As a passionate photographer, I get asked frequently when I started to become interested in photography. This question is difficult for me to answer, because I do not have a specific date, when I all of the sudden became interested in photography.
Thinking about a good response, I ask myself if it started when I joined photography class in school, but I was already experienced in photography, and had a good amount of pictures published. Going back in time, I consider the period right after I moved to the US. I started to become very interested in taking portraits of other people and myself. Also, I took a class outside of school about photography, which I genuinely enjoyed. While this time was a magnificent change in my photography career, I discovered my interest in photography at a younger age.
Before I moved to the US I captured many landscape and close up nature photos. My parents were afraid that I would not use the camera enough, when they bought it. Now, I am very thankful that they still decided to buy it, because they made it possible for me to discover a new passion.
Though that might be the time period I began to take photos, my interest for creating art work with a camera started before. Around the time I started middle school in Germany, I participated in a filming course. When I was in elementary school, I was already filming small videos with my sister to our favorite music. The first time holding a camera in my hand was what triggered my interest, but unfortunately I cannot exactly remember the date.
My junior year in high school I took advanced Photography Class, and this year, as a senior, I decided to take it again, and AP Studio Arts as well. Since I am passionate about portraiture, I wanted to learn how to work in a studio; therefore, I joined the specialty group at Huntington Beach High School.
Achievements Specialty Group
This Semester, we, the Specialty Team, created a total of five varsity specialty photos. We are currently working on 3 more. The team photos we finished are of Girls Tennis, Girls Golf, Boys Water Polo, Boys Basketball, and Cheer. The pictures in process are Girls Water Polo, Girls Soccer, and Boys Soccer.
While the photoshoot is on average only thirty minutes to one hour long, the work preparation, as well as the editing, take several more hours. Before the photoshoot, we sit together as a group and come up with a concept. We draw an arrangement of the players and their poses on a paper, in order to use it as a guide during the photoshoot. We come up with a studio light set up, and take pictures of every player individually after school or during lunch. The next steps are to edit the contrast and colors of the photos, to divide them up and to separate the players from the background in Photoshop, which we call selections. The last part of the process is to put all the selections in one picture, to arrange and edit them. In addition we add a text and a background. We always try to use a new and unique concept, to make the pictures look special.
My Contributions to the Specialty Group
- Collaboratively develop the concept
- Design the lighting set up
- Head photographer during shoot
- Check and when needed fix all selections
- Combine selections in one Photoshop document
- Create font
Editing Process
To further improve my work for HBHS photography, I will work with my group to develop original creative concepts for pictures, and to use new Photoshop techniques in the editing process. I will also work on improving the efficiency of the group work.