Lucy Montemerlo

“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” – Sylvia Plath

Author: lucym

  • Water

    50mm, 1/500, F8, ISO 100

    This prompt was by far the most open ended out of the ones we have been assigned so far, giving us a very broad subject to photograph, which forced me to really think about unique ways to depict the way I interact with water on a day to day basis. This photo was shot on the ledge above my family’s kitchen sink, where a small puddle tends to form when water sprays erratically from the tap (most often when we are washing dishes). The glass on the upper left side of the composition is our glass measuring cup, which I use when I need to measure liquids (typically water) when I’m baking. Out of all of the forms and types of water I could have chosen to photograph, I chose this because of how mundane it was. It is one of the kinds of things that you could walk by every single day and not notice until you take the time to observe it specifically. By photographing something so ordinary, I wanted to reflect that the beauty of water doesn’t just reside in ornate fountains and massive waterfalls, but also in the small, repeated moments that shape our everyday routines.

  • Holiday Traditions

    Two red brick buildings fill the left half of the photo, connected to the right half by a green offshoot. People walk by, observing the Christmas tree.
    50mm, 1/125, F5.6, ISO 200

    One of my favorite holiday traditions in my family is when we go to the Distillery District in Toronto (when we are visiting our family who lives there) and visit the little Christmas Market they run there. The green metal facets on the heavy brick building on the left matches (colorwise) the lit Christmas tree on the right, with the overhead sign connecting them. Warm string lights contrast against the cold gray sky. Solid, permanent architecture stands above the temporary decorations and moving crowds below. There’s also balance between big and small. The grand overhead lighting and tall buildings create scale, but the actual experience happens at ground level where individual people walk around. I think this photo demonstrates a balance between warm and cool colors, while also balancing filled and negative space.

  • White Balance

    Stained glass lamp sitting on a wooden surface, casting warm light on a table covered with books and vases.
    edited white balance (done manually on camera)
    Stained glass lamp sitting on a wooden surface, casting warm light on a table covered with books and vases.
    auto white balance setting used on camera

    50mm, 1/125, F5.6, ISO 800

    This composition is of a wooden dresser at my Grandparent’s house, and depicts a quilt she made, as well as a family photo (tucked behind the vases). The nature of the composition is actually the reason behind my choices for white balance. In the original photo, which was taken with the auto white balance setting on, the light from the lamp came of as kind of green and sickly, which I didn’t really feel was representative of the emotions and feelings I associated with the subject matter. That is why I made the white balance much warmer in the final photo. I felt it (especially with how exaggerated it is) really gave a homely and cozy vibe to the photo, better represented how warm and comforting my Grandparent’s house is to me. Overall, I think changing the white balance helped me tell the story I wanted to tell.

  • Sunsets

    Image of a sunset taken from a beach. Silhouettes of small figures dot the horizon line.
    50mm, 1/500, F5.6, ISO 200

    This is a photo that I took when my family and I went up to Aptos for the long weekend. More specifically, this was taken the night we went for a Sunset walk on the beach. This particular photo felt like an apt choice for the prompt because not only were we asked to capture a picture of a sunset, but also to do so creatively. I chose to have the actual setting sun (or at least the area where it had disappeared beneath the horizon) to be out of frame, implying it’s location only through the vivid streaks of yellow and orange. Typically, when I see photos of sunsets, they are centered on the sun itself. In this photo, I wanted to focus more on the effect the sunset has on the colors of the sky, and how they sort of dissipate the further you get from the sun, creating this lovely gradient of vibrancy. Similarly, in order to balance out the strength of the colors in the sunset, I kept the sandy beach a relatively desaturated purplish-gray. This provides both the top and the bottom of the photo with the visual weight needed to counter the other side.

  • Symmetry Landscape

    Plants lining ironwrought fence. The fence is protruding from a set of double doors, and is bordered by bricks on both sides.
    50mm, 1/800, F16, ISO 100

    I would say that out of all of the photos I have taken so far for this class, this prompt posed the greatest challenge: symmetry. And, on top of that, I had to incorporate some sort of landscape into the photo. I was immediately drawn to this staircase (if you can even call it that) because of the plants. The way they had been trimmed and laid out created such a satisfying symmetry, while also providing visual contrast between the pale greens of the leaves and the rich orangey-reds of the bricks. The balance in colors ended up being one of my favorite parts of this image, as I find it really adds to the cohesiveness that symmetry demands. I ended up enjoying the challenge of having to search for a scene/composition that was naturally symmetrical to take a photo of, most because it really forced me to pay close attention to my surroundings.

  • Sports Stories

    Boy in white jersey dribbling basketball while blocking boy in green jersey. Crowd observes.
    50mm, 1/125, F4, ISO 800

    I captured this photo at a basketball game at MVHS. This prompt was all about telling a story, which is why I chose to utilize a shallow depth of field. I really wanted to reflect the crowd fading into the background, and the focus being solely on the action at hand as the player approached the net to take the shot. At least for me, there has always been this moment when I’m playing sports where everything but the ball in front of me (I play soccer) fades away, and time seems to slow down. That is the emotion, and the story, I was attempting to convey in this shot: the period of decision that the player is undergoing as he approaches the net.

  • Mood

    50mm, 1/800, F5.6, ISO 100

    The mood I wanted to reflect in this photo is being at peace. The day I shot this photo, I had just gotten back a good grade on a test I was stressed about, and was very happy. But I didn’t want to just reflect happiness in my photo, because what I was experiencing was less about being happy about the specific grade and more about feeling relieved that there was no longer this impending grade hanging over my head. I chose this composition, with a primarily empty frame, because I thought the clear blue sky (devoid of clouds) was very representative of my lack of worries. The tree is a very yellowish green, which was an intentional choice meant to play off of color associations of yellow (such as happiness). Its placement in the lower corner serves to anchor the composition, while keeping most of the frame open, reinforcing that sense of spaciousness and mental clarity. The minimal composition strips away visual clutter just as I felt my mind being cleared of stress, creating a parallel between the simplicity of the image and the simplicity of that peaceful moment.

  • self-portrait

    Photo of a wooden cabinet, one door is open, exposing a line of pastel colored china and an assortment of wine glasses.
    50mm, 1/64, F1.6, ISO 1600

    This photo was taken in my family’s dining room, of the cabinet we use to store our most “important” (at least in the sentimental sense) china and glasses. The pastel cups and teapots are my parents wedding china, accompanied by an assortment of wine glasses and other pottery that holds emotional importance to us. I chose to photograph this as my faceless self-portrait because it is a visual representation of my family, which is a massive part of who I am. Within this cabinet, numerous milestones in my- and our overall family’s- history are represented, creating a visual testament to my story. From my parent’s wedding, to my “special teacup” from when I was was younger (visible in the bottom right corner), every object within this frame holds significance in regards to my identity.