picture project

Picture Project Reflective Essay

I really enjoyed doing this picture project. I like the "Alphabet Soup" portion of it a little better than the "Picturing the Other" part. It was more of a challenge to find and capture the letters in nature so I think that made it a little more fun. Plus, I would rather take pictures of nature than people. Even the picture of my friend is out in nature. The way I framed my alphabet pictures made an impact. I had to think about which composition within the frame was most appealing and interesting to me. Photographing the letters one way may not read as a letter the other way.

At first I did not approach the "other" person (the stranger) that I photographed. I just found him sitting in his office and started taking pictures. He noticed I was snapping pictures of him, so I asked through the glass if I could continue. He said yes and kept going about his business. The picture I posted was taken after I asked permission to take his picture, but I believe it is candid.

For the most part I wanted all of my photos to look real since they are of nature and people. So I didn't make anything black and white or bring out other colors in an obvious manner. However, I did crop or adjust all of them in at least one way. In every picture I bumped up the clarity so it would show more detail. For the "Alphabet Soup" part, I cropped the image so the letter would be the main component and easy to find. For the "Picturing the Other" part I photographed everyone straight on, portrait style. But I thought it would be boring to put a person smack dab in the middle. So the two "others" are pushed to one side of the composition, allowing the background to provide some information about the person.