Images of My Thoughts

Every time when I see my images, I always have this mix feeling of satisfaction as well as the opposite.  It’s always good at the first glance or two; but then as I look at them for a longer period of time, there will always be the needs for improvements, technically or ideologically,  no exceptions.  I think one of my problem is that I always have this box to shape my shooting styles or to articulate my ideals and it is not like I do not try to go outside the box; but the box seems to always be able to contain me.  Spontaneous is what I feel I am lacking,  as one of my professor would say, I am being too polite, too respectful.

It is those spontaneous moments make the images seem lively, it is those moments that are able to change who I am as an photographer, as an artist.  There are no formulas to create strong images; it is all about trusting instincts and having experience.

Done with the ranting, these couple images below are fashion shoots for my final portfolio, I really enjoy them.  It might not be perfect down to the last wrinkle of the shirt; but concept wise and technically speaking, I find them eye-catching.

I want to thank Erica for putting up with all my annoying demands and also thank Marnie decide to help out and being a wonderful assistant.  Enjoy the images!

Thanks to Erica, I finally get to see this lake she was talking about that I would never of found by myself in a million years.  I decided to use this landscape for my photo II collage assignment, hopefully the images that I shot would come out good for a collage (only able to use film for this assignment).

After did what was necessary for the project, I just start to shoot whatever I see as fits.  From what happened today, I feel like patience is definitely one of the most important skill to acquire for photography.  It was cloudy and I was framing the shot with this island in the middle of the lake and after I took the shot, I was semi-satisfied with what I see on the screen.  As I was about to move to another location to shoot for a different angle of the lake, I feel the sun hitting the back of my head and when I look up, that island looks completely different from what it was before.  The sun just peeked through this little opening of the cloud and the wither grass on the island instead of looking brown, it is now golden.  So, I quickly took couple shots of this amazing lighting of the scene and within 10 to 15 seconds, the glow was gone for the rest of the afternoon.

I guess I got lucky this time by catching the right moment.  However, what about those people who have hundreds and thousands of photographs with the lighting far more spectacular than what I saw today, are they extremely lucky?  Therefore, instead of just snapping away the shots, that is why I now believe that the ability to wait and just see what will happen is the reason why some photographers are successful, like Henri Cartier-Bresson, who is the person that comes up with the idea of “Decisive Moment” as he said, “There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative”.  In order to capture that moment, it is not about lucky, but about patience, observation, the eyes to see the composition that fall into the frame and the ability to click that shutter when you see it.  The only thing I regret about this image is that if I was here a week or two earlier, that tree on the island probably will have this reddish-gold glow to it which would make it more eye catching.

The idea of the second image just came to me when I was sitting around; it is still fall but all the leaves are pretty much on the ground already.  So, I decided to make my own leaves that fall.  Took me two unsuccessful tries until Erica and Marnie ( I think that is her name, I can never remember people’s name when they first introduce themselves to me >.<) volunteered to toss the leaves for me.  Even though it doesn’t look like natural leaves falling, I still like the image because the motion blur leaves as well as the frozen leaves from the flash.

The last two images are just the shots of Erica and Marnie.  You can’t really see their faces, but I hope you can tell by just looking at the images that their friendship is strong.  I feel awkward just being there and I hope I didn’t disrupt them from their bonding because of my presence.

It was a relaxing afternoon other than carrying all the equipments.  I would say it was a good day.