Photography J-Term Day 2! (1/11/23)

January 11, 2024

Photography J-Term Day 2! (1/11/23)

By: Owen Siegel, Talulah May

To start off the morning we had a photography expert, Juliana Franco, come in and teach us about her job and how to work the camera. She has been working as a photographer since she was in high school and her job has allowed her to travel the world photographing various mediums and landscapes. We focused on how to work with the manual setting on a camera, but first we had to understand the different parts in the camera and their meaning. The first thing she walked us through was the F-stop/aperture which determines how much light enters the camera and what is focused. She explained it like being a pupil, the more dilated the more light can enter and vice versa. Second, she talked about Shutter speed which is how quickly the photo is taken. A faster shutter speed, say 1/1000 sec, would come out very clear, while a slower speed, ½ sec, would have a more blurry outcome. Finally she presented on ISO, which is the camera's sensitivity to light. This affects the exposure and the camera's ability to capture light. After learning and practicing these different parts of the camera, we set out to go take photos around the city.

Ms. Juliana explainiung effects of aperture.

Now that we had learned the basic skills necessary to navigate a manual camera, we were able to go to the POST, where we had the opportunity to apply our skills while accompanied by Ms. Juliana. The main focus of this outing was to capture interesting architecture, so we started by going to the top of the Houston POST to view the skyline and all of the interesting buildings that are present in the area. We were given time to take photos from the rooftop, and also discussed which buildings seemed the most interesting for us to walk to and photograph. Some of the notable locations we explored included the Texas tower, TC energy center, and City Hall. It was quite sunny outside, which gave us the opportunity to find which settings are suitable for a bright outside area in comparison to indoor photography. One of the best parts of this outing was that Ms. Juliana was with us, which gave us the opportunity to ask all the questions we had about our cameras and architectural photography to someone who’s incredibly experienced and skilled. Overall this was a great experience, and benefited our photography skills in many ways!

Standing at the top of the POST!

Talulah Reflection:

Getting to work with Juliana was a really rewarding and inspiring experience. Her passion for photography was really clear and the vast knowledge she’s gained from traveling the world and experimenting with different photographic techniques gave me a lot of perspective. Even though I've grown up in Houston and seen all around the city, exploring places like the Post and City hall with a more artistic lense in mind painted this city in a new light. I found beauty in the buildings, their architectural design and the subtle hints of Houston in the graffiti and different forms of street art. Today taught me to look up more and appreciate the beauty of my surroundings. I encourage everyone to take a moment to reflect on the diverse and beautiful city we live in and go take some photos!!

Downtown houston

Photo of Downtown Houston

Owen Reflection:

I was extremely excited to begin learning how to navigate a camera and all of the different settings involved in this course, which I got to do today! This was only the second time that I had tried using a manual setting on a camera while taking photos, which originally seemed like a very intimidating and unrealistic task without the right instruction. After learning about the three basic pillars of manual photography (ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture) in the morning, I tried to take photos around the school building while messing with the different settings, but the result was always pretty unpleasing on the eye. I couldn’t figure out how to combine all three settings in a way that brought out the photos and composition how I wanted. However, in the afternoon when we went to the Post and walked around, I continued to work on the settings while asking Juliana all of the different questions that came to mind. She gave me so many incredible tips not only about how to use the camera, but also about composition, one of my favorite aspects of photography going into the course. I also realized how peaceful I feel when focusing on composition and finding the right settings, and how much I enjoy shooting in manual. I’m excited to continue to see how my photos improve throughout these two weeks, and explore different styles, compositions, and locations!