My own family photojournalism

I haven't forgotten the inspiration I got from The Family Photojournalist -- here are a few frames I took at my in-laws' house over Easter. This is our nephew...

...at dinner:
...on his way to take a bath:
...post-bath time:
...and playing before bed:
I realize I broke a few "rules" by not including a ton of background in these (some are actually even cropped). Hopefully I'll have a lot more opportunities to try my hand at this kind of style.

Other things on my mind lately: How do I really feel about learning flash/lighting techniques? For some reason I'm reluctant to learn. I know I can't always get the best photo with natural light, but I can try, right?

Something to research: Find a few photographers who work exclusively with natural light.

P.S. All the photos in this post were taken with natural light (or just the lights on in the room).

Birthday post! (& storytelling)

I turned 25 on Friday. It was a fun weekend with friends and food and lots of cake and outside time!

Here is an attempt at a birthday photo series, in practicing for future photojournalism projects that I hope to have time to try this summer.




The end!

I don't think I chose a good focus point on the letter candles in the first one. I believe I focused on the "Y" in "Happy," which doesn't make a lot of sense now that I think about it.

Anyway, I have several photo projects in mind that I'd like to try soon. Unfortunately, they all require travel. They're not all travel projects, but two would have to be done in different cities (my grandmother's house, my father-in-law's).

I want to start developing a style and a focus in my photography. I like stories, which is why I'm interested in photojournalism and photo series. I'm sure there a lot of stories hovering around me all of the time -- it's drawing them out that I need to work on.

I do find it a bit intimidating asking people if I can tell their story through photos -- even friends and family members. I feel like I'd be intruding. I wonder how "professional" photojournalists approach their projects. I always assumed it was easier for them because they received assignments from magazines or places that they worked for, and they usually traveled to get their stories, and for some reason that seemed easier to me. But I guess everybody has to start somewhere, and whether you travel or not, part of "getting the story" is becoming engaged in it.

I'm sure PJs don't get the whole story in one day. I would love to hear more about that process. I have found one or two PJ blogs, but I think I should look for some more.

As they say, though, learning is doing. I should give one of my own ideas a shot.

Photojournalism, B&W

So, I ran across this website today about social documentary. I was looking at this photo series that a man in Illinois did on homeless people, all in black and white, and I was thinking that I needed to experiment more with B&W.

Usually I love the look. I think I read once that B&W is a good treatment to use if the color in the color version doesn't add anything to the story (or maybe is not particularly exciting). I also think B&W treatment adds a certain drama to a photo, but that's not to say that color photos can't be dramatic, because they absolutely can, of course. I would also hazard to guess that good B&W landscapes are fewer and further between than good B&W portraits, still life, etc. I'm sure most photographers would say that they consider applying B&W on a case-by-case basis.

I happened to take a few photos of my friends the other night at their house (they may soon resent being friends with me if I keep posting photos of them!) that I thought looked better with a black and white treatment. But I'll also post the color version for comparison.

B&W:






















And the color version:






















I liked B&W better for this photo for several reasons:

1. The color doesn't add anything.
2. In fact, I think the color detracts from the photo, partly because of that purple-ish TV glow resting on them.
3. I think M stands out more in the foreground in the B&W version.

I also want to experiment with treating some street photography in B&W. I'm thinking I might find it more appealing that way. There's something about a random street scene in color that looks like, well, a random street scene. For some reason (and I feel like this might be the mark of an amateur...?), a B&W street photograph looks more intentioned. Like it was meant to be.