Photo Essay
“Being inspired is the most useful asset you could have.”
My mentor, Kirk Hensler, said this to me during my mentor interview. I have taken this particular quote and ran with it throughout my time going out to shoot. Almost everyday while at internship, I had to go outside wherever we were, take 100 photos, edit around 15 - 20, and show my mentors my final shots. Everyday that I showed off my work, I got tips and critique in order to better help me when going out the following day. I took this photo on the first day I went out, unaware of the bland allure it seems to have. There is an extremely basic perspective because I didn’t make an extra effort to create any depth perception or add complexity to the photo. Kirk had given me the advice that, as a photographer, the best photos are always from a different perspective or composed in a way that an average person would not think of… This advice was something that continued to run through my brain whenever I went out to shoot. After this day, I made the extra effort every single time I went out to take my hundred shots. |
The next day I went out, using my newfound advice to better help me curate more visually interesting shots. With this photo, there is an obscure perspective going on. The greenery coming in from the sides of the frame, overlapping the door of the house, are irregular, messy, and ridged. The lighting is bleak and dreary, creating an almost cryptic aspect to the photo that all culminates to create the overall ambiance I was trying to portray. On this day, I went out to take my 100 photos and focused on getting five different perspectives at each spot. I admire photos with leading lines and symmetry so I was significantly out of my comfort zone considering I had to find a way to portray the story I wanted, while putting in a little more thought into every spot I chose to shoot. I was having a really hard time finding a way to get 5 different perspectives from each of the locations that I picked. During that hour I was outside, I thought a majority of the photos I took were going to be hideous and unappealing to the eye because I had never taken so much time trying so many different angles for one photo. Turns out, with the simple, yet extremely eye-opening, advice, I fell in love with the ambiguous style that I captured.
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A couple days later, I got this shot. It was around mid-afternoon on a weekday, by the cross streets of 5th and Broadway. The array of people hustling and bustling to get to their final stop, for me, was a high-anxiety situation. I had to get my 100 photos for the day and was really struggling to get out of my head. I can tend to get really anxious and self conscious when in a public scenario of this kind. I just felt like everyone on that lively street had their eyes on me which prevented me from playing with different photography techniques. There is almost a sense of irony when I take a look at this photo because if looking as if not knowing the circumstances I was in, there is a sense of calmness coming through. The cool blue tones and leading lines create a feeling of content balance or peace. The soaring building cuts the frame perfectly in half, right where the two sides meet at the corner which is extremely satisfying. I got this shot while sitting on a bench, only taking the photo because I needed at least 100 for the day. After offloading and editing everything, I was in awe of the impeccable composure and tranquility within. I genuinely thought this picture was going to be absolutely terrible, yet I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.
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Continually, a few days later, I was back in South Park to take my photos. I decided to go down a street I wasn’t too familiar with because I wanted to get new inspiration from an environment I was comfortable in. I soon found this coffee shop, Cafe Madeline, which inspired me to take this picture. I had started to play with reflections a couple days before and loved the shots I got, so I wanted to see if I could create a comfortable ambience because of the coffee shop vibe. I took maybe 15 photos of this window seat, trying to get the right angle, shadows, and focus. I finally got this one, with an interesting focus on the sugar bowl peacefully sitting on the table, with the empty chair in the background. When editing, I knew I wanted to highlight the blue tones from the shadow I was under, but I also wanted a warmer vibe to make sure there was that comforting aspect showing through. Also, with the other photos I got, there were a lot more warm tones throughout, so I wanted to make sure all the photos fit together. Concludingly, even with the warm vibe portrayed in this photo, there is also a lonely, isolated feeling within, seeing that there is that empty table just waiting to be used.
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Almost every time I went around South Park to shoot, I always found a vintage car to take photos of. I mean they so naturally grab my attention, I was almost obligated to snap a few quick shots of them when going about my days. On this particular day, it was one of my last, and I was starting to dread those hundred photos. I had felt like I was gone down every street, found every old car, seen every house, taken photos of everything that I possibly could have. I was uninspired, so much so that I became extremely insecure about my photography skills and hated photo I took. And then, I found this van… I was so captivated by the vibrant orange tones and the blue sky reflecting off the metals. There is almost a sense of warmth and earthiness because of the vibrant sun spot highlighting the orange paint job on the van. However, that is soon challenged by anxiety and uncertainty due to of the weeds staggering the bottom half of the frame. This van changed everything for me because I felt that inspiration while out shooting, for the first time in a while. I got this beautifully composed shot that I wouldn’t have gotten if never coming across this car.
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