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.