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The first picture is a photo of a lighter. I shot in the yard of the house where I live. I really like the bright flames in this picture and the sparks that ignited when I fired it. Other pictures were taken by me and Alexis on the hillside near her home. I photographed the blurred street lights and the light of cars at the crossroad. I think the fourth picture is very interesting. Alexis plays two characters, the one who is punching and the other one who is dodging attack.

First of all, I would like to say that I respect the works of all artists. But it’s hard for me to appreciate Robert Mapplethrope’s style of photography. Perhaps in that era when people’s ideas were not so open, it was of great significance and creativity to use photography to express sex. One thing I learned from this video is that an artist doesn’t have to follow the mainstream of society. Artists should have their own style and their thoughts should not be swayed by others.

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On Thursday’s class, we had an operation class in the studio of school’s library. I learned five styles of studio lighting. They are Broad lighting, Short lighting, Side lighting, Rembrandt lighting and Butterfly lighting. I think this class is very interesting. Studio is a magical and helpful place where people could use artificial lights from different directions to create the portraits they want. I think the shooting style of the guest Arthur Marquez is very cool. Diving photography is awesome. Divers could see the unique underwater scenery which is invisible to ordinary people. I hope I can learn to dive in the future!

After watching this TED Talk, I want to say that sometimes art is not fair to everyone. If a famous artist paints a piece of paper on black, this painting will be hung in the gallery, people will stop at this painting, appreciate it. However, an ordinary person doing the same thing will be considered as not respecting art. If in the world of art, people blindly believe in authority, the imagination and creativity of ordinary people will be killed, which is sad.

Today in Walnut Park, I took some close photos. I like to explore the details of life. The budding leaves, rusted railing and withered leaves are all good objects to be photographed. As for the portrait, I shot my friend Alexis. She is a very outgoing girl and I like to catch her funny expressions.

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Everybody Street is a great documentary about photography. Many photographers capture the random but beautiful moments of life: people crossing the sidewalk, people holding rallies, children frolicking… Some photographers, as Martha Cooper and Clayton Patterson said, usually face many difficulties and dangers in taking pictures. They sometimes get up before dawn and take pictures at the cold winter nights. Photographers often rejected by others, even threatened and beaten by others.

This reminds me of the experiences of taking photos at the seaside. When I took this picture, I was standing on a rock embankment which is more than ten meters high. I have acrophobia, in order to capture pictures of the sea from different angles, I had to climbed up the embankment, and my legs were shaking when I press the shutter. There will be a return to pay, and this picture is a piece of good memory for me.

In my opinion, Street photography is to capture the accidental events in life, not to arrange the action of the main character. Photography is telling the truth, and photographers are recording life in their own ways.

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Diptychs: Both of the two photos are time-lapse photography. I adjusted the shutter speed at a slow speed (around 2s) and a lower ISO to take pictures. I shoot the track of vehicles’ lights when they are passing the road, and the track of the flashlight lights of my partner’s smartphone. Even though shooting at night may not get some bright and colorful pictures, we have a chance to capture some beautiful shots of lights.

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Triptychs: These three pictures of benches were taken at the Discovery Park and the entrance of my community. Two of them were taken during the daytime and one was taken at night. I adjusted their positions when I posted them because I want to make the three pictures seem to be a form of symmetry and balance. I want to say that public facilities can be seen everywhere, which provide us with convenience and comfort, however people just ignore them–One of the photographer’s mission is to capture the beauty of overlooked things.

I went to the park, the beach, the supermarket to take these photos, some of the photos I took indoors, my favorite photo is the photo of the seal on the rock. I caught the moment when the seal looked up at the seagull, and the elements in this picture were not compact, there was a visual blank, I think it is interesting.

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This video shows the audience what some good photographers think Great photos are. After watching this video, I realized the real meaning of photography. The real meaning of a picture is not to make the photographer or the audience feel visually comfortable, but to touch the audience’s hearts. My favorite sentence in this movie is ” Imagines are so powerful that they can change the course of people’s lives, they can change the course of history.” I hope one day my pictures could have the same power, and I will try to achieve this goal!

I am an international student from China, I major in Visual & Performing Art. This is my second semester in CSUSM. My favorite thing is taking pictures during my trips. I really interested in catching some wonderful details in our world. I have two pet parrots, they have pretty feather, they are clever and naughty, they often do damages to my mom’s plants, but we forgive them all the time, we love them so much.

They look like this: