Sketchbook #7 : Series of Horses

Semester Final Assignment: Social Justice and Peace in the World

Assignment #7 Part 2 : DIY

Sketchbook #7 : Popcorn Kernals

Assignment #8 : What Are They Thinking?

Sketchbook #6 : Piece of Furniture

Assignment #7 part 1 : DIY Proposal

For my DIY project I am planning on doing a collage of the front of the library with one pictures taken per one hour. I will set up a tripod in front of the library across the parking lot, on the grass and keep it there all day. Roughly every hour starting at 12pm I will bring my camera out to the tripod and take one photo. I will continue to do this for for about 5-7 more hours then piece them together to match it into one photo.

I am aiming for something along these lines:

Sketchbook #5 : Eye and the Area Around It

Assignment #6 : Nature as Fashion

Assignment #3 : Splish-Splash

Sketchbook #4 : View of a Car

Sketchbook #3 : Corner of a Room

Assignment #5 : Photographic Essay

Photo Essay #8 : Give Meaning to Street Photography

For my photographic essay I chose to the topic of street photography. This topic first caught my eye because I have always wanted to walk the streets of San Francisco and interact with other locals. However, I decided to add a "Humans of New York" twist to it. I went to the city and walked around the Pacific Heights Area. I chose this district because I knew a lot of residents live there and that it would not be filled with tourists. When I was walking around I would approach certain people that would be walking down the street. I made sure to choose carefully as to who I interviewed because I wanted to make sure they weren't foreign, sketchy, or in a rush. Once I found the perfect targets, I would introduce myself and ask if they were interested in answering one question for me and getting their photo taken. If the person said yes, I would ask the question, "What is the best piece of advice you have learned throughout you life?" They would then answer and I would write down their responses. After that I would direct them to a place on the street with a nice background for me to take their photo. Some of the people stayed and chatted for a few more minutes and others I thanked and they continued walking. In total I asked about eight people and only a few of them said no. This was a great experience for me because I was able to make connections with strangers and have interesting, insightful conversations. It not only made my day, but I'm sure their's as well.

Assignment #4 : Barcode

Sketchbook #2 : If I Grew Wings and Flew Over My City

Assignment #2 : HDR

1. HDR stands for high dynamic range and it is a technique in photography that is used to produce a more vibrant, crisp picture. It includes 3-7 photos of the exact same landscape with different exposures. The photos are then layered on top of each other to add the exposures together. This technique is achieved by beginning by taking a photo using a tripod, in perfect exposure. After that you take a couple over exposed and a couple underexposed photos of all different lightings. To alter the exposure, the shutter speed must be the setting that is changed because it determines how much time there is to let in light.



photo by: Trey Ratcliff

2. One photo that inspired me:  It inspired me to want to shoot trees and greenery because the HDR technique works really well with brightening and saturating nature. 



image 1: ISO 100, f/4.0, ss 1/4000
image 2: ISO 100, f/4.0, ss 1/1025

Sketchbook #1 : If I Were Very, Very Small

Assignment #1 : Levitation

Sketchbook # 18 : Inside vs. Outside

Assignment #30 : Advertising Photography

Sketchbook #17 : Broken Wings

Assignment #29 : End of School Poster

Assignment #28 : Abstraction to Express Emotion

Patience

Assignment #27 : Double Exposure

Sketchbook #16 : My Refuge

Assignment #26 : MAD Photography

ISO 2500, 120mm, f/4.8, 1/60

ISO 5000, 82mm, f/4.2, 1/60

The tutorial I followed from MAD Photography was "Slow Synch Flash: The Ultimate Guide". This tutorial intrigued me because I have always wanted to find a way to be able to take a flash picture at night, while the background is still visible and light. This guide taught me to make the shutter speed slower and put the rear flash on. When I first looked at the tutorial, my goal was to use a very slow shutter speed, preferably on 1/5 or lower but since I did not have a tripod or anything to prop my camera on, I was forced to make the shutter speed faster so that it would not be blurry. I like the technique I learned and will continue to use it because it is helpful to know how to take successful photos in the dark.

