Feature Photo Adventure

Some people hate getting their picture taken and others love it. Truth is, no matter if you like it or not, everyone wants to be remembered or recognized in some way. So when a stranger with a nice looking camera asks if he or she can take your picture for an assignment, you are likely to grant them permission. However, the job of the photographer to ask this of you is a tad awkward and uncomfortable. This is what I experienced on my feature photo assignment as I walked the streets of Detroit surrounding Wayne State University to find an unplanned moment in time I could capture with my DSLR.

I began by walking the perimeters of campus, hoping to find a random skate boarder or students playing volleyball. Not too far into my unsuccessful walk, I ran into an old friend who told me I needed to go further from campus to capture some of these spontaneous photographs. As we parted ways he pointed me towards Third Street where my enterprise photo journey began. The further I walked, the more courageous I became. I started striking up long, personal conversations with everyone I got pictures of; A man painting a wall, a father and son changing their front door, even a man just walking down the street that came from Africa. My final stop was a construction site on my walk back to campus. The men were very friendly but their work was uninterrupted by my presence which made for the best enterprise photo on my walk. 

Construction workers from left Fernando, Wes, and Phil work on apartments by Wayne State University on an unusually hot Wednesday afternoon in November. (WSUpj photos by Gabriela Aguirre)

My event photo was less of a smooth sailing experience. Plans changed last minute and I was not able to shoot what I had originally planned. Thankfully, I found an event last minute when I heard a man with a microphone speaking from the basement of the Student Center. I immediately grabbed my camera, ran down the stairs, and found a hypnosis session was about to take place.  It was a better event photo shooting experience than I had planned. It didn’t feel like work, It was just fun.

Wayne State University students from left Gabrielle Hoults, Keerthana Palani and Ali Shahin are told to do their best impression of a Martian in outer space during a hypnosis session in the Wayne State Student Center basement on Wednesday.  

Getting to know my Canon T5i

Learning to shoot in manual mode on a DSLR camera for the first time has been nothing short of a challenge for me this past month. Lighting is constantly changing at every angle and this has forced me to really spend some quality time with my 3 new best buds; ISO, F-stop, and Shutter Speed. Getting them to work together nicely not only produces a great image but also sets a specific tone, a mood, an ambiance. You get the picture (no pun intended). My goal is to continue to grow in the art of reciprocity to create a image that evokes an emotion and a response in the viewer. As a photojournalist, this art form must be perfected to a tee so as to be able to capture as many quality images, in a short time span and on short notice, as possible. Wish me luck!

The Journey Starts Here: A Camera Controls Assignment



Panned Action: ISO: 400 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter: 1/125

 

 

Wide Depth of Field: ISO: 200 Aperture: 4.5 Shutter: 1/200

 

 

Sense of Place: ISO: 400 Aperture: 4.5 Shutter: 1/640

 

 

Window Lighting: ISO: 400 Aperture: 3.5 Shutter: 1/200

 

 

Rule of Thirds: ISO: 400 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter: 1/50

 

Extreme Perspective: ISO: 400 Aperture: 4.0 Shutter: 1/50

 

Silhouette: ISO: 3200 Aperture: 3.5 Shutter: 1/400

 

Stopped Action: ISO: 800 Aperture: 3.5 Shutter: 1/1600

 

Blurred Action: ISO: 400 Aperture: 11 Shutter: 1/50

 

 

Shallow Depth of Field: ISO: 400 Aperture: 4.5 Shutter: 1/250

The First Amendment: My Cave Painting

The First Amendment

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."  



Throughout the entire evolution of human existence, one aspect of life has always remained in our nature. Story telling. Early peoples did this through cave paintings, whereas our generation now has media and its various outlets which greatly expanded the universe of storytelling.  Story telling through cave painting was important to not only pass on the history of the cave men and women but also to leave a mark on the world, however insignificant, and say "I was here."

The First Amendment allows our generation to leave our mark in this way as well by protecting the rights each person has to free speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition.  "Sometimes it's just adding one voice to many voices or sometimes, it's blazing a trail." As a collegiate photojournalism student it is my right to show truth and expression through the art of photography, leaving a modern day cave painting on the world.



On my way!

It wasn't until this summer that I realized I loved anything about the journalism field. I always hated writing essays and papers and completely dreaded sitting through English classes. I started off my college career in nursing because I felt as though I could secure a job easily after graduation (like many incoming college students do). It wasn't until a year ago that I realized I had no passion for nursing or the sciences whatsoever. Therefore,  I opted for something that sounded interesting.

I shadowed at a TV station (WoodTV 8) in Grand Rapids as my final project for my first ever Communication class (besides speech classes). WoodTV 8 changed my whole perspective on the communication field. Never thinking I would actually get the gig, I applied for an internship and sat through an interview before my shadowing day was over. Less than two weeks later I was the new intern for the department of community affairs. I had the time of my life. I went on shoots, wrote web stories, took pictures, made photo galleries for the website, worked the weekly Maranda Park Parties, and even started my demo reel.

I don't know where the field of Broadcast Journalism will take me (reporting, production, etc.) but I found what I am passionate about and that's a good start in my opinion!