Photo Journalism

On our field trip to OCAD, we had an opportunity to wander around the surrounding areas of Toronto to try our hand at photo journalism. The goal was to take a picture that told a story.

Every time I visit this area of Toronto, I try to have a meal at the eclectic "Village by the Grange" food court. It offers a wide range of food from various ethnicities and provides an interesting setting for lunch. But even if I don't have time for a full meal, I always make a point of stopping at the "Coffee Exchange." This is what I've captured in my photo above.

In the past, I've had time to stop and chat with the man who usually works behind the cash register. I've learned that he's also the owner of the shop and father of some of his employees. He's explained to me that the shop is family-run and "family morals based." They believe in fresh ingredients, fresh coffee and options for everyone. The Coffee Exchange does all they can to offer a wide variety of coffees, teas and decaffeinated drinks for anyone to enjoy. It makes it so much easier to want to spend money on your coffee fix when you know how much love and thought is poured into it. In the picture I took you can see all 10 of their freshly brewed coffees (all different roasts and flavours) and the daughter of the owner making a drink in the background. 

Alternative Process #2

Aperture: f5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/25

This week for my alternative process photo, I decided to do a photogram. I wanted to try and display different values as best as I could. For each letter, I layered different materials over top of my photo paper when I exposed it. For the opaque "F", I just used plain white paper. For the "A", I layered tape and stretched out cotton. For the "D" and "E" I just used clear tape but I layered more for the "D" than the "E". I think it was pretty effective.

Alternative Process #1

Aperture: f5.6, Shutter Speed: 1/25

This week I was working with an alternative process of photography. I did a gel medium transfer. To complete this process I took a photo, printed it and made a photocopy of it (for the most possible concentrated ink.) After that, I taped it to a masonite board and began to layer gel medium over it, letting it dry in between each layer. After about 20 layers, I took it off the board and dipped it into a tub of water. I rubbed off all the paper with my fingers so that all that was left was a thick layer of gel medium with the image transferred onto it. My final product was a slightly transparent, thick image with an interesting tint in it (likely from the yellow and blue paint residue that was on the paint brush I was using.) I'm very happy with it!

Breaking the Rules

This weeks assignment was to Break the Rules of composition in photography.

This photo breaks the rules because it is heavily asymmetrical. Although my dog almost lies on one of the key points in the rule of thirds, he still is a bit too off to the side. I think this composition still works because it conveys an affect of inferiority and submission that a dog might experience.

This photo breaks the rules because of the blank space in the middle of the composition. The items in the foreground are blurry and the candle in the background breaks the theme of straight vertical objects.  I think those things add visual interest and an element of chaos among an otherwise very pristine image.

This last photo breaks the rules mainly because of how heavy each side of the composition is. There is a predominantly white area on one side and a predominantly dark area on the others; these conflict. To add to this, there is a lamp dividing the room in half. I think this photo still works because the division creates an element of dysfunction which adds to the affect of a messy room.

Surreal Photography

Shutter Speed: 1/640, Aperture: f3.5

The goal of this assignment was to use a panorama or time lapse photo to create a surreal effect. To create this photo, I took multiple pictures of my friend, Cecilia, lying on the ground, progressively arching her back more and then I brought it onto photoshop and layered the photos on top of each other with less and less opacity and moving each one up a little more. I used layer masks to rub away the background on all of the photos except the first and I used the liquify tool to arch her back more on the last few photos.

Mixed Lighting

This week I was focusing on mixed lighting. I tried setting my friend Cecilia up next to windows to get natural lighting that way but it wasn't strong enough. I found some bright spots throughout the school from where the light was shining in through skylights and decided to shoot there. I was trying to capture strong, bright lighting against her face to create deep shadows. 

When I showed some of my friends the pictures of her sitting in the atrium, some of them thought she was outside at first! 

I shot all of these pictures with a DSLR camera at a shutter speed of 1/25 and an aperture of f5.6.

Renaissance Lighting

The Renaissance was an era of new perspective. Artists such as Da Vinci, Brunelleschi and Massaccio introduced the concept of 3D art on a 2D plane and one point perspective. Oil paint was also introduced, giving a whole new medium for artists to work with. Subjects of art were often used as symbolism or documentation. Art wasn't just used for decoration but also to send a message to those who would see it or even used as important documents such as wedding certificates (as seen in the Arnold-Feeney Wedding by Jan Van Eyck.)

This week, I played with studio lighting to mimic the lighting in a Renaissance painting called The Magdalen Reading by Ambrosius Benson. Mary Magdalen was one of Benson's greatest muses alongside Sybil Persica. He treated these women in a very similar manner. This particular painting was most likely influenced by Rogier van der Weyden's painting under the same title.


I used DSLR camera on my friend, Cecilia with a shutter speed of 1/13 and an aperture of f14.


Ambrosius Benson was an Italian painter who moved to Bruges, Belgium to be part of the Northern Renaissance. There's very little information about Benson and he didn't have much influence in Renaissance. However, he was very successful and was known at the time for being a religious leader within the artistic community.