Some guy stole my sister ...

 … and I got to take pictures of it.

T-4.5 days until this bride-to-be is married to the man of her dreams. 

This experience taught me a lot. I have never done a shoot where the individual I was photographing was relying solely on me. I have gone on plenty of shoots with my intern, but she is always there snapping photos so, I know for sure that hers will turn out even if mine don't. Being the only camera and knowing that I only had one chance to capture these photos was intimidating, but it made me focus.

That nervous feeling didn't stop after I took the photos. It continued through editing and still continues as I continue to edit. While I may have taken the photos, they are for my sister - what she thinks of them is most important. Rather than the viewers of media being my consumer, she is my consumer and she is able to collaborate with me as I edit. Editing correctly requires understanding what mood she wants to capture and what story she wants to tell as well as understanding her personality, and how that story and mood will come across. The same is required when editing photos for media - what mood  is there and what personality do your viewers have, how will they grasp the photo you share with them?

Feature Story - RAW

The story I wanted to tell with my feature is the story of agricultural farmers. Growing up each time we would drive past a particular shopping center in Draper, Utah my mom would go on a little bit of a rant about how awful it was that they tore her Uncle's farm down to make a shopping center. Then, for multiple years the shopping center sat empty - mom really got mad then.

I see the same situations happening right here in little valley. I have captured two of these instances so far, though there are many more that I plan to capture and hopefully one day be able to contact some of the farmers and make a complete story. 

Each day as I drive home I see this sign (there are more signs on Little Valley Road). Notice the fences, shops and farming equipment. 

 Or, check it out from this angle (sorry it is blurry), but notice the multiple house as well as the houses under construction. Times are changing it seems. 

This is a farm located just past where that sign stands firmly in the ground. 

But is it standing so firm? A brick wall is all that separates that farm from a subdivision that grows on a daily basis.

These next photos are taken just down the road, about three minutes from the "Welcome to Little Valley" sign. The first time I posted this photo I was focussing on the sadness that must have been felt as a home got torn down and "in with the new, out with the old" was really put into action. 

Then I started noticing the agricultural signs around Little Valley and realized there was a bigger picture. 

The farm isn't completely gone in this area either, it's still hanging on, but for how long?

What our focus used to be. 

What our focus is now. 

Not So Comfy

Yikes.

 I'll admit, when I was all fancied up in my dance costume, with make-up galore on and full of adrenaline, I absolutely loved smiling for the camera. But … being in front of the camera, with no warning like I was in this shot was very intimidating! I've also noticed that the more comfortable I get behind the camera, the more I feel like that is where I should stay. This experience helped me to understand that making the individual you are capturing feel at ease and like they can be themselves is super important. 

My intern snapped this photo of me after a shoot I went with her on. 

Illustrative Photo

Hard News

Before moving I used to drive down 700 South on a daily basis. Each time I would drive down the street I would wonder when all of the traffic and the multiple stops for stoplights and cross walks was going to create a problem. 

A little while ago I had to drive down 700 South again. The moment I pulled on to the road, I saw a pile-up. It took a moment for officials to get there. As you can see, the traffic was extremely congested.

 

What I really wanted to focus on was the fact that this accident took place right at the cross walk. Look at the faces of the children. What are they looking at? Sure, the crash, but more specifically a lady that was being put on a stretcher a loaded onto the ambulance. 

A Little Outdoor Fun

Studio Portraits

This experience was a lot of fun for me. I stayed behind the whole camera the whole time, which was kind of a relief for me, but I have been in plenty of portraits for various different things. When I am more familiar with the individual shooting me I am much more comfortable being in front of the camera. I don't know any of my classmates particularly well so standing in front of their lens' would have been difficult for me. 

I recently got an internship with a photographer here in town who focuses mainly on portrait photography. This experience in class was a great warm-up for what is to come in my internship. 

This assignment helped me to learn how to capture the individual in their element rather than directing them and creating unreal depictions of who they are. 

Shooting Tight

I chose to shoot the relationship between a cosmetologist and a client for my shooting tight assignment. As I considered shooting tight I decided that tight, compressed photos illustrate a more intimate relationship - the type of relationship that is generally found between cosmetologist and client. 

As I took these photos I realized how difficult it is to shoot tight sometimes. I found myself moving around a lot to get the angle I wanted because I couldn't just zoom out and frame up differently. Shooting tight forced me to pay closer attention to the frame because I knew there really wouldn't be a whole lot of room to crop the photo to my desired frame afterwards. 

  

One thing I did enjoy about shooting tight is that I didn't have to be right up next to my subjects in order to capture a scene. By staying away from my subjects it allowed them to be natural and for me to capture more candid photos than if I would have been right up next to them, making them feel nervous. 

Shooting Wide

I recently moved in with my brother - due to my sister (previous roommate) getting married, and of course, cheaper rent. While living with my sister we lived down town so moving into a newly developing part of town has been a bit of a transition for me. 

Every day as I drive home or look out of my window I am able to see the various different stages that the economy is in. 

The first photo is of a home that was bought and to my knowledge, never really lived in. It sits daily with a for sale sign, just waiting to be bought.

The second photo captures the vacant, for-sale house along with the construction of a new house with an empty lot that is for sale in the back of the frame.

The third photo captures three houses that are lived in daily, as well as the corner (the fresh grass) of a newly constructed, un-sold home. In the distance of this photo you can also see more homes being built as well as an LDS church to accommodate the culture of this area. 

This last photo shows the different stages of progress in the building of a house. In the foreground we see the pile of dirt that sits where eventually a home will be built. To the right, back of the dirt pile we see a framed building, with an almost completed house to its side.

It is interesting to see so many different stages in a mere two blocks. It fascinates me to watch these houses be built, but what is most intriguing to me is watching what happens to them once the construction is completed. 

Spot News

While working a couple of nights ago an ambulance driver and his crew decided to come get drinks. 

Drinks weren't all they got - they got stuck. 

Eventually they got unstuck and were able to assess the damage of both the ambulance and the building.  

The police had to come and fill out an accident report and make sure everything was okay and damages were being dealt with properly. 

These photos were shot with my iPhone and from the only angles I could get while still continuing to work. This incident may not have been extreme, but it did teach me that being in the right place at the right time is a large part of journalism. 

Local Construction

I chose to capture this photo from the perspective that a large portion of the community sees the construction. I have talked to multiple individuals about the new Maverick that is being constructed and very few of them even stop to consider that it is being constructed on a flood plain. For so many the Maverick will provide more convenience in their life so they don't stop to recognize the memorial bridge that is there remembering the time that very river flooded.

The photo I took puts the construction of the Maverick in the foreground with the bridge memorial in sight, but not the main focus - just as the situation is in the minds of many individuals.

Axioms

Shallow depth of field

F4

1/200

Deep depth of field

F3.5

1/160

Fast shutter speed

F5 

1/800

  

Slow shutter speed 

F9

1/25

Whose Life Are You Looking At?

This is a blog of the life of a girl named Landen. 

First, a little bit about me - I am a Mass Comm. major with an interest in both writing and photography. While I am not an expert in either area, I do love to learn and I am excited for all of the knowledge that I will gain as I pursue my degree. 

Writing has been an interest of mine for many years, but my passion is for dancing. Dancing is a visual art that allows the dancer to tell a story through movement, without a single spoken word. I find photos to share the same ability of telling a story without words that a dance performance does. The similarities between dance performances and photos is I believe why I have such an interest in photography and telling a story through the images I capture.