Photo Experimentation

This past week I had some fun taking photos around campus. One photo in particular, of the railway, I found to be a favorite. I focused on rules of thirds, leading lines and found an interesting angle. I also favored the vertical shot rather than landscape. The vertical shot focuses more on the railway leading to the bridge than a landscape photo. This photo is only lightly edited to enhance the detail. Normally I use Picasa or simply my phone to edit photos but in this case I used iPhoto. I made the focal point of the railway sharper and brightened the overall image. I like to think this photo brings attention to the present; what is directly in front of you. The bridge, or future, is out of focus because you are never really certain of the future. You live in the present. I like this photo when I think of it in that way.

The second image was taken by my classmate, Erin Wells. She took a creative photo of me standing on the railroad bridge. I decided to edit this as a mock album art cover (though I may use it later on for a record). I used Pixlr.com to edit because the site offers many options and tools. I made everything black and white except my face, hair and skin. There was a cool effect called "Paint" which I overlayed on the image. The album is titled "free fall". Even though I am standing on a bridge, the title relates more to the songs that I would put on the record. Almost all of them are written about a two year span of my life, where many major events took place. Most relate to loss (death, love, friendship, etc). The songs reflect when life repeatedly pushed me around and my mind started to free fall down a spiral of depression, anxiety, and fear. The effect "Paint" muddled the photo enough to reflect my state of mind (at least how I convey it). The world around me felt black and white while my mind was ablaze battling emotions.