Photography Class: Conceptual Contrast and The Decisive Moment

  This weeks class was all about contrast and waiting for the decisive moment.  Of the 3 assignments so far I would say finding conceptual contrast has been the most difficult.  Mainly because I was at a loss for what to photograph.  As you will see from the one outdoor photo it is still winter here in Cache Valley.  In fact it is worse then just winter it is that season between winter and spring when everything is a brownish gray color and dull. I found a complete lack of contrast.  So I turned to an indoor photo shoot for my first couple of conceptual contrast photos.

  These first two are of my youngest daughter Allie. She is always a great model because her face is so animated.  I actually was trying to take pictures of her older sister Kassie but Allie decided she wanted her picture taken instead and butted right into our photo shoot.  She is always dressing up in her older sisters' cloths and wearing everyones' shoes around the house. Today she is sporting her Dad's boot and her oldest sister's hat.

  In these next two pictures I have Kassie in a dress that was mine when I was a little girl.  She recently wore this dress to a tea party at preschool and reminds me of a southern bell. The dress is still way to big for her but she loves that it has a full skirt and she can twirl in it.  She is also wearing the shoes I wore on my wedding day. I did play with the coloring in these photos. I wanted the pictures to have a more antique feel.

 

  My final conceptual contrast photo was taken outside. I really needed some fresh air so we took Cooper, our dog out to the south fields for a run. In one of the fields surrounded by homes was a herd of elk. I felt this was a great conceptual contrast photo because you don't normally see wild elk in a populated area.

  For the second part of our assignment this week we were challenged to take only 3 pictures and then post our favorite.  The purpose of this assignment was to be patient and wait for the decisive moment instead of just clicking the shutter button as many times as possible hoping to get lucky and capture that perfect photo. This was not too difficult because there wasn't a lot of motion and everyone's attention was zeroed in on one thing - the game Dad was playing on his iPad. I did wait until Allie rested her head on Jason's shoulder before hitting the shutter button.