Friday, February 29, 2008

Final Set of Photos - My Best Five

This might seem like a really simple picture to some, however, to me this is one of the most fascinating ones I took in this course. Why? Well I am really proud of how I was able to take the mixture of vertical and horizontal lines that occur with something as mundane as a kitchen table and chairs and create a quality composition out of it. I think that it wouldn't be near as good if it weren't for the sharp contrast of light and dark that using black and white provides. For my students this picture would be ideal to show how something you take for granted can be a source for further study, you just have to look at it in a new way. This concept can apply to almost anything, but especially to literary studies.


This is one of my favorites simply because of the motion effect I achieved. It took several tries with a delayed exposure time to get this to work. I was trying to show the idea of "shaking off sleep," as quoted from Macbeth. I could use this in learning directly in our study of Macbeth, when Macduff has just discovered King Duncan's body. Perhaps if the students had a unique visual for Shakespeare's language ("Shake off this downy sleep") then they might be apt to engage it thoughtfully, for it is largely the rich use of the possibilities of the English language that remains the appeal of his works. Additionally, I would be able to use this as a model for their own pictures as part of their study of Macbeth motifs. This is also a good way to illustrate what you can do with a tripod and a REALLY long exposure time.


I like this photo a lot, even if it makes me look crazy. Primarily, I think it's because I shot this outside at night using a tripod and the camera's timer. I was able to get just enough light from lighting an old newspaper on fire and able to hold my "pose" and stay still enough not to blur the picture. I really like how the flames just lit my face and left everything else in darkness. Additionally, I think that I did a decent job of creating a visual that communicates a message, that message being that this guy is, at the very least, a borderline pyromaniac. It's just an interesting composition to me overall. For my teaching I think this is a great visual to use to understand characterization, someone being manic, perhaps something great for Edgar Allen Poe works or other "darker" selections.

This photo has a lot going for it I think. I love how I was able to catch the detail of the water in mid-air (it looks like it's frozen in time) and how the streams act as columns running vertically, while the tops of the buildings provide a terraced line through the upper half of the photo. To me, the complimentary colors and various geometric shapes all throughout create a lot visual interest, not to mention the lighting is great. For teaching and learning I think this would a great way to show students how you can take something that is imperceptible to the naked eye, but using the camera correctly, you can wind up with a surreal effect.


What can I say? My daughter is quite the ham and she served a great subject for many of my photos in this course. She loved helping me out and did whatever I asked her to do even better than I expected. I like this photo in particular because it shows her being "mysterious" (or at least as much as a toddler can be) I think the fact that it is black and white adds a great deal of interest and the perspective and framing also turned out well. The day was mostly overcast, so using black and white helped to enhance the available light. And the fact that only her eyes are showing adds a lot to the appeal, "the eyes are the windows to the soul," right? At any rate, when working with students on how character traits are sometimes slowly revealed by authors, this might be a great photo to use. Is she good or evil? I guess her actions will show. I think ambiguity is often far more interesting. Hmmm, yet the picture is in black and white, intriguing paradox I think.




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