Photography is one of my biggest passions. I decided to start this blog so I could better share my work with people, and how I'm feeling along with it. One of the most important aspects to any art form is the emotion or message associated with it. This can be difficult for some artists to do, including myself, so maybe this is more of an exercise for me more than for the benefit of anyone reading this. Either way, I think it'll be a fun journey.
I guess I should give a little introduction to myself, especially with how and why I got into photography. The how is fairly simple I think. My mom taught a high school art class, which included photography. Ever since I was very young, she always took lots of pictures. I remember being most fascinated with an old Nikon SLR she had, which she saved for her really good pictures. I don't necessarily think it was always my passion or dream to take pictures like her, but I know that when I saw pictures she could take with that camera, I was sort of mesmerized.
Her influence as a photographer really became noticeable though when I entered high school myself. She had long since stopped full-time teaching, but she still was involved with school, mainly as the yearbook adviser. Naturally, I was recruited to yearbook staff, partially against my will because I had little to no interest in page layout. However, it was in yearbook that I was able to discover my role as a photographer. It was also during my freshman year (Christmas specifically) that I got my first digital camera. Now I know that a lot of photographers/photography enthusiasts think film is absolutely the best way to go. And I can agree and understand to an extent; there is something about photos taken on film that give them so much more character than digital pictures (maybe its because you have a limited number of shots, so much more work goes into composing each image since mistakes mean wasted film; I do hope one day to experiment with film and dark rooms, but for now I stick with digital for ease). Before then, I had only ever owned a film camera. Having a digital camera, where I was limited to hundreds instead of tens of pictures at a time, it allowed me to take tons of pictures, and during this I discovered how much I enjoyed it. I wasn't very good at the time, but you have to start somewhere.
Later in my high school career, I started to gain an understanding of what makes a good photo. I had finally been taking photos acceptable by my standards today. I didn't really understand why at the time, until my mom taught me two very valuable techniques in understanding what makes a good photo; leading lines and the rule of thirds (I'll probably do a post later explaining these better). Even to this day, I usually don't consciously think about these two aspects when I'm shooting; by now, they're just naturally in my composition technique. These are just things my mom often points out when looking at my photos. Back then, I was discovering these on my own, but not knowing what they were until my mom explained them.
Probably the most important moment in my photography was when I bought my first digital SLR. The summer after my freshman year at UNC, I took all the money I got from friends and relatives for my high school graduation and invested in a Nikon D60. I decided to spend a little extra and buy a second lens, a 55-200mm lens, in addition to the 18-55mm lens that came with the camera. This basically turned everything I knew on my head. I suddenly had the ability to control the focus, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, basically everything that point and shoot cameras can't do. I exploded with creativity; it was much like when I got my first digital camera, except now I had some knowledge of photography. The biggest challenge was learning to control the camera to make the pictures turn out the way I wanted them to. I almost wrote "Once I finally learned to do that", but that would be a lie, because I'm still learning, and I feel I will be all my life. Once I finally learned at least how to efficiently manipulate my camera and produce results I liked, I was able to capture some significantly better photos than I had ever done.
For a while, my photography was limited to objects or just more abstract things. I didn't have much opportunity to photograph people, and quite frankly, I thought I would be terrible at it. People can be some of the most interesting and some of the most difficult subjects. It wasn't until I got involved with UNC Pauper Players (various posts on their blog display some of my work with them) as a photographer that I was able to finally to have a chance to frequently have people as a subject. I began with them when I took pictures during Broadway Melodies 2009, mainly for a set my sister wrote and directed ("The Dark Knight"), and then for the production of "Children of Eden" she directed. People she knew in Pauper liked my photos and asked me to continue, which I happily did. My experience with Pauper Players exposed me to shooting theatre productions, as well as portraits and head shots. This is still an area of my photography I consider to be less polished, but I'm gaining experience, as I've finally started to do paid portrait sessions (quick aside: I'm more than willing to schedule a photo session with anyone! I'll write a post later focusing on this)
Well I've thoroughly explained to you how I got involved in photography, probably more than you ever wanted to know. Now the big question is why. To be perfectly honest, I probably couldn't have told you why I am involved in photography a couple of years ago, other than the fact that I enjoy it. But I'm finally starting to gain an understanding of this. For me, photography is about getting other people to see the world how I see it. Since I can't get you inside my brain and looking through my eyes, I have to let my pictures do that for me. It can be difficult at times for me to express to others by just telling them, but photography allows me to do this without words. Of course, photography isn't about just telling you how I feel, but I think that's an important component in how my photos look. The "why" aspect of my photography is still shaky, and I'm aiming to improve it. In the past I've taken lots of photos, and the ones I decide to keep as "good" ones often have little meaning that I can explain, they are just photos that I thought were good enough to keep and share. I think that being able to apply feeling and meaning to my photos is one of the goals of this blog. If I can write down and have a tangible representation of why I take the photos that I do, they will probably mean a lot more to me, and hopefully to somebody else as well.
Essentially my experimentation with photography has given me experience in performance, sports, portraits, architecture, nature, wildlife, and abstract photography. I've also changed equipment, having recently bought a Nikon D7000, which is providing new challenges as I attempt to learn how to use this camera to its highest potential. As with the D60, I bought a second lens, this time a 70-300mm lens in addition to the 18-105mm lens that comes with the camera.
Sorry to run this post so long, but without this background, nobody reading this can hope to have a true understanding of what I am doing here. I promise to keep future posts considerably shorter though (and posted at a more reasonable time!). Look for a post soon about my experience photographing Gray Stone Day School's graduation this past weekend!
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