What? I Need a Mask?

Well, it is a rainy weekend and I do believe the high school that I work for had a rain out last night for the homecoming football game. Lightning and thunder came crashing about just about the time the game was to begin...so I went to my cousin Jamie's house and watched her three year old sing to us with her "crazy lady" hair.

Saturday begins with even more rain. We need it so badly down here in Texas, so I guess I'm not complaining. I just hope it clears up enough for me to take my cousin Ryan's senior pictures tomorrow.
With that, I read a blog this morning that has greater explained the use of masking on photographs on CoffeeShop Press. She has better explained the use of a mask, which I greatly appreciate, because I really haven't messed with much lately.

In other subjects, I don't feel so bad about being a Fireworks fan anymore, and I found that my opinions seem to be similar to others. Now, I love Photoshop for photos, and would much prefer it for editing photos, however, when creating graphics, especially for the use of the web, I have grown to appreciate and prefer Fireworks. It seems that when I get a new computer I'm going to have to have quite a bit of RAM so I can easily host all of the Adobe Programs---yep, I'll easily fork out all the money for it because I think I could actually use it. (I don't want to go with Elements because you can't actually edit the curves yourself, and that bothers me.) But aside from that, I found this article on Digital Web Magazine discussing Photoshop vs. Fireworks and found that I wasn't the only person who felt that way. This article is also very helpful because it reaffirms my purpose for teaching my students Fireworks. I see more of a purpose for it now and really have decided that the district has gone with the best choice. Photoshop Elements is also pretty good for what my students will be doing, so I teach both.

Feel free to check out Digital Web Magazine, especially if you are into web design. I have found that it explains Design Principles and Elements quite well, and have been using two of their articles in class lately, because I have not found another source that explains it quite as well. I also plan to use more of their articles this year for OCS/CHOICES (In School Suspension) work. Out there, the students do not have a computer to do their work for my classes, which really stinks because they tend to fall behind, so this year I'll send them some of these articles to read and summarize or answer a worksheet to. I am relieved to find this source because I had difficulty last year handling the OCS/CHOICES challenge while constantly facing requests of "Please send work for this student, they have nothing to do...yadda yadda."

On another note, I have felt inspired lately to really boost my photography. My goal is to find more photographic material in the world around me, to find the beauty in the common things around me. I also have a goal this weekend to photograph a stranger...hopefully I'll achieve that as well.

Well, I'm off to get ready and head out into world around me...perhaps finally eat some breakfast.

'Till Next Time,
Christina Lee