First Photo Assignment and Critique

Last week was my first photo class assignment and critique. We were told to take a range of photos fitting different types of shots.

___From a bird’s eye view

____From a lizard’s point of view

____Of something blurred

____Where only one thing is in focus (Shallow Depth of Field: Selective Focus)

____Where everything is in focus (Great Depth of Field)

____That is vertical for a specific reason

____That is horizontal for a specific reason

____Of a friend

____Of a stranger

____Of abstract forms

____That combines words and an image

____About myth or ritual

____About where you live

____About a special, personal place

____About sexuality

____Of a created still-life

____That tells a story

____Of something that is overlooked

____That reminds you of childhood

____That reminds you of a movie

I took the majority of my shots on two separate days. Both of those days, were extra special because my parents were visiting with my grandma. The weather was excellent, with beautiful sunlight that offered great lighting as well as comfortable atmosphere for taking photos.

This is a picture of various letters from my Grandfather from a POW camp in Japan. I arranged them in a random way with a black background that allowed emphasis on the text itself. 

I liked this picture because of the natural saturation. The red of the sign especially was appealing to me. I also liked the irony of the warning sign juxtaposed to the surfer taking off on a wave.

In this picture we see two figures in the distance on a hill overlooking the ocean. In this case the random figures are my grandma and my mom. I liked this photo because it reminded me of pictures I've seen of the scottish hill or irish cliffs.

This picture actually was a sequence of the three photos. The large cement structure is a plug or cork of sorts meant to keep people out one of Santa Cruz's natural ocean holes. It had vents that would allow the ocean water to expel towards the sky when the waves crashed against the cliff.

Even though photographing spider web is a tad cliche. I really like how the lighting turned out on this one. 

The winding of the path and the lighting made this photo catch my eye.  The rendering onto my blog may have altered the color a little because it looks a little bright.

I didn't include this in my photo presentation in class but I  liked this one because it has my dad in it. 

Again with the path right? I really liked the angle and thought I could get a better affect with the blurred image.

The wide shot of this seemed to best to me. I like the calm, yet still breaking ocean in this photo.  Also the mother holding the two children reminds me of my childhood and the relationship between me and the ocean. 

I took a risk shooting this photo with so much negative space but it turned out to be very popular in my class.  I like how the contrast in the sky turned out, even though its black and white.

This random photo of a stranger was a favorite of mine. Even though they both are not facing the camera,  the dog seems to have noticed and stared straight at me. It reminds me of being at home and watching the waves with my dad. I also love the way the background turned out.

Slightly hipster or over artsy, but walking along the beach I couldn't help but photograph a picture of  a lonely guy reading a book beneath the perfectly cropped words, "I need a miracle." Take what you will from it :)

      It was a great two days to take some photos along the beach with my family and I really enjoyed the experience of actively taking photographs to express myself. It was also a very educational experience to have my work critiqued by my peers and I really hope to improve and become better.