A Bit of History

So this all started a year and a half ago, when the only equipment I had was my little digital camera, my creative mind, and Gimp. The photo that started it all...

"Innocent Words" was my first photo that caught quite a bit of attention. This photo made me realize that maybe I did have something creative in me, maybe I did have some sort of talent, maybe I really could do this photography thing! This photo was so random. I found a blue flower head band that I never wore, and then I stuck it in my mouth and tooka  picture by the window. Why? Because it looked cool. I was a bit skeptical at first of it because it is kinda weird, but I'm so glad I finally did upload it.This was also the last photo I took before I finally got a tripod, so I could expand with my creativity.







The Tripod
I still remember the day I got my tripod. I was so excited! 6 feet of freedom! I no longer had to hold my camera in my hands and attempt to make it look like I wasn't taking the photo. :)
This is the photo I took in my living room the day I got home with my tripod:

"Can I Help You?" was my first step towards more creative photos. Naturally, I just had to put the tripod to it's highest setting for my first photo. So I propped up my camera on my brand spankin' new 6 foot tripod, I set the timer, and I ran back and forth between the floor and standing up on my tippy toes to see the photos. At this point, I was still on automatic, just developing my creativity before I realized if I wanted to be truly creative... I had to hit the books.

Eventually I found myself consumed with trying to decifer the information I found on the internet, all those confusing terms! "Shutter speed", "aperture", "focal length", and what on Earth was this... "ISO"? With the camera I had, it was very difficult to grasp these concepts as I couldn't figure out how to apply them to my little 200 dollar Sony camera. Eventually, through experimentation, I figured out what certain buttons and dials did, I just didn't know why or how they were doing these things.

Every photo I have taken has helped me learn, whether it was about photography, photoshop, or even life itself. Every single photo I have represents a mile stone I have crossed in any of these aspects.
I have a horrible memory, I can hardly remember what I had for breakfast, but I can remember every sight, sound, smell, and emotion I had when taking a certain photo.
One of my favourite photos I have taken to date, "If You Can't See Me":

I took this with my tripod facing as low as possible, a 10 second timer, and a lot of patience. At this point, I was still only using my large window as a light source. I was laying on my bedroom floor, which was absolutely freezing as it was tile. In the original photo, there was a tripod leg and lines from the tiles in my room, this is probably the photo that taught me the most about patience. Editing out all of those lines... avoiding my hair and making sure it didn't look too fake... oh my goodness! It took me for ever! But I am very proud of the final product, even one of my photography idols commented on it! :D






Horror/Creepy Photos
I have worried more than one person, especially my mother, with some of the photos that I take. I had a length of time where most of my photos were dark, looking back I understand why people were concerned haha! Even though they may have caused some concern, I still feel these photos are my favourites. I've especially grown with the bloody ones, each time getting closer to the perfect fake blood recipe! Here are my four photos that grabbed the most attention over the year and a half (one is not bloody, but close enough!):

(Chronological order; "Hush", "Prisoner", "Your Turn", "The Days After Valentines")

Wow! Putting them so close together like that you can really see the difference! 

"Hush":

For this photo, I had a dream the  night before of a girl holding a knife in one hand, and putting her other index finger to her lips, she then said "Hush..." Thus, "Hush" came to be! I left out the knife part because I didn't want to ruin my parent's cutlery :). For the "blood" All I did was use water and red food colouring. I know it doesn't look very realistic, but for how experienced I was at the time I think it worked well! :) (It also stained my arms for days after, so I don't recommend that method haha).

And yes, at that point, I was still using my tripod and timer. I got fake blood all over my camera! I learned my lesson! 

...Or not. 

"Prisoner":

This photo was inspired from the duct tape I had all over my walls hanging up my bed sheets which I used as backgrounds. In post-production I used the burn effect to get the "bruising" around my eyes and nose. I think it turned out quite good. :) My mom still hates the picture though! :(

"Your Turn":

This time, I used a mixture of red food colouring, water, and korn syrup. It worked 10x better, but made 10x more of a mess! Though that time I had splattered it everywhere too. This was my more recent attempt at a horror photo, combining my first two "Hush" and "Prisoner". I guess now I'm a very angry prisoner ;D. By then I had my DSLR camera (<3), and a remote to trigger the timer, so it made life a lot easier for me. Still have that same tripod!

"The Days After Valentines":

This photo means probably the most to me out of any photo I have taken. It represents the revolution which is currently occurring in many Arab countries, specifically Bahrain (Where I live). The protests began peaceful and cheerful, almost celebratory, and resulted in spilled blood and death. 

The hand is my friend, Shaddin's, who is now my personal model :) [More on her, later]. 

The blood was made with more korn syrup than the last time, and I used less red, then added some blue and yellow food colouring to the mix as well. I also added some chocolate powder to make it darker. This is actually my most recent photos, taken on February 17, 2011.

DSLR Camera

On April 3rd, 2010, I got my first DSLR camera! The Nikon D3000. One of the happiest days of my life haha! The first creative photo I took with my beautiful camera is this:

"Woosh", as I call it, definitely marks an improvement in my photography. By this time I had somewhat figured out the three exposure settings (Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO), but I still wasn't too confident with my knowledge. I sort of understood composure and what was wrong and what was right, but again, I didn't know why! This was also the first photo I took with my new flood lights. I bought two flood lights so that I could take photos with more flexibility. Well, they work! :)

Hopefully soon I will get a shoot through umbrella and something that allows me to take my new flash off of my camera :). This photo actually taught me how to use shutter speed more creatively to show movement in a photo. It also taught me not to keep my eyes open too long when wind is blowing in them. :)

Shaddin

My model turned best friend. :)

I introduced the idea to her by begging her to stand by a window a I snapped away. Here is one of the first photos I took of her (Just look at the emotion in her eyes haha):

She was extremely skeptical at first, as you can see. But once she realized that it wasn't going to steal her soul, she started quite enjoying it :). Now I have taken over her profile pictures! she has helped me more than she knows probably. With her being the model, I could focus more on what I was doing as the photographer, and not as the photographer AND model (it's harder than you'd think!). I love this girl so much! It was her hand in the photo "The Days After Valentines", I was pleasantly surprised when she was willing to let me put blood all over her arm, though there were some squeals along the way. :)

Extras  

Re-done photos:

"Hush", 

"Your Turn", 

"Let It Snow"

"Winter Princess"

Sorry for the Deviantart watermark on "Winter Princess", but I don't have the original with me and I had to get it off of my DA account :(