The second Monday/second week of every month is going to feature a Photo Exercise on the SOAR! blog.  I’ve been turning this over in my head on how best to do this, and I’m excited with what we’re going to do.

I want to spend the next few months focusing on the art of Storytelling.  Regardless of technical know-how, storytelling images are what impacts people.  And you can get storytelling image on Auto Mode with a little direction.  BUT, if you have a 50mm lenses or macro lens, I want to encourage you to try those lenses and shooting at low apertures.

If you are working with a POINT and SHOOT camera, I encourage you to set your shooting mode to the Flower Icon.  Or you can try the Portrait Icon.  Both of these Shooting Modes automatically sets your camera to it’s lowest possible Aperture to give you that buttery, blurry effect.

If you have a DSLR camera but don’t have the 50mm or Macro Lens, try putting your camera in Aperture Priority Mode.  Scroll down to the lowest Aperture your lens is capable of.  And try to put as much distance between you and any objects in your background.  The cleaner your background, the more blur type effects you’ll get.

If you are comfortable with shooting in Manual feel free!

February’s assignment:  Storytelling with DETAILS

You are going to need to pick two different people.  One will be one of your kids.  The second pick will be an elderly person (grandparent, great grandparent, etc.).  If you don’t have access to an elderly person, than your husband can work.

I want you to shoot five Details that matter to their life.  Experiment with your macro lens, 50mm lens or low aperture.  Experience going super low in your fstop and figure out what f-stop you like the best and why.  Be prepared to post 3-4 of those child details and elderly details on the SOARORITY Forum.

We are going to take two diverse age groups because of how much we can gain from the comparisons and contrast.  I want you to pick one of your kids b/c you are living in their life.  In that sense, it will be challenging and easy for you.  I want you to pick an elderly person because it is most likely someone who isn’t living in your house, and an interview with them to start may be helpful.

Make notes on the following;  How did the interview go?  What did you learn to ask?  What did you ask them that you wish you didn’t ask?

Was it easier doing your child’s details or easier doing an elderly person’s details?  Were the details bigger in size for one than the other?  Were the details momentary loves or timeless loves?  What do these Details tell us about your subjects, about humanity?

And if you are really loving this exercise (one of my favorites to do!), photograph the five DETAILS in your life.  How do they compare between the two subjects?  Are you surprised by what your DETAILS ended up being?

When I walk into doing a photoshoot, I’m aiming to capture several types of photos.  One type is DETAILS.  Before I walk out, I want to know that I’ve captured the story of their life, and DETAILS tell a significant part of that story.  And most likely, they will be surprised at how the things they see every day, hold more significance than they realized.

Feel free to do this exercise with a couple more people.  You may find yourself doing all of these shots in one sitting.  Or you may go back to the subjects a couple times.  But in the end, you want 4-5 images total for every example of each subject.  So that will be 10 images.

Be prepared to post 3-4 of those child details and elderly details on the SOARORITY forum this week and next week!  Yes, I didn’t stutter!  SOARORITY is ready for you to see!  This is where the learning becomes so much fun, as we learn from each other!

Our SOARORITY Forum is still in the rough, but I have a feeling it will grow as we grow.  So instead of waiting for it to be perfect, we are going to just go for it!  Go to www.soarority.com, and register yourself.   We will than approve you on our end, since this is a Private Forum.

And to put a disclaimer out there…:)  Genie, Brian and myself spent three hours on the phone this weekend trying to figure out the back end of this forum.  And we realized we have SO MUCH to learn!    Since we are en route to Thailand right now, Genie will approve your forum requests on the back end.  I think we have it figured out, but if it’s not working…we may need a couple of days to troubleshoot.  But no matter what, head over and get REGISTERED TODAY!  So when we do get it figured out, you’ve got access!  Yeah!

We will make a BIGGER and more official Release about the SOARORITY forum going live in the next couple weeks.  For now, I thought we’d just talk about it here and have you help us find the bugs.  Kind of exciting!  Don’t you think!

xoxo,

Me Ra

p.s.  Tomorrow we have the pleasure of seeing Linda Baylis’s DETAIL results!

p.s.s.  Since we are headed back to Thailand as you read this, I had to share my favorite Thailand DETAIL.  This is from the post I wrote, “I Swear, More Happens in the Morning When I Pee than…”

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 6:10 am and is filed under Photography Exercises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.