Making You Think

Have you ever thought about our society? I mean really thought about our society? Probably not. Why? Cause not many people actually care about it. Do you know why? Most people are too consumed with themselves that they don’t care about others or even whats going on around them. Be honest with yourself, have you truthfully thought about our society?

After surfing the net, I have found two great videos that will actually make you think about our society. Why should you care? It’s your society and where you live. If your society is crappy, it says a lot about the people who live in that society. It’s all of a matter of taking a step back and caring for others and what’s going on around you.

Would you stop for a homeless child on the street? Would you help him out or would you keep walking? Would you look at him in disgust or with an open heart? Would you open up your wallet to spare some change? Would you give him some food? Or would you keep walking? Most people would just walk by. But what if it was your child on the street? Could you relate to him then? Would you help them then? Would you open your heart to help them?

Just think of the people on the street.

They all have a mom and a dad, of which may be dead or just not in their life. They all had a life before on the street, could have had a bad experience which made them on the street, or they had no where else to go. They may have children of their own to feed.

If you were on the streets, wouldn’t you want people to stop and help you out?

Here is a homeless child experiment that was conducted to see if anyone would actually stop for this poor child.

Have you ever thought about our educational system? I mean really thought about it. Have you thought about the actual education, you and/or your children are receiving? Probably not. But what if you did think of it? Would you think of how the professors teach us? About the actually education?

After discovering a video about education, it will really make you think about more then just the education we are receiving. But it will be more about how we are being education, where it comes from, and how we can’t predict what’s happening but still education like back in the industrial revolution.

Here is the changing education paradigms, giving one man’s perspective on our education system but it does make you really think about it.

Superhero Portraiture Portfolio!!

My theme for this portfolio was men exposing themselves as their true superhero. With this, I was trying to unveil that people may not always be who we think they are. Could be more then we think or could be less. For these men to show their true colours and not be afraid of what others think of them.

Here is my process and thoughts;

Pre Production

Scheduling the shoot with every model to get a time that worked for everyone was very difficult. There was always one person who was not available while the others were. Cause of this, there was two different shoot dates. For this shoot each model was required to wear a suit jacket, dress shirt, and a superhero t-shirt of their choice, with the option of wearing a tie. Most of the models did not obtain a t-shirt or a suit jacket. After asking each of them for their sizes, it was my turn to get what was required to accomplish the shoot. Of which looking in my boyfriend’s closet of four suits he obtains, I had to only purchase the t-shirts. I received a great deal on four of the shirts for only twenty dollars. Once I had everything required, we were ready to shoot.

Photo Shoot-Day One

It was a Sunday afternoon, all gathering at Durham College in anticipation for the shoot. Setting up the studio was done very easily and I had it all set up before the first model had arrived, which was 15 minutes from the time we all agreed to meet. The set up included the backdrop, lighting, the tables with the suit jackets and t-shirts on.

I had five models lined up for this day, with two hours of the studio booked for this shoot. I decided it would be easier to photograph the models as they arrived, it helped that all the models were friends with each other. So they helped come up with different poses along with making each other smile and laugh. Once I had photographed the first three models, I had decided to wait for the other model who was yet to show up since the fourth model was wearing a different suit jacket that he’d have to be on a different backdrop. After waiting for half an hour for the other model, I felt I should just photograph the fourth model already here, and just reset up the white backdrop for when the other arrives.

When I had finished with the last model whom had shown up, I decided I’d wait for the last one yet again. Fifteen minutes went by without hearing from him. Getting quite frustrated at this point. The model decided to finally call me and tell me he is unable to make the shoot. I felt that my time was wasted and I should’ve just went home instead of waiting for him. I could have spent more time with each model instead of waiting for someone who was not showing up.

Photo Shoot – Day Two

It was a Wednesday night, we met at the studio and this time I was not very impressed with how the studio was left. Lights were unplugged from their home light, garbage all over the studio, and backdrops still set up with lights still plugged in. I had to clean up the studio before I could even use it, I felt embarrassed in front of my model. The price you pay when you share a studio with hundreds of other students. On this shoot day, I only had to photograph one model which made everything much easier. The time in the studio went by quite quickly with lots of photographs to work with.

Post-Production

When reviewing my images, I realized there was not a single common pose that all the models had done. Made my selection process a little more difficult. Editing the photographs were probably quick easy with a little hiccups along the way. Having about a hundred images to edit and sort through for my portfolio, it was easy to choose. Each model has received their copy of their images on a CD within nine days of the shoot.

Overall

My overall thoughts of this portfolio are that a shoot is never easy to coordinate with multiple models. Studio time is very value-able and should not be wasted. Never waste time waiting for a model unless you are for sure, know they will come. It’s their loss if they do not attend, especially when you have other models lined up. I am very great-full for my very patient models in all the chaos and mess which happened in this photo session. Lastly, always book time into your schedule to clean the studio before you even start your shoot.

My final production of my Superhero Portfolio is available for viewing at:

Superhero Portraiture

What’s New? What’s Hot?

In this day and age is all about what’s trending. The average person wants what’s hot and new. This philosophy also applies to the fast changing photography industry. With SEO, search engine optimization, it is easy to discover what’s trending in the world. Here are a few things that are trending in the photography industry at the moment.

Babies

At any given moment, there is a new baby brought into the world with parents who want to remember their little ball of joy at every stage. Parents are quick to get maternity shots, then followed by baby portrait shots, Christmas shots, Easter shots, thanksgiving shots, and Halloween shots. Their baby is photographed in everything they can imagine; teacups, flower pots, carriages, and crates. They even dress their little one in every costume they find adorable on them. Parents will go through a seemingly endless stage of photographing their newborn baby.

