Assignment 5: Self-Portrait

 

 

 

 

The self-portrait was the most challenging, the most thought-provoking, and the most difficult to edit.  It was fascinating to see how the project changed and how different themes emerged as it progressed.  It made me really think about what EVERYTHING in each photo was saying.  It was difficult to decide what to say in the photos, and I changed my mind several times.  Editing was hard, but in some ways it was easier than the editing process for many of the earlier assignments.  I looked back over most of the 10,000 (literally) photos I took this semester, and some of them were easily thrown out.  Others, however, were very difficult to decide on.  Some definite themes did start to emerge, however, which made the selection process a bit easier.

One of the strengths of the project was that it really taught me to look at all of the little details within the frame.  It taught me to read more into each photo, and to look at things with a very critical eye.  It taught me - through necessity - to be quicker and more efficient with my editing process, and reinforced the value of having other people help with editing.

If I could do the project over again I really don't think I would have changed much.  I would have like to have gotten some more action shots of horses, and I know there are always ways to improve, but I really like the way this project turned out. 

Assignment 4: Color - Orange

 

 

This color project was fun.  It definitely helped me to notice color even more. Every time I go anywhere now I see a thousand things that make me really wish I had my camera so I could photograph them!  The hardest part of this was definitely editing.  There are a million and one ways to illustrate each different color, and if sorting through hundreds of photos and dividing them into different categories wasn't hard enough, picking a color after that was even harder.  I finally chose orange because I felt I had enough really different representations of orange, and since it's one of my least favorite colors I thought the challenge would be a good thing.  Anna was helpful in the editing process, too.

For this project, I wanted each photo to represent orange in a different way.  I wanted to have it interact with different colors in each photo, and to have a different mood and feel in each.  I also wanted each picture to be in a different setting and for the subject matters to be diverse.  I also wanted them to be visually appealing, though, and put more emphasis on the "prettiness" of the photos than I did on any of the other assignments thus far.  In one sense I was trying to still challenge myself to take photos outside of my comfort zone while bringing my love of aesthetically pleasing images back into the equation.

My project could have been improved had I worked harder at finding more subtleties within the color, I think.  While the first photo illustrates the different ranges of orange (and red) fairly well, many of the other photos don't.  I shot a LOT for this assignment, but I think my shooting would have been much more productive had I decided which color to choose much earlier in the process.  Then again, shooting for other colors probably helped me to see orange that much more clearly.

If I could have done this project over again, I would have continued to shoot much more, and would have worked more with Anna. 

Drop for Assignment 4: Color

http://drop.io/hope_color_1

Assignment 3

"Nature is a creature, a created thing, with its own particular tang or flavour...It is not in her, but in Something beyond her, that all lines meet and all contrasts are explained."  (p. 102)

From C.S. Lewis, Miracles (1947)

 

 

 

 

Additional Images:

 

I really enjoyed making an argument with these photos.  I wanted each photo to show the idea of there being something beyond what is seen in the photograph.  They each have lines and contrast but I wanted there to be something outside of the photographs explaining those elements.  I also wanted to juxtapose human creation with "natural" creation to show the created properties of nature.

This has definitely been my favorite assignment so far.  I think it's easier to take pictures when there is a purpose behind them.  I really enjoyed using photos to make an argument, too; albeit a subtle one.  I learned that it is definitely a good idea to take LOTS of pictures, and that even in returning to a place more times than one thinks is possible great shots come up.  It's interesting how much taking photos of the same thing multiple times over the course of a few days causes you to see so much differently.

One of the strengths of the project is that it teaches you how to make an argument or illustrate a point with photographs.  And if a picture is worth a thousand words, why shouldn't we be doing so?  It definitely made arguing/illustrating through photographs less intimidating.

I could have worked harder at finding specific things I really wanted to shoot rather than shooting a lot and discovering afterwards what what didn't.  But then again, maybe another strength of this assignment is that it helped me to understand what it is that I like and don't like.  I also could have worked harder at corresponding with Anna and Joanie. 

If I was doing this again I would take even more diverse photographs.  I also would have allowed myself a lot more time for editing, and would have asked for help more.  Anna's comments in particular were invaluable when it came to selecting photos, and I wish I had gone to her and Joanie for advice earlier on - it would have made sorting through my thousands of photos a lot easier. 

