Week Four/Reflection

The last week of senior projects was filled with more shoots and editing. I did shoots with four people, and had a lot of fun finding creative ways to orchestrate the subjects in the pictures. My favorite shoots from this week were the shoots with Katie Truong and Bailey Ellis because I not only got some amazing shots with them, but they were also super easy to work with. The most fun part of each of their shoots was trying to make them laugh. Sometimes I would just say “laugh really hard” which surprisingly worked pretty well, but other times I would say things like “sniff your shoulder” which would make them turn to their shoulder and start laughing.

Editing and processing the pictures from each shoot took the most amount of time, but I was always satisfied with the end product. I edited around 16 to 20 pictures from each shoot and made two separate google drive folders to share with the person I took pictures of: an edited pictures folder and an unedited pictures folder. After editing, I made sure to update my photography instagram with the new pictures.

Over the course of this project, I learned a lot from my mentor and was able to reach the goals I set for myself. I learned how to appropriately shift my camera settings based on the natural lighting, how to edit pictures to look more vibrant yet still natural, and how to orchestrate the subjects of the photos in creative ways. I also learned a lot more about how to create and manage a successful photography business. This project gave me a lot of room to try out new things that I wouldn’t have been able to do in a project that involved a harsher schedule. If I had an issue or a question, I was always able to ask my mentor and sort it out before I moved on to my next photoshoot.

I would definitely recommend this project to the rising seniors because I never felt like it was a chore. If I was ever bored on the weekends, I would spend my time editing even if I had fulfilled my hour requirements for that week. Because this project had so much flexibility, I was able to discover new strengths and weaknesses on my own everyday. I am very happy that I chose photography as my senior project, and I’m definitely going to continue doing shoots with people over the summer.

Here are some pictures I took this week:

Week Three

This past week has been very busy and exciting. On Friday I was able to go down to Pro Photo Supply get my 50 mm prime lens. I tested it out in store and was extremely happy with the aperture, as it gave the photos quite a bit of depth like I was looking for.

Earlier last week, I scheduled a shadowing session with Premi Shiv, a part time photographer. My parents hired her to take pictures during my dance performance on June 29th, and I thought it would be a good idea to learn a few things from her. I went over to her studio setup in her house on Saturday morning, and we basically had a mini crash course about studio photography. She asked me to bring someone who would be willing to model for us, so I of course dragged my sister along at 9 in the morning. We tried out different lighting, various settings, and multiple lenses. I learned a lot about how to work with artificial and natural lighting, and how they can drastically change the mood of the portraits. I took some shots with her 35 mm lens which Dan used as well, and the pictures turned out amazing…so knowing me of course, I’m now convincing my parents to let me get the 35 mm lens this weekend. After the shoot, Premi advised me to get a lightroom plan so I could do some simple editing after my shoots.

Over the weekend, I did a shoot with one of my friends because I couldn’t wait to take some shots with the new lens. The pictures turned out amazing, so I started playing around with the color in lightroom. Since I hadn’t started advertising to do shoots yet, I decided to refurbish my old photography instagram, and post the new pictures I took. I wanted to have a photography instagram so people could just easily look at my work before they book a shoot. I also posted the pictures on the portfolio section of this website so I could advertise to people who don’t have an instagram. Around Monday or Tuesday, I posted on my main instagram story that I would be doing shoots for people in Portland for these last two weeks of my senior project. I got a few responses immediately, and now have shoots scheduled all of next week.

I’ve spent most of this week taking pictures and editing, and though it has been really time consuming, I never get bored. I’m excited for my shoots next week, and I’ll keep you all posted on whether I convince my parents about that 35 mm or not :) .

Here are some of the pictures I took this week. For more, look under the portfolio tab.

Week One

For a few months I was unsure of what I wanted to do for my senior project. I went through options such as working in retail or getting an internship, but I finally figured out that I wanted to work on a skill that I could use whenever I wanted. I decided to work on photography, since I would always do it here and there but never found the time to dive into it. My mom put me in contact with Dan Hawk, a professional business photographer who had taken pictures of the company she used to work for. He immediately agreed to mentor me, and we began talking about what I would be doing during the month.

During this month, I will be shadowing Dan during his photoshoots with his clients, and observing the different techniques he uses while he takes pictures. After each photoshoot, we will be editing the pictures from the shoot and going over editing tips. In addition to shadowing Dan, I will be starting my own mini photography business with people who want individual or group photoshoots. After each of my shoots, I will be working with Dan to get input on how to improve my shots and editing. My goals for this month are improving my knowledge of the various settings, improving my agility while adjusting my camera settings based on the natural lighting during shoots, and improving my editing skills.

This week, I started with taking pictures of my friends so I could experiment with my camera settings. I also decided to create this website so I could create a portfolio for people to check out my photography before they decide to book a photoshoot with me. Since Dan wasn’t able to meet this week, I sent the photos to him so I could get his input on what settings I should change and how I should edit. I’m looking forward to working with Dan next week and seeing a gradual improvement in my photography.

Here are some of the pictures I took this week (before getting input from Dan/editing):

Week Two

This past week has been really fun and relaxing and also super helpful in terms of learning more about photography. A few days ago, I dragged my sister out of the house so I could take some pictures of her and play around a little more with my settings. I got some pretty nice shots but I noticed they didn’t really have much depth to them. Though the background was somewhat blurred, the pictures still looked flat. I knew this was probably because of my not so great lens, but I wasn’t sure what new lens to buy so I decided to just wait to ask my mentor about it.

Today, my mentor brought me along to one of his shoots on the east side. He was hired to take pictures of his old church since they’re leasing the space, and he thought it’d be a good idea for me to learn about some lighting techniques. I was a little nervous because I wasn’t sure if it was going to be super formal and professional since we were going to be in a church, but when I got there, the first thing he said was “So I didn’t exactly tell them that you’re coming…but it should be fine”. I freaked out for a second but he set a pretty chill tone with that statement, so I survived through the shoot. The whole thing was pretty chill and relaxing. First, I helped him set up his lighting equipment and we took pictures of one of the reception rooms in the church. We went to a few different rooms to take pictures, but my favorite room was probably the second room which was lit up with draping lights and had really nice wooden floors. Throughout the shoot I learned more about how to adjust the settings based on the lighting in each of the rooms, and what the best angles were for the pictures.

After the shoot we headed to a Starbucks close-by to look at the pictures and talk about editing. He showed me the before and after editing of some of the pictures he had taken in the past, which really helped me understand how to make the pictures look more lively and vibrant. I asked him some questions about portrait photography in particular, and how to make the pictures have a little more depth than the pictures I had been taking. He advised me to buy a 50 mm lens from Pro Photo Supply in Northwest Portland, because it would give me a wider aperture which would give my pictures a little more depth. Tomorrow I’m going to be heading down to Pro Photo Supply to get my lens and I’m super excited to try it out later in the day. Over the weekend, I’m going to be doing a few more shoots with some friends with my 50 mm lens, and I’ll be going over more editing techniques for those pictures with Dan early next week.

Our talk at Starbucks was really helpful, and I am really happy that I was able to tag along to his church shoot today. Below are some pictures that we took at the shoot (I don’t have pictures of the room with the draped lights yet, but I’ll put them in once I get them).