It's More Than Just A "Cliclick"

Hello everyone! I'm Dee and I'd like to share my story here. At first photography was not my main thing, it was just a hobby. I like to explore new places. I travel around and always bring my small point and shoot camera everywhere with me. One day my friend showed me pictures which are taken with his DSLR. I was so upset because his pictures made mine look like garbage. So I decided to get a DSLR. I worked so hard and I didn't eat for a week (just kidding!) to get a Canon 50D. I was so exited and yea..I became a photography junkie.

On my days off I would wake up early in the morning just to catch the sunrise  or I would just walk around to shoot anything that looked good in front of my eyes. I am interested in landscape and macro photography, but I pretty much do any kind of picture. When I have my camera in my hand I become a very patient person. I don't mind waiting until the moment happen.

A sunset picture taken in 2009.
I took this picture at 125 ISO.
Why I put 125? Only God knows why.

I took this picture accidentally. I was walking down the side walk,
a dragonfly was flying around. So I sat down and waited.
Suddenly he came back and brought his lunch. 'CLICLICK'

Night time in South Beach.

It was in the late afternoon, I was taking pictures of the kids running around in the park when one of the mothers there came up to me. She asked me if I wanted to take some pictures of the new clothes in her clothing boutique. I said yes and I was happy but also confused. I had no idea how to do fashion shots and I had never worked with artificial lighting (flash) before. Well I did it anyway, with my limited technique. Portrait photography is also really hard for me. I realized that is my biggest fear. My other fear was the histogram on my camera. I tried to ignore it. I was pretending that I didn't need it. I didn't even know how to read it. Overall my photography technique was poor and I want to be BETTER!

So its been 4 months since I have been attending the Diploma Program at Prairie View School of Photography. Have I made any progress? Yup. I've made big progress. But let's rewind a little bit to the beginning of the school year. AT (Analogue Techniques) class made me nervous.  But I loaded a film to my manual film camera, went outside for shooting and made prints in the darkroom. I was so excited when I developed my first print! I have now learned how to add some contrast to my print, did some dodging and burning to spice it up, and can also mak any kind of image border. It is fun. (and it can be stressful too..ssst!). I am also learning how to develop my black and white film.

Double exposure image taken with film camera.

Trains in Dufferin Industrial area.
Image taken with film camera from Slaw Rebchuk bridge

Image Capture class really opened my eyes. Now I understand how the camera works, the settings and the short cuts to be a 'READY SHOOTER'. My fingers can dance faster now to find the setting that I want, and hey, the histogram is my friend now! I've learned aboutcomposition and design, framing, the rule of thirds and I know a lot more about the history of photography. I have learned the basics of portrait photography and the kind of lighting that works for the shot. It's challenging for me. This term I have studio lighting class coming up and I am so exited.

Exposure control and freeze the motion.

Played around with depth of field, 
simple composition and ambience lighting.

Alexis upper body shot.
I took advantage of a big window
in her university building
to get the lighting for this shot.

Twilight gives me a very blue sky colour.

Stitching multiple pictures into panoramic

I have so much fun in photography. I know this is my passion, and being in this school help me so much to improve my ability. I want to keep shooting and 'WOW' people with my pictures.

Dian Saraswati

PV Diploma Student

2011-2012