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Today, I was able to take some photographs of my dad and one of our dogs. This session wasn’t planned, but when I saw my dad and my dog together, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity. The lighting was a nice natural light since we were outside, and the sun was at a perfect place to not cause some weird shadows. I was very glad to be able to take some candid photographs because candid photography is my favorite! After taking the photos, I looked through them to choose my favorites and then I edited them!

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Today, I took more photographs of my sister. With us still being quarantined, it is again hard for me to be able to take photographs. When my sister decided that she wanted to dye her hair I thought it would be a perfect opportunity. I took these photographs to be able to show one of the many ways that people keep themselves busy during the quarantine. I took the photos, chose which ones looked the best, and edited them. This specific experience helped me learn how long the process a photographer goes through can really take. Even though I didn’t take a ton of photos since the “photo shoot” didn’t last very long, it still takes a while to choose the best photos and edit them.

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Today, I took many pictures of my sister at a local park. With this quarantine going on, it is hard to be able to take photographs of people creatively, but since we wanted to get out of the house safely, I thought that this would be a perfect opportunity. I took hundreds of photographs of her all over the playground and the surrounding areas. I saw how to use lighting and backgrounds to my advantage to make the photographs better. I also learned that sometimes I have to put myself in a little bit of an awkward position physically to get the best photograph possible. After the photo shoot, I had to go through the hundreds of photographs I took to decide which ones were my favorite. After choosing my favorite photos, I then edited them.

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Today, I took photos of some of my family! We went to my grandparents house and I was able to get pictures of my grandma, my nana, my mom, and my aunt. I wasn’t able to get very creative with the background because of the location as well as we had a limited time to be able to take all of the pictures that everyone wanted. I loved being able to practice with people that were very understanding of me not being a professional. After the photo shoot, I was then able to edit the photos to make them look a little better.

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Today I completed my second photo session. My boyfriend and I went up to Evergreen and took many photographs with different backgrounds and lightings all around a lake that is in that area. There were a few times where I would go off the trail or even step into the lake to be able to get a better photograph as well, which was a little awkward at first, but it led to better photos being taken. We spent a couple of hours walking around and I took hundreds of photographs in total. After we finished the photo session, we went home and I chose some of my favorite photographs to edit and then I sent them to him for his own personal use. Overall this session helped me a lot with learning about how to use natural lighting situations to my advantage, how to angle to photographs a little better, and how important it is to risk some things to be able to get the best photograph possible. I will be posting a couple of my favorite photos after this post.

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Today I completed my first photo session with my sister. I got inspiration for this session online, as it seems to be a trend that people are following more and more recently. To take these photos I needed a few things - skim milk, water, a bathtub, rose petals, and of course my camera. So, I headed to the store to buy anything that I didn’t already have. After I got everything that I needed together, I started setting up for the shoot, I tore rose petals, put milk and water into the tub, and set up my camera. Then, finally, we started taking pictures. This was a fairly easy shoot since it was in my own home and my sister was being very patient with me. Afterwards, I began choosing the best pictures and editing them. The whole process took around an hour and a half. I will be posting the final products of my favorite photographs after this post.

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So far in the senior summit project there have been a few things that I have accomplished. I have done extensive research about how one should go about starting their own photography business. Through this research, I also learned more about how a camera works as well as other elements one should keep in mind while they are taking photographs. I have also found someone who is willing to be my mentor throughout the process of my field work.
My next steps are to start with field work. I want to take some photographs on my own, so that later I can see where I started and how I was able to improve throughout the process of my learning. Then, I will have to set up dates with my mentor to learn more about what needs to be paid attention to at photography sessions, as well as where and how to edit photographs. Much later on, I will create a photo album that will show my progress throughout senior year.
Some issues that I've ran into so far include that I didn't really know how a camera worked, and I'm not sure how to edit photographs. Not knowing how a camera works has already been overcome, due to all of the research that I've done about photography. I've learned about exposure, shutter speed, and many other elements and how they may have an affect on the photographs that I will be taking. I have not yet overcome not knowing how to edit photographs. This is because I didn't look as much into that piece while I was researching, and I haven't set up a day with my mentor yet to learn. However, this will soon be overcome because I will speak to my mentor about teaching me how and where to edit.
So far I have learned how to start one's photography business. I've seen how hard it is to continue to run a business, and all of the elements that go into starting the business. I've also learned about what trends people think will be popular in the near future. This will help me take photographs that more people will enjoy because I'll know what is popular among people. Lastly, I've learned how cameras physically work, and different elements of the camera that have an affect on the photograph.

