art building) and turned it into a photo studio. Seamless backgrounds, studio lights, flashes and lots of exact-o knives lying around. Very safe. It's also in the middle of fucking nowhere, so you get to trek about a mile out of your way to get there, but it's pretty cool that we get access to that.

I show up (late, because I'd come from rehearsal), and find everyone there already. Two girls are crouched over the only mirror in the building, one applying eyeshadow and the other teasing their hair. Caroline is there as well, and I got to do her eye makeup. I made her look kind of like she got punched in the face, but it was cool. We dressed her and her friend up like glamorous hobos and played loud dance music.

Kirk was the one taking photos, because, you know, he's the photography student. Or, as he likes to say, a person who happens to take photos. He was actually using my camera, as his has recently developed the unfortunate inability to focus. Doesn't really matter as we have, in essence, the exact same camera. There were nine of us total, six girls there to model, Kirk taking photos, one guy (Zack Goldman, who actually ended up in a couple of shots) played art director (which he was very good at), and me. I did all of the organizational stuff (surprise surprise), and a bunch of problem solving (guys wouldn't think to secure a belt with a hair-tie). I also got to pick a few of the songs that we played, although, as we all know, I have absolutely terrible taste in music.

It was a ton of fun. And, as Kirk and I found out after we developed the pictures, the ones where everyone acted the silliest are the photos that came out the best. It's amazing how you can tell the difference between real and fake emotions in a picture. The smile never quite reaches their eyes.

Aaaaanyway ... It was a big success. If I can figure out how to get the photos online, I will post them here. They're really fantastic. And, people are keen to do it again.

We're planning on doing it again in about a week and a half. The theme this time: Goodwill Glamour. Essentially, a group of us are going to get on the shuttle to the Mount Vernon Goodwill, buy the craziest crap we can, and then wear it, paired with nicer stuff and insane makeup. Which sounds really weird, but it'll come out great in black and white. And, this time, I'll be the one behind the camera.