Third drop for Assignment 3

http://drop.io/hopeassgt3drop3

Choosing 5 images is going to be SO difficult...

More Photos for Assignment 3...

...may be found at http://drop.io/HopeAssgt3Drop2

Assignment 3: In Progress

Here is the link to the photos I'm considering for this assignment:  http://drop.io/ponyjumper

I've decided to use the following quote:

From C.S. Lewis, Miracles (1947)

"Nature is a creature, a created thing, with its own particular tang or flavour...It is not in her, but in Something beyond her, that all lines meet and all contrasts are explained."  (p. 102)

Assignment 3, Part 1

Possible Series of Words:

From C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (1946)

"Light itself was your first love:  you loved paint only as a means of telling about the light." (p. 84)

""Why, if you are interested in the country only for the sake of painting it, you'll never learn about the country." (p. 84)

"When you painted on earth - at least in your earlier days - it was because you caught glimpses of Heaven in the earthly landscape.  The success of your painting was that it enabled others to see the glimpses too."  (p. 83)

From C.S. Lewis, Miracles (1947)

"Nature is a creature, a created thing, with its own particular tang or flavour...It is not in her, but in Something beyond her, that all lines meet and all contrasts are explained."  (p. 102)

"These small and perishable bodies we now have were given to us as ponies are given to schoolboys.  We must learn to manage:  not that we may some day be free of horses altogether but that some day we may ride bare-back, confident and rejoicing, those greater mounts, those winged, shining and world-shaking horses which perhaps even now expect us with impatience, pawing and snorting in the King's stables."  (p. 266) 

Assignment 2: Compositional Tools

I chose this photo because it illustrates both depth of field and framing.  I also thought of trying to use the objects in the photo as shapes in relation to each other, and it seemed to turn out well.  I purposefully framed the shot so that as much as possible would be in focus, while most of the objects would be partially out of the frame (although the power line cutting through was not intentional, though I like it now).  I like the strong shadows that the glaring sun is casting and the effect it made on the lens.  I like that even though the sun is quite bright much of the sky is still exposed correctly.  My aperture was as wide as it would go and my shutter speed was still fairly high because there was a good deal of light. 

 I chose this photo because it represents the opposite end of the spectrum regarding aperture.  Only a few berries and part of a leaf are in focus, and the receding depth of field combined with the curved position of the berries give one a sense of motion.  One person I showed the photo to commented "It's almost as if you could reach out and pick them!"  Maybe that's why this photo is so appealing.  When I was shooting these photos, I shot many with an even narrower aperture (1.8; this one is a bit wider) but this was my favorite. 

 

This photo represents both depth of field and framing.  I shot this with a very high f-stop and tried to frame it so as to make the most use of the symmetrical lines as possible.  The vertical and horizontal lines combine with the light to draw your eye very clearly to the focal point directly in the center of the picture.  Even the reference cards point your eyes towards the light.  

 

I chose this photo because of the juxtaposition of blurred motion with a clean composition.  There is a narrow depth of field, creating a distinction between the subject and the background even while the subject is obscured by a a blur similar to the blur of the background.  I used a very slow shutter speed and panned but not at the same rate of speed as the subject was running so that he would still be blurry but not in the same way as the background. 

 

This photo is interesting because of both depth of field and framing.  I like how the landscape is continued in the reflections in the windows.  I used a very wide aperture and focused so that both the background and the reflection would be in focus. 

 

This photo illustrates depth of field, motion, and framing.  I used a wide aperture and a slow shutter speed so that the people on the ground would be in blurry while the bricks would be sharp.  The reflections in the window are what really drew me to this image; they create even more motion within the photograph because the shapes move your eyes around.  The reflections (especially the blue one) also add to the framing of the photo and draw your eye to the three people and the three puddles in the center. 

On the whole, I learned a lot about framing and focus from this shot.  I learned that focusing on different parts of the scene can make completely different images.  I also learned that shooting photos causes you to see things completely differently.  I shot photos in the arboretum several different times, and the most recent time I got some really fun shots of a particular tree that I had never even noticed before.  It makes you pay more attention to detail.

If I could have done this assignment again, I would have checked out a tripod and learned how to use it more so that camera shake wouldn't have been such a big problem and lack of light wouldn't have limited me so much.  

Assignment 1 - Light

 

I love the way the light is hitting this horse's face.  I like the composition of the image as well. 

