Sacramento Zoo Photography

  Personally, I'm not a big fan of zoos; I don't like the idea of nature caged, animals that were born to be free behind bars like criminals, no matter how well they are being treated. When we went to the Sacramento Zoo to photograph the animals, most looked bored out of their minds, except the parrots because they started being real loud. The zebras even looked depressed, though I'm no expert so I can't really judge. Either way, I have no good ones of the zebras. Since we went on a week day, it wasn't crowded, which I really liked. I made the mistake of not bringing my own camera so I had to use another: Lesson learned, as I struggled with the focus, which my camera would have done well. So some of the pictures did not turn out as good as I would have wanted them to. But there were still some decent ones.

I did not know that giraffes curled their tongues to grasp leaves

Red panda layer down most of the time

For some reason, I thought this monkey looked
like an old wise man

This was outside the reptile section, not part of zoo

Architecture Photography

I wasn't too excited for this assignment but I made it work... and then I went to shoot trains :D

PhotoJournalism - MAMA

    MAMA

    Mom's are really unappreciated. I used to hear teens talk about how much their mothers annoyed them or embarrassed them. Hearing all those things would always make me feel a bit sad; they were not as close to their moms as I was to mine. Of course some had their reasons, as not all moms are as great as mine, which made me feel even sadder for them. I don't think I have the perfect mother or the best in the whole world; she has her flaws as any other human. But she is my mom & I would not give her up for the world. She is the one that has influenced me the most, and is the glue in our family. While there are many traits I love about her, the ones that stand out to me is her adventurous & playfulness, her independence & hard work, her support & caring nature. Above all, she is human.


   My grandmother, Mom's mom, is very adventurous and daring even in her old age. She has often done things and climbed places most of us would have hesitated to even try and her playfulness has given us many fun memories. Those traits has been passed down to my mom.

Mom often plays with my little sister outside

She likes to play at the park with my little siblings

She also plays with her niece

Mom sometimes likes to be silly when I take her picture

It may not look like it, but this stream was deep, cold & a bit fast. Nevertheless,  Mom did not hesitate to cross over the log

    

    Mom also takes good care of us, especially when she sees us feeling down. She makes sure our family is as happy as she can make us, even if its for a moment.

She hugged me when I felt overwhelmed with emotions in my quince

When Alison got hit in the head with a ball, Mom didn't hesitate go to her

She cares for her little niece, even if she spent the whole ceremony crying

Whenever we feel down or tired, she comfort us with the best hugs

She notices when we aren't ok, even when we try to hide it

    While she is outgoing, playful, and caring, she also makes sure the things that need to be done are done. She is also capable of being independent, which is why I always get pissed off whenever my dad says or does something that ties her down.

She organized my quince practically by herself, including invites, hall rent, booking the church, and food

She also organizes our camping trips

While camping, she makes sure we are well fed even if she is tired

My parents relationship has seen a lot of ups & downs, especially in the last few years. Even so, she works hard to stay by his side

Through any hardship or obstacle, she always looks forward.

    Even with her strengths, she is still at times vulnerable. I have been blessed and cursed to see that side multiple times; a blessing because, like everyone, she does not want anyone to see her like that & the fact that she allowed me to see her like that a couple of times shows her trust in me. But it is also a curse because I don't like seeing her like that, even when she tries to hide them I still see it. And that trust is, at times, a heavy burden on my heart since much of those times I can't do anything to make her worries disappear. The only thing I can do is hug her and remind her how much she is loved.

She rests whenever she can. I often walk in to her room or living room
with her taking a nap

She also enjoys any happy moments with her husband
to the fullest, which I'm happy to say is slowly increasing

One of those rare moments of my dad showing his love
to my mom, even if its just a few wildflowers.
Mom always has a happy look on her face when that happens

Sometimes she just wants some time alone to herself

This is my Mom <3

Photo 1 Class Review

     This semester was a really fun one! I really enjoyed learning about the art of photography and how to develop an eye for finding different perspectives. I definitely think we should have more than one field trip so we can get more experience, since I think we learn better when we are out on the field. I can't think of any things I disliked about this class, other than Derek forcing me to take photos of strangers >.< but I enjoyed everything else. In fact, I loved it so much that I would find myself waking up on Fridays really excited and in anticipation for whatever Derek would teach us that day. I think my favorite part of class would be whenever Derek would send us out to take pictures, unless they were portraits of other people. I also enjoyed the documentaries that he showed us, especially that of Vivian Meyers. All in all, I have nothing bad to say about this class and I'm looking forward to Photo 2!

Old Sac Field Trip Photos

On Monday the 24th, we went to Old Sac to take pictures. I liked it, and was able to take some good pictures but the weather was kind of against me the whole time. I kept having to change so many things to have a good enough exposure, such as the ISO, the shutter speed, and the f-stops. It was a bit frustrating because I had to stay put and take so many photos for just one subject, and it was worse when the lighting changed quickly. Sometimes I had to go live to see better. But at the same time I'm thankful because it helped me understand how a camera works, especially what ISO is and how it works, because that was the one thing I had not understood until now. I rarely used the 0 mark on the meter scale, since it would almost always be a bit off, so I had to swing it. I am a bit sad that some photos did not come out as good as I wanted them, like the exposure was a bit too high on some or a bit too low on others. That's one thing I would have done different, I would have examined my pictures more carefully. The assignments I chose were Rule of Thirds and Symmetry. I It did help me stay a bit focused and  got a couple of those but most of the time I winged it. I was just exploring the different point of views I could get. I can make plans but I hardly stick with them; they're more like guidelines for me. So yeah, I did have some sort of plan, or guideline, when I first arrived there.
So these are all the pictures I really liked.

 

 

 

 

 

So these self-portraits I took after being left behind are kind of my priced pictures because I was able to remake a self-portrait that Vivian Meyer took.