Personal experience with Photography summary

My prior experience with photography has involved being both behind and in front of the camera. When I am behind the camera, I am typically taking more videos than photos, especially this year with my New Years’ resolution to get a short video clip each day. For these short video clips, I film something that catches my attention or something that makes me happy in that moment. When I do take pictures, it is more of pictures with my friends and family (mostly pictures of my dog :D) or if there is a pretty scenic moment, such as a beachy sunset; right now, I’d say I have more experience with shooting video clips than shooting pictures, which with most videos, they tend to capture the mood of whatever tone my story/video has to it.  I enjoy editing pictures using an online site to create a whole new photo. I have done this with photos my friend Zachary has taken of me. We have done several photo shoots together and each one has a theme or concept we follow. He and I collaborate on types of poses I should do as well as expressions so we can capture the mood we are trying to convey. The two we did this year were a mermaid and a ghost shoot, the mermaid one portrayed the story of a mermaid who is slowly becoming human and losing touch with her true self. The ghost shoot showed the story of a girl’s spirit roams the earth, trying to grasp the humanity and bodily form she has lost; she longs to feel all human sensations, yet can’t. I really like creating a story through a picture and this makes me want to try my hand at photography since I already enjoy capturing moments on film. Also, last semester I took a Film Studies class where I was exposed to learning more about cinematography and how to create a story through an image. There, I saw how I could create more light and shadow through a video project I did for an adaptation study.

As I read the first webpage, I took note of a few photography tips to experiment with. I want to add more depth and differing perspectives. I will look into using low key lighting as well and use lighting that illuminates a model’s face and create more shadows. This week will be the beginning of my experimentation with photography and my mind is already crafting some noir photo ideas.