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Blog Post #13

Final Assignment! Kind of crazy! I felt like this semester went really fast.. Maybe it was due to the transition from in-person class to class online, but I can’t believe the semester is over already. I enjoyed the self-portrait and out the window assignment the most over the entirety of this course. I felt they allowed me to tap into some creativity I didn’t know I had. Assignment 4 was challenging for me. I chose to shoot in Wegmans, which I did not think would be a problem. However, I got in trouble with management (oops) for taking pictures without permission. I wish I could’ve gotten a bit more creative, but the space and management put some limitations on my original plan. It was still a fun assignment to shoot. I look forward to seeing everyone’s photos tomorrow and partaking in the final critique!

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Blog Post #12

This week our assignment was to watch a photo documentary and write a synopsis. I chose to watch Many Lives of William Klein. I had never heard of him before, but it was an interesting documentary. I liked how the documentary focused on the trends and ideologies that were present when Klein was creating his work rather than just walking through Klein’s life. I did think it was a bit long. Overall it was cool to learn about a photographer I had previously never heard of, and also see his infamous work through different mediums!

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Blog Post #11

I enjoyed critiquing the pictures over zoom last week for the Out the Window assignment. We were able to interact with each person’s photos more in depth and since the group was smaller, I think we were able to be more fully engaged. This week’s assignment was fun! It was weird at first to come up with ideas to shoot of myself, but I made it my mission to be creative and have fun with it. I worked more on editing my pictures this week than any previous week- just trying new enhancements of color and overlays. This is a picture I am not submitting this week, but I thought it was cute. I love the way my dog is looking at the camera! I hope you are having a good Easter! 

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Blog Post #10

Below is one of the photos I am using for Assignment 4 inspiration. It was taken by Jesse Kruger. I thought the photo in black in white really allowed me to focus on the subject’s facial expression and the simplicity of the photo, which had it been in color, would have been very busy. I thought a shot similar to this would be an interesting way to tell the story of the pandemic and the impact it has had on grocery stores. I wanted my focus to be on the empty shelves and the person in my picture to be out of focus. Here is Jesse Kruger’s photo:

Below is the photo I tried to take when using inspiration from the above image. 

I still have editing to do because I am struggling with using photoshop to remove the pizza boxes in the bottom left without obstructing the person’s face. I got some interesting photos in the grocery store, however I was only able to get 100 before I got in trouble by management.. I understand the privacy concern but most of my pictures were of empty shelves/isles and my mom. With the pandemic getting worse in my area, my parents do not want me to return to a different grocery to continue shooting. I think I have six pictures that can tell a story, however, if not, I will write another photo essay proposal and pick a new topic. 

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Blog #9

I had some success with shooting this week! My frustrations came from trying to update my computer and download the necessary softwares for editing. It has been a long process but I did it! I am dedicating today to finish editing my photos and getting them ready for submission tomorrow. I also am working on my Assignment 4 proposal. I’m struggling a bit with inspiration from photographers. I was thinking I wanted to photograph grocery stores during this time. I have noticed that each grocery store is full of people, yet limited supplies and thought this would be interesting to photograph. I also thought that shooting in black & white would be able to tell the story/mood of all of these unknowns. I am trying to find photographers to use as inspiration for this. 

It definitely feels weird to be isolated in our house, but being able to be creative with our camera allows us to feel a bit distracted from all this social distancing. 

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Blog Post #8

This was the first week being home from school and starting online classes. I had trouble when we were first in the studio learning the ropes for this assignment 3. I wasn’t super fascinated in trying to frame 2D objects with light and I knew it would take a lot of creativity to create something worth shooting. But now being home, this project got even more difficult and I have to be even more creative! The plus side is I have a lot of different items in my house that I was able to use. I shot pictures of the clear smarties wrappers and tried using the reflection of the colors. I was surprised with how it came out. I am going to keep shooting this week and experiencing how photography can get me through social distancing! Updates to come!

