Sam Brannan Photography

Digital Photography Class at Cuesta College

2010-12-20T16:11:00.000-08:00

12/20/2010

Hey everyone,

First of all, Happy Hollidays to whoever is reading this! It's been quite a while since my last post because I've been extremely busy finishing up my first semester of college, so it's nice to be home on Winter break. I took a Digital Photography class for the first time, and I learned a ton. I learned that I might have already known how to use my camera, but this class has opened my eyes to how much more I have to learn about my vision in Photography.

Vision is the way people see the world, and everything around them---their own perspective. My vision in photography is to try to tell a story through my images, going beyond a simple snapshot. I want to to make the audience look at the details and emotional content of my photos to show the intent and work I put on the photos, but also to show a simple concept or story behind them. Before taking a photography class, I never had any concept behind my photos besides making them visually appealing. Since being in the class, it has opened new doors in my vision in photography, and I think it will continue to evolve into something new every "door-opening" experience I have. I try to give my photos as much content as possible and to have as clear a subject in my photos as possible because that's how I bring out the idea or concept I'm conveying.

Style is the way people use their camera, and how they edit their photos, and how they present their work. I can't put a finger on what my style is exactly, it's just something that's buried deep down in my mind, and it's something that happens intuitively when I take photos, independent of any reasoning process. How I take photos just comes naturally with the experience and comfort of my camera. I like to give my photos a lot of high-energy and contrast because I think it gives photos a lot more life and more of a three-dimensional feel.

Digital photography is what I started with, and the only type of photography I've experienced. It has allowed me to discover editing photos on the computer which is a new found passion of mine. I love to be able to go on Lightroom 3 and completely change the way photos look. Using Lightroom 3 has helped change average looking snapshots into beautiful, professional looking photos. However, this can be a big help for some and it kind of redefines photography for others and I can see how black and white enthusiasts can see it as something entirely different from photography. I hope to one day to give film photography a try.

My experiences at looking at other photographer's work has helped me shape my own style and vision. It has inspired me and given me ideas and concepts to work on and take to the next level. Looking at others work helps you become a better photographer, it can't do any harm. What's a photograph if it isn't shared? So please take a look at my photos and tell me what you think!

These next four series of photos is my Final Project. For my final project I documented movement. I wanted to show motion in my photos, and to infuse a high speed, blurred photo effect that you often see in sports photography and turn it into art. I explored the differences between different types of movement, and ways how people get from point A to point B. I used my camera the same way in each of my photos, I used a panning technique to create a blurring effect in the background, and with a slower shutter speed. My photos get from slow to faster as it goes from right to left, starting with a girl walking slowly and peacefully barefoot on a dirt path, to a biker moving at high speeds. (Thanks to Mac Degnan, Lane Rodriguez, Ben Strutzel, and Karl Gabski for being in my photos!)

These next four photos are of my buddy Tyler Rockel's truck on Pismo Beach. My assignment was to have a consistent Color Pallete. These colors are completely unnatural, because I tweaked them in Lightroom to have a consistent, high-energy color pallete.

My Personal Favorite

These Portraits are just some side work I did with some friends, nothing for an assignment in the class. I thought I'd post them because I think they turned out great! (Photos of: Mac Degnan, Natalie Plewa, and Tyler Rockel)

These are two photos from my RGB project. Basically we needed to take photos of something that would look good in black and white and color, and why they work with color or being black and white. (Photo of Benn Strutzel)

This is my Panorama project, it's 7 vertical photos stitched together on Photoshop. In the clock tower it says "Spend time with those you love." And I tried to capture a sunny, active day in SLO with families walking around. I have a 15 by 60 print out of the Panorama and it turned out awesome!

This was my first assignment in the class, which was to take photos of the Sports fields at Cuesta. This was just a way for the professor to get to know your style, but I like how my photos came out!

Fireworks shot

2010-07-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

7/11/2010

This is a shot of the fireworks on July 3rd at the Marin County Fair, I also got it posted in the Marin IJ's Reader Photos http://www.marinij.com/readerphotos. I brought the old tripod down to the parking lot of the fair and had some fun with it. Let me know what you think!

Water Skiing/ Wake Boarding ---- David Funnel

2010-06-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

6/19/10

I brought my camera out to get some cool water skiing shots today, some of them turned out pretty good. Also, thank you David Funnel for being an amazing water skier.

Headlands

2010-05-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Marin Headlands: 5/20/10

A few pictures of our adventure in the Headlands.

Full Moon

2010-04-27T21:38:00.001-07:00

The moon was incredible tonight so I went out to take a few shots at the duck pond, super long exposure. The moon was so bright it looked like daylight almost.

TL Track Meet

2010-04-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

TL Home Track Meet - 4/22/10

I went to the track meet today to take some photos, but some of the pictures that I took of the hurdles were pretty disappointing (sorry D Nam), but I hope you guys like the others I took. (feel free to take the pictures and share them)

2010-04-14T18:16:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, just got back from a really cool trip to San Luis Obispo to check out the area because I'm going to Cuesta College next year and I'm super pumped. My friend Sawyer and I stayed at his grandpa's house in Pismo Beach and we crashed there for two nights. I loved every single part of the trip, and just the fact that it was really my first road trip on my own without parents which made it that much better. Anyways, I'm so glad I was able to bring my camera because there was so many places and things to capture, it was unbelievably cool!! I hope you guys like some of my shots that I took, enjoy!

Somewhere off Hwy 101

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Another Boardwalk shot

An intersection in Pismo Beach at night, 30 sec exposure

A shot of hwy 101 and downtown Pismo, 15 sec exposure

"El Mirador" Taqueria in downtown Pismo

Morro Bay, I really like this town!
(to give you an idea of how big that rock is, look at the oil tanker in the bay)

Shell Beach (I think)

Regan's 3rd Birthday

2010-04-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, this is my first blog post!! These are some of my favorite pictures of my little cousin Regan's 3rd birthday party I took yesterday. For the most part I used my 18-55mm with an sb-28 speedlight(thanks to my uncle Lance). Tell me what you think and enjoy!