Tuesday, September 28, 2010

100 Shots (of a plant)


Last week's Creative Imaging assignment was a bit of a challenge! We were told to choose one object and photograph it in a hundred different ways. Yeah. It's harder than it sounds.

I chose one of my houseplants for my object, thinking the different details in something like that (flowers, leaves, stem, pot) would be helpful for this project. And they were - but I still ran out of ideas about 3/4 of the way through. I snapped away happily for the first 40 or so shots, struggled a bit for the next 40, and by the time I had only the last end of the assignment left, I never wanted to look at that stupid plant again (I've since forgiven the plant for its part in all of this).

I think perhaps a lot of people really hated this assignment, but I actually didn't. I was definitely relieved when I finished all 100 shots, but I really felt like I had learned something. It was a good exercise to try to see something new in the same object through a whole hundred photographs, and even though it was a challenge, I felt satisfied when I was done. I know that not all of my shots were great or successful or maybe even that different from each other, but in the end I did feel like I had thought about "seeing" in a new way and had a better idea of all the different ways there are of seeing a subject. I'd actually recommend trying this assignment to any aspiring photographer!

Saturday, September 18, 2010



Skywalk - Anhui, China, 2009
Josef Hoflehner

This image is beautifully composed. The subject of this photograph is basically the bend in the road. It's a simple subject and it fills the frame in a way that is pleasing to the eye. There is some negative space which further emphasizes the mood of the image and frames the subject. The leading lines of the road and the railing draw your eye through the image. The stretch of road before the bend gives a feeling of motion, of moving through the photograph. The photographer utilizes the rule of thirds - the bend happens in the top third of the frame, and the mountainside and the railing are positioned on the vertical thirds of the frame.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Hi, I'm Sarah. I just started at PrairieView School of Photography. You can see some of my work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarah-michelle. Hope you enjoy!