I was wonderstruck seeing this shot the moment I captured it. But I will be honest; I would have, in hindsight, tweaked this to make the exposure of the subject's body parts a little bit higher to make it more evident from the swarm of books on the background, and have adjusted the camera level that would make the subject's eye more prominent as it is partially unappreciated in my angle of choice. Setting aside the technicalities, it just feels magical, comforting, and warming whenever I see this shot. As I have mentioned in the original assignment where it was uploaded, the shot is to illustrate the sense of caving into one’s world full of one’s own thoughts and joy. 

As you can see from this another shot of mine, I was actually debating to pick this shot as well because this emphasized more what the library nook looked like and the perfect visualization of being shelled and immersed into the world of reading—I guess I leaned on my chosen shot more because it had more emphasis on the subject’s face and overall depicted more drama to my liking. In this sense, adding this alternative shot to the blog gives more context on what the nook really looked like. 

As the course gradually ended, until the self-portraiture to be exact, I can proudly say to myself that I did well and have mastered more of the technical aspects in photography just as what I promised myself upon entering this class. Although it is still far from trailblazing perfection, I still went far from where I have started—malayo pa pero malayo na! From capturing foods that I devour on the daily and just going ham with the shots, to creatively planning the concepts and ticking compositional techniques to give the shots more dimension and structure. To be fair, those food shots were for the casual route of things, but the thing is, the foods that I would only notice to capture are now food, places, and other random things that I would intently snap to deliberately challenge myself in photography.

I have personally noticed this because I just recently travelled to Japan—I actually am here as I am typing this! I just know the places that I keep on shooting are something that I would definitely shrug off before. But now, I keep taking shots of everything, and think of every possible technique I could implement before hitting that capture button. This leads to my next point. My brain is instantly wired to do the rule of thirds!

I remember Sir Al mentioning in his course manual before that he goes autopilot to apply rule of thirds in every shot he does—I believe I have perpetually been influenced and have fallen into the goodness of this madness. It’s kind of funny because I have said in most of my outputs that I get so confused with how the rule of thirds work. Yes, I feel idiotic for not entirely getting the concept sooner, since I was confused whether it was the spaces or the lines that mattered most. But now, I can’t resist to not use it in my shots that whenever I try not to use it and convince myself there are better techniques to use, everything already feels wrong. Like, what was I doing all these years? How could my eyes not strain with my old shots that are not within the grid’s policies? I could be the rule of thirds police from now on—and that is without exaggerations. 😝

Aside from the rule of thirds, I quite noticed that I have taken a liking to using frame within a frame as well. Psychoanalyzing myself, I’m guessing it’s because of how evident it looks in a shot, that it unconsciously speaks well-constructed, structured, and planned. Or is it just me? Of course, the overall shot still matters, but it just gives a noticeable kick to it—frame within a frame is definitely not a band-aid solution, folks! So yeah, rule of thirds and frame within a frame are my most noteworthy techniques that I constantly reach out to whenever applicable. 

Since I have mentioned my most favorite techniques, the least practiced I would like to, and currently practicing now, is the Golden Ratio and Dutch angle. The thing is, I have been trying and attempting to do the Golden Ratio since the Bucketlist assignment. You can see it from my shown lantern shot.

I had two night shots and I was debating whether it was the library nook or the lanterns that would win. I honestly thought the lantern would pass the Golden Ratio but unfortunately, it was still inches far off from the “main spiral” grid. Moreover, it was kind of an extra effort to find softwares that support its overlay since I had to find ones on the internet and manually top them on my shots. For the Dutch angle, I have only heard of it from Quiz #2 (I apologize if this was mentioned in the course manual—I may have forgotten or have overlooked this part) and would like to practice this more in the future since this technique is quite intriguing and dramatic—as highlighted upon searching its definition.  

It goes without saying that I have taken a liking in photography just as how much I have blabbered and flustered on my newly-ventured techniques. It goes without saying also that I didn’t lie how I love (yes, not like) on this course because of how I am actively applying my learnings outside the screen—but outside the country, even. At the end of the day, this IS the purpose, after all. :)) I am greatly lucky and privileged for this coinciding opportunity !!

Definitely, all these lessons did not only come from the course manual and tons of cross-searching from the web, but also from my attendance to the Zoom sessions. I admit, synchronous sessions happen once i a blue moon in most of the courses. Of course, I take the opportunity as much as possible whenever there is one. Upon attending Sir Als session, it was a matter of preparation, excitement, and curiosity coursing through my emotions. But, above all, the most notable attribute that could never replace any course material are the experiences shared by the MMS 173 community. Personally, the most crucial element that makes learning more intimate in these sessions is how most of the shots are taken from Sir Al himself. Doing the shot means you have full control explaining everything about the shot, which also means that the instructors knows what he is doing and saying. Complemented with that are my classmates interaction with Sir Al, which has an underlying thought that we are learning from each other and there is no one left behind. I did wish that I was able to attend the F2F sessions but my recently-tight schedule did not allow me to do so. I hope, and I know, that my classmates had a fun time during their time there!

Overall, I can say that critically understanding and taking all the concepts about photography to heart is the greatest asset one must learn to take your shots to the next level. I remember during Assignment #1 where we all had genuine stories to tell, saying how memorable and intimate are chosen shots were to us. I definitely understand where they are coming from as I felt the same way, but as what I have mentioned before and would attest to again, the stories that we would like to tell in our shots will only translate properly if we know how to shoot them properly. Sure, there are subjective nuances that only us, the photographers, will understand, but these technicalities solidify and empower your shots more, where your letters turn to sentences and chrysalis into butterflies. Being realistic here, being a photographic master is not the goal here, but being familiar is; however, as students taking the BAMS program along this course, I think we can all consider leaning a little towards more on the former.