Lifestyle: Telling The Story - Week 3

Week 3 Assignment

Part One: Conceptual Contrast

This week we are going to seek out opportunities for conceptual contrast.  This is the contrast of subject elements within our frame.  It could be contrasts such as big vs. small, wet vs. dry, dark vs. light, man vs. nature, old vs. young, or a million other options.  You could go for a walk and seek out contrasts, or intentionally put them together with subjects you already have in mind.  You don’t have to justify your choices, but you must have two elements that when juxtaposed create some type of contrast.

Please post three images.  Your contrast can be the same in all three, or it can be different, but I want to see your creativity with the use of Point of View and make sure you use the Less is More principle by having nothing but the story in the picture.

Part Two: The Decisive Moment

The Decisive Moment is that moment (rare moment) in which the composition of a photo and the message or emotion of the scene reach an apex.  We can achieve that moment through 1. Intentional Interaction or 2.  Patience.  Waiting. Anticipation.

This exercise is meant to help us slow down and be intentional with our work.  Whether or not we actually capture that fleeting moment is not as important to me for this assignment as the idea of developing a habit of pausing and being very intentional about when we actually click the shutter release button.  I want us to learn to be really really picky!

For this exercise you only get three shots! Yep!  Pick them wisely!  Shoot something meaningful to you that you love.  But you only get three shots.  How does this limitation help you consider composition, point of view, framing, and of course, the timing of your image more than the ability to continuously fire?

Please post your ONE favorite of the three shots.

These assignments are challenging.  I am enjoying the challenges.  Each week, I feel my photography is improving.  I plan to continue to practice these assignments once class is over.  It is important to me that my images can tell a story.

Part 1:  Conceptual Contrast

My husband and I took our kids camping for the first time this weekend.  It was exhausting even though we only stayed for one night.  But it was so worth it because my 6 year old kept saying, "This is my favorite day ever!"  

Restriction vs. Freedom     ISO: 400 |  1/200 sec. |  f/11 | 55-250mm

* Brooke's Review:  Nice use of depth of field-  you have the focus on the fence and you can tell that even with the slightly blurry background, you can tell that there are mountains back there.  The low perspective you shot from is excellent because it is not always an angle that people see things from.  You also used the less is more principle as well - you've narrowed things down into the photo - you also positioned the fence post near the edge and you have nice thick leading lines that lead your eye right to the fence post.  So the composition of the image as for as line and design work out well.

Soft vs. Rough      ISO: 400 |  1/80 sec. |  f/11.0 | 55-250 mm

*Brooke's Review:  Depth of field is really lovely here and it emphasizes what you are going for - the grass actually appears softer than it really is because of the high focus on the thistles.  Less is more is in your favor also - there is nothing distracting in the image and you were able to narrow it down to just the important parts of the image.

 My husband LOVES camping and as for me, I'll tolerate it, but it's not really my thing.  But I did enjoy the view of the valley from the campsite.

 Happy vs. Sad                   ISO: 400 |  1/40 sec. |  f/5.0  | 18-55mm

*Brooke's Review:  Super creative!  I love how you chose to show the contrast of how you don't like camping and your husband does.  The use of all the different food elements is just super creative.  The clean and simple background and it helps to draw our attention into the subjects. 

Part 2:  Decisive Moment

It sure is hard to get a three year old to hold still.  To get this shot, I told my boy to practice his frog jumping. 

     ISO: 400 | 1/320 sec. | f/5.0 | 55-250mm

* Brooke's Review:  If you are successful in capturing decisive moment shots with a 3 year old, that you can capture decisive moments of anybody!  This is a great exercise in teaching us patience and also helps us notice our interaction with our subject in order to get that decisive shot.  I love how you pointed out here that you told your son to practice his frog jumping - you gave him something to do - his interaction elicits great expressions for decisive moments - it's not just him following instructions, he has a task to do which results in different expressions rather than the conditioned smile.  I love the point of view because you are down low and on his level.  You've got a nice clean background and have used the less is more principle too.  You have successfully captured a decisive moment.  The expression on his face tells us that something is about to happen, but we aren't sure what will happen.