Fake Flooring & Backdrops

Instead of the tradition backdrop of a wall or a scene with the flooring that best suits the scene, photographers have become more creative. They have started to use rugs as backdrops and the flooring. These rugs don’t look like ordinary rugs though they can look like stonewalls, wood, tile and much more. One of the rugs that seem to be trending is called “barn wood rug”, it looks like an actual wood floor. This new innovation gives photographers a new opportunity to shoot creative shots right in the studio, or in the comfort of the client’s home. It also saves the time and effort of post-editing the effect into the photo using Photoshop.

Creative Props

Everyone feels that the perfect prop helps to make the perfect photograph. Well try a big, bright lollipop or even a colorful umbrella next time you have your photograph taken. Help make that special image POP! This new trend of eye-catching props adds a more colourful side to an otherwise serious photo. The contrast can be used to infer deep meaning in an otherwise simple photo.

Graffiti

Most people would stray away from graffiti so they don’t get that “bad appeal” in their photography. Graffiti is just another form of art that is trending more in today’s society. The use of graffiti’s “urban art” can be used in many versatile ways. This form of urban art can be used to toughen up the look of a photograph, for a more robust feel, or it can be used to provide a more up beat tone. With the vast variety of graffiti, its potential is limitless for both content of a photograph and as use as a backdrop. Try embracing this art form, never know it may give your photography that kick you could not imagine.

Technology

The photography industry grows everyday due to the growth and expanding technology. With the technology unraveling there is more available to the average person.

Camera Phones

As everyone is using smartphones, the companies are trying to improve and make their phones the best to get everyone using their phones. As an example in 2013 NOKIA introduced a cellular device with a 41-megapixel camera. With the rise in popularity of apps such as Instagram, snap chat, Pinterest etc. camera technology inside of cell phones has greatly improved at a still increasing rate. Phones are coming with more advanced cameras, with HDR technology, rapid bursts, slow-motion record, built in filters and even some auto edit features.

Sources for content are
http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2010/02/25/portrait-photography-trends-and-fads-the-good-the-bad-the-ugly/
http://contrastly.com/photographic-trends-2014/
Sources for images are
http://www.honeybournestudio.com
http://www.123rf.com
http://www.abstract.desktopnexus.com
http://www.rialeephotography.com
http://www.chicagoillinoisweddingphotography.com
http://www.macrumors.com

Social Media: Twitter

For eight years Twitter has been one of the go-to social media sources that have been very popular. From teens to businesses, actors to wanna-be’s almost everyone is using twitter. But what people may not be aware of is there are multiple applications that can be used with Twitter.

We all know that when we want to look for something on Twitter there is the basic and advance searches. But there are other search engines you can use as well.

Twibs is an alphabetical directory and search engine with a voting option to see which profile are featured on the homepage. Twibs is quite easy to use being able to scroll through the leaderboards, largest brands, multiple categories, directory, promotions, and search by location. You can easily find what you are looking for. Also, if you have your own business you can easily add it to Twibs for more promotion.

Twellow is also a search engine and directory of Twitter followers. It allows customization of profiles, categories and addition of links to other social services. Users can add themselves to Twellow to be part of “Twellowhood” and find local Tweeple. Twellow is quite easy to use as well and its free to sign up and use. It’s very user friendly.

Do you have problems with scammers or scams? There is applications to help you with that as well.

TwitBlock is Twitter application that detects scammers, like every application it has it’s pros and cons. Pros of TwitBlock are that it uses OAuth (open standard for authorization) to access Twitter account, and it analyzes just one Twitter account or all your followers. On the other side, the results may not be the most accurate.

Tweet Blocker is another scam applications that helps you analyze who is real and who is a bot within your Twitter followers. With Tweet Blocker it uses OAuth for Twitter login, it also uses API (Application Programming Interface) for developers. Another advantage of Tweet Blocker is that it analyzes one Twitter account or all your Twitter followers. Of the reviews, there does not seem to be any disadvantages of this application.

Fake Followers is like Tweet Blocker and TwitBlock by identifying the scammers within your followers. There are some pros and cons with this one like any other application. Some of the pros are that you don’t need to log in with your Twitter account, it uses clear criteria to identify fake followers, it tells you why a certain follower is fake, and it lets you compare the fake followers of two Twitter accounts. The only con that seems to be noted is that all the information may not be completely accurate but you have to be aware of that within any application you choose to you.

The last application I’m going to touch on is Tweet Grade.

Tweet Grade is a simple web service that grades your Twitter account from ‘F’ to ‘A+’. The grade are based on your influence and interaction with the Twitter community, the frequency of your updates, and their content. There is many advantages to this application such as; you are not required to have a Twitter login, the grading is based on many factors, and it can be used to identify scams and bots account.

With so many applications to assist with Twitter, its no wonder that we are all unaware of them and what exactly they can be used to help with. If we are so used to just using Twitter, we wouldn’t even really look for another application we would just get to where we were wanting too through Twitter.

Get to Know Me

Hi I’m Courtney Vilneff.

I’m a Durham College student studying Digital Photography. I have a website for my work. http://cvpicturethisphotography.com/ There is a Facebook page for my work as well, https://www.facebook.com/CVPictureThis.

Some weird facts you may want to know about me are

I’m vegetarian
I have a disability but I don’t let it stop me

The photographs I usually take are

landscape
wildlife
newborn
animals and pets

Here is a sample of my work.

Moon Light

Choke Cherries @ Lake Saint Petere

Winter Wonderland

Product: Candles

Portrait