Tuesday Corner

Hello dear readers,
A you may know, it is Tuesday night. For the rest of all Tuesdays I shall make a post of one photo of mine that helped me grow as a novice photographer. In my photography days and still currently happening is a rut. I find myself photographing similar things in the same way. It is a tough habit to break. In high school I found that it was neat to play with the lighting in a photo, manipulating shadows to do what you wanted. In my work I usually try to use the IU box which is very helpful for storage. There is also an app called Light Room that you can access through IUWare. In my personal experience, Light Room is easier to navigate and harder to mess up the whole photo. It also saves your work right away!

 

I took this photo at the Potawatomi Zoo near campus. The owl looked lonely, and tired. Owls, from what I've learned are primarily nocturnal. Seeing this owl being shown off in the day light made me wonder about the owl. Did the zoo keepers keep the owl awake during the day so it would be forced to sleep at night? Did they change the eating patterns so that it would feel the need to be awake to get the food in the daytime? It seems inhumane to change the living patterns of a wild animal for the sake of being entertainment. While this blog post has taken a slight tangent, to bring it full circle, this photo was the start of framing. Framing can make a photo interesting or weird in a good way. If the frame is good the photo will not appear to be awkward and forced. 

As the reader, what kinds of photos do you feel are successful or unsuccessful in framing? Do you feel there are more important techniques to use?

Photo of the Day

Hello, my darling readers. I am here, as you know, to share my love of photography with you and hopefully inspire your own love in photography. A long time ago, I heard a saying, "You take photos of the things that you care about" By some unknown person. I believe in this quote. I often take photos of my family, nature and different animals. Family is love, nature is freedom and animals are hope. I started my journey into photography with a pinhole camera. It sounds unusual, yes, but there is a point. It teaches the mechanics of a camera on a basic level. The first step was to gain the materials, which I encourage you to do so. The are 11 easy steps to making a pinhole camera.

Step1: Get an empty can of peanuts, or some type of can.

Step 2: Make sure the can is clean.

Step 3: Get photography paper and cut it in red light.

Step 4: Make sure you do not expose your paper to light!

Step 5: Cut a square hole into the can and paint the lid black.

Step 6: Glue a piece of aluminum over the hole.

Step 7: Use a pin and punch a small hole in the foil.

Step 8: Put the paper into the can while in red lighting

Step 9: Point the hole of the camera at any still object.

Step 10: Wait 15 minutes before moving the camera.

 Step 11: Develop the photo in a darkroom.

 Unfortunately I do not have my pinhole camera, but waiting for the photo paper to make the image of what it was pointing at was a big moment in my photography interest. On the next blog I will show you some of my film photography that I took while in high school. I have learned that film photography has disciplined my skill for seeing a photo before I take it and imagining how it can become a greater photo. Waiting to see how the film roll came out and the limited number of possible photos per roll, made taking a photo much more intense. You had to plan your photo before you took it so there were no wasted shots. For now, here is a photo I took with a camera phone.

 

This photo to me signifies that anyone can take a picture, it take effort to take a photo. The word photo has become a word of great meaning in my vocabulary, it shows the effort that each photo takes. It shows that each image can become a work of art if given a few extra minutes of care. I would love to hear stories of your first photos. Did you enjoy taking them? What do you mostly take pictures or photos of?