Thought Piece #3

            The importance that is placed on making your photos different and stand out so early on in this section of the reading really stood out to me. I have always known that I need to make my photos different from other peoples and make them stand out, but I don’t think that I could confidently say that I have been successful in doing so. I want to try to use some of the things that he mentioned to make my photos unique. I think that, specifically, I want to try to incorporate humor, unusual angles, and maybe symbolism into some of my picture stories this semester if I get the opportunity.

            I have to say, the photos on page 41 I think are some of my favorite photos that I have seen in this book so far. I think the top photo is just interesting because at first it looks like a girl struggling in the water to my eye, but then after I read the caption, I understood that it wasn’t, and it changed the feeling of the image to me. I ended up finding it kind of funny once I realized that this girl wasn’t in trouble. But then the photo on the bottom was just a really cool black and white silhouette at first and then I kept looking at it and noticed a girl jumping off to the side and it looks like she is just floating, and it was a little comedic to me as well.

            I enjoy the section where he was talking about body language in a picture. I feel like I really agree that it is SUPER important to a photo, especially if you want people to feel emotion from the image. There were a lot of times this summer that I would be looking back at my photos and being able to relive the moment with the couple that its of and just feel the image. I also feel like it’s something that can definitely make or break an image. I think that awkward body language can make the image be a little unappealing to the viewer or even make them feel a little uncomfortable. But people being free and just happy in an image and that showing in their body language is just so beautiful to me.

            I thought that LaBelle’s suggestion of making a tree for your ideas was really interesting. I had never considered or thought about creating a tree or any sort of diagram to help come up with ideas and deeper stories. I think that this technique could be very beneficial to some people and could really help come up with ideas. I might have to try it for one of my projects maybe next semester, because I kind of have all of mine lined up already. But, I think that it could be very helpful.

            In the last section of this reading, “Networking”, the photos made me sad. I don’t think that I would ever be able to photograph a funeral or anything, even for a dog. That is just so sad. But it helped him make a good point about networking so that was interesting. I think its interesting how he got the tip on this scene from someone that he gave his information to at a coffee shop on a random day only a week earlier. It’s really interesting how something as simple as handing out your business card to random people can help you so much in your profession and/or business.