Assignment #5-Get on Your Belly/Back

Before I did this assignment, I had heard a lot of people saying this is their favorite assignment. I didn't understand why. It seemed to me just rolling on the ground and taking pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't "wake up" from the last assignment in time--I forgot to bring my camera home during weekend. So I could only do all the shooting on Monday. Apparently it's not a good idea to rush, but I had to. The result was that I didn't have a lot of fun shooting or try anything risky, funny or creative. So I'll remember: TAKE YOUR TIME! It's very important.

Alright. Here're my photos. They are not amazing. But they're not bad.


This is an Easter Bunny. Honestly I don't know the story about it. I only know Easter is a religious festival. So it's actually my story in this photo: What does Easter Bunny do? What's the story of the festival? I really like this photo, and it didn't take me a long time to edit it. Good contrast. And I put it next to the window on purpose so there's nice light on it. The bunny is shot from an "arrogant" view. It's holding its chin up. Anyway I think this pose matches its heroic image. One thing I'm not satisfied about is that it's not low enough. It's actually on the ground and I'm on the ground.


A drain and a broken wire box with its lid on the ground. This one is definitely low enough. It's sharp, but I would prefer a little bit more contrast. The broken wire box is the story. There's not a whole lot to say about this photo, but it looks good.


Haha this one actually means something to me. It's the stairs upstairs. But what I wanna show is not just the stairs. I wanna show the sense of mystery formed by dark stairs and strong daylight from throught the windows. It's interesting to me because when I looked at the scene, I thought of something about religion. Like I said, I'm not religious at all. But when I looked at the strong light through the window contrasting the stairs, I suddenly thought of "a road to the heaven". I know little about religions, but this picture can show that the awareness of religions is growing in my mind.

This is Jack Nilsen, the youngest child of the Nilsens, reaching for the branch. Shooting toward sky is hard, which is what I learned when editing this photo on my computer screen. It's hard to balance the pure white of the sky and the darkness over Jack. This photo wasted several pieces of photo paper. As for the composition, I like this pose because Jack looks heroic. He seems to be eager to achieve something. It's like: A little boy with a big dream.


My bed at the Nilsens. I know the contrast might be too strong but I like how the natural light lightened the wall, the top of bed and the ceiling. The story in this photo is that the Nilsens gave me a bedroom where the boys used to stay. So the bedroom is SO NOT MY STYLE. I don't like a high bed away from the ground which I need to climb on every night. I don't like the bed to have a top because I feel like I'm in a cage. And I don't like the motorcyclist's poster on the wall. It's apparently a boy thing. Haha. Anyway the bedroom is not my style.

This is a series of posters of great mathematicians on the wall. It's easy to tell that I was at a low position when shooting it. And I think this skill is very suitable for a photo like this. These mathematicians were all world-famous, so they were heroic. Getting on my belly to shoot it definitely helped show their great images. And I like how all the postes are lined up.


The Nilsens use the word "nerd" a lot. It can mean a lot of things. This photo shows Jack's "nerdiness". He's a naughty 9-year-old boy but he wants to be a hero. However, if you pay attention to his feet, you'll find the shoe lace needs to be tied. It's funny. And it's very Jack. Again, shooting toward sky is hard. It's too hard to edit so I give up printing this one.


I saved my favorite photo of the assignment to the last. This photo of suitcases under the bed has good contrast and it's sharp. Also it's a story-teller. I can tell you three stories from it: 1. My bed is high so I can put my suitcases under it; 2. I'm a traveller; 3. I accidentally found there's a pillow down here. Apparently someone lost it a long time ago.

Overall I think this assignment is so-so, according to the criteria of a perfectionist. Things I learned:

1. Take my time!

2. Be careful with the sky.

3. Trust the computer screen and print few pictures. (Environmentally, save the paper.)

4. To be a good photographer, I need to sacrifice myself, like rolling on the ground when it's raining. I'm glad I was in uniform though. :p

5. Try different views and angles of the same object. Things can be completely changed.

6. I'm kinda good at story-telling, which makes photo shooting more interesting.

I'm so ready to move on to the next assignment!

