Monday, July 4, 2011

Lifestyle Photography

So here we are at Week #3 - wow! I can't believe it! Taking a more creative expression photography class has really been helpful to me. I love photography. I love seeing life through my camera. This class is teaching me to REALLY see life from different perspectives and that in itself has been a liberating experience. Up until now, I have really been beating myself up about the technical aspects of photography. I am certainly capable of learning all the technical jargon of shooting but it isn't something that wow's me - it's wrong I know but feeling exhilarated when taking these creative photos has rejuvenated my passion and  has paired the technical lingo with the creative. I love this!

Enough rambling - here are my submissions for the Contrast component of the assignment.

In these 2 photos, I snuck up to take a picture of my Mom holding Danielle's hand. My Mom has a special relationship with each of my daughters. The relationship she has with each girl is unique and mutually exclusive from the other. I love that and so do my girls because they are the loved for who they are and "lumped together."

What I could not decide is...is the photo emote a strong emotion taken slightly above or below? I looked at these shots for a long time. I like each image for different reasons - from slightly above as it symbolizes an elder/wisdom relationship and the image from a slightly lower vantage point seems to symbolize a guiding relationship. I just don't know; what do you think?

When I snapped these images I consciously chose to not crop at the joint, to focus my image on the hands, to show aspects of the forearm and to blur out the background. I hope I did it justice.



My other images for contrast are below. Originally I wanted a photo of my husband and daughter's feet in a jumbled mess but my daughter was being an uncooperative turkey!!! I thought it would be interesting to take the photo from a low vantage point with their faces blurred. Now that I look at the image, I think it may have been more interesting it I had taken it from above behind their heads; again, I am not sure?


And I will readily admit here that this may be a lame image. My intent was to contrast the petite size of the leaves against the larger green leaves in the background but this seems somewhat of a train wreck to me. My original intent was to photograph a bee in a flower but could I find one when I needed it??? Of course not!


Ah, we have now arrived at the Decisive Moment submissions with 3 measly shots. Sticking to 3 shots only was a real challenge for me and I'll be the first to admit that I failed. The timing of the shots is hard for me to coordinate with 2 wiggly jiggly girls. What I will say is I shot much much MUCH less than I normally would and that is a huge improvement for me. (Does that count?)

Here is my Mom and Danielle tossing the ball around in the backyard. I tried to keep my focus point on the ball as I loved the splash of red against the muted background colours. I wonder how I could have removed some of the distracting elements in the background by standing in different locations??? I was limited by the available space in the yard.


For these next 2 shots, I stood beside Madison as she cannon balled into the pool. I tried to move what I could from the background but I see the small slide snuck into the background. Hopefully it does not look like some strange horn growing out of her head! However I do love seeing her suspended in the air!

In this image, I like it from above but again my question is...which image is stronger? Here all I see are the funky shadows from the sun on her. I had scoped out how I wanted to take the photo but again I see the pool noodles in the background...aaaack!


Lastly, here is Danielle who seems to enjoy the skateboarding moves - not entirely sure where she gets this but it does make for interesting photography! Once again, my eye is drawn to the harsh shadows and image seems somewhat under exposed. What do you think Brooke?

This was a fun assignment and really had me thinking about point of view alot. Thanks!

2 comments:

Sharon Gartrell Photography Fort Worth said...

Virginia, I love the shot with the hands...just beautiful! Looks like y'all are having a fun summer.

Leigh Ann Hines [Lifestyle Photography] said...

I especially like the second hands hot. It emphasizes the age a bit more because of the angle and lighting, at least to me.