I came into this class knowing a fair amount about photography because of my dad. He has always been big into taking pictures and showing me and my sister how to take a good shot first with little disposables and then digital upgrades when we were older and more responsible. I have been taking photographs my entire life, but looking back at them, I can see my fourth grade self didn't have much of an eye. Over the years my dad has tried to teach me about composition, but, of course, I didn't want to listen to him because I just wanted to take a picture of the cows over there. This is not to say that by the time I was in 8th grade I was still trying to take pictures of ducks even though they were clearly too far away. I was able to take successful photographs, though I never could really capture the greatest images with a dinky point and shoot that required full on sunlight for a non-grainy picture. Entering this class, I felt confident that I had the skills to take pretty solid photos. Throughout the year, I really started to focus on visually appealing compositions as well as the quality of the image. Having a really nice camera generously donated by my grandfather helped tremendously, as it could still take lovely pictures at low light. Just having that camera made me more excited about photography, and applying what I had learned about composition from class and what I could remember from my dad led me to be successful in the class overall. At the moment, I am looking forward to traveling and taking pictures in new and exotic places with my new-found attentiveness to detail and kickass camera. I have begun taking photographs on my own time around my house mostly, and that is getting a little boring. Some new subjects would be good. Even though I am not taking photography next year, I will continue to take pictures and polish my skills.
My favorite photograph of all is probably the upside-down tree reflection. I love how you don't really know what it is but you do know what it is at the same time and then it's upside-down and you have no idea what you're looking at any more. I confuse myself when looking at it sometimes. I just think it's really cool and I like to think that I was clever for thinking of photographing the ground, which is an under-appreciated thing.
Best project was definitely the abstract project. I really liked how it made me think about what I saw in a different way and to use oddities and patterns to confuse people. I often still think about the abstract nature of things when I take pictures because those are the most interesting of all, the ones that make you stop and figure them out.
I really did not enjoy the unexpected moment project. Even though the idea of the project is good, it's still incredibly awkward for everyone and all your friends get sick of you trying to photograph them really fast. In that way the pictures I took weren't that interesting to look at.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Still Life Reflection
The objective of this project was to choose an object and photograph it in numerous ways using off camera lighting and flash. I used studio lights and an outwards pointing off camera flash. This project was very tedious, as the objects we were using became vey boring to photograph after a short time. We worked in groups, so there are a few pictures I couldn't tell you who is the photographer, but some I took on my own time in order to meet certain requirements. My favorite picture is the first one below of the record player. I think the object is very interesting and cool to look at as these things aren't around as much as they used to be. My least favorite is the illuminated looking one that I will post later, because it doesn't really fit in with the others of the series and kind of clashes with them. I think this project was good in that we learned to use flashes properly and effectively, but overall I thought the results were ok, nothing special.
mass reflection
abstract project (digital and black & white)
This project was meant to focus on patterns and oddities that we could find and photograph them. First we took digital, color pictures that we then photoshopped to make appear even more strange. We were meant to look at the picture and not be able to immediately tell what it was we were looking at. The five digital photographs that are posted use a different method of distorting the image in some way. These are color filter, solarize, cyanotype, vingette, and sepia. Of these, I think that the color filter is most successful because no one had any idea what it was when I showed the picture to them and I like the graphic-ness of the image. Also, I think that the vingette is the least successful because it is not as interesting as the others. For the black and white photographs, I think the most successful are the up-side-down reflections because I think they are very cool and interesting to look at. The least effective photo is probably the manhole cover, because you can tell what it is, though I still think it is a solid picture. Overall I enjoyed shooting for the abstract project the most of any we have done because the pictures that result make you think and really stop to look and figure out what is going on in the photograph.
portrait project
This project's objective was to use an entire role of film to photograph one person in a portrait type style. I had a few problems with this project in terms of my film, as the first role I took didn't turn out and then the second time around my subject (my sister) was quite angry with me for making her pose for another role of film. On top of that, my second role of film turned out to be very thin and hard to work with in the dark room so I was not able to develop almost all of my photographs. But, nevertheless, the ones that did turn out are pretty good, my favorite and most successful being the side profile of my sister drinking out of the mug. I think the contrasting elements of the image make it interesting. The least effective is probably the last photo because it's too grey and my sister looks like she is about to kill me. Overall this project was a bit of a failure, but I at least got a few good shots to develop properly.
