Well, that’s the end of an exciting photography project. I was able to learn so much about the little important things in photography as well as being able to see God through all the photos I took. Something that surprised me was how literally anyone can be good at taking pictures as long as you have a good working camera. The camera I used helped so much in quality, lighting, and clearness. So if you’re considering taking on photography I’d highly recommend investing in a good camera. It’ll make the biggest difference. I also learned that this is something I really enjoy doing and I even let my friends know I’d love to take their pictures for fun sometime. I won’t even charge them! ;) I found that I was able to connect with God through my work as really majority of my photos were Gods creation. Without his creation I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish this. I was also able to see that I can do anything I believe in myself for because of God. I might’ve been nervous and frustrated at times, but I was able to get through it by trusting in myself and God and know I was doing this for Him. The biggest challenges of this project were getting started. When I say getting started I mean 1. Having the motivation to do it 2. Having the camera actually work (because a couple times I didn’t know which setting to be on or something wasn’t working, and 3. Deciding how I would capture my photo goals. I might’ve had something in mind that I really wanted and once I tried to make that a reality something would go wrong or the idea I had in my head was just impossible to get. This could’ve been the way I thought a picture would turn out and then I’d see the result and get all down on myself. But surprisingly the photos I didn’t think would be good actually ended up being my best ones. There’s many surprises along the way in photography! The biggest rewards of this project were having so many amazing good quality photos that I can now use in the future and have forever. Then when I look back at these photos I’ll be reminded of the hard work and dedication put into it and the memories also behind them. That’s the amazing thing about a picture - there’s always a meaning behind it whether big or small. I’m excited to also use the skills and lessons learned from this project to take with me whenever I’m asked to take pictures or want to go further with this skill. I want to thank my family and my mom specifically for supporting me through this and cheering me on. I’m also thankful for my dad who let me use his camera and showed me how to use it. It’s way better putting your effort into something when there’s people supporting you till the finish line.
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This is my last blog post of photos as we conclude the year. I wanted something a bit more fun so I decided to take pictures of people. I have photos of each person in my family, along with Colby and Serena. The goal of this was to capture the beauty of who we are and what we do, with a bit of creativeness in it. I also experimented with some different lighting - I have LED strip lights in my room which allow me to change the color of the whole room. This gave me the idea to use it in my pictures. It took some trial and error, adjusting the brightness of them etc... but I think it turned out pretty good! And now my brothers got some cool pictures of him:) I had a lot of fun taking these and seeing how they turned out. It was also cool because I used my good camera for this which made the pictures turn out even better than I expected as usually I would use my phone for taking pictures of my friends or myself. Looking at these photos brings a smile to my face because you’re able to see their joy in a single photo and the beauty in just the little things. This photo was from a couple days ago taken on my phone, but look how beautiful the sunset is😍 It was an amazing evening with Serena and our friends. Mug shot...? This photo turned out wayyy better than expected. My phone could never get this quality.. My beautiful mom:) Awhhhh look at my cute parents :) I liked the idea of taking photos of everyday activities. Here’s my dad cooking up a mean burger. Then Colby picked me up and I took some pictures of him during our adventure to the forks. I reallllyyyy like this picture. I found this one very creative and all the blank sky space puts a sense of calmness into it. This is an example of a photography skill called “space to breath” which allows room to get rid of negative energy and focus the picture on the one subject in it. And we ended the day at Springs Church cafe.
Today I went to Birds Hill with my mom for some walking, roller blading, and picture taking. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day at 30 degrees after this week or so of not so great weather. I found myself already sweating once I got out of the car! I took along my dads good camera with me which is the same one I used for my close ups (Canon EOS 60D). Majority of these pictures involved me pointing the camera up, like when I wanted to capture the shade the trees gave or the sign I was able to get a cool angle of. One of the photos I literally laid flat on my stomach on the ground to get a low shot of the trail with the trees in the background. I was so scared a biker would come zooming by and run me over. But here I am not run over and I have a super cool photo. In photography, sometimes you have to be creative and think outside the box. This could involve using different body positions in order to capture something like how I did, or getting low, high, or even side to side. I was also able to get a cool photo of the trees and capture how aligned they were by simply standing in the correct position where you see the line they create. Photography isn’t all just about a camera. It’s about you, your body, and angles. What does it say? I’m not sure why but this photo gives me retro vibes :) Mom was excited to go on an adventure :D If you look closely you’ll see the beach in the background. Ah. There it is, I think I’ll jump in right now. Rule of thirds? Ouuuuu I love this picture 😍 Do you see how the trees are all lined up? Look how the branches just hover close up with the trees showing in the distance. This is an example of depth perception. Hill!! Imagine me laying on the ground to get this photo 🧐