Assignment #4-High/Low-Key Retaking

According to Mr. Slade, I need to stop. So I'm here to say: I'm finally done with this assignment! (with a sense of satisfaction and relief, haha)

So here are my babies.
High-key #1

This is a door on a van. (Sorry for my poor English word usage. You know what it is.) It's white enough. I added some black so the contrast can look good. I was worried that I could lose the highlight part on the metal frame, but it turned out to be fine. It's a simple but interesting picture, which is a type that I like. I don't need to set anything up. All I need to do is to wait for a good daylight, stand in a just-right position and take the picture.

High-key #2

My favorite watch! When I saw the assignment--re-do high-key/low-key, the first thing jumping into my mind is this watch. It's my favorite. It's pleasantly white. The numbers on it are in a funny-looking cursive version. It's huge (double the size of a normal watch). And it tells time, which is why I like the watch. I'm a person who can't live without a watch on my wrist. Losing track of time means getting lost in life to me. So I excitedly took it out and took tons of pictures of it. Different views, on different backgrounds, and different parts... However, there are not too many good ones. Sometimes it's just frustrating that you like something very much, but you can't use your camera to show your love for it and to show why you like it. I learn from this picture that what percent of a picture is telling the story is very important.

White is white. Black is not grey. And it tells the story above. So conclusion: I like this photo.

Low-key #1

This is... well apparently a remote. It's actually put on a black T-shirt of mine, which is full of dust. But I didn't worry about the dust because I know I would make the background really dark so the dust would eventually disappear. The subtle light on the right side of the remote is JUST RIGHT. But there're things I'd like to improve in this photo, you know, as a perfectionist.

I wish the remote could be exactly in the middle of the photo and the edges of it can be parallel to the frame of the photo.

I wish the letters on the buttons can be whiter, so I could have better contrast.

I wish it could tell a story.

I wish ...

OK I'll stop. I don't wanna drive myself crazy. Anyway, it's a cool-looking picture.

Low-key #2

The bellows! (Thank you Mr. Slade for teaching me a new word. I'll remember that it's singular AND plural. :) ) I like how sharp it is on the leather part. I like the details I get by adding a little bid light to it. I like the contrast formed by the shiny vent and the black table. But I always feel there's a better way to pose it. And it might be better to make the line on the table invisible. I did try a lot of poses for it but they didn't work well.

It's not a perfect picture, not even close. But it has its charm. And I have a story to tell about it. It's called "being amazed by the fact that fireplaces and bellows are common in America". Haha.

Ok. In general, I'm a big fan of this assignment. I literally learned a lot from it. When I was taking photos in the hotel room in Las Vegas, a thought crossed my mind: will the normal pictures be too bored to me after this assignment? Because you know, good high-key/low-key pictures are really cool-looking. We'll see.

Random thoughts after another round of shooting

Although I do have one or two more objects to shoot in my mind, I wanna vent here: I'm so done with this assignment!!
It WAS fun. But the success of the first round of shooting made the second round harder. It seemed like I got stuck on the idea of things on the wall, like lamp switches and outlets. I did get some cool pictures. I just don't like the feeling of shooting the same things all the time.
I remember there was a long weekend, during which we had the assignment of "reflections" in Mr. Patteson's class. The idea "reflections" was stuck in my head when I went to Arches National Park with the Bromleys. I asked if there was a pool in the hotel. Mr. Bromley said, "Yes. Why? You wanna swim?" I said, "No. There're reflections in the pool." This time it happened again. At every place I went with the Nilsens, no matter it was a hotel room in Las Vegas or a cabin at the ranch, I thought of black on black and white on white immediately. I was insane. But I enjoyed it.
Hopefully it turned out to be another success.