I like to explore how creative I can get, and that drives me to try new things every now and then. I became interested in photography a few years ago when I noticed that there was more to photos than just the shots; I became more interested in the abstract process of the creators themselves.
Photography, for me, is an intricate process of capturing the moment and telling the right story with just one click of a button, followed by a series of post-production steps. And I may not know the deets of how it should all be done, but I know one thing for sure: the goal is to produce results that are appealing.
Lately, I have been taking photos of basically anything I deem fit. I just get a perspective on an object, place, or person, and then the thought pops into my mind, "I have to capture this." And many times, I have no idea what the results may be, but I just go ahead and shoot first and then ponder what to do with the image(s) that I have captured later.
People may never know what you are about if you do not share in the first place. This translates to utilizing the power of social media to "get oneself out there." I considered it recently and started sharing photos of mine that I considered "hot shots." People began appreciating the works of my hands that I shared with them, and then one thing led to another in a conversation with another friend, and we talked at length about product photography.
It was a conversation that provided me with insight and inspiration into what my photography efforts could produce and suggested that I should be more deliberate about it and apply it more.
A few days later, I got a call (a text, actually) from a close friend. She had just gotten goods, and she was wondering if I could help her set up the in-house store she was starting and also if I could take photos of what she had in stock. Apparently, she had been seeing some of my works, and I was the first that came to mind. Mind you, I am not in any way a professional (yet), but putting myself out there did something right here. Then I went to her house and did what I normally do: I set up a few things for her and took the photos.
She was just starting out, and there wasn't much she had on hand, but she was thoughtful enough to get the right things to make a good presentation of her stock. The lighting was not perfect, and I only had one angle to work with. Nonetheless, I took the shots as best I could. But when I tried to post-produce, I realized many things that were going to make working on it a little difficult.
I tried to eliminate certain things that I didn't think should be in the photo, such as excessive shadows, spots on the wall, and the like. I even tried to improve the color and all. I was aiming for something that would be appealing enough for any potential customer to feel enticed just by looking at it. But the thought of going overboard and then producing something that would end up looking like "What I ordered is not what I got," simply because I altered the colors or something, was terrifying.
"Less is more," I thought to myself. I made minimal changes and tried to improve the photos without going overboard. And voila, we have what we see here. I am definitely going to sign up for some photography classes, particularly product photography, to hone my skills. For now, I am going to keep shooting and experimenting. She has called again this week, and tomorrow I'll be going over again to take some more for her new stock.
ℍ𝕖𝕪, 𝕚𝕗 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕖𝕟𝕛𝕠𝕪𝕖𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕡𝕠𝕤𝕥, 𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕝𝕪 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕒 𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥, 𝕣𝕖𝕓𝕝𝕠𝕘, 𝕠𝕣 𝕦𝕡𝕧𝕠𝕥𝕖. 𝕀𝕥'𝕝𝕝 𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕖 𝕓𝕖 𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕔𝕚𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕕.
𝒮𝑒𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝑒𝓍𝓉 . . .