A Novice photographer’s experience with Photo 1- Oh My!

The two photographs above come from my Photo 1 assignment. The assignment consisted of taking some 200 pictures of some aspect of campus life at UF in order to then pick 20 of the best shots and edit them for the Web. I chose to take my photos of a Latin dance group at UF called Sabor Latino (Latin Flavor). All of the pictures were taken during their practice at the O’Connell Center last Wednesday. Several additional pictures were taken the following night at a performance they had at the UMA (University Memorial Auditorium) here on campus. Those will be used for the soundslide presentation that is to come later.

Moving on, first I’d like to share why I chose to display these particular pictures here, and then I’ll talk a little about my experience with this assignment and taking pictures in general.

The first photograph above is one of my favorites. Although you probably already knew that! I like this picture for several reasons. First, I like the variety of faces and positions in the picture. I think it tells a story. Anyone looking at this picture could quickly figure out what my story is about. Secondly, I like that some dancers are stretching while others are practicing their moves, and others are simply relaxing in the background. I think this picture really tells the audience the dynamic that existed at Sabor Latino practice that night.

The second photograph above is another one that I was really proud of. I like it because, although there are no faces in this one, it still tells a story. Again, by looking at this picture I think anyone could tell the basic subject of my story. I also like the detail in this picture, although maybe I could have gotten a little closer! I like that you can see the sweat on the first individual’s back and the tights on the second one. The third person seems to be ready to make some move or start a dance while the last person seems to be doing some kind of step. That being said, I really enjoy how much you can get from this one picture, although I understand some people might not see anything more than some feet and hands! Look closer, think harder!

Finally, I’d like to tell you a little about my experience taking these pictures. As some of my classmates might remember me mentioning in class, I have had to borrow different cameras for the various photo assignments/activities in this course. This has been a little stressful as I have not had enough time to really get to know a camera and all of its functions before I’ve had to return it and borrow a different one. I think my pictures have really suffered because of this. If you notice, the 2 pictures shown above have very fuzzy color. Well, I’ll tell you why. The camera I borrowed to complete that assignment was being strange and taking very long between shoots. Also, after I took the first few shots and looked at them, they were almost pitch black. Freaking out, I called my friend whom I had borrowed the camera from and asked why this was happening. She said that happens and that they would look fine once I put them on the computer. OK. I believed her. Still, I played around a little with the settings to see if I could do something about the darkness, just to make sure I had some usable shots at the end of the day. When I got home and put the pictures on my computer, the pictures were a little lighter but still too dark. I had no time to waste and no more practice to take pictures of, so the only thing I could do is adjust the levels until I could see something. And there you have it, fuzzy pictures!

As if that was not enough, the battery (which was fully charged when I got the camera) ran out on me. I had to run to my friend’s house to get it charged and drive back to the O’Connell center to keep shooting. Good thing they had a performance the next day, and they were still practicing when I got back.

So after this traumatic experience, I decided it was time to buy a camera of my own. Sure, I could not afford it, and it put me some $300 deeper in the credit hole, but what I could afford even less was the likelihood of my pictures for various assignments coming out horrible and dark again or not knowing how long my battery will last. So now I can sit with my own camera and really get to know it before I go out to shoot. I think my pictures will benefit greatly from it as will my piece of mind.