That's A Wrap!

Four months ago, the word "blogging" would make me cringe. It was something I never had an interest in or even thought about attempting and honestly, it almost scared me. Writing about your thoughts and opinions on different topics and keeping it updated? "No thank you" comes to mind. I had no idea how many people blogged and what it was exactly. However, I can now say that it is something I've tried and during that challenging journey, I have gained experience, knowledge, and a better understanding of how much blogging impacts the cyber world today.

When I was choosing a topic for my blog, I really didn't know what I could possibly choose that I would stay interested in and be able to easily talk about every week. I thought about photography and I knew I would definitely stay interested and stick with it, but I didn't know how I could translate that topic into a blog since it doesn't really have an argumentative base. But as I looked at other photography blogs, they made it work! So I decided to go for it and I think it's given me a great run. :)

I loved teaching and explaining things in the subject, it actually even helped me with my work for my Photography class this semester! It also reminded me of everything I've learned about photography over the past three years and all of my experiences working with the subject. In a way, every week reminded me of my passion for photography.

Although I didn't get many comments or feedback from other photography bloggers, I did get a few and I appreciated them all very much! It actually made me feel like I was a part of the community. Also, even though they weren't on this website, the other photography blogs that I found gave me a lot of great insight and conversation. I felt like a part of the photography blogging community, not just on Blogger.com, but the entire world wide web. It really is an accomplishing feeling and I'm grateful for being assigned something like this. It really is a rewarding learning experience.

My Other Discoveries...

For some reason, I have not been able to find many photography blogs through this blogging system (Blogger.com). It may be because I'm not very familiar with how to use this website still? I ended up following other bloggers from outside sources. I have found many great blogs too. They're all intriguing, well put together and displayed, and they're all so different. But there is one similarity throughout them all: I loved each of them! Most of them also listed information about each photo they posted including the type of camera, the aperture, shutter speed, and even a few other important-photographer-information (ISO, filters, etc.) which I liked; when I looked at the pictures, the information gave me a solid and sure answer for some questions I would ask myself about how the photographer got the picture the way it looked.

In case anyone would like to see these fantastic blogs I've been looking at and engaging in, here they are listed in no particular order. For a few of them, I linked it so it would take you straight to their archives.

1. ISTOICA. This blog is run by Chris Altorf and Jessica Hayes. It is mostly editorial and fashion as well as some videos of runway shows, music videos, and some behind the scene specials. It's really quite interesting and if you love fashion, you'll love this blog.

2. S.F.D.P.  The San Francisco Daily Photo blog is exactly what it sounds like!
Photographer Manuel Guerzoni takes pictures every day and tries to post them daily as well, but we can all be quite busy sometimes. :) Honestly, this is probably my favorite out of all of the blogs I've come across. Nearly all of his pictures are taken in San Francisco and he doesn't generally explain any of the photographs in his posts; he evens says "I really want for the image to tell you the story, not words." which is something I completely agree with.

3. Moments Like This. These photographs are absolutely stunning in this entire blog. Seriously, not one is disheveled or uninteresting. They're so beautifully composed and captured, it really makes me want to start working with digital. This photographers name is Uwe Eischens and she resides in Germany (probably another reason why they're all so intriguing!) Her galleries are broken down into different themes which gives readers a very easy-to-use and well-formatted blog.

4. Little Time Machine. Hello, more beautiful pictures! Pete Carr does commercial and editorial work with people, urban environments, and landscapes. His work is based near Liverpool and it's all very inspiring. He doesn't see photography as his job. It really is a passion for him. He was actually inspired to create his blog by the next blog on this list; I found that very interesting!

5. Chromasia. This is run by David J. Nightingale and I can see why Pete Carr was so inspired by Nightingale's photoblog. His photographs are unbelievably extraordinary. He captures his subjects so well and everything looks literally perfect. If you do check out this blog, be sure to look at all of his galleries. They're outstanding.

6. Photoschau. Alright, so this is the final blog I've fallen in love with. However, all of his information is in a different language (German, I think?) so I can't say much about the photographer other than his name is Frank Boenigk. What I can say is his pictures are so different! They really draw my attention and I want to keep looking at them. He works with a variety of angles and techniques, pairing them up with interesting subjects, he creates very captivating pieces I really enjoy looking at.

I've been trying to look at them at least twice a week to keep updated with their posts and new entries, however it has been a challenge! 

In fact, this entire experience and "assignment" for my English 112 course has been quite a journey and a completely new learning experience for me. I love how different this was from other English classes I've had in the past; it's a very fresh and innovative idea for professors to use and it really does relate to our world today which is becoming more and more technology based. This course really led me into a different world of literature and it really is quite fascinating and helpful.

A Reminder from Shutterstock

As I was looking for a picture to use in my blog this week, I came across a photography blog I found quite interesting! It's called The Shutterstock Blog. They seem to update quite regularly and they cover many different topics. Although the work and information is on digital photography, there are still many techniques and tips they give, as well as great ideas and wonderful pictures. Honestly, it makes me consider really trying to save my money to get myself a nice digital Nikon D7000 (est. $1,500...) to try challenging and advancing myself into the digital photography world. Now that I think about it though, I enjoy working in the dark room too much to ever give up film photography!

The picture that really caught my eye as I was clicking on their links and looking through this blog is this one.

© Shutterstock/andreiuc88

It is supposed to give a "spooky" and "chilling" effect.  This post was close to Halloween so that is why they were covering tricks to create effects for a scary picture. Even without the fog this would be a very lovely and intriguing photograph. This actually touches on one of my previous posts about the technique of framing. The two trees in the middle create that frame that really enhance the center of the photograph which draws the eye to the fogginess and other dark trees in the background. However, the creepiness is not what brought my attention to this photo; nor was it the beautiful composition either. This picture actually reminded me of one of my own pictures.

The compositions are completely different and because mine is black and white, the color and contrast will be dramatically different, more-so in my photo. What is similar about the two is that they both have strictly darks and lights in the pictures, no crazy and bright colored subjects. This gives a picture distinct lines and shadows that draw my eye. To someone who isn't really into photography and only look at the picture, they're probably thinking, 'She's crazy, these pictures look nothing alike...'; however, to someone who looks at the attributes, techniques, and details of a picture, they might see the similarity much faster. That is something I love about looking at photographs. I don't just look at whether it's a pretty picture, I look deeper and think about what the photographer did to get the picture to look the way it does.