Learning lighting on my Feature photo hunt

To find an event was a tad difficult for me to shoot this time. I caught the tail end of the Art Achievement Awards so my chance for good photo ops was limited. The only thing left to photo graph when I go there were people talking in big groups so I decided to photograph the people working the event (Camera people, photographers, DJs) . I took pictures of them tearing down and putting away the equipment. I had some problems with lighting on my camera at the time. I was trying to use a wide depth of field but also capture any motion. Because my fstop and shutter speed were turned up my ISO was at the highest setting so many of my pictures came out with a lot of noise.

I decided to post a couple extra pictures from my enterprise photo experience because it made for more interesting pictures. I walked along Wayne State’s campus for a couple hours before I walked into the art building and found what I was looking for. I walked into a ceramics class where the students were working on Still life projects. Even though these projects seemed to be in their beginning stages the work was still enjoyable to shoot.

Jena Arslamn, a Wayne State student, works on her still life project for her ceramics class. (Photos by Gabriela Aguirre)

Another Wayne State student, Tiara Hill works on her ceramic still life. 

David Romas, the DJ for the Arts Achievement Awards, shuts down his gear as the awards come to a close. 

Camera woman, Lanise Pannell tearing down the camera equipment from the event. 

Camera man, Chris Scalice tears down his equipment.  

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.