I choose this as my best photo because sometimes flash photography is alarming from how harsh the flash is. I like how Dara herself looks shocked/surprised.

I choose this as my best photo because I liked the different reaction of the women in the middle. The people on the side of her are smiling at something in front of them while she’s looking at the camera calmly sipping her drink.

I took this photo in the staircase of the 7th floor. I wanted to capture my light behind her to get a white outline around her body. Most of the shadow is on her. I was hoping to get this wondering look of not knowing what’s in front of her as the viewer. I don’t think this would have given me the same feeling if the lighting was brighter, as if taken in the hallway.

I enjoyed my first experience at Photoville. It’s good exposure for photographers. You get to show case your work and have people who are into photography look at and ask questions to the photographer about their work. It’s a learning experience to get to know what’s happening in the photos. 

One of the first photographers I had spoken to decorated her create as if you were inside the home of Middle Eastern poverty-stricken home. She was the first create I walked into so I haven’t taken pictures because I was too shy. She had painted the inside of the create and used items, such as a rug, toys from the country and replicated a living room. There wasn’t much in the create because there wouldn’t have been much in their homes. She also had pictures of some of the people she had talked to during her exploration with descriptions who they are with a little item under their picture of something they gave her.

The other photographer I had talk to was Leon Hendrickx, his series is called “Kings and Queens”. He had posed several drag queens with a male interacting with them in a photo. After taking a closer look I realized the two men in the single photo were the same man. He had photo shopped them together as if they were both there at the same time of the shot. It amazed me how seamlessly they were interacting with each other in the photo.

I chose Francesco Gola because I like long exposure landscape photography. To me long exposure photography looks mysterious and a bit eerie. I think it’s interesting how in these shots of the water it appears as if it’s glowing and cloudy. I also like how the clouds drag across the sky giving you motion. 

In this photo of Dara, I’m using her dominant eye and serious face to create a intense close-up. I was trying to create a mysterious mood so I had her hiding behind a little branch as the tree casted a slight shadow across her face.