 

The light in this image makes it look fun and bright.  The juxtaposition of household (or dorm room) items with the bright colors has a feel of "life is good."  The pink background is a curtain which is backlit by the afternoon sun (as the clock on the microwave shows, it is 3:05 pm).  You can see the reflection of a colorful bedspread in the face of the microwave, and somewhat in the teakettle.  The water in the teakettle and the time in the microwave gives one the feeling that real life has been frozen, yet the brightness of the light and the colors makes one feel that the image is alive.  One major takeaway from shooting this is that one can find some really cool shots in a dorm room, and that looking at normal objects creatively can cause one to see cool things one would not otherwise notice.
 

I chose this photo because of the contrast.  I like the difference between the dark background and the middle of the flower and the deep yellowish-orange petals.  I took this photo in afternoon shade and think it is very interesting how the flowers are so bright even though they are not in direct sunlight.  Like the previous two photos, the light has a happy feel, but this one is a bit darker and more serene.  It could be viewed as being very peaceful and still, but it could also almost be seen as just slightly ominous.  I learned that shade can be very useful, and that playing around with the aperture and shutter speed can give you a very dark background in a photo even if the background is not very dark in reality.

I chose this photo because there is so much going on in the photo.  The tree is backlit, but because of the ways the leaves are turned some of them look almost side or front-lit.  Various branches are sharply in focus while nearly all of the background and much of the tree is blurry and out of focus.  I like the composition as well, and like it much better with a shallow depth of field than with a deep one.  I learned that you can draw people's attention more with a shallow depth of field than you could with a photo in which everything is in focus:  there is less competing for attention in this photo than in the one with a wide depth of field.

I like this photo because it is a very different type of light.  I learned a lot from shooting this series of images:  light and the absence of light can add to or freeze motion, silhouettes made by backlighting with unnatural lights make really neat effects, and light and the absence of it can distort images.  I like the colors and the way they are blended. I also like the way the light streaks the wood walls and floor.  The light is both dramatic and excited.  I learned that in very dark settings you have no choice but to use an ISO of 1600, unless you want to spoil it with a flash.  And even so it is much easier to expose silhouettes with faster (relatively) shutter speeds than it is to try to keep a very slow shutter speed and get close to a proper exposure - although that can make some cool effects.

 

This photo is interesting because of the way the light really brings out the colors in the leather.  The blue saddle pad is slightly overexposed in the edges, but I feel like those edges help make a little bit of contrast between the saddle and the stall, while at the same time bringing them together because the stall gets lighter towards the saddle pad.  The light brings out many colors in the white saddle pad as well, and gives the well worn saddle an appealing tone.  Even though there was not much light in the barn and it was an overcast morning, the horse is well enough exposed to be clearly visible in the background. The lighting makes the photo feel very natural - as if you were looking at it exactly the way it would be in real life. 

From the assignment as a whole, I learned that light is fun to play with.  Light is responsible for making things look as interesting as they do; without variation in light everything would look very dull.  I learned that while afternoon sun is not good for portraits or general landscapes, it can be nice for getting a lot of contrast, and shade on a heavy sunny day can allow for some nice effects.  I learned that I like outdoor light much better than indoor light, but that colorful lights can make shooting really fun.  Often, light can be used in such a way that the image no longer becomes about the subject, but about the light itself - and those images tend to be quite interesting.  The project reinforced my knowledge that shooting horses in dimly lit barns is difficult - especially when it is drizzling outside.

 

The most important strength of the project is that it causes you to look at light in new ways.  It causes you to slow down and to look at what the light is actually doing and at how it is changing and affecting what you see.  It causes you to see that light distorts at the same time that it clarifies.

The project was also useful because it made me much more adept at understanding and changing the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO on my camera.  The time it takes to set up a shot has decreased tremendously.

I could have worked harder at finding more opportunities to shoot.  Not having a camera until a few days ago made things difficult but is not really an excuse, and in hindsight I wish I had spent more time shooting.  If I could do the project again I would return to the barn on a sunnier day (which I plan on doing anyways!) and getting some better shots of the horses.  I would have tried to get more shots with a lot of contrast at the barn.  Also, if my friends had been dancing longer would have played around more with the light and with trying to get a few steadier, more focused shots.  I would also have taken more indoor photos.