In Retrospect

I've been spending the night reflecting. Reflecting on how much changes in just a few years. But something that is wonderful about being a photographer, you are able to see a whole scrapbook of your life laid out from the time you started. For example, the above photo was taken in the spring when I was 17 [[the time when big t-shirts were a win & haircuts were still being done by my mom]]. This was my favorite picture of me for the longest time but now knowing what I know about techniques and the importance of lighting, this photo is almost impossible for me to look at now. Now, I didn't have a fancy camera that allowed me to play with shutter speed, aperture settings, white balance, and the lot. I had my little Sony DSC-H7 and only had the options for factory defaults because changing anything made everything grainy. But, there's one thing that could have made this photo 85 million times better.... Lighting. Lighting is the key to unlocking the Pandora's Box of photography elites. If I would have faced the opposite direction and had the setting sun on my face instead of lighting me from behind, my entire appearance would be 90 times more visible. You'd be able to see the details on my face, my clothes, the movement of my hair...everything would POP. Despite the quality of the picture. I suppose the only way to learn any of this is to experience, experience, experience. Did I mention experience?

My next thing is framing. But framing isn't really something that you master all too well in my opinion. It's something that photographers just know how to do. When you study how photographers frame their photographs, it's what makes them unique and stand out against anyone else. See if you can spot any differences between Carsten Peter and Jim Richardson.


This photo was also taken in the summer when I was 17 with the same camera [[I've never posted this photo anywhere before... in fact, I don't remember showing it to anybody either]]. The way I frame a photo hasn't really changed at all. A lot of times, I like to leave the main subject off-center and capture a photo by telling a story with its surrounding atmosphere. So in that respect, I can still honor this photo.

The next two are recentish from the fall time. I was too tired in these photos to care what I looked like, and I just have to laugh at the first one haha. But these two photos were only seconds apart. The first one was kind of completely accidental when the flash didn't go off at all and I kind of had a sigh of regret a bit lol. But the purpose here is to show how much lighting can effect a photo and make it look SOOOOOOOOOooOoOooOOooOOOOOOOOOOOOOO differnet.

Giggle. Giggle.

All of these next ones were taken when I was 16 with my Kodak C315. Some of these surprise me with the abilities that this little camera had. I guess it's all in how you use with what you got.

And these next ones, all taken with my Sony DSC-H7 a year later when I was 17.




So I suppose it's time for me to get some good sleep!
I'm looking forward to having the majority of next week off!! :)

-Brooke