Period 4 - Semester Final

1. What is your favorite photo from this Lens slideshow? Provide three reasons that it is your favorite. My favorite photo is Photo #9 of the red deer. I really like this photo because it's mysterious, and it draws my attention. I also love animals, the deer being one of my favorites. I like how one cannot tell the distinct features of the animals, but he or she could still be able to tell that it is a deer. Also, I think silhouettes are the most eye-pleasing photos. 
2. Which photo is the best from the slideshow? Provide three reasons. I think that Photo #6 is the best photo. Not only does it capture simplicity, it also follows the "Rule of Thirds." The photo also caught the car in motion which adds to the quality of the photo composition wise. 
3. What is your best work this semester? Include the blog link. Give three reasons why this is your best work. If you had more time, how would you do to improve the project. My best work was a photo from my "Masters of Photography" Project on Imogen Cunningham. I took a photo of a tea kettle , and I feel it was my best, because it shows a lot of texture. Through the clarity of the photo, one can notice the rough texture of the bench in the background (which the tea kettle is set on) and the shine and smoothness of the kettle itself. Also, the photo fills up the frame (which is a rule of composition), and is therefore very simple, too. The simplicity, texture, and composition of this photo are what makes me feel like it is my best piece of work. If I had more time, though, I would have left the photo in color, because the brown shade of the bench would have made it look nicer, in my opinion.
4. You chose three rules of composition. What are your three rules? The three rules of composition I chose at the beginning of the semester are the rules of leaning into the frame, avoiding the middle, and providing texture. 
5. Select one of your own photos that illustrates your ability to apply at least two of the three rules. Insert the photo into the post and label the picture. Clearly include the two rules of composition that you are using. I have selected the photo I took for our 6th photo assignment. The photo clearly portrays my two rules of avoiding the middle and providing texture. My model is not centered, but instead slightly to the right. Also, her knitted sweater provides texture to my photo, as one can see every individual hole between each stitch. 

   

   Conversations with Tulika

6. I have three rules of composition. I have explained one already. What is my first rule? Mr. Farley,you have already explained your rule of "getting closer." This means to get close to the subject or object when you are taking a photo. 
7. What are the benefits of working in groups? Provide a list with five benefits.There are many benefits to working in a group. Some include being able to ask your fellow members any questions, being able to share advice and thoughts to create better works, and anytime I need a model, I have three people waiting right there, usually willing to be one. Also, one can use their group members for inspiration or motivation, and it is always more entertaining to work with your peers, rather than alone.
8. What are the difficulties of working in groups? List five difficulties. There are not too many difficulties of working in a group, but one would be the length of the process. When in a group, nobody can be left behind, even if that means waiting for a member to finish taking his or her photos.So ultimately, it takes longer to do some things than it would have solo. Also, when you're working in a group, you may be wasting more time when you get off task, which is quite easy to do. A third difficulty would be agreeing on different matters. We are all different people, and have our different opinions, so sometimes it can be hard to collaborate and form one idea that we all agree on or believe. Also, sometimes there is unequal participation. One group member could be doing all the work, while another is doing nothing. Lastly, different viewpoints can limit one's creativity in their work and prevent them from working to the best of their abilities. 
9. What is your favorite work product produced by another person in this class? Provide the link to their work. I really like Tulika Mohanti's 3rd photo for the "Masters of Photography" Project, Ashlesha Sathe, Singer, 2014. I like the simplicity of the photo and the black and white effect makes it look really nice. Also, the photo is of one of my best friends. 
10. For the "Masters of Photography" Project, my group and I chose to recreate the photos of Imogen Cunningham. She is a great photographer and contributed her style of simplicity with great detail and clarity to the field of photography. Her techniques are still used today, and she influenced many photographers of her own time. 
11. Dorothea Lange's most popular photo was Migrant Mother, and it was taken in 1936 in a camp for agricultural workers in California. 
12. Henry Robinson Luce was the founder of Life magazine, which began publishing on March 3rd of 1923. Luce was referred to as "the most influential private citizen in the America of his day."
13. Robert Capa was a founding member of Magnum Photos, which started in 1947.
14. The photo, "Falling Soldier" was taken on September 5th of 1936 in Cerro Muriano on the Cordoba Front in Spain.

Album Cover Recreation

This is my recreation of John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band Album Cover.

See the original photo here.

I took my photo to Camera Raw, where I decreased the clarity by 100 and exposure by 0.45. 

Plastic Ono Band Recreation

Masters of Photography Project Reflection

Imogen Cunningham Project Reflection

1. How do you think your project has represented you as a person? For this project, I attempted to recreate the photos Imogen Cunningham took. She took many botanical pictures, so I used that as inspiration to photograph the pretty flowers around school. She also took several portraits, so I took photos of one of my best friends.
2. How has your understanding of photography changed during this school year? Whenever I heard the word photography, I though more about professional photos and photoshop. But the type of photography I've done so far this year was more freestyle and random. It's not as strict with rules as I had imagined. 
3. What are some benefits of working in a group? Working in a group is really convenient, because you have your peers who can help you when you have a question or give you advice on how to take a photo. Also, anytime you need a model, you have three waiting right there, usually willing to be one.
4. What are some disadvantages? The only disadvantage I could think of for working in a group is working at a pace that everybody can keep up with. Sometimes in our group, half of us would have our work done, but half of us wouldn't, so we were going outside more than we needed or we weren't going out enough.
5. Now that you have had time to reflect, is there anything that you would've done differently with the recent project? I would definitely change some things from the Masters of Photography project. I wish I had used a camera with better quality to capture the same detail that I noticed in Imogen's photos. Also, I wish I had used a simpler background for some of the photos I took. That way there could have been more focus on the subjects of my photos. 
6. Is there anything else you would like to include? I really enjoyed this project and hope to do more like it this year.