Weekly Blog Post 7

I have never been too involved with photography, just taking a few pictures on my digital camera and being in various pictures, but never knowing the techniques or the vocabulary. I never considered myself a very "artsy" person so I did not take the classes offered in my high school. My parents also were not too involved in photography either just basic pictures at events or vacations. Although I have never taken the classes or been too concerned with all the technicalities I can find some photographs breathtaking. I enjoy looking at them to see what friends or family have been up to and I love looking at scenery pictures. The absolutely gorgeous scenery pictures have the power of making me dream about how I wish I was there, or could have scene that beautiful sight. So, I guess in some ways I was interested in it, but not overly, just as a small way to pass time and brighten my mood.

I am a little concerned because I don't know how exposure, different lenses, or other options in photography work or what effects they have. Since I have only taken basic pictures making what I wanted to capture straight, front, and center, I am slightly worried that I will not be able to look at the photographs and necessarily know what the photography was trying to capture, or the point they were trying to make. However, after reading chapter 11 I now understand simple differences like vectors of attention and framing. I understood what the book was saying and the effects they were pointing out. It was even a little interesting to me the different arguments they could find in a photo essay or even one photograph. It is slightly unnerving to know that I will be studying and writing on things that I do not have much background knowledge in, so I will only know the basics, but at the same time it is exciting. What I learned so far in chapter 11 did make sense, was interesting to me, and gave me something to think about and consider when looking at different photographs.