Blog Post #7: Photography Experience

I have always had an interest in photography. When I was five my family went a trip to Lake Okoboji, Iowa and my mom gave me my own disposable camera. I thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world and I came back with some very interesting pictures. Now, keep in mind that I was only five, so most of the pictures were of ducks, squirrels, birds, trees, the lake, and several of our hotel room. But I also took some that were actually worthwhile. One evening my dad decided that he was going to try to fish, a bad decision since my father has no innate fishing skills what so ever. So I sat with my camera on the dock with him for hour after fish-less hour. Finally he thought that he caught something and spent the better part of five minutes trying to reel it in. When he finally brought his catch to the surface, it wasn’t fish at all… it was seaweed. I had wanted to take a picture of the “fish” my dad caught, so as soon as the hook surfaced I snapped a picture. The result was a profile shot of my father’s incredibly shocked face and a fishing pole hooked onto a whole lot of seaweed. It perfectly captured the moment, and anyone looking at the picture could clearly understand what had happened. This remains one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken.

Since that time, I have had many more disposable cameras, and my love of photography has continued to grow. I don’t claim to be the best photographer, but I honestly believe that part of my problem may be that I have never had the right tools.

I have had digital cameras, but the quality hasn’t been anywhere near professional and they have all basically been a flash or no flash, line it up, point and shoot kind of situation. I did take a photography class in high school and learned a little about the basics of photography and got to use the school’s professional cameras. So that helped to give me some confidence and knowledge. But despite my lack of the tools to take great pictures, I feel that I am ableto compensate by being able to capture a moment, as well finding good subjects and subject matter. Two of my best photography experiences were trips that I took. One was to Washington D.C. my senior year of high school, and the other was to London my sophomore year. Aside from having amazing subject matter to shoot, I feel like I was able to take some more artistic shots as well as the more “touristy” ones that you take just to remember what places looked like and that have you and your friends in them to prove you were actually there, and you were there together.

I have always loved looking at and taking pictures. Whether or not I am actually any good at evaluating photography or shooting it is still yet to be determined! The two images posted here are pictures that I took during my trip to London. The first is of London's Tower Bridge, and the second is of Stonehenge.