Center Frame Portrait
Our task was to take a photo using center framing to exhibit the feeling of loneliness. I decided to use this photo of one of my friends while our families were were on vacation together. We went fishing and caught a fish in the first five minutes, but then nothing for the next several hours. In this photo, even though the emotion was more boredom than loneliness and isolation, my friend sitting seemingly alone in a quiet pier in the middle of an empty park might be interpreted that way.
New Beginnings
For this week’s prompt, we were challenged to show “new beginnings”. Something that I love about the area that we live in is that after spending most of the year with golden hills, when it starts to rain, the hills are suddenly just covered in the green with all of the new grass. I think that symbolizes new beginnings because for all of the growth, they will eventually all turn golden and eventually brown as they live and die, but right now they are just at the start of the cycle where they will be bright and green until the rain eventually passes on.
Trash
The prompt for this week was trash. When I was walking with my family, we ran across these trees that people had cut down, but left the fallen branches and chopped up logs on the side of the path. I don’t know why they left the wood on the side, but it didn’t really look like they were coming back. Maybe someone will come around and use some of the wood for a fire pit, but until then, it will probably continue to be considered ‘trash’.
Balance
This week’s prompt was balance, but also to create an accidental renaissance photo. This was a trickier one, especially because paintings in the renaissance were varied. I did notice a common theme in that the subject was rarely looking at the camera and rarely openly smiling. In this photo, Cameron is staring off into the distance, just enjoying the view that he can see from the bridge.
Hometown
The prompt for this week was hometown. One of my favorite parts of my community is that every year, we put on a parade called “Festival of Lights”. It is on a Sunday sometime at the beginning of December and the local marching bands performed and different organizations create floats to be featured. It never really feels like the Christmas season has started until we go to the Festival of Lights. This particular photo was of one of my favorite floats of the parade that we saw this year. It was challenging to take a picture of the float that was both moving and was extremely bright in comparison to the background.
White Balance
This week’s photo challenge was white balance. We were tasked with changing the white balance to create a photo that was not necessarily color accurate. In this photo, the original one I took was more muted tones with a colder feel. It was shot during pretty chilly day, but through changing the white balance, it created a much more late summer feel. It was interesting how changing something as simple as the white balance, it shifts the entire tone of the photo.
Leading Lines
The prompt for this week was to use leading lines to show the concept of infinity. I chose this picture as a response because the street never seems to end. It just goes on until eventually the viewer can’t even make out what is at the end anymore. I also thought the symmetry helped with that imagery of infinity as well.
Love Story
The prompt for this photo was love story. In the flower language, depending on the color, roses have different meanings. The broad meaning of roses is love, but when you look closer at each of the individual meanings for each of the colors represented, it paints a very interesting story. One meaning for white roses is innocence. This rose also has flecks of pink, which symbolize happiness. I thought it was interesting that as the flower has begun to decay slightly, with yellow slightly overtaking the pink. Yellow roses stand for jealousy and a decrease of love. I think when you combine all of these meanings together, it creates a complex story of a new love that was originally happy, but slowly became more toxic over time.
Weight or Mass
I chose this image of ice that fell in for the “Weight or Mass” prompt. Normally there is a stream beneath ice, but after a few weeks without any new snow or rain, the water levels dropped. When that happened, the water was no longer supporting the ice and it was too heavy so it dropped, as seen in the picture. This photo was not originally supposed to be of frozen ice. When I went out to take photos, I was expecting to see either a running stream, or no water at all, but I think this might have been better in the end.
Symmetry Landscape
This week’s prompt was symmetry. For this photo, it gets pretty close to being a natural mirror: the same types of plants, the same snow, and similar rocks. It is a pretty outwardly symmetrical photo, but I enjoy seeing some of the more subtler differences in the two sides, like how despite having the same trees, the side that gets more sun has slightly more growth. Nature can be symmetrical, but it will never have that perfect symmetry because of the variation of how things exist.