Tropical Winter on Campus at UW

During the time allotted for this assignment I was quite surprised by how hard it was to take a picture when you actually have an element of photography in mind for each shot. Taking pictures often comes naturally for people you see something you think is interesting and so you capture a photo to remember it. However, going out seeking an image rather than one falling in your lap really complicates this process.

Of the hundred and twenty-ish images I captured I was shocked at how few were even average not to mention if any of them were even any good. Really the one thing I would have liked to do differently would be having a better camera. All of these photos were captured on my old I-Pod touch camera, I was unable to even use the camera on my I-phone 8 due to the fact that it is cracked. Having a better camera may have made some of the things I was trying to do as a photographer easier to see for the viewer and for myself.

Its a Plants Life 
One plant stretches from its pot into another.

For the first photo “It’s a Plants Life” the dominant creative device that stands out to me is a leading line. This is seen in the part of the plant that is further away and reaches forward to the closer potted plant. The leading line highlights the fact that this plant appears to be in both pots at the same time even though it is actually only growing out of one. I think the photo is aesthetically pleasing in the sense that the viewer’s eye can follow an incredibly detailed plant structure from one pot to the other and back again without truly knowing where it begins and ends.

Fire
The bright flame colored flower that takes over the green house.

The second photo showcased patterns. The flower slowly turns from a bright yellow or orange into a dark red almost maroon color at the bottom. On top of that the way the pedals are slowly unfolding on the way down in the perfect pattern so that they can each catch water makes the photo quite pleasant to look at. The bright colors really draw the viewers eye as the rest of the image is filled with nothing but lush greens. One could argue that the green around the flower frames it up in a way that really allows it to shine and take all the attention to a point where you almost do not notice the surrounding plant life.

The Cacti you Want to Touch
A cluster of fuzzy cacti presents a false sense of softness.

From above this collection of cacti look like the soft fur of a puppy. However, looks can be deceiving. I thought this image showcased the aspect of texture. The small needles poking out of the cacti are so tiny and close together it does not give off the same appearance as local cactus in the mountain west region with their more spaced out larger needles. The background in the photo provides a sort of contrast as you can see the condensation on the window behind it reminding folks that we are in fact in the midst of another Wyoming winter. I think the texture of the cacti really draws the viewer’s eye from piece to piece of the plant which part stands out the most within the cluster is up to the viewer.

Stack of Rocks Among the Plants 
A tiny pile of rocks sticks out in the rooms filled with green.

The main theme that stuck out within this image appeared to be background. With the rocks in focus and the variety of plants in the background out of focus it really draws the eye of the viewer to the tiny stack of rocks. Each rock is unique to the others and has plenty of small detail. Also, the color and size transition of the rocks as you work from top to bottom or vice versa makes the picture quite pleasant to look at.

Pretty in Pink
A vibrant flower deep within the Williams Conservatory

The last photo may have been my favorite of the day. Seeing it on the screen now I know my camera truly could not do it justice but it did come close. This photo is absolutely using color as its main photographic tool. The flower is so incredibly bright it seems to have been edited. Of course it has not, some of the most breathtaking colors we can find are out in nature just waiting for us to take them in. The background of the photo does a good job of making the pink stand out even more than it already does while also creating a slight sense of depth to allow viewers to understand it sits somewhat high off of the ground.

Blogging for Apples

Looking at some of the blogs of past students as well as the syllabus it is quite obvious that online writing skills will be a focus of this class. Since blogging is quite different from media writing I believe this writing will allow authors to use a lot more personalized tone and style to convey things to readers. Furthermore, it seems we will do some work with photography which is an area I am excited to learn about. I already do a good bit of work with video and hope that some of the concepts transfer over to photography.

On top of those things I have already learned a lot about the WordPress platform and that was only the basics. Going forward I think we will become quite competent as a class when it comes to running a site like this one. One thing I noticed on some of the other blogs was that they had done a great job with the layout of longer written pieces. While I have experience with layouts in Adobe InDesign I think learning more about web page layouts will be extremely beneficial.

Thinking about what sort of stuff I will report on this semester seemed easy until I realized you are supposed to be branching out. Since that is the case I plan to attend events on campus outside of my usual circle. The University of Wyoming brings in tons of great speakers and I have been taking that for granted for too long. I am looking forward to listening to new perspectives as well as new ideas throughout the semester.

To be more specific I would like to speak with people in departments that the University is known for such as petroleum engineering. While I do have friends in the field I am not familiar with any of the professors on campus relating to that degree. Learning things like how they keep the program doing so well and what brought them to this program in the first place seems like a good place to start.

With a little research I was able to identify one event that would work well for a blog post. On the University of Wyoming site under the calendar section one can find that the University is hosting a Chinese new year celebration that includes both a dinner and gala on Sunday February 10th. Something like this would be significantly outside of the realm of things I normally attend but, it is also a topic that sounds quite interesting. Embracing different cultures within a community is something college campuses do quite well and I am excited to start being a larger part of that and share the experiences with anyone who reads this blog!