10/23/15

More spooky night photos, and I attempted to catch a balance between the brightly lit doors and the dark, mysterious otherness. My first photos of this space were more evenly framed, with the doors square in the middle, but it wasn't a very interesting composition. I feel that this one does a better job of minimizing the security of the doorway, as one must pass through the darkness to reach them. I hope the darkness does a good job of throwing the small light into contrast and making it feel more insignificant.

10/22/15

I was going for an interesting symmetrical image with this one, and I wound up surprisingly pleased with the high contrast lighting. I didn't actually notice the person walking through the frame as I took it, but I think it makes it more interesting because it breaks up the symmetry and makes the scene a little spookier.

10/21/15

This photo was taken as part of my final project for a photography class, and I was particularly please with how this one turned out. The foreground has Strong Sad reading a book, and I was frustrated because the wind kept blowing the pages up. In this instance, however, I was pleasantly surprised by how it created a sort of frame for Strong Bad and the Cheat. All of these pictures have a shallow depth of field as well, which is an effect that I generally like.

10/20/15

I took this photo while shopping at thrift stores for costumes the other day. I find it extra creepy how some stores will display these naked Barbie dolls in plastic bags hanging from hooks. It looks like something from a serial killer's basement. I got a few shots closer up, but I liked this one because it showed more of the space and the inherent horror.

10/19/15

I took this photo on my way back home, and I was pleased by how differently it turned out from what I'd expected. The loss of detail on the closer object created a sort of silhouette that actually evoked the Cristo Redentor statue in Rio de Janeiro for me. Of course, there I go reading into a silly photo of a sprinkler.

Just Another Bug Hunt

I had a number of different ideas for my short documentary piece, but this one sprang about fairly spontaneously, and I wound up satisfied enough with it to stick with it. My roommate is a biology major and he has to collect bugs for one of his classes, so sometimes I accompany him to take photographs. With this piece, I tried to capture what the experience is like. It's sometimes slow, sometimes boring, and sometimes a little frustrating when you almost catch a bug but it gets away. When you do wind up catching a bug, there's a certain sense of sadness to it, as they have to be killed in order to mount them later. I tried to capture that aspect by getting close-ups of the bug and the jar, which was pretty difficult given how spontaneous the whole process was. I'm not completely satisfied with this piece, especially with the erratic camera movement and focus pulls, which is sort of due to the unpredictable nature of these bug hunts. In a way, though, perhaps they make the experience more authentic, as it's closer to what you'd experience if you were to go on one of these trips.

10/16/16

I really like the architecture of the library, as it has a nice retro-modernist feel. This style can be seen pretty clearly in some of the ceiling structures, which have a nice mixture of curves and squares. I tried to capture the shapes on the ceiling without making them too flat or predictable. I hope I was able to show their dimensionality in a somewhat interesting way.

10/15/15

I was grabbed by the shadows cast onto these stairs, as the contours of the steps gave them an unnatural zigzag shape. I find these sorts of shapes interesting as they are not found in nature. There's a certain industrial beauty to the perfect lines to be found in man-made structures.

10/14/15

I spotted these rows of juice bottles in the grocery store, and I found their arrangement to be surprisingly interesting. In this case, I tried to capture less the obvious details of juice bottles and more the abstract elements of color, line and shape. I also like how the advertisement of the top creates a sort of frame for the rest of the image.

10/13/15

I took this shot inside a sushi restaurant I like to go to, and I liked the way the glow of the NuSkin building looked when contrasted with the paper lanterns and the reflection of the paper ball in the window. I tried a few different framings for this one, including a few with the ball in the center, but I like this composition best. I think the somewhat asymmetrical nature makes it more interesting overall.

10/12/15

I can't remember where I spotted this drain, but I was intrigued by the sharp line running through it and the way the frame wound up divided into a series of lines. If I were to take this again, I think I'd leave a bit more negative space on the right hand side, as I think it would balance out the composition a bit more.

