I love photography, really. I'm not a professional, but I do take some senior pictures for my friends' kids. I never charge. I'm a pushover, right? haha At any rate, my son has inherited by love of photography. He's taken the photography project in 4-H for several years, and this past summer he was Grand Champion of all the photography projects, and his photo went to State Fair. Pretty cool, huh? Our local library has a wonderful outreach program, and one of the staff was providing a teen photography workshop over the summer. My son expressed interest, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to have fun while taking pictures, could I?
The first thing Katlin had us do was pick out a book to use as the subject of our photography. I couldn't NOT choose one of the gorgeous covers from The Selection series by Kiera Cass. I decided on The Elite because it's so fiery with that bright orange.
After some instruction on how to use different focal points and camera settings, Katlin taught the kids (and me) about holding something in the corner of your viewfinder to create a depth of field type halo or shadow. I'm not even sure what kind of flower is peeking out from the corners of a few of these pictures, but it was nice and fluffy haha!
We walked around the outside of the library, trying to utilize natural surroundings like the rock garden, decorative stones and bushes. At one point, I just propped my book up in a bush and started snapping. That's really where all these pictures came from.
And then, I just took a few steps to the right and ended up with a completely different perspective - and full advantage of natural surroundings! The plant down almost the center of the below photograph is natural. I'm not holding it or anything. So really, by quite literally shifting my focus, I was able to come away with a better picture from another perspective. I see the book completely different now. Maybe this isn't just about taking pictures anymore...
There's a lot of horrible things in the world today. Political, personal, it doesn't matter. Not everyone is going to see the same things you see, and not everyone will always see eye-to-eye with you. But it would be best if you tried to see if from the other person's perspective. You do not have to agree to be kind, and I believe that kindness always matters. Kudos to this teen photography workshop for helping me have a deep philosophical thought! :)
**DISCLAIMER** I was not paid for this review by anyone. I either purchased these products myself or was given it as a gift. Affiliate links are to Amazon.com.
