Chapter Two

Saturday

I woke up early Saturday for once eager to get a jump on the day before the sun had come up as it was twilight out. If I wanted really good pics the golden hour that occurred after dawn or just before sunset. Their was more indirect light then during the day meaning the light came from the sky and not the sun so there were less hard shadows. Plus if I was shooting buildings the sky would be lit with vibrant colors in my background.

Rory was already gone as usual either having swim practice or off doing his morning run and sometimes a few laps in the pool at the aquatic center afterwards. He was slacker sometimes but he took swimming seriously. I gathered up my clothes and headed for the showers smiling as no one else was in here which was rare. Everyone was probably still sleeping as no one had classes today. Hell the cafeteria didn't even open today so I and everyone else would have to go off campus to get breakfast later unless we wanted it out of a vending machine.

I smiled as I took a nice hot shower which was rare since I had gotten here. I didn't stay in long despite my wish to enjoy the warm water for a change. I turned off the water and reached over the stall to grab my towel and opened the curtain fumbling to put it around myself and froze when I saw I was not alone as Julie was standing there and had pulled off her shirt as she stretched and yawned. Her long succulent nipples poking out, slightly raised areolas, and milky white mounds. They had a beautiful balance of size and firmness. She suddenly jumped in place with fright as she saw me as I was trying to secure the towel being a little stunned myself.

“Oh shit.” Julie yelled and covered her beautiful breasts but not before the image was burned into my retinas. I wanted to close my eyes and keep the image there. I was pretty sure she had gotten a good look as well as her eyes were down cast. “Jake what in the hell are you doing in here?”

“Pretty sure this is the guys shower.” I replied and double checked myself to make sure I wasn't in the wrong place.

She looked around as well as she held her breasts firmly, her fingers digging into flesh as her palms hid her nipples.“Oh fuck.” She blushed as she suddenly realizing where she had stumbled into. “Okay. So navigating when half awake is not my strong suit it seems.” Julie said as she turned away from me and wrestled her shirt back on in a hurry. I could see the sides of her breasts but not her nipples sadly. “They really should color code the doors or something because I do not read so well at six in the morning.”

“I will tell the RA,” I smiled and walked over to my clothes grabbing my boxers.

“Well I am awake now. I am going to go now before I make a bigger ass of myself then I already have or before anyone else walks in here to make this more awkward..” Julie said still blushing as she made her way toward the door.

“Okay. You do that.” I shook my head trying not to laugh and failing. It took a lot to rattle her but that had seemed to do it.

I secured my boxers and pulled off the towel just as Julie stuck her head back in the door. “Oh. Good morning to you to Tripod, and I am not sorry this happened.” She smiled as she glanced down at my crotch and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Get out of here.” I said as I flicked the towel at her like a whip. She darted out leaving me smiling as I shook my head at her and couldn't stop smiling. After getting dressed I headed back to my room wondering if Julie was in the girls bathroom now as her tits were still in my head. As I entered the room I found Rory sitting at his desk with my chess board having just got back from his run. He had his phone in one hand and was moving a piece with the other.

“Morning.” He said not glancing up.

“Morning.” I closed the door and walked in.“You know I thought for sure I walk in on you having sex with some girl but not sitting at your desk playing with yourself.” I joked as I walked by. He had his phone in his hands holding it upside down as he moved the chess piece and recorded it stopping the camera as he reached the piece he was capturing.

“Ha ha.” He shook his head. “Not what I am doing.”

“What are you doing then?” I said towel drying my hair.

“We have a project to shoot a small black and white film showing various camera tricks and movements. I am taking his request as literal as I possibly can and making it as small and black and white as I can.” He took the phone and moved it to the side and recorded one of the pieces falling as it was taken by the rook. Turning his phone on its side as he knocked over the piece as if making the camera fall with the piece.

“So it is going to be a short black and white Chase film.” I joked.

“Pretty much. It is more like a trailer since it can only be a minute long. I figured I would get some fog in a can stuff you used and spray it on the board for atmosphere then use a strobe light for lightning effects. Halloween stuff is already on sell so neither should be hard to find. I just want to see how it looks before I commit to anything for certain.”

