So for my photo essay, I decided to do a series of the cats in the Cats Cafe. My friend showed me the cafe she usually goes to where you can play with the feline tenants once and I was hooked. The cats looked incredibly mesmerizing and we became best friends. They sleep, they play, they eat and they’re loved by many. Cats are my soul animals and I was very excited to do this project. With the permission of the cats and the cast of the cafe I started to plan the sequence in which I want the story to turn out. Since this is a photo essay, captions will be limited only as a preface of the series.
For equipment I kept using my Panasonic Lumix camera, which worked good, and produced good quality pictures. I did not use external flash because flash is prohibited, so I complimented my camera with a tripod instead. There are some disadvantages I received from using my camera though, Because the brand is fairly new in the market, it is hard to find different varieties of lenses. Panasonic lenses are not provided by the A/V loan so I had to stick with the lenses that I own. As a result of this the angle of the photos are not as diverse as I wanted it to be. But with the limited equipment I still managed to get most of the style that I wanted.
In creating the photo Essay, Brian told us that we have to consider the sequence which the photos connect to each other. I remembered he said that we should consider what atmosphere we want to leave the audience/viewer in. We have to conjure the exposition of the place, the complications and rising actions, the climax, falling action and resolution. I find it challenging to create a sequence for the cats, because the cats act spontaneously and my time in the cafe was limited. But there are some definite checklist to mark for some of the shots and those are:
- establishing shots
- sleeping shots
- cats playing shots
- One photo with the owner
- cats eating.
I figured the right sequence would be the start and end activities of the cats, from being playful to being tired.
Because of cats, I want to leave the viewers in a feeling of warmth/fuzzy and furry. I realized now how much it affects how I edit the pictures. I shifted all the temperature of the images into a warmer tone and purple tint. I also want to make the pictures look somehow retro/taken from a film camera, So I added the fade effect and lower the shadow tones. There are some challenges I face editing the pictures. Some of my friends (the cats) have black fur, which is problematic with my camera. To stop my friend from looking like a black blob with eyes, I have to increase the shadow and the blacks element of the picture. But this creates a overly fade look on the picture which is unpleasant to look at. I overcome this with my playing with the exposure, contrast and the highlight.
Overally I was please with the result of the photos Even though there could be a lot more improvements. With more preparation I could create a better sequence and possibly even better shots of my friends. The project has taught me that creating a textless caption requires critical and creative thinking on the spot, added with good preparation beforehand. Because you never know what you are going to get from your subject, you have to solve any possible problems that might come. And one more thing, now I have new friends because of this project!
