Inside Out Project- Take 2!

During Thanksgiving break, I decided to photograph my dad for my next Inside Out Project submission. This time, I wanted to have more personality in the image, and make the image funny and/or interesting. That's why I photographed my dad- he's a big goofball, and both fun and difficult to photograph. There were many fun photos I considered using, but I ended up choosing the one that would be both subtle and engaging...

Just kidding. I actually chose this one.

While I felt like the lighting was a little flat and boring, I also think that it allowed the viewer to focus more on what he was communicating with his face. This isn't the ultimate finished project or anything, but you get the idea (I hope?)

After doing this project, I decided that I want to move beyond simple mug shots like the ones I did for this project. I want to do weird cropping and weird storytelling- something beyond the simple portrait.

Inside Out

After learning about what the Inside Out Project is all about (http://www.insideoutproject.net/), I decided to participate in the project as well. I wrote a lot about the Inside Out Project on my first blog post, and at that point I hadn't actually put up the poster that I got from the website. The poster is about 3X4 feet long, and  it is inside the windows of the Taylor Meade building on the Pacific University campus. 

The Poster

Taylor Meade

I put the poster up in Taylor Meade because I felt like it would be a very visible place to the public. I put it up in time before the concerts at the end of the semester, so it would get maximum visibility and be available to a variety of people within and outside of the Pacific community. I really hope that by putting the poster up, it will inspire other people to get involved, because they will see that it wasn't really that difficult to become part of the project.

When taking the photograph, I was looking for a glamour shot. I wanted to accentuate here eyes, and have her eyes and expression make a strong connection with the viewer. I know that a lot of the shots in the project are meant to be emotional and exciting, but I felt like mine is meant to be engaging. I feel like the eye contact is very strong in the image. However, I definitely see room for improvement.

As far as improvements go, I feel like I could've done a portrait with more emotion. I feel like this one is engaging, but I want to do one that specifically expresses an emotion, so that'll be my goal for my next portrait. I think this project has been pushing me to do more meaningful portraits, and to also be more creative with how I present them to the public. I've seen a lot of other peoples' images of the posters cut up and pasted on stairs, or put up in very interesting places. Once I get a few more people to participate, I want to do a larger installment that will be more creative and interesting. I feel like this first one, though I'm proud of it, is more of a practice round so that I can get my bearings. I can't wait to do it again! (If you want to participate, or want to be my model, let me know!)

Improving My Photography

Looking at the list of things I could do to improve my photography, (http://improvephotography.com/1415/21-things-you-can-do-today-to-change-your-photography-forever/)
 I've already made a website for my photography/art (http://catieprechtel.zenfolio.com/), and I already have a Facebook page for my art (Catie Prechtel + Art), so I decided to do something different. I decided that I could benefit from having a photography bucket list (#14). I always like to keep a list of goals and ideas, so this is a good method for me. It's not about career goals so much as things I think I should try at some point. Here's what I have so far:

1. Do a photoshoot using artificial light, and learn how to set up different lighting schemes.
2. Work on shooting important and interesting subject matter- put more meaning into the work.
3. Photograph color themes. One series could all have the color orange, etc.
4. Do more black and white photography, learn how to manipulate negatives to get interesting effects.
5. Do a series of portraits of people doing mundane, everyday things, but with a twist.
6. Silhouette shots- learn to shoot in very different lights.
7. Find letters in the shapes of objects, and then compile a bunch of those photos to spell out a word.
8. Night sky photography- see if I can get a good enough shot of the stars, and capture their movement.
9. Light painting- get a bunch of people to move around randomly while holding light objects, so there's streaks of light with depth.
10. Make a lens cap into a pinhole, so I can get interesting photos.
11. Place objects in front of the lens to get a distortion.
12. Photograph lightbulbs.
13. Work on macro photography.
14. Get a new camera lens- wide angle or zoom, it doesn't matter, as long as it's not another kit lens.
15. Do travel photography.
16. Work on improving storytelling skills.
17. Practice using different apertures, focal lengths, distances, etc., to get different depths of field.
18. Visual Ethnographies- practice photographing interesting people, and building relationships with them so I can get good, honest photographs.
19. Learn to shoot at the hip, so I can take photos in public without being noticed.
20. Go on daily, weekly, etc. photography walks to keep my mind and inspiration fresh.

Questions on Adobe Camera Raw

During the last few days, the class has been learning about how to use Bridge and Camera Raw. I understand a lot of the basic things, like the zoom tool and cropping, etc., but I think I still need a little polishing up on my understanding of histograms. I get that they move as the image's exposures change, but and I understand that peaks on either end of the histogram mean that the image is either overexposed or underexposed. I think I still need help on understanding what all the peaks in the middle mean, and what all the different colors there mean, too. I think I have a general idea of it all, and could make guesses, but I could definitely do with more practice on my own images. I'm just hoping that I will understand this all with practice.

When Robots Attack! (or get photographed)

After doing that editing assignment with my first two robot shots, I figured I could follow up with a little series of shots of the everyday life of a robot.

Editing #1

This is my first shot at editing using Adobe Camera Raw. I started with two different pictures of my favorite little robot friend, because I honestly couldn't decide which one I liked more. One tells a more interesting story, and one is more visually interesting.

For the first photo, I feel like I have a good story in the image, but I think it started out a little boring. When I edited it, I increased the contrast and saturation, and also brought out the darker shades, so that the image really popped.  The only thing I have a problem with is that I think I over-sharpened the image. It didn't look that dramatic when i was previewing it, but looking at this thumbnail, I think you can see how it made the image a little too gritty. I took this into consideration while editing the second image.

Before Editing

After Editing

For my second image, I felt like I had good lighting on the subject, and I just wanted to even things out. I increased the saturation and contrast again, and I also lightened the exposure. I then cropped a shadow out of the upper right hand corner of the image. I think the editing turned out better on this image, and I like how much color there is in it.

Before Editing

After Editing

After doing this little project of shooting the same subject 20 different ways, I think I will work on editing my best shots from that series and post them here later. I think this could be a fun story line to work on! 

Hasta luego, comrades, and thanks for stopping by.

Auto-biblio-bio-graphic-graphy

Yo yo yo home skillets! My name is Catie, and I'm an Art/Anthropology/Spanish student at Pacific University. Art-wise, my main interest is people and portraiture, hence my interest in anthropology. I love taking photos, drawing, printmaking, jewelry-making, etc.- anything creative. I also play the cello, and enjoy bike riding, frisbee, star gazing, and traveling.

I feel like photography is often the most powerful medium, because there's always a greater element of believability to a photograph than there might be in a drawing that's been idealized and/or romanticized. I think that "JR," a French artist who's currently working on a global art project with a TED grant, has definitely figured out how to use the honest power of photography to change the world. He would definitely be my photographic hero, because his images are not only crisp, dramatic and interesting- they're also inspirational to people. He started his current project by pasting larger-than-life posters of peoples' faces all over the world in an attempt to make people think, and to bring awareness to social issues. His "Inside Out" Project (http://www.insideoutproject.net/) is all about encouraging people around the world to do what he's done. On his website, people can upload their own photographic portraits, and he sends each a large poster with that image so that they can then put that poster up in a public place for all to see. In fact, I've already sent in my own photo to him, and I now have a poster roughly 3 by 4 feet tall (see image), that I am looking to post sometime in the near future. JR is my hero because his art is both beautiful and inspirational- it actually encourages people to get involved and feel like they can make a difference. I want to be able to make art that makes people think, and I think JR's project will be a good guiding example for me.