Portrait Dark Room Reflection

Dark Room Reflection

My adjective for this project was "serene." I chose this word because this is the word that best describes my neighborhood. There are a lot of trees, hills, and mountains that remind me of serenity and calmness. I definitely tried and I think succeeded at portraying this adjective through my photos. However, in most of my photos there were heavy contrasts between the whites and the darks and I wish that I had more of a greyscale in there to show more serenity within the nitty gritty of my photos. This is because I used a filter on almost every photo, a ten second time limit, and almost an 8 aperture (approximately three stops from brightest). I found that I was very reliant on these three aspects because they gave me promising results in my photos, specifically it brought out the blacks against the whites. My favorite picture is the second one because I used about a 4 filter to bring out the darks of the trees, but also I like it because the foreground is in focus, but the background gradually becomes out of focus. That effect of a long depth of field is very evocative to me because it is interesting to compare the different results of the foreground and the background. However, even though I used a filter for that photo, I also like how there are still bits of grey in the middle ground, rather than the extreme white or black.

Experience in the Darkroom

My experience in the darkroom has been very rewarding. I feel like I have grown as not only a photographer, but also an artist. Even though it takes a lot of patience, I am so happy I have learned how to develop a picture, rather than just using an SLR. It is fun learning how to develop a picture before digital cameras were invented. My favorite part about being in the darkroom is discovering the picture I have taken. It makes me feel like an archaeologist digging up bones because I do not know what I will uncover or what will happen, but it is exciting at the same time. However, it can be so frustrating when a picture is either too dark or too bright. I am also very excited to start developing a relationship with the enlarger. We used it a few times last year during survey, but I can't wait to learn more and go into more depth with it.

Pinhole Camera Project Reflection

Some of the hardest challenges in the project were creating a shutter for my unusual shape of a camera and trying to contain the light leaks that kept happening. My intentions changed slightly over the course of the project. Since my pinhole camera is circular, the photographs that I was developing were also coming out circular with very intriguing lines and shapes at the bottom of the images. When I realized this, I was specifically trying to find interesting places to photograph so my images would result in something more unique than a typical square box pinhole camera image. Achieving this took multiple trials, as the light each day changed and I had to adjust to that. I found that my pinhole camera had some light leaks, which was one of the primary issues, but I eventually solved that problem by creating a better shutter. I really wish I could have shot at a double exposure just to try something new and see what would happen. Through this experience, I have learned that experimenting and learning from your mistakes is the best way to improve. I definitely took risks during this project and learned what to do and what not to do after the outcomes of the risks.