“I could be wrong but I think your teacher meant for you to use real people?” I shook my head though I had to admire his creativity at giving the professor exactly what they asked for to the letter.

“I plan on doing cut ins between chess moves shooting people I know to represent the pieces. I want to make the viewer care for a piece on the board as if it was a person. That is the mark of a great director is making the viewer be invested in the hero even if there isn't a word spoken.” He shrugged as he checked his phone to see how it looked.

“Let me guess. You are the king?”

“The white knight who saves the day.” He smiled as he glanced up. I swear Rory needed a room for just himself and his ego sometimes.

“Of course you are.” I laughed and walked over to check my stuff.

“Cliches are cliches because it is what people expect my friend.” Rory replied. “I might see about getting some of those cheap little magnets and putting them under the pieces and moving them from underneath. Make it look like a stop motion thing without all the work. You mind if I repaint the chess pieces to make them look better on camera?” He was putting a lot of thought into this it seemed even if it was a joke.

“Help yourself. It's a cheap board and easily replaced. If you do repaint you could maybe add some black or dark gray to the white pieces and then whip it off so that it gets down into the cracks to give them sort of a dynamic anime look. My buddy Josh played games with miniatures and painted them like that.” I shrugged offering some advice. Josh would have loved this idea and been happy to paint the figures.

“Maybe. If I did that I would have to paint them dark gray and light gray so I could do it to all the pieces to get a uniform look. Finding paint is easy enough around here and I don't need a lot but who should I ask for something to gloss then over with to make the pieces shine?” He said as he touched his chin.

“Any woman in our dorm. Clear nail polish would do. You could maybe get your girlfriend to help you for some bonding time.” I shrugged and zipped up my stuff.

“Good idea. This is why I love you man.” Rory smiled and handed me his phone. “Tell me what you think?” I took the phone and hit play. The shot faded from black and rose up behind the side of the table to show the back of the white army and then rose up more to show the enemy. Next he did a sweeping shot moving from one side of the board of one army and then the other to show the two armies. Then he began to move the pieces across the board. He filmed the white pieces moving away from the camera as he tracked them as if showing there point of view then filmed the black pieces coming at the camera. The little film kept going to the piece I had seen him take on the board when I came in. The camera fell over showing the board sideways and it ended as he panned the camera under the table to black. It was clear he was more interested in showing off camera movements then substance but it was an interesting approach. It take him a few hours to film this with people if not days but he had thrown it together in a few minutes.

“Needs editing but not bad.” I smiled. I love to see more once he actually put some work into it and added some kind of story and real people.

“It's a test shot so. I have until next Friday but I saw the board and got inspired.” He shrugged.

“I would add a camera shake in when the pieces fall if you can and maybe lightning if you get the strobe.” I said as I handed the phone back to him.

“Love it.” He made a fist and I gave it a bump. “See this is why I am making you assistant producer man.”

“Thanks, but I am not going to fetch you coffee. I have my own project to shoot.” I shook my head at him.

“Damn. Wonder if I can bring on an unpaid intern then.” He touched his chin as if thinking. “Off to take more pics?”

“Yep.” I nodded grabbing a honey-bun and ice coffee I had stuck in his mini-fridge not wanting to loose time going for breakfast.

“Plan on seeing Julie later?” He grinned.

“She wants to shoot some stuff after lunch.” I nodded.

“Nice. You ask her out yet?”

“It is not like that.” I shook my head.

“If you say so but you should hurry and make your move if you like her man before someone else does. She was hot as fuck with those big tits and nice tight ass.”

“Hey. Be nice. She has a name.” I threw him a look as I felt a small burst of anger at him.

“And see. If you didn't like her you wouldn't have just gotten angry just now about what I said would you?” Rory smiled and locked his fingers behind his head as he leaned back in his chair and smiled with a cocky grin.

“I hate you.”

“No you don't. You just hate when I am right. I am your friend Jake I will not lie to you even if you are lying to yourself.”

“Luckily you being right doesn't happen often.” I smirked though he probably was this time.

