Going Through a 30 Day Photography Course

Day One: What is photography anyway?

I have been taking photos for about a year and half now and despite that I know there are things I can improve on with this craft. That is my main motivation for going through this course. Composition is something I want a deeper understanding of and I have been watching Pat Kay's videos on YouTube and following his Instagram for the entire time I have been taking photos and I have admired all his work. That is why I choose his course to work though. I have a trip to Ireland at the end of April this year and my hope is that with this course, when I am looking at the beautiful sights in Ireland I can create photos with a story behind them.

Today's lesson is going back to the absolute basics about what photography is, the capturing of light.

With March being Women's History month I decided to look into the history of women in landscape and street photography, which I think are the areas of photography I am the most interested in. At least at this point in time. Women have been taking photos professionally staring in 1842. There were so many women who starting taking photos in order to validate photography as a form of art in a time where oil painting was the most popular medium. I think there are many of us who forget who was actually behind some of the most famous photos that we know today such as 'Migrant Mother', who was taken by Dorothea Lange. I thought for the longest time, before I did any research, that this was taken by a man who was documenting America at the time of this photo.

Before I got interested in taking photos, I didn't think much about mistaking something small as who could have taken a photo. Over this year and a half being behind the camera I see that knowing more about the photographer, adds more of a story to photos. This famous photo of course already has a lot of story in it due to the time period in America this was taken, but for me knowing that this photo of a mother was taken by another mother adds another layer to this. You can kind of see why Lange could have been interested in this composition in the first place.

The fact that there is multiple stories in photography is the reason that I love this art form. This post was kind of everywhere but that was the overview of my first video lesson as we were sent to do some research on the history of photography. What kind of caught me by surprise, although I should not have been, is the amount of women all over the world who contributed to photography since this art form was introduced.

If you take anything from this, research something you are interested in! Photography or not, you will learn something new that will surprise you and garner an even deeper appreciation for whatever you are looking into.