Digital Photography Final Project

 

     To me taking pictures with your camera should be fun. Photography as a practice, a hobby, a job, should, all be vivid, informative, and fun. And the subject matter doesn’t have to be over the top at some exotic location like the ancient temples in the subcontinent of India or riders on camel back along the desert plains of Arabia. No, it can be something simple, something ordinary in everyday life in a kitchen in the suburbs of Washington, DC brought to life with basic skills we students have learned in this course handling a camera. By simply establishing a distinct environment, points of view in each photo of a series of photos, capturing compositions, thinking creatively, and using camera variables, normal daily processes and tasks can visually become compelling in photographs that tell a story all on their own.

     My interest in photography is to capture and retain all phenomena in the real world in photos. This grants any photographer an immense measure of latitude because in the photos, the photographer’s perception creates a version of reality recorded on photographic memory. The perception becomes real. My interest in photography is taking pictures so well, that the photos explain people, places, and things visually so compelling all unto themselves, that not one single verbal syllable is required.

     For the Final Digital Photography Project, I call it “Baking Brownies.” Photograph #1 makes explicit use of the depth-of-field technique which not only draws the viewer’s attention to the popular iconic Brownie Mix, but it establishes a backdrop environment of a typical American kitchen without distracting away from the Brownie Mix. The environment is a bold contrast, but it only reinforces the importance of the primary subject matter in the photo. Photograph #2 captures motion while adding a depth of comprehension to the progress of taking the next step to completing the task. Additional ingredients such as eggs and oil are added without motion, as not to distract from the key motion of hand turning the mix batter. Photograph #3 makes use of capturing perspective and composition with motion simultaneously. This is done with a variation in the soft lighting to capture the motion of the batter being poured into the baking more striking than the turning of the batter in the previous photo. This compels the viewer to visually comprehend that progress towards completing the task has taken another step. Note how the photographs are relevant and interesting, telling a story all unto themselves. Photograph #4 encompasses a deeper level of planning and thinking creatively. The oven was not only warmed for baking, before placing the pan in the oven the heat was captured on the glass oven door to reinforce preheating the oven. Not a single verbal syllable is required, it is all captured in the planning, lighting, and motion with the subject matter retaining its central theme. Finally, photograph #5 is all about thinking creatively, the angle, lighting, and adding the layer of the additional prop of the Haagen-Dazs ice cream, which only entices the viewer to indulge.

     This series of photos makes good use of Point of View, Establishing Environment, Capturing Composition, Attracting Attention, Picturing People, Thinking Creatively, and Camera Variables, to place the viewer directly in this ordinary American kitchen. They are almost literally there baking the brownies with me.