What I Like To Photograph

In the past year and a half, I have learned to absolutely love photography. Often people ask me what my favorite things to photograph are. My primary answer to that is I love to photograph people, and I much prefer photographing people to landscapes. I feel that all of my shots should have a model or a person in them, because I believe that each photograph should convey a story or a message. Isn't that what every art form is meant to do? Art is how we tell our stories, how we let people know our most intimate triumphs and failure without flat out saying it. I admire photographers who get to go to places that have people who have stories of extreme triumph or tragedy. One of the photos that has always struck me was the Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry .

Afghan Girl by Steve McCurry

I find this photo so so powerful, and I aspire one day to capture a person's essence as he has. I think the biggest hurdle in this is to dig and find someone that the world wants to see, even if they don't know it yet. That is why I like photographing people more than landscapes, I like the way people tell stories in their eyes and body language without meaning to. And I hope one day to capture an amazing story that sparks such an intense interest as Steve McCurry's photo.

While I haven't had the opportunity to go to war zones to photograph, I feel that I have been able to get some decent shots of people and those shots seem to convey their personality or their story. You may not know all of the people that you end up photographing, if you see them in public and take a photo because they're in just the right moment. But I firmly believe you can always a tell a little bit of personality through the photograph. And that's my goal when I photograph; to take pictures of people so that viewers are intrigued and want to know the story, even when you may not know the person.

Ocean Eyes

Dream Weaver

This is another one of my favorites, and although it's created through image layering, I believe it conveys the serenity of her personality and even has the ability to bring the viewer a little peace.

Mount Olivet

I love this photograph I took in Israel because I believe it really reflects it as a country; it's in depth history that goes as far back as we can tell, and it's new technology and ideals. I like how there is a young woman and young man in uniform to show it's progressiveness as a country, and I like that they are conversing on phones in the shade of a olive tree on Mount Olivet, a historic sight. The whole image seems to be full of contrasts and I love it.

Stressed Out

This is one of my first portraits from photography one, and to this day is one of my favorites. I think the mass of curly hair brings the model a certain character, while his gesture articulates the anxiety associated with the school day.

Ecstasy

This is one of my first photos using an additional lens on my phone, and I may be bias when I chose this as one of my favorites. My sister is featured in this photograph, a girl who is usually wearing black and quite reserved. So this photograph, taken in the spur of the moment, is one of my favorites. I think her smile and freedom, the way she ignores the camera, captures her personality when no one is looking.

The Boy in The Yellow Pants

This photo was also taken on my trip to Israel, and remains one of my favorites, perhaps only for the color of the boy's pants. They draw your eye straight to him, and the fountain he is playing with. I like the symmetry of the photo, the way he lines up perfectly with the base of the fountain. I love the way he stands tall to reach the fountain, and mess with it as children do. And I love that you can see his shortness and child like gestures in the crowd of adults going to visit the Western Wall.

So in summary, there is nothing that I enjoy better than the opportunity to photograph people. Whether it be because a friend agreed to model or because I saw someone in public at the right place at the right time. Regardless of how I got there, I am fascinated with photographing people and their stories.