Mini Final

For this mini final we were asked to choose our six favorite photos from any assignment this term. This was hard for me to do, and it took me a while to get down to these six. I enjoyed looking back at all my photos, especially the ones i had forgotten about from my earlier assignment.

This is from assignment 5, which was definitely the most fun one to shoot, mostly because of the funny looks people gave me as I crawled along the street. This was a bike I found in the Albertson's parking lot. As soon as I saw it, I dropped down to the ground and started crawling around to find a cool angle. I took other pictures of this bike, but this is my favorite one because of the angle and light. The print I made of this angle for the assignment is of a shot where I cut out part of the handlebars, but then I found this shot with the whole deal.

This was also from Assignment 5, and it was a really lucky find. I walked over here to take a photo of the car that you can see near the upper right hand corner, but I then saw this instead. Happy moment. I like the grass and leaves in the foreground, and the dark hole lurking in the back. This is also a good object to use the hero angle on. If I could take this photo again, I would get lower and angle my camera to get rid of the sky and car in the background, and make the photo just about the grass and the hole.

This is one of my best cemetery shots from the halloween assignment. I LOVE the tree. The way it looks, how the leaves radiate from it, and the shadow it casts. It makes the foreground a little dark with the big tree looming overhead, and the background very light. I also like that you can clearly make out the leg of the person, but the rest of the body is a blur.

This is my other good shot from the cemetery, it was the first one I took. I like the focus and the content, but if I could, I would get rid of that treeline in the background. I'm glad I decided not to show more than the persons back in the frame, I think being able to see his head would definitely take away from the photograph.

From assignment 3, this is my favorite accident. The picture itself wasn't an accident, it was just an accident that it turned out this cool looking. I took this through the airplane window over Oklahoma City, and I thought it would be interesting, but not all that great. I was surprised by the end result, especially after a bit of editing in lightroom. I'm glad I wasn't seated a few rows up, because then you would be able to see completely inside the engine, and that would be boring. From this angle, it makes you wonder, what does the inside look like? What is in there? I also like the focus, and that you can make out the landscape and clouds, which sandwich the sky.

From assignment 1. I'm not sure why exactly I like this one, I just do.Dog in the frame was a total accident, but I think it really adds to the picture. It makes you ask questions, like, What is that thing on the stairs? What is down there in the dark? The frame would be a bit too empty with nothing on the stairs. If I could do this again, I might make it into a portrait of someone standing at the bottom of the stairs, right by the railing, which could be a leading line.

Joe Rosenthal

"I took the picture, the Marines took Iwo Jima."-Joe Rosenthal

Joe Rosenthal was an american photographer who took the famous photograph of six marines raising the flag at the battle of Iwo Jima. He was actually rejected as a photographer by the U.S. Army because of his bad eyesight, and was following the marine corps as an "embedded journalist" working for the Assiciated Press. He later won a pulitzer prize for the iconic photograph. Rosenthal passed away in 2006, but not before Mr. Slade got his autograph on the back of his pass to the convention, right beside Eddie Adams. This photo was not staged, Rosenthal was just very skilled and lucky. He had just corrected the settings on his speed graphic camera, when he saw the flag going up out of the corner of his eye. He quickly swung the camera around, and took the amazing photograph.

Assignment #5: on you belly!

I was on my back taking pictures of my friend playing raquetball, right after I took this shot,
he stepped backwards, tripped over me, and hurt his wrist.


This is a bike I saw at Fire house car wash, the owner was more than happy to let me take a few pictures.

This is some lady's arm at the ATM. She was a little weirded out when I asked for a photograph of her arm.

Next 4 images are of vehicles in Albertsons parking lot

I came over to take a picture of the car you can see near the upper left corner,

but I found this instead. Pretty sweet.

A fire hydrant I noticed while crawling around.

One of those big green signs from below.

For this assignment, we were asked to take 100 shots either on our belly or backs. I like the way this angle makes photos look, and when you're on the ground so much, you start noticing things that you haven't seen before. I started out walking around, finding something that might make a cool image, then getting down on my belly to check it out, but after a few minutes, I ended up crawling around on my belly the whole time, which is a much better way to explore in this situation. Most of these shots were taken somewhere between school and Alta Canyon rec. center.

Before and Afters

After



Before
I brought out the blacks, gave it more contrast.


After

Before

You can hardly tell the difference on this one, I just brought out

the blacks a bit more.

After

Before
The after is still cool, but I like this one better in color.

Here are 3 random before and afters from various assignments.