Assignment #25 : Portraits & Jump

ISO 400, 55mm, f/6.3, 1/160

ISO 400,  120mm, f/5.6, 1/1000

ISO 200, 55mm, f/11, 1/500

Assignment #24 : TED Talk

          The TED talk, "How Photography Connects Us" by David Griffin was both informational and compelling. It was a fifteen minute long video explaining how photography can affect one's perspective and views of a situation. Griffin began by showing a series of amazing photographs. One of them being the infamous National Geographic photo of the Syrian refugee. This particular image stood out to me because it reminded me of the photo I took for the 'Photography as Art' project of Katya. The National Geographic photo really made me think about the backstory of this refugee and her history. It has inspired me to do more than just take a picture, but take pictures of things that show emotion and make people feel something.
         In the video, David Griffin also touched on the different photographers who travel the world photojournaling different issues or struggles going on in other countries. He explained that many of the most successful photographers are full of ambition and hope to visit all kinds of different cultures and communities in order to produce the perfect shot. I have also noticed that the best photos shown in the TED talk were all shot in far places from the Unites States. This observation has also added to my desire to travel the world. Ever since I was little,  I've wanted to see different parts of the world and photograph them mostly because of the many beautiful places. Now that I have seen the TED talk I now want to travel to also see the not so beautiful places that tell a story.
        My goal as a photographer is to make the person looking at my photos think. I want them to feel something. I want them to have some kind of thought and not just that it's a nice picture. In my landscapes I would like to make sure that I always have interesting composition that is both satisfying and eye-catching. In my portraits I would like to capture the model's emotion in every shot. I no longer want to take any pictures that mean nothing or that don't spark some kind of feeling. The TED talk has encouraged all of these ideas for my photography future.

Sketchbook #15 : Hands and Feet

Assignment #23 : WalkAbout

by: Lily

by: Katya

Assignment #22 : Triptych That Tells a Story

ISO 12800, 24mm, f/8, 1/4000     ISO 12800, 30mm, f/8, 1/4000    ISO 12800, 55mm, f/8, 1/4000

The story I photographed was The Giving Tree.
Once upon a time a girl found a beautiful apple tree. She visited it everyday. She loved to sit next to the tree and climb it. She loved to eat the apples as well. Time went by and the girl grew older. She no longer visited the tree or even ate the apples. One day she came back to the tree and did not climb it or sleep next to it. The tree longed for the girl sit in its leaves and eat its fruit . Although, that was not what the girl came back for. She came back to cut down the branches. The girl needed wood to build her house and thought this tree would be the perfect spot. The tree was happy that it could help the girl once again, but the tree remained only a small stump. The end.

Sketchbook #14 : All That is Shiny

Assignment #21 : Me, Myself, and I

I liked this project because I learned a lot more about photoshop and this specific tool will be very useful for me in the future. I am happy with how it turned out and I succeeded at my goal to make this look like one photo. I decided on shooting in the dining hall because this is a very common area that people usually sit together so I thought it would be cool to be sitting and talking to myself instead. I was inspired by the example photo on the instructions that showed the same guy playing cards with himself.

Sketchbook #13 : Found Pattern

Assignment #20 : Wrapped Object

I decided to take a different approach with the "wrapped object" proposal. When I researched Christo and Jeanne-Claude I mostly enjoyed their wrapped building, bridges, and parks. I thought it was a very interesting concept to wrap something that is so big and and already in nature. However, I wasn't as impressed with the smaller objects that were wrapped. To me the smaller objects didn't do this great idea of wrapping unusual things justice. Because I wouldn't successfully be able to wrap a large scale object to make my photograph as extraordinary as Christo and Jeanne-Claude's I chose to find another approach to the idea of wrapping something. I did some research then came across photoshoots with lights. I was immediately intrigued so I decided what I would do is wrap a model in lights. I thought it would look better than it did because I desired for the lights to be a little more out of focus. But, I still do like the way I interpreted the assignment.

Assignment #18 : 8 Hour Capture

11:03

12:04

1:10

2:36

3:22

4:23

5:36

6:45