Coming To A Close

So I think I mentioned before that this whole blog was for a passion project that I was doing for Bible Class at my school and seeing as it is June the passion project is coming to a close. Although I didn't make half as many posts as I had planned to I did learn lots about photography. Part of the problem for me is that I realized that a lot of photography is self learned. Someone can go on and on telling you about how aperture and ISO and shutter speed can help you compose a picture but until you actually go out and grab a camera and start snapping some pictures and messing around with settings you cant really truly learn a ton about photography. In this way it was way harder for me to document exactly what it was that I was doing and "making progress" became more difficult. However besides all that I learned that  I specifically have a real passion for doing outdoor photography! I love taking pictures of little things outside and flowers and clouds and stuff like that :) I think that this is where photography and my faith can intertwine, Photography can be seen God-Worshiping because it is one way of admiring and celebrating what God has created here on earth for us. Also photography can be seen as Creation-Enjoying taking pictures gives you a completely new perspective on the world and you take time to really stop and enjoy the smaller things and focus in on details that God has surrounded us with. These are just 2 ways that I think that photography can really play into the Christian faith. I honestly don't plan to stop taking pictures and maybe i'll even keep this blog as way to publicly display my photography, I think its a fun hobby and a way to preserve the little things.

Do You Have the Time to Be Happy?

Lately on Twitter I've been seeing people posting pictures with the hashtag 100happydays. At first seeing all these pictures on my Timeline meant nothing to me but slowly and surely it peeked my interest. Soon I found myself searching the hashtag on twitter and coming across the official 100 happy days page that had a link to their website. Once I reached the website I finally really understood what was taking over my feed. This was literally a challenge to post pictures of things that made you happy throughout a day, big or small. Once you are on the website and you decide that you want to participate in the challenge you fill out a a participation sign up sheet that asks you what platform (facebook, twitter, instagram) you plan to be using, also the day you plan to start the challenge and it takes your username from the platform that you choose to use. On the website you can also choose how public you want your photos to be, if you don't care who sees them you can use the public #100happydays however if you don't want just anyone to be able to search that and see your pictures you can make up your own hashtag and give it to the website so only people you know and tell would be able to see it along with the creators. And if you absolutely don't want anyone to see your pictures you can choose to just email the creators your pictures. Also apparently at the end of the challenge they will send you a little 100 page book of all of your pictures? Not quite clear on that yet though.

On the website they tell you that 71% of people who started the challenge didn't finish it because they said they didn't have the time. At first I wondered how that was even possible snapping a picture doesn't take a lot of time but often I forget about the challenge or can't think of anything in my day that has made me happy enough to want to commemorate it. Although these are just amateur shots taken with my phone and nothing fancy I do enjoy this challenge because it helps me appreciate the little things in my life that make me happy like finding the time to read, or beating my best playing Mario. If your actually taking the time to read this and you think this is something thats worth a shot you can sign up here and see if you have the time to be happy. :) Also I'll make a page on this blog and post the pictures I've been taking!

Getting Up Close With Macro Photography

Macro Photography is essentially taking extremely close up pictures of smaller subjects so that the size of the subject in the photograph is far larger than its actual life size. This is by far one of my favourite types of photography because it lets you get up close with the subject and brings out a lot of different details that could other wise be missed. A good portion of macro photography pictures are related to nature in some way although it doesn't have to be limited to that alone. I particularly like taking pictures of things nature related, but however due to the fact that there is still snow on the ground and its been rather chilly, I haven't had much opportunity to go out and take pictures. I've taken a few shots but i'm thinking that I will revisit this type of photography when the weather gets better!

Okay so these are the shots that I did take and they taught me a lot about how macro photography works. 

1) Using a smaller aperture ( the space through which the light has to travel) can help you bring out more detail and help you make the most out of your depth of field. 

2)The appropriate lighting is super important, because you have to get so close to your subject you don't want to be in lighting that will cause you to cast a shadow across your pictures.

Often times whenever I actually see a photo shoot I partially wonder why photographers take so many pictures of the same thing. However whiles taking these pictures I found myself taking multiple shots of the same thing, trying different angles, apertures, and camera lighting. I've realized that unknowingly when you see something that you want to photograph you already begin to know exactly what you want to see in the picture and when you do see it you will know but that only can come with the patience of being able to take time to try different things with your subject, meaning taking more than one picture!

Sometimes however whiles your messing around with different ways to take a picture you end up with something you totally didn't plan but still find that you like.

For me this picture was one of those surprises, I had been messing around with the aperture and I got really really close to the leaf and all that caused for the main subject to turn out blurred but to have the whole background extremely sharp... and although it wasn't what I planned I loved how it turned out. So that was a nice unexpected surprise.

Types of Photography & Camera Envy

Through much of my research, I'm starting to realize just how broad the field of photography is. There are many different types of photography and although I would love to try all of them it wouldn't be realistic to say that I could or would in the next four months. I'm realizing that I'm going to have to pick a few types that I like and then work on those. One type of photography that I really love is landscape photography, another is architecture photography ( though I'm not sure how much of this I'll be able to do), also macro photography and street photography. Along with trying different tips and tricks, I will try to pursue and improve my skills in these types of photography.

Also the topic of "Camera Envy." I read this on a website and it made me laugh because the name is so close to the truth. Most people like me who are just starting out in photography don't have an extremely fancy camera such as a digital SLR, rather just simple compact point and shoot. However the internet is filled with tips for making the most out of having such a camera. I'm learning lots about my cameras capabilities and finding out that it is still capable of taking "good quality" pictures. In the future I do plan on getting a DSLR camera but as of now I don't have the money for it  (the one I would like is currently $549)  , so until then I'm going to use the camera I have now and do my best to live with my "Camera Envy."

Starting Off

For my passion project I have decided to start doing photography. The reason I chose to do photography is because I've always loved the ability that photographers have to turn a picture into a form of art and I think a lot of the time people under estimate the artistic ability of a photographer, myself included. I've always loved taking pictures and  I think they have the ability to tell a story, and share your emotions. I can honestly scroll through photography for hours without being bored because every picture is unique in its own way. However my photos have never been more than just quick snap shots when I'm on vacation or at a concert or just with friends. Since I decided to do photography I thought it may be useful to pick up some books on the subject. I honestly wasn't expecting there to be a whole lot to read about but I was extremely wrong. There are so many different little things included in taking a good picture ( but part of the fun is that no picture can every really be wrong), but mostly I'm realizing that it takes a lot of practice and patience. My goal for this project is to improve upon my photography skills using different techniques and figuring out how to use different things such as lighting, angles, colour contrast, and depth of field to affect different pictures. And I'd also love to create a portfolio of my pictures... So feel free to join me as I start my journey into photography!!