The Office

Photo by Nataly Marenco, Dayna Mulder, and Me

In my studio lighting class, as groups we were assigned the task of making a typical boring office chair look interesting. With free range in lighting and props, my group decided to use the studio and equipment itself to create a lifestyle photo of the chair. Using the lights to highlight the chair and the electrical chords to act as leading lines moving the eye to the star of the show: the office chair.

Just another day at the office.

Grow Up

 

In this body of work I wanted to illustrate the psychological aspect of growing up by my own experiences, feelings and thoughts. For myself, the dividing line from adolescents to adulthood is still muddled; and probably will overlap between themselves for the time being. Growing up is not only about the individual but involves the unit of people surrounding that individual. And there is nothing that represents that notion more than the relationship between parents and children. These images display various settings of perspective that depict the relationship between my parents and I and its effect on my “adulthood”, emphasizing on body language and habitual patterns.

To be Continued...

egg (n.)

55mm, f/5.6, 1/4, ISO:200

18mm, f/5.6, 1/10, ISO:200

Recently in my studio lighting class I have been learning the usage of multi lighting. Although for awhile we as a class were photographing people (which by all means I need some practice in that department) finally we were able to photograph objects again (Yay!).
I have to admit I had the hardest time deciding on what to use as my subject. Then luckily during one of my many trips to the refrigerator it dawned on me: eggs! 

I wanted my lighting to be very subtle with some heavy shadows to contrast from the common simple form of the white eggs. 

Who knew eggs could be so sophisticated?

Dayna

120mm, f/16, 1/5, ISO:400 

Hard and soft lighting: a person. With this assignment I finally understood what a difference lighting makes on a person's face. And in most cases soft lighting is definitely more flattering. 

In this portrait I am using one soft light. 

Throughout all the images I have to say this is my favorite. My "model" for that day is usually a bubbly, energetic character (which I still shot some images using her personality as it was) but I wanted her to have a subtle soft expression in the portrait.

I'd like to think, even with her calm demeanor, you can still see in her eyes and the corner of her mouth all the laughter she is so desperately trying to contain. And I like that.

I wanted this portrait to be a little funny, a little sweet, a little quiet and frankly a little quirky

(with the tight shot, large amount of negative space, slight off positioning and of course the expression on her face). 

It's hard not to laugh...  

Wake Up

The Wake Up project was a body of work that displayed the intimate morning routines of various individuals. Using a Canon AE-1, Kodak 200 film and all natural lighting, I wanted to document with a snap shot-like style to produce more organic images that would contribute to the tone of the context. The objective was not to exploit these individuals on how they looked in the morning, their living spaces or their habits but to capture them in a natural state of living, of waking up in the morning.  

I personally find the mornings to be tranquil and rather enjoy the slow pace of it (I know not everyone experiences calm mornings) and I can only hope that I was able to successfully depict my appreciation for the mornings in this work. 

Here is the rest of the collection.


Good Morning 

Portrait of a Girl

Photo by Nataly

As I grow as a photographer, I think more now than ever, I have been reevaluating the directions I want to go in this line of work. There are so many different ways I can use this skill and at times it can be a little overwhelming. Do I want to be a wedding/portrait photographer? Go into commercial photography? Be a photojournalist? Or just focus all my energy into fine art photography? (and then some). 

I think I've been struggling most with the idea of 'do what makes money' vs. 'do what makes me happy'.  Not to say that I can't have both, but being a realist, sometimes all the factors and possibilities have to be laid out.

Even now as I write this out, my thoughts are trying to paint a picture of what my life would be like in all these different situations. 

But I can honestly say my heart lies with fine art photography. 
It makes me feel comfortable and at home. 
And now I have just begun to tap into my ideas and explore and produce the images I really want. 

And all at the same time, I'm trying to refine my photographic style. I hope to express little pieces of my own self in every photograph I take. 

It could have been a brilliant career.

Get Your Kicks

36mm, f/16, 1/2, ISO:200

22mm, f/5.6, 1/30, ISO:200

Being that I'm back in school for fall semester with fresh new classes and fresh new professors, it's exciting that i'll be able to focus again on my photography. 
It's only been the second week of school and i've already soaked up so much interesting information and I'm feeling rather inspired. 

*Not to mention I'm going to make it a goal to publish more post on here. 

The first photo shoot of the semester. Hard & soft lighting: an object. Pretty much self explanatory.
I used hard lighting to emphasize the details of the boots.

These boots were made for walkin'