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Blog Post #6 Portrait Critique

The photographer of this photo is Jocelyn Lacy. When looking at the photo, you see an older man dressed in dirty/stained clothing. His clothing suggests he is a contractor as his sweatshirt says “A. Bradley Contractors.��� The construction zone scenery in the background also helps allude to the man’s profession. The lighting is bright on the right as you can see that is where the sun is most likely coming from. The left of the image is in the shade. The man’s hat also shades his face so the brightest part of the man is his chin. This photo is printed on what looks to be luster paper. 

This photo makes me smile! The man’s crooked hat and distressed clothing really tells you the story of a hard-working older man. The wrinkles on his face and his disheveled hair makes us think he has worked hard labor for multiple years. His sly side smile makes me feel that he is a simple and happy man that constantly finds the joy in life. Maybe I feel this way because he reminds me of my grandpa. 

I like how Jocelyn chose a simple background but that the background helped provide the important environment for the portrait in order to tell the story. I would have liked if Jocelyn could have had the man tip his hat up a bit or edit in a way to have more light on his face because his eyes are a bit dark. I really like the brightness/contrast of the green grass and blue sky as it makes the picture more appealing. 

Jocelyn’s photo was definitely one of my favorites from the whole day of critiques! Its simplicity really was able to tell a sweet story of a hard-working older man.

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Blog Post #5

This week we learned a lot of editing on Lightroom and Photoshop which was really beneficial. It is amazing how much editing can change your image and the environment of your portrait. I never really noticed the fly-away hairs my subject had in one of my photos, however when you mentioned the ability to edit them out, I realized that the edited version without the fly-aways looked much cleaner than the original. It is honestly kind of freaky how much editing can change the perception of the photo. A highlight of this week was seeing my prints come to life! Shooting and editing is fun, but it is really cool to see the hard work you put in printed out. I photographed two people that work in a cute little coffee shop. They were so welcoming and fun and asked if they could eventually see the pictures I took. I want to return to the coffee shop and give them my favorite print of each of them. As I wrote before, I never thought I would’ve felt excited to shoot strangers, but they turned out to be the best!

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Blog Post #4

I felt a lot better after I edited the photos I took for the first week of shooting environmental portraits. I was surprised at how the first set of photos turned out and how my random subjects didn’t look awkward like I thought they would! Last week you suggested that I find a photographer to get some inspiration for taking the environmental portraits. I looked into Chris Crisman’s work and really admire how the environment he chose is so intriguing. I know you mentioned that the environment should tell the story of the subject and each of his photos clearly does that. I also really enjoy the way he edits the photos. He uses bright colors and the contrast of the colors makes the images seem dramatic and enticing. 

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Blog Post #3

When you first introduced the environmental portraits, I was really excited to capture the emotion of subjects; a nice change from assignment one of focusing on aspects of objects. I definitely didn’t think it would be this hard though! I am not the most creative person, so having to tell the subjects what to do is super uncomfortable for me! My lack of creativity has left me pretty stumped for ideas of places to shoot as well. This first week I got photos of friends- some that I think are really cool but don’t exactly paint a picture. Getting the right environment is my focus for week 2 of shooting.

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Blog Post #2

After learning how to edit our photos last week, I was excited to get outside and shoot more this week. I liked viewing the before and after shots and trialing different specs to alter the colors and sharpness of the photos. I felt a lot more comfortable shooting this week and had fun taking pictures for the upcoming critique. I found the second half of this week challenging to shoot due to the gloomy weather. The grey sky made for some rather plain pictures whereas with a brighter blue sky or even some sunlight, my photos would have looked completely different. Although, in one photo I took this week of rows in a field, the gloomy grey sky made the photo look eery which added something to a photo that may have not been that interesting. 

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Blog Post #1

The beginning of the article Paul Graham wrote, Photography is Easy, Photography is Difficult, is exactly how I felt when I went out to shoot for the first time ever this week. 

There is so much to shoot that you feel overwhelmed by the feeling that you don’t even know what to shoot. It is that feeling where you just ask yourself “Where do I even start?” With the guidelines for the compositional assignment yet the freedom to photograph subjects of our choosing, I realized this is a great opportunity to just have fun and make my life come through in the photos I’m taking. I know I have lots to learn- I’m excited for that! But this article was a good initial reminder that photography is what you make it. It can take many different forms and one form isn’t necessarily better than the others. 

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Hello Digital Photo!

First blog post of the semester.