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What are you going to do? (Intended outcomes)

Through this project I want to learn the many different elements of photography. More specifically, I want to learn how many different small elements will affect the photographs I’m taking, whether that be lighting, backdrop, poses, or anything else that I may not think of without being educated on photography.

Secondly, I want to learn how to edit photographs. I know that there are many editing styles, and I want to learn how each of those can affect a photo. Editing can change a photo completely to tell a different story and I’d like to learn how to properly do that.

Lastly, I want to learn how a photographer with their own business gets customers, how they set up a time and place to do photo sessions, how to decide how much money to charge, and even how they interact with the customers when they are together in person.

Why are you going to do it? (Why is it necessary or interesting)

Since I was a young child, I’ve always been interested in photography in general. I’ve had many lower quality cameras, where I would do fake photoshoots with my younger sister, cousins, and friends just in my front yard. Through the years I continued to like photography, and I got a higher quality camera for Christmas during highschool. However, I’ve stopped doing photography as much because I’ve gotten more and more busy with school and having a job.

Throughout my childhood and into recent years I’ve gone through many phases of being interested in taking photos of many different things, such as photos of nature, candid pictures of people, photos of architecture, and portraits. I’d like to explore more into the photography world to decide which types that I’d like to work more on and truly perfect.

Who benefits?

I am the person who will mainly benefit from this. The first way I will benefit is that I’m going to be making more time for doing something that I actually enjoy doing. This is very important because everyone should have their own way to escape and do something that they like to do. Another way I could possibly benefit from this is I could get money from it. Obviously right now my skill level isn’t good enough to charge people for me to take photos of them, but after I learn how to properly take photos as well as edit I will be able to ask for money. This will serve as a nice “side hustle” both in the near future and even as an extra job farther in the future on top of what I want to do as a career.

Also, I believe that the people I am close to will benefit from this. Photographs are an amazing way to document memories, and they give people something to look back on and reminisce. As long as I’m taking photographs of the people I am close to, they’ll have something that they can look back on any time they want for the rest of their lives that serves as a refresher to their memories of “the good old days.”

How is it academically worthy? (Stretch)

Currently, I have no education on photography, practically anyone can snap a picture on their phone or camera, but there are many things that photographers know will affect the photograph itself. I will need to learn all of these things that affect a photograph, whether that be lighting, backdrop, the person’s pose, shadows, or other things I possibly haven’t even heard of yet. On top of that, I’ll also need to know how lenses and different cameras will affect a photograph. When my cousin took his senior photos, I know that the photographer had three different cameras with them, so I think it’ll be important to know how those different cameras affected his photos.

Editing photos is a very important part of photography, and currently I’m not sure where to start with that. Right now I just use an app on my phone called VSCO and the photo app that comes preinstalled on my windows computer at home. To learn about editing I’ll first need to know which editing apps are high quality, and then I’ll need to learn about the app itself, and how everything works.

How are you going to do it? (Timeline, materials, resources…)

Currently I have a few essential things that I’ll need to learn about photography. I have a nice camera, which will be helpful just to learn elements of how different cameras work. I also have a laptop at home, which I can use for editing.

There are a few resources that I have that will help me. I know a couple of different photographers that I can ask to teach me and be my mentor throughout the process of my learning. I know that practice makes perfect, and I’ll need people to take pictures of as well, and I believe a lot of my family members and friends would be willing to let me experiment different photography styles or methods with them. Lastly, if I ever need to know something about a specific software or camera that my mentor doesn’t know, I can always do research online.

My timeline will start very shortly. I will first have to ask the photographers that I know if they will help me with this process. I will then have various times within the next couple of months where I will meet up with my mentor, to watch them do photo sessions and I’ll ask any questions that I have. During those months I will also get together with family and friends to take photos of them, and I’ll spend my free time editing the photos I take so I can develop my skills. Then, I will make a final product of a senior year photo album.