Getting Experience!

As a beginner photographer, it is good to get a little exposure if you want to pursue it further. I have joined the Waltonian staff, and have become a photo journalist for our schools newspaper! It feels good to have that title, even though it is just for our university's newspaper. I am getting good experience, and it feels great doing something I really enjoy. Sometimes it is intimidating because I am surrounded by many other great photographers. However, it is important to be persistent, and to keep pushing yourself. It is easy to get discouraged by simple set backs, but these are the things that hold us back.
I took this picture at winter music festival at EU. I felt like a little photographer, walking up and down the isles, snapping images with a cool-looking camera. Getting experience may seem tedious, but it is necessary to go further!

The Art of Artistic Thoughts

Sometimes people want to nail pictures so badly, that they forget about the true essence of the art itself. Photography is an everyday thing. By this, I mean everything around us could be a captured image. We do not need cameras 24/7 to capture these 'images'. The point I am trying to make, is that when we look at our surroundings, we should look at it with an artistic perspective. Now I am not saying, that we should analyse every single thing. However, at chosen moments, thinking about art and its relation to our surroundings can be imperative to shaping a photographers mind. Analyses our surroundings in an artistic way can include checking out angles, noticing color, distinguishing shapes in everyday objects, freezing an image of your surrounding and imagining it as a picture, framing just enough of the surroundings to make it a "full" picture, etc. These things might seem weird and unusual, but I find myself doing this on many occasions, and I think it has helped me build strengths in photography.
And so, when you go out to take pictures, you will already know your angles, colors, shapes and sizes from practicing them in your mind.. Might sound Geeky, but it is suggested! ;)

The Key to Photography: Goofing Around.

Today my friend and I got on the roof of my building and took pictures! Sometimes we tend to critique ourselves too much. A key aspect of photography is being able to learn from yourself and the mistakes you make. Also, it is being able to practice and see first hand what photographers go through. I love goofing around with the camera and finding new effects and angles that make my pictures look good! So, if you are like me, a college student that does not have enough amusement, taking pictures can be fun! You never know what you might come up with, always keep snapping :) 

Black and White Madness!

I wanted to re state my love for black and white pictures! I think they tell so much about a picture. Often times, we are distracted by a normal color picture, simply because of the color. We fail to see the emotion and passion that is intended to be portrayed. Here we are able to see the connection the infant has with his blanket. In other words if you want to capture an image that has a lot of emotion, you should capture it in black and white!
It is also suggested that beginner photographers start with images in black and white (Such as college students like myself). For one, it is much cheaper to print - This means us college students can afford it. Also, when capturing color images, it is harder to get better quality just because it takes more skill. With black and white, beginners are more likely to successfully print a pleasant picture because these images have to do mostly with light. This picture is from one of the blogs on my blog list.