Overall, the Uses of Photography subject was very useful in giving me direction into what my strengths and weaknesses are. I have my own DSLR at home, so I was fortunate to be able to trail and error the different settings like exposure, shutter speed, sport modes and all the different lenses before starting the subject. However, after now completing the subject I have learnt many more tips and tricks about my own camera that I never knew.
One of my favourite aspects of the course was the Strangers and Stories project were you had to take photos of someone you didn’t know. Luckily enough the subject that was introduced to me was a guy that was in the army reserves who liked photography. Therefore it made it easier to take photos of him, but this exercise pretty much put you in a place that was familiar to you and you had to take charge and tell the subject how to look, what to do and how to stand etc. It made me feel like I was doing an actual photography job, where it was all up to me to produce the excellent photos, no one else! So that showed me that I am more confident taking photos of random’s than I thought, which I will hold close for future employment in the industry.
One of the most challenging parts of completing this semester was not having access to a laptop or computer at home. Which made me have to do all my editing on Photoshop in the studios after university to the later hours of the night.
A class time exercise that I thought was beneficial and fun was going to Federation Square and looking closely at ‘corners’. It made me aware of what I place in the frame, and what is in each corner. If you frame it in such a way that there’s something that doesn’t fit to the meanings you are trying to convey then move slightly and position yourself somewhere else that works. This really helped me in my project brief 4 postproduction editing. Where I constantly thought to myself does the corner of his head, or shoulder, or arm mixed with naturalistic/constructed overlaid pictures work with what I’m trying to evoke. After 22 hours of extensive editing on Photoshop, I can gladly say that each corner or shape that is created in my photobook is for a reason and it mirrors the type of surrealistic photography I am trying to portray.
As I look back on the first project where I tried to emulate my favourite Instagram individual, I see how far I’ve come. At the start I was merely looking at lighting and how it can change certain meaning in a photo. But now I’ve taken a close eye to lighting, composition, postproduction, and exposure. Its ironic actually because the first project I tried to mimic a certain style and it was average, and for my final a tried to mimic double exposure photography. I feel that this projects result was very successful and showed me how far I’ve come with my education of photography.
Although my favourite subject ‘Uses of photography’ has come to and end, I will no doubt continue taking photos and editing them in such a way to communicates deeper meaning. I don’t think I’ve found my style yet, but with more and more investigation into the world of photography I should soon find out.