Mind Games, Photoshop, and Spotty Old Men?

After the 'joyous' presentation of last week, I wasn't much looking forward to college this week I'm sad to say. I was exhausted from lack of sleep, and was ill which didn't really help. College was the last place I wanted to be. So as Wednesday rolled around once again, and I dragged myself out of bed and onto the train I began wondering what Steve had planned for us this week. More presentations? Work? A new task? I remembered we were getting a Photoshop assignment on Thursday and I cheered up a bit.

When I arrived at college, Steve was standing with his usual suspect grin and my mind began to wonder. When James mentioned a 'surprise presentation' my own suspicions began to rise and suddenly getting as far away from college as quickly as possible was becoming a very appealing option. I asked Steve about presentations and he gave a very cryptic response.

Damn Steve's mind games.

For about half an hour I sat, quite nervous, about the prospect of another presentation. But luckily it turned out Steve was giving us a brief lecture on 'Type Glossary' and the rest of the day was free for us to get on with work. Once again relief set in as the extra time to do some work was greatly appreciated. I got quite a lot done, until a headache set in and I was unable to do much work for a while because of the pain.

Thursday was a completely different start. Once again I dragged myself out of bed, not because I didn't want to go to college, but just because I was comfy and warm. I got on the train and once more began thinking about the day ahead, thinking what we would be doing, how long we would get to do it, and how hard it would be. I think it's the earliest I've ever arrived at college.

Steve gave us a disk to pass round with our two tasks on and I loaded them onto the computer, I looked at the first task and immediately panic set in once more. I knew the image in front of me from my interview last year. The image Steve had shown me on last year's first years portfolio websites. A timed assignment. Luckily however Steve said we had two weeks to complete both tasks.The first task we were given was to restore an old black and white photograph of 3 old men sitting on a bench holding a trophy, that was, to put it simply, wrecked. Torn, burnt, bleached, bent, scratched. You name it, it had it.

Onto Photoshop then and out with the cloning tool and spot tool, trying to remove the deformities. Then Steve came to look at my work...

Attempt two it was. And I did the same things and once again Steve came over....

Attempt three went well. Though Steve has yet to come and look at it. Next week might be a completely statement. I'm quite pleased with my photo so far however, so hopefully Steve will be too.

In just a few week both assignments are due in, so the nerves are starting to hit, so over the next week I'm going to put as much work into both assignments as possible. Even thing's I think I've finished I'm going to go over and make sure they're right. The pressure of a referal is something I could really do without.

The main thing that stands out for me this week was that perhaps I didn't put enough effort into my contents as I could have. I didn't reference any books, in fact, I didn't even look in any books if I'm being honest, and I didn't cross reference everything that I looked at. I think that this was perhaps the 'bordem' factor that I talked about in a previous blog, but in future I will definately go back and recheck or even redo work if it is time consuming/boring, instead of finishing it and taking the 'That's It' attitude.