Images of My Thoughts

The second set of my fashion assignment.  As Gwen would know, it was fail after fail that afternoon; private lakes, a lake that we couldn’t get to, and last, a pond that looks like a aftermath of a nuclear disaster.  Even through all that trouble, I am glad that I still got some shots are presentable.
In order to differentiate between fashion photography and portrait photography, I had to study at Barnes & Nobles.  I pulled out all the fashion magazines that was on the shelf and went through them; see how the images are lighted, how the models are posed,  and how the clothing are presented.

Just an assignment I had to redo for a class.  I had everything planned out, the location (Green Pond Lake), the time and the people, but when I got to Green Pond, the tools that live there say that the dock is private property and so is the community.  So instead of a nice sunset ambiance, I had to find a smaller lake with trees that are blocking the sunset.

And after a couple shots, the battery decided to die.  So, instead of get everything done at once, everything was dragged out until the next day.

I like the images, just not the backgrounds.  Only if I can have some nice weather in the past two days, I would of be a lot happier but these shots still work for me.

Thanks Anthony and Chris for helping out.

type of portraiture.

These are County College of Morris professors.  When I was shooting this project, Instead of having time to carry on a conversation, I had about 1 to 2 minutes with each subject because of the time constraint.  Therefore, I tried my best to be as genuine as I can, telling them what this shoot is about and pretty much just show sincerity and that usually make people act the same way and are able to be more comfortable.

I told the subjects that I just want a genuine expression, if they can’t do that, then just do something comical.  But, these three portraits below show their personalities and characters just from their expressions on their faces.

Couple weeks ago, I said that I wanted to photograph portraits with a different approach, trying to imitate the way that Platon does it.  The communication, the relationships and level of comfort between the photographer and the subject, and the ability to click that shutter when the eyes see the emotions and compositions.

Therefore, for my studio lighting final portfolio, I decided not to pose my subjects, instead, we have conversations and as that carries on and the comfort level increases, I click the shutter at the moment where there is a genuine feeling involved within the conversation.

It’s really difficult for me because I am not a talkative guy; however, this exercise taught me a lot.  My professor said something in one of the classes, “There are two types of photographers who does portraiture, the first one is where the photographers are more active and they tell what the models should do and the models follow that instruction;  the second is where the photographers are more passive and they are there letting the models do what they want and capture the moment when they believe it is right.”  There are pros and cons to either type of photographers, but to me, I rather be the second one.  I feel like the first type of portraiture photographers, they are there to capture the physical side of the models; for the second type of photographers, they are there to capture the emotional side of the models.  Therefore, to me, it is in much difficult and interesting to see the inner being of a person through photography because usually, that is not the intention of photography.

There is something that money cannot buy, and to me, that is the genuine expression on people’s faces that I am able to capture.