Darb2012
Violinist by Day, Black Belt by Night
My name is Darby, and I am an amateur photographer. I have just started taking photos of things other than my friends and family just this year. However, even though I still have much room for improvement, I can honestly say that photography is a newfound hobby that I enjoy and love. It pushes me to think creatively and to try to capture scenes in a new and unique way. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been stimulated by a challenge. I think of it as a way to prove that I am capable to take on anything that someone throws at me. And even though I sometimes fall short, I can at least think to myself that I put in my best effort. Photography is constantly a challenge because it requires a lot of brainstorming to even come up with the idea of what it is you want to take a picture of. Furthermore, once you come up with an idea, the actual execution of the photo can be a struggle because I am constantly trying to make the finished product look clear, interesting, and original. However, I have to admit that not everything I produce reaches those standards; again, I am an amateur.
When it comes to photography, my goal is, as previously mentioned, to capture a moment that looks clear, interesting, and original. I try to look at things from an unexpected viewpoint so that I can both capture the hidden beauty of an ordinary object and open my audience’s eyes to a new perspective of life. In order to accomplish this, I experiment with taking photos from many different angles, I zoom in on little details of an object, I toy around with the lighting until it is just right, I focus in on certain areas in the frame and leave other areas slightly blurred, etc. All of these components help me to create a photo that is both intriguing to an audience and beautiful to the human eye. After I have taken a photo and altered it appropriately in Photoshop, my ultimate goal and joy of photography is to step back and look at a picture that I am proud to call my own.
The Self Portrait/Alter Ego project has been the most challenging project so far because it has compelled me to analyze myself and choose what it is that I want the world to know about me. There are so many facets to one individual, which therefore makes it very difficult to sum them all up in one frame. And because that is the case, you are forced to choose one, two, or even three things about yourself that you think are most important about you, and then try to capture a photo of those qualities in the most interesting and creative way possible. Personally, I chose to capture the most defining aspects of my persona, the fact that I’m a violinist and that I am a black belt in Taekwondo, since these two qualities have been a part of me for the majority of my life. It took a long time for me to finally decide that this is what I want to unveil to my audience because there are so many things that shape my personality and interests. However, my violin and my Taekwondo have been a part of me for most of my childhood, and therefore I thought that it was most appropriate to show off what has stuck with me for so long. Once I finally decided on my theme for my self-portrait, I found that the actual execution of the photo was most challenging because setting the scene and getting the lighting just right was very difficult. I wanted to get a good angle so that I could show off the beauty of the violin while still keeping my Taekwondo uniform and boxing gloves in the frame. Furthermore, because I was working with a tripod to capture this photo, it took a lot more time to adjust and readjust my camera so that I could finally expose the vision that I created in my head.
The Alter Ego photo, on the other hand, is, as its name explains, a photo that portrays someone who is completely opposite of who you really are. In my basement, we have a pool table that my step dad and brothers love to play billiards on, and they have often asked me to join in a game with them. They love to play the game for fun (especially in the winter when they are cooped up inside), and even though I have played several times with them, it just isn’t my kind of thing. I don’t understand all the angles, strategies, and different ways of setting up upcoming shots; I’m just not that savvy. Another reason that I chose this photo to portray my alter ego is because, often times, pool tables are associated with bars, beer, and smoke. Personally, I don’t hang out at bars, I’m not a drinker, and I cannot stand the odorous stench of second hand smoke. Therefore, I thought that a symbol that was somehow linked to a bar-like setting would be appropriate because it involves many things that I don’t enjoy.
Violinist by Day, Black Belt by Night
My name is Darby, and I am an amateur photographer. I have just started taking photos of things other than my friends and family just this year. However, even though I still have much room for improvement, I can honestly say that photography is a newfound hobby that I enjoy and love. It pushes me to think creatively and to try to capture scenes in a new and unique way. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been stimulated by a challenge. I think of it as a way to prove that I am capable to take on anything that someone throws at me. And even though I sometimes fall short, I can at least think to myself that I put in my best effort. Photography is constantly a challenge because it requires a lot of brainstorming to even come up with the idea of what it is you want to take a picture of. Furthermore, once you come up with an idea, the actual execution of the photo can be a struggle because I am constantly trying to make the finished product look clear, interesting, and original. However, I have to admit that not everything I produce reaches those standards; again, I am an amateur.
When it comes to photography, my goal is, as previously mentioned, to capture a moment that looks clear, interesting, and original. I try to look at things from an unexpected viewpoint so that I can both capture the hidden beauty of an ordinary object and open my audience’s eyes to a new perspective of life. In order to accomplish this, I experiment with taking photos from many different angles, I zoom in on little details of an object, I toy around with the lighting until it is just right, I focus in on certain areas in the frame and leave other areas slightly blurred, etc. All of these components help me to create a photo that is both intriguing to an audience and beautiful to the human eye. After I have taken a photo and altered it appropriately in Photoshop, my ultimate goal and joy of photography is to step back and look at a picture that I am proud to call my own.
The Self Portrait/Alter Ego project has been the most challenging project so far because it has compelled me to analyze myself and choose what it is that I want the world to know about me. There are so many facets to one individual, which therefore makes it very difficult to sum them all up in one frame. And because that is the case, you are forced to choose one, two, or even three things about yourself that you think are most important about you, and then try to capture a photo of those qualities in the most interesting and creative way possible. Personally, I chose to capture the most defining aspects of my persona, the fact that I’m a violinist and that I am a black belt in Taekwondo, since these two qualities have been a part of me for the majority of my life. It took a long time for me to finally decide that this is what I want to unveil to my audience because there are so many things that shape my personality and interests. However, my violin and my Taekwondo have been a part of me for most of my childhood, and therefore I thought that it was most appropriate to show off what has stuck with me for so long. Once I finally decided on my theme for my self-portrait, I found that the actual execution of the photo was most challenging because setting the scene and getting the lighting just right was very difficult. I wanted to get a good angle so that I could show off the beauty of the violin while still keeping my Taekwondo uniform and boxing gloves in the frame. Furthermore, because I was working with a tripod to capture this photo, it took a lot more time to adjust and readjust my camera so that I could finally expose the vision that I created in my head.
The Alter Ego photo, on the other hand, is, as its name explains, a photo that portrays someone who is completely opposite of who you really are. In my basement, we have a pool table that my step dad and brothers love to play billiards on, and they have often asked me to join in a game with them. They love to play the game for fun (especially in the winter when they are cooped up inside), and even though I have played several times with them, it just isn’t my kind of thing. I don’t understand all the angles, strategies, and different ways of setting up upcoming shots; I’m just not that savvy. Another reason that I chose this photo to portray my alter ego is because, often times, pool tables are associated with bars, beer, and smoke. Personally, I don’t hang out at bars, I’m not a drinker, and I cannot stand the odorous stench of second hand smoke. Therefore, I thought that a symbol that was somehow linked to a bar-like setting would be appropriate because it involves many things that I don’t enjoy.