Taking and Making a photo! Cup of hot chocolate.

Wow, 2 posts in one night! I should be working on my essay on Yousuf Karsh for our Analogue Techniques course but blogging just seemed a little easier. This week we did an afternoon assignment with the topic being taking and making a photo. I think taking a photo is maybe more the photographer's response to seeing an opportunity and capturing a moment. Making a photo involves a lot more of a thought process involving choices a photographer has to make with the formal aspects, such as lighting, aperture size, angle, shutter speed, framing, and the list goes on. In these choices, the photographer gives a bit of insight or context, clues as you will, to how he/she feels about the subject matter or how they want the viewer to respond to their photo. My first photo is a cup of hot chocolate . The second cup of hot chocolate is a most delectable, chocolate infused, desirable, got-to-have-it-cup of hot coco. I made choices of larger aperture(f5.6) so the whipping cream would be the focus not the cup, lighting provided texture for the whipping cream, black and white(Monochrome) emphasized the chocolate sprinkles on top, and the angle looking down helped to put the viewer in the position of imaging themselves going in for the taste test.(Can't you just imagine it!)A chocoholics dream come true! Yum Yum!

One Potato, two potato's, more!

Ahhh, miss me? wondering where I've been? I've been living in the land of potato's. ?(Suppose I've been weirder places!) Well, I just came off shoot week here at school(meaning we don't have lectures, but a heaps of shooting assignments to do). My most difficult assignment for the week, to shoot a potato, and have specific emotions associated to him. The catch, we were not allowed to have any other objects in the frame, or change the potato in any way.  The key was lighting, motion and techniques to change the potato's mood. Me and Pete(The Potato) as I grew fond of calling him went everywhere together(even Turkey dinner at thanksgiving) We were doing fine until he lost a part during a drop(My husband gingerly tacked him back together in an attempt to continue the assignment) and then Pete proceeded to get soft and mushy if you know what I mean. It just meant I had too work just that much quicker, to get it done before poor Pete was laid to rest. Here are some of the potato shots-Enjoy!Pic.1-Sad potato, Pic2-Happy potato, Pic.3-Confused potato, Pic. 4-Angry Potato, Pic. 5-Desire Potato.

Extraordinary Misses

For all you fans out there here is the long awaited extraordinary misses and the winners...

The winners are....Pic1: I transformation of brown antique, back lit plate to a kaleidescope
Pic2:crystal Antique plate into a bathtub whirl pool pic3: Changed 8x10 child's school photo and 2 masks to create a human feel and a blurred foreground.

Week 4-Making the Ordinary-Extraordinary!!!

 

Mardi Gras - photo by Ebonie Photo 1 CI Major 1 Assignment

(Focus on framing,depth of field, colour) I used two masks I bought in New Orleans and a 8x10 school picture of my son. 

This week and last have been incredibly difficult for me in terms of school work- and it all began with an assignment called making the ordinary,extraordinary. This creative Imaging assignment was the ultimate taxing event to ever happen to my psyche. You have to understand I'm all about clarity and I'm about as straight forward as they come. I see black and white and shades of gray either fall in the black side or the white. I spent the last 2 weeks in a blur of motion shooting over 650 pictures to attain this extraordinary. It's not that I didn't have ideas but I felt a twinge of regret that I didn't have the skills with the camera to accomplish the notions plaguing my brain. I did once or twice dream about dropping a "Wad of dough" at the photo shop to get me one of those cool macro lenses. But I persevered, and thought to my self "I can do this with what I have, I'm going to make this happen." Well, Three meetings later with Gabrielle (our TA) and a meeting with Sarah, Not to mention the countless support from fellow students  I was comforted with "no your not quite there- you need to think outside the box- put things out of context....." My poor husband, who spent many a time with me helping throw umbrella's into trees, putting bears onto railway tracks ,and blowing bubbles in front of the camera, just kept encouraging me, knowing I was probably missing the mark.( I'll post a slide show of my attempts,to provide a good laugh-just give me a day or two). Even my children began to wonder If mom was still in charge of her faculties.(I was playing with their toys trying to make them appear miraculously real) It was this past week Thursday I finally had the break through and finally completed the assignment. I declared proudly and gleefully during dinner that I finally did it! My youngest son looked at me with fear in his eyes and said " mom,you didn't paste my face onto a GI Joe doll did you???"