Assessment Images
I’ve chosen three images for submission as part of the assessment, a pair of selfies and one of me teaching. It’s hard to be subjective about the choices but I’m pleased with the results of the past few weeks of play. Each was taken with my iPhone and edited on the iPhone and then fine tuned in Snapped or Lightroom.
Whippet Shadows
Content
Whippets are energetic dogs that need regular exercise and taking my darling dogs to the park gets me out of the house and into the sunshine. Featured in the image is my boy Zed on the right and girl Paige on the left. They are brother and sister from the same litter but Paige only came to us a year ago and we are still teaching her the joys of chasing a ball. She would much rather sit in my lap in the sun.
Composition & Technique
The initial inspiration for this image happened by chance in the early weeks of the course. I’ve always taken a bunch of shots of the dogs but they rarely stay still enough to get too clever. A ball turned out to the perfect bribe as my boy Zed will do almost anything to get me to throw it for him!
I like how this image turned out, I’ve centred myself between Paige and Zed to show how they are both connected to me. I edited the image to black and white and increased the contrast to better ground the image against the background. It also shows how bare the park is during the start of Winter. The action of the dogs jumping up gives movement to the image and reinforces their hound shape.
I like how triangular the image turned out, I’m the centre of their world so it seems to suit our relationship. I’ve left a more negative space at the top of the image to reinforce this aspect. I’d usually crop it closer to the top of my head.
Context
I took this image to remind me of what it is like to have my pair of dogs at the park and the simple enjoyment of chasing a ball.A few other bits of information can be drawn from the image – it’s getting colder & I’m wearing a jumper as the early morning sun isn’t quite warm enough. Despite the cold, I’m wearing a hat – something I do all year round when out in the sun.
Star Selfie
Content
This is an image of me with a colourful backdrop of folded stars. I recently attended a creative workshop at BrisStyle and the office is adorned with colourful star shapes. I’ve been a member of BrisStyle for a bunch of years and recently stepped down after three years on the management committee. The image is a reminder of this volunteer connection.
Composition & Technique
This image provided a very busy background for a selfie and isn’t the usual type of image I’d attempt. My rather monochromatic clothing provides a good separation from the background. I’ve placed myself slightly on the left of the frame and my body is facing into the image, leading the eye to investigate those amazing stars. What isn’t obvious is that I’m wearing my Italian leather jacket for the first time – Brisbane has turned cold at last and I finally have a chance to wear it.
Context
I took the image as a nice reminder of my BrisStyle connection and the ability to continue getting out of the house in the evening for creative workshops.
Watch Carefully – a teaching moment
Context
I realised when looking through ‘selfie’ type images that I don’t have any of me teaching. I’ve been teaching for years but never thought to capture it. While teaching a recent mixed media class I handed my phone to one of the students with instructions to just ‘take a bunch of photos’. Kerrie did an awesome job but I realise that when demoing techniques I don’t look up very often!
Composition & Technique
I didn’t have a lot of control of composition until the editing stage. The image would look less cluttered if I cropped it closer to show just my hands, journal and face but the context of the image would be lost.
I think this photo shows me in action, carefully demoing a technique to the class. One student watches on and brings the view to what I’m doing by her intense gaze. A triangle could be drawn between Sandy’s gaze, my hands and then up to my face. The teaching table is strewn with samples, supplies and my iPad teaching aid so it gives a good idea of how I teach and the generosity behind my teaching philosophy.
Context
I’m glad I handed my phone to Kerrie that day and plan to do it more often. I became oddly quite self conscious knowing that she was photographing me and even more so when I noticed another lady also taking pictures of the demo! Teaching is something I love to do and I’d like to do move YouTube videos so I guess I need to get used to being photographed.
Continue to Week 6
Purple Salt #2 