An odd conglomeration of photos I took last week.

The Great Salt Lake. Pearls. Tulips. Lace dresses. Kennecott smelter. Utah Lake. Multigrain Cheerios. Sunsets. Nathan Bayles. 

Quite the combination, right?

I took 187 photos between Friday night and Monday morning. All in an attempt to complete my photography assignment. We were supposed to turn in one "high key" image (LOTS of light values) and one "low key" image (LOTS of dark values). Google high key/low key photography if you want to learn more.

Anyway, the assignment seemed fairly simple but actually proved to be exceedingly difficult. There's a fine line between making an aesthetically pleasing picture composed almost entirely of light values, and overexposing a photo to the point of a crappy picture. 

Hence the 187 photos.

The majority of what I shot this weekend didn't work for my assignment, but I got to do tons of experimenting and came up with some cool shots, nonetheless. And spending some quality time with family and friends who were willing to aid me in my endeavors was just an added bonus. As for the 50 or so mosquito bites I had come Saturday morning...definitely not an added bonus.

The weekend's first adventure took us to the Great Salt Lake on Friday evening. The original plan was to go to the Salt Flats, but Siri lied to us about a shorter, easier route out there and we missed the good lighting. So we improvised.

When I called Austin asking him if he wanted to drive out to the Salt Flats with me, he IMMEDIATELY accepted and came along to take his own pictures. Cousinly bonding! 

For some reason, these footprints just kind of spoke to me.

I LOVED the way the light was reflecting off the small waves (ripples?) coming in, and I probably crouched at the edge of the lake for about 20 minutes trying to get the lighting just right.

Next up, on Sunday night, was a lovely photo shoot with my darling friend Nathan. I wanted to use him for my high key images, but ultimately the lighting was off and I couldn't use his photos for the assignment. I do, however, like how some of the pictures turned out. I might just be able to use them for a future assignment!

Anytime you're working with a goofball like this, you KNOW you're in for some fun pictures.

Cute, much??

We were totally goofing off at this point. It was SO windy out and there were some birds hovering right above Nathan, hence this pose. When I got the picture on the computer, I ended up REALLY liking it. Funny how things like that happen!

He was a pretty good little model. :)

So then, since my original high key plan didn't work out, I had to improvise early Monday morning to throw together something that WOULD work. I had some tulips and (obviously fake) pearls lying around. Add a lace dress and you get....

I liked how the light was almost coming through the flower petals....

....but I could never really get the composition right.

I knew looking at my camera's display screen I didn't like the pictures very much, but at that point, I was SICK of taking pictures and endlessly playing with my aperture, so I just decided to use what I had. 

I then went to the kitchen to get some breakfast, at which point I poured myself a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios. And then it hit me.

Sometimes having a white dresser is really convenient....

Nom nom nom. (That's actually a fork in the bowl!)

And so, the pictures I turned in this week were in no, way, shape or form part of the original plan.

I turned in THIS photo of the Kennecott smelter for my low key image... (The larger this image, the better it looks. So open that baby up in a new window!)

....and THIS photo of Multigrain Cheerios for my high key image. (Not bad for my first attempt at still life, eh?)

And that's what life's all about, right? Improvising. Being OK with doing something that's not part of the plan. Experimenting. Taking chances. Not being afraid to take pictures of your Cheerios. Suffering 50 mosquito bites in the name of a good photograph. 

And above all, having fun while you're at it.