“What can I say. Even a busted clock gets the time right twice a day.” He threw his hands up.

“I will leave you now, my friend, to go back to playing with yourself. Water in the showers is still warm if you hurry.”

“I swim in a pool as a sport buddy. A little cold water never bothered me.”

“No. I was talking to little Rory. He just got dragged into going along with the flow with your whole swimming thing against his will.” I threw on my camera bag.

“Funny.” Rory laughed under his breath and opened his laptop connecting his phone.

I headed out hit the ground running scarfing down the honey-bun and ice coffee and tossing them in a trash can outside. Though sadly the ground was still wet that meant I need to avoid shots of said fucking ground. I went to the main campus building as the sun was still not over the horizon getting it in the dim of the morning light using long exposure and a black card to block out the some of the light from the sun to the east so the sky wasn't over exposed in my shot before moving the card to let the camera capture it. Next I headed to the chapel which sadly wasn't lit as I was sure someone had turned off the lights and locked it for the night. What I wanted was the sunrise coming up behind the old building with the light illuminating the clouds in color.

I smiled as I looked at the reflection of a large puddle and decided to try something different and lowered myself down onto the concrete that was dry and took a picture of the chapel as well as the reflection in the water. I even got a shot with my phone in case my camera didn't get it. This time of morning water was like a black mirror as there was not enough sunlight to penetrate the surface. I took a few shots playing with it hoping at least one came out. I got the fountains as the sun was coming up reflecting off the surface of the water. Moving from place to place with my camera attached to my tripod to save time though taking it off to get pictures of the reflection of the puddles here and there and taking pics with my phone as I waited on the long exposure. Any ripples in the waters surface from wind would make the water seem bigger so I added some of my own tapping the puddle with my foot to create ripples in a few shots that I hoped would create the blurring seen in large bodies of water as the light would blur in the long exposure instead of showing the fast moving ripples. I checked my phone as I got a text message.

"Hey. How is it hanging?" Julie wrote.

"Ha, ha."

"I tried to stop by and see you but you were already gone when I got out. : ("

"Sorry had to head out to get some pics of the sunrise for my project."

"I guess early bird sees the worm. Oh wait. That was me. Never mind."

"Funny." I shook my head at her text.

"I thought so. I won't keep you if you are busy. See you at twelve Sugar."

"See you then."

I shot a few of the fountains against the sunrise then I got the bell tower and the library to the west of the quad next catching them in the glow of the morning light as the sun rise hit the front of them while the sky behind them was still cast in dark blue.

“See you had the same idea as me.” A voice said and I turned to see Trevor as he pushed his glasses back. He held up a light meter checking the light levels.

“Isn't that cheating?” I asked.

“No rule against it.” Trevor shrugged as he set up his tripod. Trevor was one of those types who had all the latest gear and an expensive camera. Granted light meters were cheap enough I could have bought one for the assignment but I wanted to improve my own skills first and for most and I never do that by using one. “So where all are you shooting today?”

“Not sure. Figured I throw a feather and follow it across campus.” I lied. I didn't want him following me around stealing my shots like now. He was an okay guy but this was also a competition to me. In class we could share pics and ideas and were friends but out here we were rivals trying to out do one another.

“Good luck with that.” He smiled and shook his head. We talked for a bit as we took minute long picks of the buildings to catch all the details. I decided to try the inside of the library next hoping to maybe get something someone might have missed and loose Trevor. I was the first one inside as the place was empty. It took me awhile to find a shot I know no one had gotten but I laid on the hard carpet floor in the center and snapped a few pics of the domed sky light catching the light rays beaming in through the dome.

“Hey Jake. Comfy?” A voice said and I looked up to see Piper lean over into view as she smiled and cocked her head to the side to look down on me.

“Not really.” I shook my head.

“What are we doing?”

“Trying to get the light coming in through the skylight.” I pointed up.

Piper glanced up and smiled stepping forward to get a better view and giving me a peek up her panties. “Oh that's pretty.” She said as she did a little turn in place showing her pink pantie clad cute ass. She was so naive it was almost precious.