urban project
In the style of Robert Frank, I was supposed to photograph an urban area. So, off to San Francisco, I stopped in the Haight and did my best to try to convince people to let me take pictures of them, as Frank took many photographs of people. Alas, many a person turned me down, so I only ended up with two people actually looking at me, though I managed to capture people candidly without asking their permission. The other photographs provide evidence that there was once recently a person there: pairs of shoes, a cigarette stub, a couch. In this way I tried to make up for my lack of subjects. I enjoyed this project even though it was nerve-racking to ask people to photograph them, and I think my most successful picture is the second one with the man with dreads looking a music in Amoeba. My least favorite is the one of the sofa, as it is not as parallel and symmetrical as I envisioned the image to be when i took it. Overall I think this project turned out really well.
color project
The colour project was meant to help us understand the colour wheel and how different colours are related to one another and how they work together. The pictures I posted are of complementary, split complementary, monochromatic, and analogous. Of those there, I think the complementary photo is the most successful just because the red metal object is interesting on its own. Least successful is the analogous - I think the colours should have been more prominent in a project solely about colour. Overall I think this was a solid project.
architecture project
This was our first project. It was taken at school and the object of the project was to demonstrate how our school is environmentally friendly. My favorite of this bunch is of the turf; I think the depth and areas of focus make it more interesting to look at. The weakest picture is probably of the roof. I wanted to get the solar panels in there but we couldn't get a very good angle on them to make for an appealing photograph. Though in the end I think this project turned out fairly well.
This project was meant to focus on patterns and oddities that we could find and photograph them. First we took digital, color pictures that we then photoshopped to make appear even more strange. We were meant to look at the picture and not be able to immediately tell what it was we were looking at. The five digital photographs that are posted use a different method of distorting the image in some way. These are color filter, solarize, cyanotype, vingette, and sepia. Of these, I think that the color filter is most successful because no one had any idea what it was when I showed the picture to them and I like the graphic-ness of the image. Also, I think that the vingette is the least successful because it is not as interesting as the others. For the black and white photographs, I think the most successful are the up-side-down reflections because I think they are very cool and interesting to look at. The least effective photo is probably the manhole cover, because you can tell what it is, though I still think it is a solid picture. Overall I enjoyed shooting for the abstract project the most of any we have done because the pictures that result make you think and really stop to look and figure out what is going on in the photograph.
portrait project
This project's objective was to use an entire role of film to photograph one person in a portrait type style. I had a few problems with this project in terms of my film, as the first role I took didn't turn out and then the second time around my subject (my sister) was quite angry with me for making her pose for another role of film. On top of that, my second role of film turned out to be very thin and hard to work with in the dark room so I was not able to develop almost all of my photographs. But, nevertheless, the ones that did turn out are pretty good, my favorite and most successful being the side profile of my sister drinking out of the mug. I think the contrasting elements of the image make it interesting. The least effective is probably the last photo because it's too grey and my sister looks like she is about to kill me. Overall this project was a bit of a failure, but I at least got a few good shots to develop properly.
urban project
In the style of Robert Frank, I was supposed to photograph an urban area. So, off to San Francisco, I stopped in the Haight and did my best to try to convince people to let me take pictures of them, as Frank took many photographs of people. Alas, many a person turned me down, so I only ended up with two people actually looking at me, though I managed to capture people candidly without asking their permission. The other photographs provide evidence that there was once recently a person there: pairs of shoes, a cigarette stub, a couch. In this way I tried to make up for my lack of subjects. I enjoyed this project even though it was nerve-racking to ask people to photograph them, and I think my most successful picture is the second one with the man with dreads looking a music in Amoeba. My least favorite is the one of the sofa, as it is not as parallel and symmetrical as I envisioned the image to be when i took it. Overall I think this project turned out really well.
color project
The colour project was meant to help us understand the colour wheel and how different colours are related to one another and how they work together. The pictures I posted are of complementary, split complementary, monochromatic, and analogous. Of those there, I think the complementary photo is the most successful just because the red metal object is interesting on its own. Least successful is the analogous - I think the colours should have been more prominent in a project solely about colour. Overall I think this was a solid project.
architecture project
This was our first project. It was taken at school and the object of the project was to demonstrate how our school is environmentally friendly. My favorite of this bunch is of the turf; I think the depth and areas of focus make it more interesting to look at. The weakest picture is probably of the roof. I wanted to get the solar panels in there but we couldn't get a very good angle on them to make for an appealing photograph. Though in the end I think this project turned out fairly well.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
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