The more I view the work of other photographers my age (I have some kind of competitive streak in me that has yet to be unleashed) I'm realizing that I don't have a defined style to my photography. And I haven't had nearly enough practice or work on my portfolio. I'm not as good at this as I would like to be. I would like more technically constructive criticism from my professors, rather than "this doesn't really work, Mary, at least not for this project." Why not tell me what I can do better? Why not teach me some kind of tips and tricks? Why not teach me how to properly light a scene? I so strongly dislike that photojournalism has to be this field where they tell you an armful of photographic techniques, beat the rule of thirds and using the full manual setting into your head and expect you to just improve. I've been doing all of these things on my own for over a year now and I've just been stagnating at this point of being a mediocre photographer with an slr. Every girl with a decent digital camera thinks she's a photographer. I feel that I'm on the border of becoming just another person like that. My work doesn't stand out in my class the way I expected I would. I feel like I'm constantly trying to prove that I'm talented, not to any one person but myself. I have a flickr pro account. That makes me legit, right? I just want someone with experience to tell me what exactly I'm doing right and wrong and what it really takes to succeed. I know I picked the wrong field to expect that from. I just have a lot of questions I can't answer for myself. What kind of photography can I do for a living? Photojournalism, portraits, weddings, architecture, landscape/travel, commercial, fashion? Nothing that I've tried has really stood out to me as my favorite of them all. I'm not amazing at any one type and it would certainly be impossible to do them all... so what do I do? Here are my photos from my 3rd project on Tourism. Sunset on the river. Meh. Not crazy about this shot because anyone could have done this. View of the Gervais St. Bridge from the Riverwalk. This was my favorite and my classmates seemed to like it too. Wasn't the best though. And here's the same shot but with a different focus. And here's Alabama's Million Dollar Band. Thought this could work for tourism... leading lines, contrast, etc. Photographic elements abound! I really liked this shot, but one of my classmates had some huge beef with people being blurry in the foreground (she also had a huge issue with any shot without people in it and it was a little annoying). I try really hard. Fo real.
Here are a few of my shots from my footwear project. My favorite shot of the four, but the one that was graded the poorest and got the most critical reviews because the footwear "wasn't dominant enough". I disagree, but I also don't take negative criticism well either. Another that garnered negative criticism. I thought this worked because of the contrast between the sandal and the blanket, the sharpness of the Rainbow logo (which is also the first thing your eyes are drawn to), and the interesting angle. The concept is boring, I know, but I thought it was a good quality image at best. Apparently many of my classmates thought the shallow depth of field was ineffective in this shot. Again, I disagree. I think it creates visual interest by putting the peep toe element of the shoe in the forefront. I also feel that you can still see enough of the shoe to keep you curious about what they look like in focus. I also used this angle as a contrast to my other shot with heels in it. This was (apparently) my best shot, though I didn't think it was. I thought it was simple and very effective because it put the product into the home and the sphere that a potential buyer might view them in. My professor said something about the lighting and the steps and the second shoe but I really can't figure out what he meant.
hooray! i have a flickr pro account now. hopefully i will be able to keep updating this blog now that i'll have the bandwidth to regularly upload pictures and because i will be constantly taking shots for my photojournalism class. :D the first few shots are scans from projects i did over the summer in my film photography class. they're simple but i absolutely love the way they came out. the only adjustments i made on the computer were cropping, increasing the contrast and adding a slight vignette to them. this was for my nostalgia project. i chose an old letter i found at a relative's house as my subject and it was also sepia toned, but i liked the regular black and white as well. the next few shots were for my final project and i chose to show tomatoes in 5 different ways. i love this one because it does a great job of characterizing everything i associate with my dad. a nasty rotten tomato from my uncle's farm. i went there hoping to find some lush ones still on the vine, but apparently it was after his crop was finished. this was the most intact one i could find, but it worked out nicely to add some texture to my project. tomato pie! i've never tasted this, but it sounds delicious (some combination of onions, tomatoes, cheese, all combined in a pie). i like the angle i was able to use in this shot. taking pictures of a pie in a box in fail lighting is not the most attractive thing, but i was rather pleased with the way the lighting complemented the texture of the cheese. it kind of reminds me of the pie sitting on the windowsill thing that no one ever does, but is always in old cartoons. tomatoes at the vegetable stand (king's market). these were sadly not my uncle's tomatoes, but i'm guessing james island imports. i tried to keep the sign in the picture for ornamentation, but to not let it be the main focal point as the project was about tomatoes. i hope it's not obvious that i was running out of ideas for this project at this point. i had exhausted all the interesting things i could do with tomatoes (in hindsight, i should have made a blt- better picture opportunities and a delicious sandwich). so this is just tomatoes in a bag. not my favorite shot of the set, but it fits in with the theme of going to the market and getting some tomatoes to cut up and enjoy. shadow project! some weird piece of a building that was being refurbished downtown charleston. this was my abstract shot. not a huge fan of it, but it fit the bill. this shot i adore. it's at a park near my house that i used to play at as a kid. it's pretty run down nowadays and there's always beer cans and scary dogs in the adjacent yards, but it brings back very fond and carefree memories for me. i'm assuming this emotional connection makes me like the picture so much because my classmates seemed to think a less in focus and difficult to print picture was much better. i will argue about how awesome this picture is until i'm blue in the face: leading lines, texture, well-focused, depth of field, great lighting, rule of thirds. COME ON! it's the best. this picture really makes me think of my mom and things about her life. she always drinks wine with dinner from the same glass and we've always had this old-ass stove for as long as i've been alive. i think it's a really simple shot but it encompasses a lot of visual detail and tells a little story. this is another one of my favorites. it really inflicts a summer time mood, even though it was an overcast day. i got a very deep depth of field on this shot too. baxter! my quirky pup posing for my toilet paper project. the point was to use toilet paper in a creative way (mostly as a ploy for us to learn how to burn and dodge). baxter gets his jollies from tearing up paper and napkins left around the house while the family is away so i tried to get him to do the same with toilet paper.
I'm a little disappointed I didn't do the whole 365/picture a day thing again, but I've taken a lot of pictures for my film photography class and honestly, it's been about quality, not quantity. I've put a lot of hard work and intensity into these black and white prints and I'd like to display them online.
I took this picture two days ago. Didn't get to post yesterday or today as I've been moving out and taking exams. Forgive me. Here is a self portrait of my new haircut. Tomorrow will be better because I've got errands to run.
Last summer, I made it my chore to take one picture (at least) every day. My main goal when I set out on this expedition was to go for a year. It was a lofty ambition and I didn't know if it would last through the whole summer. I was surprised that I made it as far as I did, but sadly school got in the way of life, as it always does. The photography project gave some meaning to an otherwise long and depressing summer. It was a comforting constant in 3 months that were otherwise mentally strenuous. It was always there. It was the one thing that never changed or betrayed me. I could depend on the project and bide my time away with it. A lot has changed and become more stable in my life over the course of a year. So now I'm anxious to see how my project will turn out this time around now that I'll be much more busy. So here goes the first picture:
