Thanksgiving

 Our assignment over this Thanksgiving break was to take one picture that represented Thanksgiving to us.  This first picture is the "kids" table at our house.  From left to right sits my big sister Kelly, my niece Addison, my brother-in-law Brett, and my big brother Andrew.  Although we are all grown and out of the house (except my brother because he's remodeling his new house), we are still all sitting at the kids table at holidays.  To me, Thanksgiving is about with family, especially my siblings, and being thankful for everything God has given you during the year including the delicious food on your table!  Out of all the pictures I took, I picked this one because it's their most natural state: laughing at the little sister because of something stupid she did.  The second picture is of my youngest niece, Addison Jo, eating her thanksgiving meal.  I posted it also just because I thought it was adorable.

Iconic Presentation

Vulture Stalks A Child

by

Kevin Carter

Kevin Carter was a South African photojournalist whose mission, along with others of the "Bang-bang Club, was to expose the brutality of apartheid.  Carter took this picture on his trip to Sudan to cover the famine going on there.  Soon after Carter got off the plane, he heard whimpering and went to investigate.    When he saw the little girl who had stopped to rest on her way to a feeding center, a vulture landed near her looking for food.  Carter, who saw the artistic and exposing possibilities, took twenty minutes to set up the photo so that it would be perfect.  After winning the Pulitzer Prize for Photojournalism almost a year later and receiving loads of negative criticism for not helping the little girl,  Carter, with no money and haunted by scenes of suffering and corpses, committed suicide.  Even though his life fell apart before him, to this day Kevin Carter is still known as an iconic photographer because of his noble work in exposing apartheid in South Africa.

Macro

We were sent out with a mission to get two micro photographs.  Because it had been raining on and off all day and it was freezing cold, I thought it would be miserable walking around campus; but these conditions definitely made for some beautiful photographs.  I knew I wanted to get a picture of these flowers when we set out on our assignment; but on the way to where the flowers are, I walked up the stairs and saw the hand rail.  I ended up spending more time and more frames on the handrail than I did on the flowers.  The first photo is the one picture I chose out of all the frames taken on the steps.  I chose it because the hand rail is placed in a place that gives the photo interest; also, the rain drops could be seen clearly.  The second photo is my favorite!  I took many pictures of these flowers and the only one of its kind.  The flowers add a pop of color in their strange placement giving the photo diversity and visual appeal.

Breaking the Rules!

This weekend I went to the zoo.  Knowing I had an assignment on breaking the rules of photography, I decided to try to take some pictures down the Bamboo Trail along with some regular photos of the cute giraffes and other animals, of course.  After reviewing my pictures on the way home on my little camera screen, I thought I had failed at breaking the rules.  How sad is that?  Consequently, I was worried all week about getting two good photographs for my assignment; and with my little Canon point and shoot, it was harder than it sounds to break a rule and do it right.  Disappointed and worried, I uploaded the pictures off my memory card onto my computer to get a better look at my photographs I took at the zoo.  To my pleasant surprise, I found a couple photos that I actually liked.  Both photos were taken by not keeping my camera still while taking them.  (Whether that is because I accidently tripped over my own feet or not will remain a secret.)  I really like the first one because the left half is in focus and the right half is not.  However, the second one is my favorite because it almost looks as if it was painted on a canvas rather than taken with a camera.

Centennial Park in Nashville!

Portrait

The assignment was to take a portrait photograph.  A portrait is simply a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person; but more specifically a representation or impression of someone or something.  In class, we were given several examples of portrait photographs and tips on how to do them.  We were allowed to try to duplicate one of the photos we saw; we could either put our own twist on the photograph or try to imitate it exactly.  My portrait photograph is my own twist on one of the examples.  I thought this assignment would be an easier one because I had so many ideas, more time to complete the assignment, and only one picture had to be posted; little did I know how difficult it really would be.  I first ran into difficulty when my first few ideas were eliminated because trying to meet up with people so that you can take pictures of them is harder than one would think.  Secondly, my schedule was booked the entire week; so there went ample time to work on the project.  And thirdly, when I finally decided to take this type of photograph, the prop I introduced (i.e. bubblegum) was actually chewing gum.  Needless to say, bubbles were not being blown very easily.  I took about ten to fifteen photos trying to get one that had the bubble big enough, the subject was not laughing, and her eyes were open.  Although hilarious, the process was frustrating.  This photograph is the best of ones that I took.  Enjoy!

ISABELLA

  

Our assignment for this weekend was to take pictures of things that looked like letters and numbers.  We had to pick a five or more letter word and any two numbers; then take pictures of things that looked like these letters to make up our word and number.  I chose the word "Isabella".  Isabella is my four year old niece and she is the cutest, smartest little girl you will ever meet.  This assignment was extremely difficult at first, but after a while I started to notice objects that would look like letters.  I took most the pictures on campus but some I took when I got back to my hometown.  Most the letters were not too hard to find, but the second "A", "B", and "S" were quite difficult to find.  The second "A" was the chains of a swing with a vine going straight across; I had to push the swing back and pull the vine forward, but I think the picture turned looking pretty good.  I took the picture of the "B" when I had a photo shoot with Isabella.  (She had a hard time balancing on one leg.)  Back at campus I found the the "S" in the rocks of the construction site by fanning; I was ecstatic when I found the "S" in the broken up concrete.  My two numbers are one and zero.  I chose these numbers because this is the year 2010 and thought it only appropriate to have 10 as my numbers.  This assignment was difficult, but fun all at the same time.