Yesterday I went to The Whiteshell with my auntie and my cousin Sadie to go on a hike at Hunt Lake Hiking Trail right by Westhawk Lake. The whole 14km hike took us 5 hours of treacherous climbing. It was a very difficult trail but it felt SO good to finish - I was dead tired after!! I took this opportunity to get some super awesome photos that I just took with my phone because a big camera would’ve been too heavy to carry - even a backpack was difficult to carry! I worked at rule of thirds as well as depth perception and capturing the grandness of different cliffs and the vast lake below. You can see many examples of rule of thirds in the photos with trees and a couple I got of Sadie and my aunt in action. I also worked with lighting on my camera if the sun was drowning out the photo. This makes some of the pictures not so bright and makes them appear simpler and brings out the green in them. It was an amazing day that I was so glad to spend it outside. I even got a bit sunburnt :) oops. Wear sunscreen guys - its not a joke. Here’s the first place we stopped to take pictures. It’s a lot steeper in person, but it was quite scary to climb up there. Super cool though and an awesome picture! This was a waterfall right near the beginning of the trail - Sadie and I walked up it. Here I showed a bit of depth perception and rule of thirds. I tried to show the whole of the cliff by getting lower to capture the photo. It can be difficult to show how large mountains, cliffs, or steep patches are - so it helps if you get different angles to really enhance it. We just wanted to jump in! There were little mini beaches throughout the hike. It was so refreshing to splash ourselves with water. Andddd... we made it to the end! (7km and back we go!) Lunch break and this little chippy was hanging around. So so beautiful. The view was extraordinary. This is also where we had a coffee break. ✌🏻✌🏻 This one and the next three I worked with decreasing the lighting on my phone. ...WOW Do you see Sadie hiding behind the tree?
Today I worked with close-ups. I remember working with this when I was in digital pictures - my teacher had us do an assignment all about close-ups and I remember him telling me consistently “you can get closer”. This is totally true, with any picture, you can capture the very root of the object by simply getting as close as you can go, and in the end your picture will be so close you won’t even know what it was to begin with! I tried applying this to a couple of photos I took today. And the beauty of photography is that you can take as many photos as you want! It’s all about trial and error - photography takes practice which comes with many (many) tries (and pictures). After every shoot I spend a solid 15 minutes to half an hour going through all the photos I took looking for the best ones. Today I captured some objects I found around the house as well as some plants. The camera I used was the Canon EOS 60D which helped me get these crisp close-ups. I had a bit of trouble getting as close as I could because the camera wouldn’t let me take the picture, but I tried my best and managed to still get some pretty sick shots. Yikes - look at that dust! This is (maybe surprisingly) one of the floor vents. I found it quite difficult to get one of these shots. Can you guess what this is? The inside of a toaster!? Whattt And thanks Sam for staying so still so I could capture the beauty of your red hair in the natural light.
Today I went on a walk down the Transcona Trail near my house as well as the Bio Reserve. It was a lovely sunny day today and I’m glad I got the chance to get outside a bit today. I also took this time to take some photos of things I saw like nature, the trails and even two ducks I found ahead of me on the Bio Reserve path. I think I scared them because they flew away just as I got a picture (see photos 1-4). It was so cool to capture something so natural like that. Their takeoff and the moving images I got of them as they flew away. I edited all these photos with the app VSCO I use to edit all my photos I take. It’s a super easy app to use and it comes with multiple free filters. I edit most of my pictures with the filter C1 because it gives it such a colourful and alive look. The photo I captured of the fence was edited with the filter B5. I had so much fun getting pictures today and just spending some time by myself outside as the sun shone on my face and brightened my mood for the rest of the day.
I have very little photography experience. I’m not an expert, I don’t know everything about taking prime photos. To get into a little bit of my photography background... I’ve always enjoyed taking photos, capturing the beauty of nature, people, and even modelling myself. When I was in grade 9 I wanted to join a modelling company but out of fear and perspectives of others... I didn’t. So instead we’re trying the photographer side of things! I took a digital pictures class in grade 10 where I learned more of the depth of photography. Really focusing on the main point of the photo, showing meaning, and getting the bigger picture. I learned to take unique photos and think outside the box. Mr. Toews was really keen on that;) So I’m hoping with those skills I’ll really be able to capture new angles, definitions, and dive a little deeper.
So I guess I should start by talking about what I’ve done so far and what will come. There was much confusion with what I was going to do for my project. Basically, I had an idea with my friend Tala that her and I would work together alongside our mentor Carlton Reimer who I knew from my church. Our idea was that I would photograph her as a model and dive deep into lighting, studio work, and all that fun stuff. But we all know what happened in March with our world pandemic so unfortunately we won’t be able to get together to fulfill that idea. Instead, I’ve decided with the help of my teacher (Mr. Hazeu) that I would just take photos, discover more about photography through practice and trial. I will potentially get Carlton to help out with this (from a distance) but as of right now it’s just me and my camera.
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Hi!
I’m Dani. I’m just an average teenager looking to explore the photography life. |