MMS 173 Assignment 1:
Knowing Where I'm At (Part 1) 

These are what I think the top 3 photos that I have taken.
These three take place in three different locations, taking me farther away from home with "Sungka" being in my home's family room back in 2015, "San Pablo City Cathedral" in my home town San Pablo City back in 2022, and lastly the "Isolated Flower" shot in "Gardens by the Bay" in Singapore during our trip back in 2016.

My interest in photography started around highschool where I had peers that were also into it at that time. When I got my camera, we would share photographs with each other while trying out different techniques that we would learn.
While they were able and knowledgeable in using post-processing applications, most of my photos back then even until now mostly doesn't include any post-processing whatsoever.
I do realize that there's a lot that I am missing out on with not doing any post-processing to further enhance my photographs, however I do hope that I could use this course to practice and get into the ins and outs of photography.

Starting off, the "Sungka" photo has a strong tie with me given that around that time was when my curiosity and interest in photography was probably at its peak. I would have my DSLR, a Canon 700D, mostly with me at that time. Usually capturing anything that my eyes may deem aesthetic.
I was mainly capturing the mountains and the landscape around our area during this photo but when I was about to set my camera down, I noticed that the ambience that the sunlight provided in that room matches the color tone of the sungka board. With this, I shot several photos of the sungka board, with me landing this one – a close up, to have a more intimate feel and be more in tune with the object.
I do however wish that I could have adjusted my angles, background, the way I focused on the subject and a whole lot more to make the photograph better but alas.

The “San Pablo Cathedral” on the other hand was taken just a few years ago when I was making a documentary about my home town San Pablo City and its historical landmarks.
While having captured the entirety of the building was beautiful, there’s something about this photograph, a part of the whole thing with the sky as its canvas.
The sharpness and clarity, as well as the vertical lines of the building in the photo graph alludes to the way people would usually view that part of the building from afar which is what I think adds to the beauty of the photo. While my photographs are not perfect, I do wish I could show more of my appreciation with how structures are made through more photographs like this.

Lastly, I have the “Isolated Flower” taken from the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. This was just a quick capture when we were strolling there back in 2016. It’s one of my top picks as I think that its apparent beauty from afar masks a lot of flaws of this raw photograph. Starting with its clarity, while the flower was in focus, it lacked the sharpness and clarity that I could have gotten if I took it some other way. Next was the way my colors and shadows were set, I think it’s overall a bit too dark which hinders the subject to pop even more.

Overall while these three are what I deemed the best of my photographs, I think that there’s still more that I could capture that would not only capture what’s aesthetically pleasing but also the stories of the moments in the photographs.