Known & Captured

During this semester of photography, I learned about how to make something that may not appear to be worth a picture to be captured in a beautiful way. I had never really used a camera before other than to take pictures of buildings or landmarks on vacation. However, now I feel more comfortable with a camera, and I know how to take a specific photo to capture it in the most simple but unique way. Learning about basic components of a camera, such as shutter speed, aperture, etc., helped me to realize that photography is such broad spectrum of art, and there is always more to explore.

This class guided me to realize different things about myself and how I perceive different types of beauty. Before this class, I thought that taking a picture of a person is the most difficult part of photography because you may not get them to portray exactly what you want them to, so neither would your picture. But I learned through taking portrait pictures, that I enjoy taking pictures of people the most, even if the exact emotion or attitude is not fully exemplified. Seeing a person in a picture that you're looking at makes the photograph more relatable, more real. So I think I changed my perspective a lot in terms of what pictures I like to take, and the general way I would go about taking them. I also realized that I enjoy more 'old fashioned' forms of photography; simple pictures that are in black and white. They sam more pure to me, and not having the color in the picture gives a person more to guess about while looking at it.

I wish that we had spent more time in the dark room and using our film cameras more often. The best part of this entire class is standing in the dark room, watching your picture form on the paper while sitting in the developer. Using this form of photography feels more real to me, and it really made me feel like I made the picture, from beginning to end. Another thing I wish we would have done this semester would be to pull kids out of classes to be the subject of some of our photos; it would give is more of a selection for our photos and made them seem more relatable to us as students. It's easier for someone our age to express the emotion you would like them to for the picture than a mom or dad at home.

I feel as though my biggest struggle and concept that I conquered were both the same thing. Sometimes it would be difficult for me to take the time to get the quality pictures that I was capable of taking. The class would then become less fun for me because the pictures I was working with on the computer weren't as great as I would have liked them to be. However, when I took the amount of time that was needed to get great pictures that I was proud of, it was the best experience to come and work on them, and to know that I took those pictures.