Taking a photography course through one’s college years is something I highly recommend. Not only does it take you away from the brain cramming of Math, Science and English, but this is the time where a student gets to explore his or her creativity. When I signed up for Beginner’s Photography, I had no idea what I was in for. I have to say this class gave me some extreme drive, because I finally had the chance to be creative in a college course. For this post I would love to share my experience in the class and throw out some pointers for those taking a Beginners Photography course.
For this particular course we would have weekly assignments with a certain topic to shoot for. I can remember one of the first assignments was a macro photography assignment. Before this course I had no idea what the word “macro” entailed, but after I learned about it I realized that “macro” photography was actually my specialty. Ever since I was a kid, up close and detailed shots have been my favorite. As a college student it’s hard to be creative in a college environment, with all the hustle and bustle that surrounds you. Plus I took this course during the season of extreme snow storms, so I only really had the choice to do some shoots in doors. Lucky for me I lived in the dorms for art and theatre students and there was a grand piano right on the first floor. I had the idea to take some macro photography within the piano because, well, I mean, who else does that! I wanted to be different and show people the way I viewed things as simple as a piano. Here are the shots I came up with:
Another photograph that forced me to get super creative, was a photograph that I took of my dorm sink. Yes, my sink. Back then I didn’t own a camera with multiple shutter speeds, so I literally had to kneel at my sink and take shot after shot of my dripping faucet for about an hour. Finally I got a clear and appealing shot, and here it is!
Something I would do often that most people don’t think to do is direct my mind to a place where people would never take pictures, like a sink or inside of a piano. If you have a vision, go for it! No matter how silly or out of the ordinary you may think it will be, someone else may interpret it as art.