Lleyton Brouwer Freestyle Academy Website
Worms-eye-view is one of the most common yet interesting forms of photography. The angle of taking the photo from the ground makes every object seem so massive in a very interesting way. Playing with perspective is a very useful tool to learn as a photographer because comparing and contrasting objects of very different sizes can have a very different feel when using worms-eye-view, which I used here to make this small ladder and lightbulbs seem like skyscrapers to my low-perspective camera.
I thought that using a dark window as a mirror for this Film Noir prompt was a pretty interesting idea. I think self-portraits are very interesting forms of photography, because who better to capture someone’s essence than themselves? Film Noir particularly piqued my interest because of how much emotion these dark portraits conveyed – and I tried to incorporate that into my own Film Noir self-portrait here.
Since I have been pretty overwhelmed with work throughout my high school years, I decided to take a pretty chaotic photo of my desk – papers spread all over the place, very unorganized, and just a big mess. Oftentimes, this is how work feels to me – too fast, too much, etc. and I know many other high school students share this experience with me.
For color theory, I took a photo of a box of colored pencils, increasing the vibrance and saturation to emphasize the variety of colors represented in the image. I thought that by not including the bottom or top of the colored pencils, there was a cool effect of continuation off of the frame. The lack of start and end really makes it seem as though the pencils are never-ending.
With this image, I wanted to take a picture of the aftermath of a storm and show that no matter how hard it rains, hails, or snows, the stars will still glow, the sun will still set, and the Earth will still turn. I think this metaphor for life is very important because it is very motivational in that people can go through experiences, but instead of letting them tear them down, they take it and keep going.
As a little kid, I always thought fire was the most powerful of the elements. After all, fire was the only one that would hurt me – air was just air, water just water, earth just earth. As I’ve grown up, I’ve come to realize the power of water especially. The massiveness of the ocean is still something difficult to grasp. I once heard that there were fifteen times as many gallons of water in the ocean as there are animals on planet Earth. I’m not sure of the validity of the statement, but it is simply impossible to grasp the insane mass of the ocean.
I know this doesn’t look like your ordinary “Urbanscape” – but hear me out. Over the course of my high school years, I have taken a considerable interest in architecture and urban planning. This December, I underwent an independent project in which I attempted to design a building using an unconventional inspiration – a dumpling. This photograph was one of the main inspirations for the project. I imagined a rotund base, curving up toward the spiraled peak of the tower, with some sort of skyscraper antenna at the top. The project fell into pieces in the end, but I use this image as a constant reminder of the importance of creativity, especially in architecture and urban planning – inspiration is everywhere.
I don’t think seasons are just about the weather. Sure, some would argue that winter as a season is the time of snow, hail, etc. Growing up in an area where seasons were a difference of twenty degrees and slight weather changes, I differentiated seasons by the traditions. Every winter, my family, along with hundreds of millions of other families worldwide, celebrate Christmas. This season has become more about Christmas and seeing my family than it has been about some frozen precipitation.
I was very confused about how I was going to tackle this prompt at first. My first thought was to take a picture of someone praying, but I realized that this was something that wasn’t true to many people, myself included. Religion is often a touchy subject, but I think it’s a generally agreed-upon statement to say that the relationship between religion and person is complicated. On the flip side of the coin, gratitude doesn’t have to be a complicated concept at all. What are you thankful for? Answer with your life. Self-reflection is a massive part of gratitude for me, personally. What did I do today? I biked to school – I am grateful for my physical health and my education. I had lunch with my friends – I am grateful for my close friends and the food I ate. There is so much to be thankful for, so I tried my best to find something simple – as simple as an orange slice.
This was definitely one of the more difficult photo-blog prompts I have faced so far. As I took my photographs, I realized that the ones I thought were more on the right track used the technique of the subject looking out of the frame. I wanted to generate and push the feeling of longing – staring off-shot, almost a tired look, soft colors – I had the recipe down to a tee. While editing in Adobe Photoshop, I had to reduce a lot of the harsher bright white colors in the background, but after these minor adjustments, I was happy with the way the photo turned out.