Before this class, I had known of Ansel Adams, but never really knew who he was or what he stood for. Through this project, I learned how Ansel Adams took outdoor scenes to show how important he believed nature is to us as people. While trying to photograph like him, I really tried to find beauty in a place that might seem boring and try to focus in on its simple beauty.

This project was a lot of fun, and challenged me to see everyday things in new perspectives. I enjoyed taking a lot of close-up photos and photos looking upwards from the ground. This picture was one of my favorite photos that I shot for the project. I like how it’s a sort of silhouette, and the way that the lighting turned out was really pretty, making it look like it was a little after sunset instead of mid-day, when the photo was taken. The worm’s eye view perspective was my favorite for taking photos, and I think it gives it a sort of fun and whimsical feeling, as if you were small like Alice In Wonderland.

The leading lines project was a challenge for me. I tried to take leading line photos from a lot of sideways angles and some low angle perspectives. My favorite photo was the one with all of the shoes. This was because when I saturated the photo, all of the colors in the photo except the white of their shoes changed. This made the photo look really cool and caused the white shoes to be the sort of focal point of the photo.

The 3D project has been my favorite so far. It challenged me to look for more aspects of shadow and light in photos. I struggled a bit trying to find some shadows and light that highlighted certain objects. My favorite photo was of the one above, this was because I liked how the light illuminated the one leaf. I also liked how the photo was sort of shaded and focused on the shades of color instead of a lot of bright sunlight, it made the scene remind me of a rainforest of some sort.

I really enjoyed this project because I was less focused on what to take photos of and more focused on how to take a photo from interesting perspectives. The photo to the right was my favorite because of the way light passed through the pieces of glass. I used the upside down technique on this photo and I think it turned out really well.

I enjoyed this project a lot more than the texture in man-made objects project. This was because I felt like I was searching less for objects to take photos of, and instead was trying to look at things that were all around me in interesting and creative ways. My favorite photo was of the brown, curled leaf. I liked it the most because of the really defined lines the photo focuses on. 

I thought this project was fun, especially because of all of the colorful fall leaves. I enjoyed trying to take colorful pictures. This photo was my favorite because of the pink in the photo, and I really liked the way the HDR Toning made the photo a lot brighter and more colorful.

I really enjoyed this project because of the change of scenery from where we usually take photos. I also thought the different colored lights made the photos look better. I thought taking the photos clearly was a little hard. I did like how the blurred effect turned out this one photo though. I also like the way the purple and red lights looked together.

This project has been my favorite so far. I really like the pop art style and I thought it was fun to make my own version of it. This was my favorite photo because of the way the Threshold made the different areas detailed and gave the photo more opportunity for different colors. I also think the varied colors on her shirt and eyes made the photo really fun.

I learned that David Hockney was the person to first create joiners, and that it was a very lengthy process to create the collages when he first started to make them. I do like his style of work, I think it is very unique and an interesting way of piecing together photos. My only difficulties with the project were trying to fit all of the photos together on the page and make them somehow look balanced. I think this project should be taught to future classes because it’s a fun and very unique project, and it was a first for me.

I thought this project was a lot of fun and fairly easy. I really liked piecing together different photos and being creative to make a fantasy scene. I went with a North Pole/Winter Wonderland theme since it’s so close to Christmas. I found a Northern Lights photo, and then just started adding some fun things that reminded me of Christmas. I would want to do this project again another and try out a different fantasy world next time.

I learned how to do a drip effect and how to make better glow & neon effects. My favorite photoshop skill was the glow effect of the high-heels because of the washed-out look it gives the photo. I thought the easiest skill was the neon effect. The hardest skill was probably the glow effect because of all of the detail I had to put into the photo to make it look like it was glowing. I would like to do more DIY weeks, because I think trying new photoshop skills is fun, and I would like to practice some skills I’m trying to work on, like glow effects.

This class was a great experience. It allowed me to try out a large variety of photography styles and introduced me to new Photoshop techniques. My favorite projects were the ones done outside when we wandered through the woods. However, my favorite photo was the one of the high-heels. I liked the washed-out, glowing, dreamy look it gave the photo, almost like walking on stars. The thing I took away from this class was that there is an opportunity for photography and design in practically everything. It left me looking at the world around me with some new views. Now I can walk around and see so many things with a photographer's eye and I'm appreciative of that, I think it makes everyday life a lot more interesting and beautiful. Thank you, Mrs. Carmack :)

Sami M.