10/9/15

This is an image that reduces well, but I'm unsatisfied with it while looking at the full-sized version. I was attempting to capture the reflection of the tree in the puddle, since I usually try to capture what lies beneath the water, but I thought this made for a much more interesting image in this case. I think it would've turned out better with a higher shutter speed, and there are a few things I'd like to improve on when revisiting this theme in the future.

10/8/15

My roommate is a biology major, so he frequently has to go outside and capture various insects for one of his classes. I like to tag along on these little excursions, since they're usually a great opportunity to capture interesting images I wouldn't otherwise be exposed to, such as this tragic image of a praying mantis trapped in a poisonous jar. I tried to balance the image out with the natural surroundings to provide a contrast between his typical environment and the fate he has found himself doomed to, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's a tragic sort of beauty.

10/7/15

Not sure how many times I've seen this drain on campus, but it really stuck out to me recently and I decided to take some pictures. I liked the jarring blend of concrete and metal in with the grass, and I tried to get the drain in something of a diamond shape. Since the grassy area is actually pretty narrow, it was hard to capture the top without seeing the sidewalk in sky, hence why it's a little lopsided. I still think it's a pretty cool image, though.

10/6/15

I've been seeing this small hole in the pavement on my way to class, and it couldn't help but catch my attention, especially with the orange traffic cones surrounding it. It was actually a lot harder to capture in an interesting composition than I'd anticipated, and I had to shuffle the cones around to try to make it more compelling. Looking back at it now, I definitely should've balanced the cones more to give the image more harmony, but I already felt like I was encroaching on territory that wasn't mine to begin with.

10/5/15

This was shot with a longer lens, since I like the shallow depth of field you get with a longer focal length. I think it has the effect of making the space look more vast and intimidating, and creating a sort of sad sense of uncertainty regarding one's location.

Chase Sequence

The concept for this piece was birthed when I passed through the Tanner Building garage a few weeks back. I was immediately struck by how perfect it would be for a short film, and for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, parking garages are kind of inherently spooky places, especially when they're underground. Since they're full of shadows, they evoke the childhood fear of the dark in us, which is, frankly, a fear that I have never completely shaken. While the shadows proved to be a bit of a challenge as far as lighting the scene goes, I also knew they would be good dramatically. I don't pretend this piece has some sort of great complicated subtext, although it does play on some of my own small personal fears of the unknown. Rather, it was primarily intended as a stylistic exercise, and in that sense, I feel it was mostly successful. As an experiment in one-take moviemaking, it was a challenge to nail, but it was still a lot of fun to make. I tried to incorporate different concepts of staging and composition, particularly with dynamic close-ups and movement within the frame. As for how successful it is, well, I suppose you guys will be the judges of that.

10/2/15

One last paper boat photo, since I really liked how this one turned out. I don't think I intended this one to be so dark, but the shadows really heighten the drama of this image. I love how the boat looks under the sharp water (this was shot with a high shutter speed). Taking into account what we've recently read about contrast, I think I might like to play up this motif in future projects, since I feel that the bright boat contrasts nicely with the shadowy bushes and water.

10/1/15

This one was taken right outside the HFAC. Since I take a lot of these pictures on my phone, my goal is often less to take a beautiful photo and more to find an interesting composition in the everyday. In this case, I was again intrigued by the contrast between the natural and the man-made. I thought the clash between the metal bars and the green shrubbery created an interesting image, and to be honest, it was pretty hard to fit it all in frame. It's not a great picture, but I still find the image intriguing.

9/30/15

I revisited the paper boat theme for a photography class I'm taking, and I couldn't resist sharing at least one of the photos from this set. While I had a bit of a struggle with this photo on a technical level, I'm at least happy with the composition. Again, the story turned out somewhat tragic, with the majority of the boats eventually filling up with water and sinking, and I felt this photo captured a sort of melancholy beauty, especially with the sort of voyeuristic perspective through the grass. This series taught me that it's better to compromise in other aspects first rather than boost the ISO, as I feel the image's quality suffered as a result. Lesson learned!