A Room of One's Own

For this project, I decided to take pictures of out of focus lights with a dark background. I was really striving to create unique images that are not cliche, but rather show normal sceneries in an abstract way.  The way the circular lights stand out against the darker background evokes a sense of spontaneousness and happiness within me. I have always been drawn to taking pictures of sceneries or objects that people don't normally see because I believe those make the most interesting and intriguing type of photograph. My intention for this project was exactly that; capturing things that most people overlook in their everyday lives. Living in one of the most beautiful places in California, most of the time we take for granted everything it has to offer. But taking my camera and driving through San Francisco and Marin determined to find interesting lighting, opened my eyes to so many new types of photographs I can experiment with in the future. Even though I took a risk by taking out of focus pictures, I definitely experimented with ISO, exposure, and aperture, which allowed me to eventually create the twelve images I have here. While I am extremely happy with these photographs, I am also very excited to push my knowledge of taking these types of photographs to the next level. 

Light is a Character

I really like this photo because it evokes a sense of mystery because of the lighting. The darkness surrounding the brighter light in the middle of the photo really makes the highlights of bright light stand out, thus making light a character. 

The speckles of light create a path for my eye to follow. Light also really stands out against the criss-cross fence. The light is also blurred which makes it more intriguing to look at.

The light in this photo really stands out and makes the rest of the building a dark silhouette.  The reflection of light on the ground and on the pillars is also really intriguing because it seems like the light is being funneled to different places.

On To Digital!

Exposure Triangle: 

 For this image, I really like the detail of the small icicles and the contrast against the grainy wood. On Aperture, I took a risk by adding a vignette effect, which really brings highlights the white ice along the wood. The dark black space in between the wood evokes a sense of mystery, which is really intriguing and interesting. I had a really high ISO of 800, which made the wood grainy and was key for shooting in this dark lighting situation.

For this image, it really evokes a joyous feel of Christmastime because of the blurred lights on the tree and the dark blue/grey background. To me, the lights on the tree are absolutely fantastic because I love how they are not in focus and are just plain circles.

For this image, I really like how there is only one space that is truly in focus and the rest is blurred, which highlights the detail of the tree bark. Although this picture is very Bransony, it is still very interesting because of the angle of the camera (how only part of the tree is captured). For all three images, I was trying to capture detail because behind everyday objects, are really interesting nuances that most people over look. But, I really wanted to capture those types of photographs. 

High Key/Low Key:

Getting a low key image was much easier than getting a high key one. For this image, I put the camera under the stove to capture the blue light from the gas. Even though it looks different on here, I really like how it is completely black, besides the glimmer of blue light. It really evokes a sense of mystery because taking a picture of a gas heater is very unusual, in my mind.

This image is not technically high key, but it was I all had. Getting a high key image was extremely difficult. Finding the balance between getting a high key image without having it be blown out was tough. The shadows the light creates, especially in this image, were hard to avoid and thus this image is not completely white. Overall, this image does not qualify as a high key image. However, one of my goals for the future is to become more experienced at taking high key photos because if you can master them, you can get some great photos. 

Off-Camera Flash:

For this image, the light reflecting off of the pink flowers reflects onto the metal trophy, which creates a sense of movement, like the trophy is actually playing soccer. I also really like how some parts of the trophy is pink, while others are the normal color of gold. And the light from the lamp creates interesting shadows within the crevices of the trophy. This was my first time using a white background for taking pictures, and I think next time I will uses a less crumpled pillow sheet in the background.

For this image, I really like the reflection of the trophy in the Coke bottle. It makes it seem like the trophy is actually coming to life. The light from behind the flower creates some dark and some light spots on the flower, which is really intriguing. The way the light reflects onto the actual trophy makes the trophy seem less like a metal statue and more like a real human being. 

Overall, I am mostly happy with the images I got, but, like always, I am ready to keep improving and I know that with learning many techniques, I am becoming a better photographer. Digital shooting is completely different than darkroom developing, but it was a nice change for me. For the Exposure Triangle, High/Low Key, and Off-Camera Flash, I feel like I have learned details that I probably would have overlooked or never even known about. This experience has been really rewarding for me. 

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.