Lighting Workshop Six

Sorry about the late post (I've been without a computer for over a week now).

The last workshop was a great learning experience, what struck me the most was the amount of pressure. Our job was to make our client (Mr. Semerdjian) happy. That's a lot of pressure. In most other forms of art your job is to create. For most there is a lingering thought of an audience that you hope to gain the approval of in the back of your mind. But that's all it is; it's just a thought. It's not until its too late and you have the finished product that you get to worry about how it will be received. When you're taking photos for some one else the audience is sitting right in front of you, waiting to see something worth whatever it is they're paying you. (In our case there was no money, just the desire to impress some one who may or may not be grading you.)

But it seems those who are truly good at what they do manage to do whatever they want and have everyone adore their work regardless.

Lighting Workship Number Five

What I loved about today's assignment (other then the adrenaline rush of a deadline) was that I could take a picture of the same thing 10,000 times and have it look completely different each time. This is true for all photography - not just newspaper photography - but it became really clear to me today when your objective was to spin the subject a certain way and all you can really change is the angle. Lighting, location, and even time, is completely out of your control. But with a 30 degree change in the angle of your wrist, you can have the auditorium seating have a whole new meaning.

Lighting Workshop Four

After two workshops with natural lighting and two workshops without, I can definitely say I like studio lighting better. I'm we're covering both, because I know I need to learn both. I can just say that I enjoy creating the lighting situation more than having to make something out of the natural light given. Although, I do like the effects of natural lighting more. There seem to be a lot of beautiful light you can find in nature that you just can't recreate.

What I enjoy the most is the fact that I am at the point that I can have an opinion on these things. My opinion may not matter, but just the fact that I am able to say, with certainty, that I like working with studio lighting more than I like working with natural lighting is a cool thing. It's nice knowing enough -however little it may be- about something that you are able to figure out where you stand on it.

Lighting Workshop Three

I jokingly called myself the "Queen of Innovation" today in the workshop, but there was some truth behind it. Less emphasis on the queen part (I don't actually think I'm the queen of anything) and more emphasis on the innovation part. I wasn't creating robots that perform surgeries or some kind of food source that could provide for every starving person in the world, but I was finding ways to create art out of cardboard and clothing hangers, and that's pretty cool too.

Right now the workshop isn't about the photo for me. It's more about the procedure. I'm not really working for a gorgeous photo (although its a pretty great reward when I finally get to shooting and see how pretty some photos actually come out). I'm working in order to better understand how to create the scenario that a gorgeous photo comes from. I know they may sound like the same thing, but they're really not. There's a difference from spending an hour setting up lighting for a picture that you want to have come out to be really pretty and spending an hour setting up lighting so you understand what makes a photo come out really pretty. The first mindset comes after more experience, like maybe you should start thinking this way when you're about 4,000 hours into something. Right now I'm having a lot of fun with just having the lighting be the accomplishment - it's like a puzzle! I can't wait for the day where the lighting becomes routine and the photo is the real prize.

Lighting Workshop Two

After a year of playing around with my big fancy camera I learned a few things that I kept in mind while taking photos. I knew the rolly thing that made the clicky thing take longer and the button that made the picture brighter. But now I know that the rolly thing is actually called "shutter speed" and the button is actually called "f-stop." Who would of thought my scientific terms were so off?

What makes me so happy with the past two workshops is the fact that I learned more then what they're called. I learned the basic reasoning of why they do what they do, and how you can use what they do to your advantage. I was also happy to get a bit of time working with natural lighting, since I'm more likely to be experimenting indoors so I'm glad I got some experience outside. I'm very excited to see what the next workshop has in store!

Lighting Workshop One

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but I really and truly do love photography. It's one of those things for me that never seems to get boring, whether I'm viewing some one's photo or am actually the one taking it.

That being said, I'm the kind of person that always worries that learning about the technical aspects of something will make it loose it's magic. The thing with photography is, learning the technical stuff only made it even more magical. The way a softer or harsher light creates a completely different is poetic. The way you create the soft or harsh light is completely creative. The number of ways you can use the light is infinite, making the numbers of emotions you can create infinite.

The workshop was all technical, but none of it was boring. I wanted to go to the Home Depot right after in order to get the materials to be able to play around with the lighting! Needless to say I'm excited for workshop number two!