World PRess 1st Prize winner

Victim of violence against women, Guatemala

© Walter Astrada, Argentina/World Picture Network.
2007 World Press Photo Contest.
1st Prize Contemporary Issues Singles.

Great photograph. I think that this photograph is very effective and shows clearly that this scene is not a happy scene. The light is almost non existent, which creates a gloomy photograph that is striking. The low lighting conditions create a point of focus for the viewer. The person that lies dead or injured is visible clearly, which captures my attention. The photographer was well aware of the surroundings in the photograph and of the position of the main subject, which shows a sense of vision, because nothing is distracting in the photograph and everything just seems to flow within the frame. I think that the way the light was captured in the photograph really makes use of the surrounding objects by making these random objects work within four corners. If the lighting was bright, the photo would not be as effective in stating violence or shock, and would allow for surrounding objects to be too visible, which would be a major distraction.

Happiness 101 ideas

Happiness 101 is an interesting article, which focuses on a new course that is being introduced to certain colleges/universities. I developed a few ideas of how to approach the photo shoot for this article. One of my ideas uses a simple documented photograph, which has a student writing or checking the assignments for happiness 101. The assignments on the list are geared towards self enlightenment by going and doing good deeds, whether the deeds are good to self or to others is irrelevant, since Happiness 101 is a class that is geared towards personal growth and happiness. I would like to have a behind the subject view, where the photographer will take a photo from behind the subject and focus onto the notepad where the 'student' is checking off his list of good deeds. I would also like the shot to be somewhat bright and lighthearted, so that Happiness is subliminally incorporated into the photograph. Hope this ideas works. My other idea for this assignment is to take a photograph of a student in a cross legged yoga sitting position. The student will not have any objects around, besides some classroom furnishing, or maybe the student will be on top of a desk, sitting cross legged. There is more to this idea, than having a student cross legged. To make this photograph interesting, a few photographs will be compiled together. Basically the student will be sitting cross legged with eyes closed and random 'good deeds' floating around the students head. The random good deeds symbolize the students thinking about the next good deed that needs to be accomplished.

Workignas a photographer for an "art director" class work

Working as a photographer for Ronald the Art director was not as easy as I thought. First of all, photographing is fun, but working as a professional photographer I can't say that having the art director looking over the should is fun. As a photographer, I should do my job as the photographer and not get influenced by the art director. With digital photography available everywhere, it is very easy to be tempted to show the instant results to the art director that appear on the camera. Although temptation exists, a photographer should not show the results and ask for criticism every single shot. The problem with showing every single attempt to the art director is that the photograph will never be perfect, and the photo shoot will take longer than expected. The art director is basically the client, and clients are never ever fully satisfied with a photograph that is shot for them and so the photographer will struggle by trying to achieve the ideal photograph. Other than having the 'client' present at the shoot, the job was not bad. Very interesting idea was presented to me by the art director and I had a great time putting my vision to work for the 'client'. It is great to be allowed the freedom to use my judgement as a photographer for a particular photograph, but like I mentioned earlier, when the 'client' is present, the freedom aspect of being a hired photographer disappears, so watch out for picky clients. Ronald as an art director was not the typical annoying client, and I had fun working with him and his idea.