What I Did

My project was something I've always wanted to learn and get a grasp of but never really

got to learn or get guidance from. I've always heard of the simple things in photography but

never knew a lot or even most of the basics. I figured instead of taking a class for it, why not

learn from a close friend who has plenty of years under their belt to help guide me and progress

me into a direction I would like to go. I knew my friend Jordan had plenty of experience and

years under his belt in the photography field. I figured that nature would be something relatively

easy and something I could get a hang of pretty quickly. I started by getting the basics down and

grabbing a camera. I then went out to experiment on my own and just take pictures to get a

beginning phase and see where I was at with the process. I would start out in small places like

my backyard or the park nearby. I kind of found it relaxing and a way to just go out and do

something in nature. It surprised me that I enjoyed it pretty quickly because I never thought that I

would have the patience to be able to take so many pictures and keep improving or try to

improve when I first started. I then went to places like Colorado and Chicago to take pictures

while I was out and about there. I didn't go to those states and cities to just take pictures. It just

happened that I was there and I found some really good spots to take while I had my camera on

me and I decided they'd be a great spot in different locations to take pictures of. In Chicago it

was a different feeling because I've never been there and it was mostly City with some natural

scenery. They did have the great lake which is really pretty to look at and a pretty cool thing

overall to take pictures of because of how the ways moved and how rocky it was that day I was

out. While I was in Colorado I had a family with me but we did go on many trails and explore in

the mountains plenty of times which was great for different things to see and for different
experiences. Overall this project was very eye-opening and gave me a different perspective on

the photography side of things because personally I work with graphic design working with the

pictures and not actually taking them so I think it is really cool for me to experience both sides of

the spectrum.

What I Learned

I learned lots of different techniques and ways to take pictures and to photograph during

this process. I had a love-hate relationship with having to learn from mistakes because

sometimes it could be really fun to see the Improvement or it could get you really mad and really

frustrated with the way the project goes and with yourself, and sometimes it's supposed to bring

you calmness. I learned to adjust my exposure levels before the pictures that way and post

processing it's not as tedious and I can get more done and less time. I also learned to not

overexposed or underexposed certain areas when you are in an open area especially in nature

with a bunch of shadows and other things either moving or just nature doing its thing. I learned

to find a focal point or a focus point and stick with it that really helped me get an idea of what I

wanted to capture and how I could incorporate the background with it and different angles as you

can see on my website I have pictures of chipmunks and it was a little hard at some points to get

them to be still and so finding that perfect focus point with them in the middle with a good

background was very tedious but it all paid out in the end. Most importantly I think I've learned

that especially in photography you are going to fail and it's only going to make you better and

only going to help you see your flaws and work them out, that way you can improve on your

craft and you can apply that kind of mindset to any area of life or profession.
 Challenges I Faced

Challenges were not a huge deal with me even though I did have some they were very

repetitive or things I've gone through before. Most of the challenges were things that I learned to

get over at the beginning so when they did appear later I knew how to approach it and sort of

avoid or fix it before it actually happened. An example of a challenge that I faced definitely

would have to be finding the right exposure within different settings and backgrounds and the

lightning coming from one point or another point or letting seeking through. It was just a very

frustrating concept sometimes because I would have it right at one angle and then I would move

it and it would be completely off. It just really gets into your mind that you want everything to be

perfect and so it was more of a mental challenge than anything. Another big challenge was to put

myself in the right position. I feel like finding the right spot or position to find that perfect shot is

almost impossible, especially in nature. When everything is moving or some things, you know,

you can't reverse or go over again. It's just once something happens it's there and you had to try

and capture it while you can.