Photo Class: Landscapes

This week in photo class the topic was "landscapes" which I mistakenly thought meant taking pictures of hills and trees - nope, it was more about paying attention to the landscape or environment you move through (both internal and external) and looking for themes that come up, repeated shapes or objects, things that remind you of your past, how light shifts, etc. As usual we were to create 20 photographs getting at different ideas we noticed, and were given a few categories to fill such as one image depicting or representing "home", one image referring to our past, and one image that is visually abstract.  There was also an alternate assignment given if we'd rather - to create a series of photos that went together (like a car collection, water towers, industrial buildings, etc.) instead of filling in the random categories.

(simple lines and form)

We studied the work of 9 photographers who are known for their specific series, ranging from cultural iconography (old signs, retro buildings) to abstract or all blurry, simple lines and colors, and abandoned places (buildings or objects). I decided to combine the assignments and took photos that inspired me from each of the 9 photographers work - so they didn't all go together other than that they represented all of the artists we studied. 

(abstract/meditation)

What was really fun about that was I got to take pictures of many different styles and objects - which I normally wouldn't do. We just shoot what we are interested in, right? So even though I'm not big on blurry impressions it was interesting to figure out how to make a cool blurry photo, and I've never thought about taking pictures of industrial buildings but I did and it turned out great. 

(power plant)

Because I was searching for different things than I would normally take photos of I ended up walking down many back alleys, the back side of buildings, out of the way places where I wouldn't normally go - Sarge loved it! He got to receive and leave "messages" in all kinds of fun new places.

(cultural iconography)

(abandoned places)

So this week maybe challenge yourself to move through your environment with intention. Pay attention to interesting things around you that you might not have noticed before - buildings, cool doors and stairways, things that remind you of your past...and explore the back sides of stores or buildings just to see some different things - it was a fun week!  

creativephotoacadamy.com for info on classes at Pauls Photo, Torrance, CA

Creative Photo Class: Portraits

Week 3 in our creative photo class was centered on taking portraits, which was a little harder than I thought it was going to be.We were supposed to work on more than just snapping someone's picture - we thought about how we wanted them to pose, what feeling or emotion we wanted to capture, and not necessarily take what is considered to be a "correct" formal portrait - be creative of course. 

There were, as usual, a few categories that we tried to fill, ranging from the subject "looking at the viewer" to one shot "not physically including your subject" - for that one we should get to know our subject enough to know what they like or what's important to them and photograph that in some way. We could either approach random people and ask if we could take their picture, or use someone we know - but we needed to get 20 photographs that had different ideas and emotional tones.

For my project I did ask a few random people and got some good shots, but then for the bulk of the photos I used my friend Athena (who is a natural performer, a dance teacher, and not at all shy haha) as my "muse". We went to a local little zen garden and the first thing she said was "ok, how do you want me to pose"... I had no idea! It's hard to pose someone - I told her do whatever she wanted haha and fortunately got some good shots. For the one that she wasn't physically in the shot I took a cool picture of her new glasses laying on the floor in the dance studio.

Think about taking portraits of people, actually having them pose and not just in a "smile and say cheese" kind of way. And if you see someone interesting (like my pic of the meat guy in a mask at the grocery store) or doing something cool maybe ask if you can take their picture - it was kind of fun asking strangers if I could take theirs and no one said no. They did tell Dave no a few times, but they are strangers so who cares if they refuse - all you can do is ask :)

meat guy at the grocery store - love this picture!

As long as the subject is looking at you it's not considered a candid snapshot - so this picture of Dave and Ed counts as a portrait.


check out creativephotoacademy.com for class info if you're interested.

Self Portraits

Week 2 of our creative photo class at Paul's Photo focused on taking self portraits - these are different then taking "selfies" in that we used timers and tripods (or in my case my homemade jerry-rigged camera holder which consists of my mini clipboard and a chopstick) to teach us about telling stories with photographs, how to set up shots with ourselves in the frame (and not our arms reaching out!), also how to photograph people in general. The thought is that by taking the time to figure out how to pose ourselves for the best shots - we are being our own guinea pigs so to speak - we will have a better understanding and sensitivity about photographing other people. Once again we received a homework assignment to fill a bunch of categories with photos of ourselves and we were encouraged to use props, reflections, and get creative about different ways to depict ourselves - some of the categories we didn't even have to be in the shot...I liked those the best. Setting the timer and then running to get in place to get my shot over and over again was exhausting! Try taking pics of yourself without doing a typical holding-out-your-arm selfie, it was challenging and fun to think of ways to take my own photo.

I decided to do a theme for my self portraits, so every one was based around shoes in some way. Here are some examples:

showing my face in a reflection

showing a feeling - I was going for "peaceful"

showing myself in my environment, I love how this shadow
makes Sarge look huge!

(check out creativephotoacademy.com for more info on taking classes if you're interested!)