All tagged Photo challenge
Make, learn, repeat. As Matti Haapoja once said, these three words are the only “gear” you need to become better at anything you set your eyes on. Not just photography and video, but everything you do in life. I embarked on a creative journey just over a couple of years ago and started practising photography and videography. Most of the things I shoot are not great, but every time I look at something from my work I dislike, I’m determined to make it better next time. The only thing that can’t change for the better is the way I look… At least naturally…
Have you ever sat at a corner of a filled room looking at people, their expressions and reactions and wondered what their story is? It’s called “people watching” and it used to be my favourite pass time earlier in life when smartphones and portable consoles were not as popular. I’m looking to do the same through pictures and document a year in Londoners’ life.
That 30-day challenge changed my life. Figuratively, and literally. My perception of how I see the world has changed as I now try to find the perfect composition within my surroundings, and I have found my style. Did I mention I also got my first commissioned photo session because of it?
This is it. The final challenge of my 30-day photography journey. It's been a very interesting 30 days with lots of learnings, but I'll write all about that in a different post.
Today, I want to focus on my last photo.
Slowly wrapping up this photo-challenge with another portrait photography challenge. I might have skipped a couple of techniques and mandatory accessories (like an external flashlight), but I’m very happy with the outcome!
What kind of photograph can I create that would be improved by the addition of steam, smoke, or fog? What if I don’t have access to natural fog, smoke bombs, a campfire, or a fog machine? This is day 28 of my 30-day photo challenge!
I feel that the closer we get to the end, the broader the challenges become. I guess the author wants to test our creativity and outside-of-the-box thinking in coming up with a composition.
It seems a bit redundant going out shooting urban life when most of my previous challenges incorporated an urban theme. On a second thought, this was an aesthetic I subconsciously chose to convey through my pictures. Have I started picking up a certain style?
This was another very broad concept I had to yet again crack. The only direction I had was to use any form of artificial light. It didn't matter if it was day or night, overcast or cloudy, strobe lights or coloured.
Some of the challenges, don't come with clear instructions. Actually, some of them, are very vague, leaving you to wonder what could this challenge possibly be, or how it will turn up to look like.
Originally, this was meant to be a “wildlife photography” challenge. But the fact that I don’t live in a rural area, nor going to the London Zoo on a weekday is something I can do, I opted in for something in between.
I always admired photos that introduced symmetry. I tried it my self a number of times before. But there was always something that put me off when I looked back at my pictures.
Using fire as your source light is challenging enough. The harsh tones, shadows and lingering movement of the light, make it very hard to correctly expose and light up your subject. Imagine having to capture actual fire as your main subject.
At this stage I've tried a number of different light sources, from on-camera speed lights, fill and backlights, natural hard and soft lights, and I played around with some strobe and laser lights as well.
I dragged my wife out in the cold for this, and use her as my subject. She wasn't thrilled To step out in London's freezing weather.
As a photographer, you have many ways of capturing the same subject or theme using different techniques to bring up different aesthetics.
Photography is all about light. So in this challenge, I was tasked with finding creative ways to light up my subject and give it a twist using different light colours and sources.
Picking up from the previous day, today’s challenge involved slow shutter speeds and long exposures. This time during the day.
This was a fun challenge. You have all probably seen such photos before across social media. I’m talking about those photos in an idyllic and most likely famous location at night, with a bunch of light trailing across your picture.
Product photography is probably a style I will not pursue as much in the future. Maybe if I'm ever asked to do a wedding or a family gathering (Yes! I'd do weddings).
