Reflection

Today was my last Monday class for my first semester. Overall, I enjoyed these past few months, but I am so glad to have a whole month off. I am proud of the work I put in especially in the digital photo one class. All of the projects were interesting and allowed me personally to explore what I liked to do most. When I first entered the program, I thought I wanted to be a strictly landscape/nature photographer. I still enjoy photographing that but now that I am at the end of the semester, I have found that I really enjoy portrait work. For my final project, my theme was environmental portraits. I contacted some of my friends and we went to various nature trails and beaches. I wanted to portray through my images of my subjects connecting with the environment around them. I am really pleased with the out come. It was everything I hoped it would be. I was thinking of continuing the project beyond just ten images. I am visiting my family in Tennessee over break, and all eight of my cousins plus the rest of my family will be there. So I was thinking I could use them to continue the project for my own personally enjoyment. However, I was also inspired by one of my professors today. In photography seminar, Professor Keener and Professor Cyr shared their career stories and their projects with the class. I was inspired by Professor Keener's work of documenting his parents. Even though he only showed two images of them, it caused me to hatch an idea. I was thinking maybe I could start a whole new project when I am in Tennessee and document my family. I feel that it will be even better since it is going to be a huge family reunion, and I can document the excitement. If all of this goes well, I will post the outcome. For now, here are some of my final project images as mentioned before.

Reaction Paper: Janelle Brooke

Yesterday in my photo seminar class, we had a visiting photographer named Janelle Brooke. She and her friend/assistant are mainly wedding photographers, but just recently got into the new born photography side of business as well. Her presentation was very professional with a sweet spark. I loved how genuine she was when she was expressing her joy for what she does. She expressed that through her introduction video, which is found on her website, and when she was presenting her work to the class. I also really enjoyed how thorough and informative she was when she was explaining her business methods. She showed how she did some of her edits, her pricing chart, and what services she offered. I also liked how she showcases her images for viewing. She uses this really cool company to make her picture books that contain her sample photographs. It was also really cool that she literally started out of her own dining room. She gave some really great advice that has inspired me to get started with a possible business of my own in the future. She said that even if you don't know where to get started, just get started. Even if it is something as small as starting a facebook business page, just start building a reputation. All in all, even though I don't necessarily aspire to become a wedding photographer, Janelle Brooke gave some really great advice and pointers regarding starting a business. I am really glad she came to speak. To conclude, her is a picture of hers that I find really sweet.

Embracing Our Differences

In photography seminar class, we were assigned a project with the theme, "Embracing Our Differences." The concept of it says it all in the title. As I was brainstorming, I wanted to stay away from the mainstream portrayals of this particular theme. In my opinion, when someone would hear "Embracing Our Differences," they would think of something along the lines of racial issues or sexual orientation issues. I came up with the thought of how everyone has different dreams and hopes for the future. I am not entirely sure how I will show that in an image, but I am determined to find a way. I do not want it to come of as too literal, but I want it to have a symbolic essence to it. I have attached some images in hopes to help me come up with some ideas.
(All credit goes to those that created these images. I, in no way shape or form, had anything to do with the creation or production of these images. I am simply posting them for brain storming purposes.)

Favorite Images

This week we are to chose some of our favorite images, print them out, and share them with the class. We are permitted to submit 6-50 of our favorite photographs. Of course, I am not going to attach 50 photographs. This assignment, I think, is to explore what we are as photographers personally. It's to see what we like to photograph the most, what our style is, and what themes we gravitate more towards. As Iv'e thought about what my style and themes were, I found that I enjoy natural elements. Whether it's nature itself, or people in their natural environment, using their natural faces. I find that I also really like colorfulness. A fellow student in my digital photography class pointed out that my midterm submissions were all very colorful. I was glad he mentioned that because then, I wasn't really sure what type of photographer I was. Here are some of the images that I am considering submitting, and that I am particularly proud of. I hope you will enjoy them as well.

Landscape Assignment

Last week my digital photography one class had a Landscape assignment due. These were my final prints that I chose to submit. Although the class didn't receive their grades yet, I feel pretty good about what I shot. I went to a local hiking trail to capture these images. As you can see in some of these photographs, there were some very interestingly shaped trees. I especially enjoyed that because I love to photograph trees. My favorite out of these four picture is the one with the two trees looking up. I like the perspective of the photograph and the colors of the leaves in the sunlight.

A Day in the Life

I recently got a new project in my Digital Photography 1 class. It's all about portraiture. My professor showed us some example images to give us an idea of what to photograph. He explained that we didn't have to just photograph the person head on. He said we could photograph different parts of the body and we could photograph the person from many different angles. This information was very useful to me when thinking about how I wanted to approach this project. I'm thinking I want to do a day in the life shoot with one of my friends. Basically what I would do is follow one of my friends wherever they go and photograph them doing their daily routine and/or tasks. I think this method of photographing would provide many interesting photographs because there would be a wide variety of angles and diversity in each photograph because each would be taken in a different place. I am excited to see how they turn out. I will post photographs in the next blog post.

Fail

So far, I have enjoyed my time at Suffolk. I like my classes, I am doing pretty well in all of my classes. All except for one. My digital materials and processes class is a massive struggle for me. It's not like the work is impossible, it's just that there is a lot of it. I feel as if my professor demands a little much from us, his projects are doable although he does not clearly express what he wants in our papers. A large amount of people in our class are in the same position as I am grade wise. I am literally dying! However, he's not so bad because after class he decided to give me a chance to get everything in because he seemed understanding that I had other classes to worry about. He said that if I give 110% from now on, I will be able to pass the class. Thankfully, I still have a chance and I have friends that can help me kick it in to gear.