It is time for another blog post, this time about photography. Among the many facets of multimedia that I find fascinating, photography was perhaps the first love. Before taking this multimedia class, I took a stand-alone photography class. The class was quite fun and I learned many things from it. I hope that I have managed to polish off those skills as I present a small collection of photos, all taken within the last week.
For this first picture, I used a diminishing perspective to capture a common sight here in Wyoming: an expanse of prairie bordering a highway. The focal point of the photo is the big rig which has just come over the hill. A person’s eye is drawn to the rig because the highway and the ridge feature come together to form a rough “V” about where the rig enters the photo. The photos aesthetics comes from the contrast of the red and brown hues of the grasses and the dull grey of the morning sky which create a small contrast.
This second photo uses the rules of thirds to highlight this single crow in front of the Wyoming Union. The crow is, of course, the focal point of the image. If one were to divide the picture by thirds, the crow should be close to the top left intersection. The boulder also helps draw attention to the crow by being the object which the crow is standing on. The photo is aesthetically pleasing by the contrast of the darker tones of the crow and boulder against the lighter earthy tones of the wall.
This picture is two crows for the price of one image, since that’s all that I could take before one of them flew off. I included this photo to represent the unexpected aspect of the photography dimensions. The focal point is the pair of crows and they do a good job of bringing attention to themselves as the only living subjects in the photo. The liveliness and pleasing colors still come from the dark on light contrast. However, there is more color variety with the green bush and metallic doors.
This fourth photo is still located on the grounds of the Union, but I think that it is the most clever of the group. I used the frame within a frame perspective to capture a picture of an unused study space. The focal point is the painting inside the space, but not only is the painting divided into thirds as a frame within frame, but the whole area is inset and framed by its outer walls. The palette is more consistent and complimentary, with the whites and browns of the Union that make the picture feel warm and homely.
Don’t worry, nothing is wrong with the camera; it is just reflected snowflakes because of the “low light” setting. This kind of photo was the hardest to capture well, but I think this one is acceptable. I use the repetition device to capture the row of street lights which lighten the East Lot. The focal point of the photo is the length of light poles, with one of the starting points being very noticeable in the foreground then traceable down the line. The aesthetics are the opposite of the crow pictures, using a more white on black contrast.
I hope you enjoyed my little photo collage; I took about 130 shots for this project. Something which surprised me about this assignment is how you can generate photo ideas while in the middle of taking them. There were a couple of times where I had one idea for a photo, then as I was doing it, I got more ideas from my surroundings. Something that I wish I could have done differently was use more locations. Something I learned while taking all these photos is that some photos can be planned and others are spontaneous, and you just have to go with the flow.
James Meyer 