Reflections
As cliché as it may sound, the New Year is always a time for reflection - thus, the metaphor. As it turns out, you can make some pretty amazing effects by simply taking a photo of a puddle from the right angle, or placing a glass of water in front of an object, such as a fireplace, and a little bit of patience. That's most of what it took to capture three out of four of the photos above. The fourth picture captures the light from my Christmas tree in the window behind it in a sort of reflected bokeh effect (see the project below) (also, yes, I still have my Christmas tree up, and I don't see it being taken down any time soon). Happy New Year, I hope this year is a great one, and I hope you enjoy the photos!
Bokeh
This project was much more difficult than I had anticipated. It took me multiple tries over a few days, and lots of fiddling around with props and camera settings. These difficulties were frustrating, but a good reminder that I'm only beginning to learn to navigate the vast art of photography, and I have much to learn, and many hours of practice ahead of me, and I will definitely be having another attempt at bokeh! Above are featured four of my favorite photos from my first and second attempts at bokeh (more examples can be found on the process page). Bokeh is definitely something I will be attempting again in the future, and a skill I hope to grow in!
Thankfullness
Above are featured three of the pictures that I took during the Thanksgiving season. On the process page you can find many other pictures of people and things that sparked a spirit of gratitude in me over the week, but these ones were my favorites. The largest photo above features my dog and best friend, Berklee, who I'm so thankful for every day. The other two photos were taken at my grandparents house/on their property. That home and those halls hold memories that can never be discounted or replaced, and although much else changes every day, that house and the people who gather in it have always remained the biggest constant in my life, and one of the things I am most grateful to have.
Word Portrait
This photo was so much fun to make from brainstorming the concept, to staging the photos, the learning and navigating Photoshop! So many firsts, for me, including using a greenscreen, playing with lighting, and using the Photoshop program, and I'm so grateful to have been able to learn so much! The above picture shows me in three different climbing positions, as well as the first piece of a poem I wrote with this project in mind in the top left. My favorite thing about this photo is that, I know what it means to me, but it's up to you to decide what it means to you . . .
Compression
This project was a lot of fun! It was a simple one, but I think the results are pretty cool! Using compression when shooting a series of photos, means to back up physically, until you get pretty far from the object of the photo, and to also zoom more each time you back up, attempting to keep the focus object a similar size in each photo. This creates the illusion that objects that are actually a good distance from each other, are close together. My subjects in these photos were initially the fire hydrant and the rocks in front of it - as you can see they look closer as the pictures progress. However, that might not have been clear to everyone looking at the photos, so my friend you see above offered to stand about 25 feet behind the fire hydrant to make it more clear. A big 'thank you' to him, because I'm very happy with these pictures!
Aperture
Here are featured three different photos of the same assortment of string and buttons. The large photo above was taken at what is called a large aperture, meaning the background of the photo is more blurred out than the central focus. The photo on the top-right was taken at a medium aperture, so the background is only slightly blurred, and the bottom-right picture was taken at a small aperture, so all objects in the photo are in focus. This was such a fun project to do, and in spite of trouble picking the object of my photo and some camera troubles along the way, I am very pleased with the results!
Portrait
It was more difficult than I had anticipated to figure out what kind of picture to take for my portrait. After an hour-and-a-half hike, I stumbled across this log a short climb above the trail, and something about it drew me in. Everything from the hike before, to the long socks with vans, to the unsteady position this picture captures me in, to the messy forest undergrowth resonated with me as what I needed to put forth for this project.