HOW TO BE A PHOTOGRAPHER
As many, I have poured countless hours into researching camera models, technical details, Lightroom tricks and YouTube videos in an effort to improve my photography skills. Whenever my time practicing lagged behind the endless pit of internet browsing, it brought feelings of frustration since I knew what was good, but couldn't produce it. Henri Cartier-Bresson got it right: your first 10,000 photographs are your worst. Just practice; it's as simple as:
1. Take a photo at a perspective you think looks good
2. Take a different photo. See if this looks better
3. Repeat
During my first year of graduate study at Stanford, I took a Continuing Studies 5-week course called The Daily Photo. Taught by Joel Simon, this class helped me destress and explore a beautiful campus that I have been distanced from due to a global pandemic and zoom-course demands. I am including some combination of my submission commentary and feedback to help explain the background story... the key to compelling imagery. Although each photo hopefully tells the story themselves, learning is enriched by stories, so written commentary is still beneficial.
Want to explore FREE online classes offered through Stanford? Check them out here. Continuing Study courses are usually around a couple hundred $ each.
1. Take a photo at a perspective you think looks good
2. Take a different photo. See if this looks better
3. Repeat
During my first year of graduate study at Stanford, I took a Continuing Studies 5-week course called The Daily Photo. Taught by Joel Simon, this class helped me destress and explore a beautiful campus that I have been distanced from due to a global pandemic and zoom-course demands. I am including some combination of my submission commentary and feedback to help explain the background story... the key to compelling imagery. Although each photo hopefully tells the story themselves, learning is enriched by stories, so written commentary is still beneficial.
Want to explore FREE online classes offered through Stanford? Check them out here. Continuing Study courses are usually around a couple hundred $ each.
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Zoom with your feetRobert Capa: "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough". I'm a new grad student who has only stepped into three non-residential buildings on campus, so when I saw that I could stand in the middle of Windhover … I was really blown away. It was the beauty and peace that I needed that day and healed some of the effects a pandemic has had on my mental health. I'm an extrovert who thrives with human connection and zoom land just doesn't do the same thing. Golden hour and beautiful red leaves exposed to the limitless sky? It's a beautiful medicine that photos can't serve justice.
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Tranquility: Engineering QuaD
I study mechanical engineering and the visual features of bicycles have often fascinated me... so here's the view of the engineering quad through the "lens" of a bike. Peep the new statues/"marbles" from Alicja Kwade's Pars Pro Toto
The Environmental Portrait: New Friend in New Grad HousingThis is my friend, Alyssa. She was the one who pulled me into her weekly zoom dinner friend group my first quarter here and is also the first person I had an on-campus picnic with! She was also the one who told me about this class; I owe a lot to her and love her personality.
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LEADING Lines: Narrow ViewpointsI don't know exactly why, but there was this division between business school and engineering students in my undergrad. My engineering peers and I made some very generalized assumptions of business school students that I am still letting go. While I looked for leading lines at GSB, I began to reevaluate the lingering narrow-minded viewpoints I have of business school students. Instead of looking at where the leading lines were converging to (narrow generalizations), I've been thinking about where these leading lines are coming from (from biased conversations). How does looking at the full picture help me (and all of us) review and revolutionize our narrow viewpoints?
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Golden ratio and Golden ServiceNot sure if I hit the golden ratio, but cool angle of EVGR before one of my shifts at the Stanford Pop Up pantry . Taken on iphoneXR.
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NEW Perspectives On ChemistryChemistry is often a challenge for me: both the scientific subject and in the context of some relationships. This past month, I've had to change my point of view with both my relationship with material science (because of it's reliance on chemistry) as well as one of my personal relationships. It is a hard work in progress, but it has helped me deal with the frustration that stems from seeing things from only one point of view. The result of this experiment? More empathy and more excitement for the infinite other perspectives to be discovered. Looking up has embellished convergence on realizing there's something bigger than I and divergence from a binary mindset.
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Empty the Frame: Hard Lessons It took me moving to a different state to see that I got my hoarding habits somewhat from my mother and my grandmother (I'm still the one to blame). I'm trying to learn how to let go because it is very freeing. Here's emptying the frame around Hoover Tower. This emptying frame concept is to focus more on where instead of what, perhaps that'll help me declutter my physical belongings as well. Where am I (stage of life, physical living constrains) instead of what any particular object could do. I simply do not need it all.
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The Environmental Selfie: Shoe AddictionDid I once buy a pair of $100 shoes for 99 cents?
Yes Have I wandered the halls of my undergrad in the Dallas, Texas area often wearing 3" heels among my mechanical engineering classmates who usually wear sneakers? Yes, Yes I did There's that old saying regarding 3" heels: don't let them go to your head. Did it just die? That's for you to decide |
The Significant Image: Clarity through the Fog
I went hiking with these other Stanford students right outside of Muir Woods and this is my favorite shot. This foggy trail is comparable to how I often see my path forward in life. I have felt, as many have during periods of isolation, alone on this hazy journey and it can be horrifyingly depressing. This photo captures my realization that, although the path ahead is foggy, there is contrasting clarity in the knowledge that there are dear friends by my side. These human relationships are central to my life and help mitigate the fears I have of the unknown and bring joy in this beautiful hike through life's ups and downs.