Blessings, Traditions, Thanksgiving

For this assignment, I was asked to choose a subject that, to me, represented Thanksgiving. I can say that I appreciate Thanksgiving as a college student; the chance to be with family is definitely a blessing.

In choosing a subject, I ended up with something unexpected, yet I feel that it fits well: my family's Thanksgiving flag. On it are two pilgrims on an orange background. We have had this flag in our possession for as long as I can remember. 

The fact that we have owned this flag for so long strikes a chord in me. I love the fact that we still, to this day, continue to hang this flag at our porch, even when we travel to other places for the Thanksgiving holidays. Thanksgiving, to me, is very tradition-led. We have the same cranberry fluff, the same cider, and the same way that we cook our dressing, every single year as long as I can remember. I love traditions, and even the idea of continuing one as simple as hanging a flag is important to me. Such an idea makes me want to continue traditions such as this one when I am grown and have a family of my own.

The Sartorialist

If I could pick any photography blog as my favorite, I would have to name The Sartorialist (thesartorialist.blogspot.com).

The Sartorialist, named by Time Magazine as one of their "Top 100 Design Influencers," is a fashion photographer. The Sartorialist (as he calls himself) travels the world in search of local and cultural street fashion, and posts his shots on his blog. His experience in the fashion business leaves him well-equipped to  this task. Along with each picture, he writes a quick commentary about the picture and, on occasion, the fashion that is pictured in it.
The reason why I love The Sartorialist has to be the fact that his subjects seem so real and down-to-earth. Half of the time, the subjects in his portraits are not even looking at the camera, almost as if the camera does not even exist. The majority of his subjects do not look like high-fashion supermodels, either; they are simply people on the street who happen to be wearing great clothes. Whether or not they realize their fashion choices are excellent is never known by the Sartorialist's audience. The Sartorialist is simply there to take a picture, and that is what I think is beautiful about his blog.

If you would like to check this blog out, click here.

Up Close and Personal

Macro mode is my favorite form of photography. I think it is because I love the crispness that up-close photography can contain if performed right. It does take practice, but I feel that I can obtain neat shots by simply fiddling with settings on my camera.

This picture makes me happy. I took this just outside of the Student Center, and I really like this angle of this particular flower. I love how desaturated the color of the flower is in comparison to the background.

This picture is a close-up of a headband in one of my friends' suite common rooms. I thought the way that the rhinestones caught the light was very neat, so I decided to take a picture. I love how some of the beads are out of focus and how some are in crisp detail.

This third picture is a close-up of a tree trunk outside the student center and across from Johnson Hall. The rainy weather during my photoshoot outside really helped with the colors of this shot. I absolutely love the detail.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed exploring macro mode photography. In my exploration, I learned that in order to create excellent close-up photos, I just have to have patience and work hard in order to obtain the shot I want. Once I obtain that shot, I definitely feel that it is worth the work I put into it.