I travelled with photographer Tony Smalls and a group of OSU students on a photography trip across Oregon, learning how to take manual photographs like a professional photographer along the way. We visited several different areas across the state, including the Japanese gardens in Portland, Tumalo Falls, Bend, and Crater Lake National Park to experience the beauty of the environment and take stunning photos. Finally, we received instructions about how to properly edit our photos in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to bring out the best in the photos we took.
More than anything, this experience made me appreciate the small (albeit complex) things that make life the way it is. Taking photographs of insects and the underneath of leaves made me see the value and beauty of things in a way I never would have thought to consider before. I took photographs of silly things that nobody else thought to get a shot of because I stopped to consider the small things that make nature beautiful. In a metaphorical way, I also realized through taking my photos that perspective matters more than I originally thought. A shot could be pretty when taken from one angle but changing that angle can bring out things in the scene that I previously did not see. This is applicable to photography but also when dealing with problems outside of photography. When confronted with a problem, stop and see things from a different perspective to get a better understanding of the bigger picture.
Aside from the more philosophical aspects of photography, this experience provided a wholly introspective and reflective period in my life. Compared with my whole life, this trip wasn’t long, but it was enough to help me reevaluate where I want to be for the rest of my life, and I’m better for it.
There are too many moments to list here, but I can mention the most important events that shaped this trip for me.
The first ‘lightbulb’ moment was on the second day of photography when we visited Silver Falls. I was still getting the hang of figuring out how increasing or decreasing my shutter speed and ISO would affect the quality of my photographs, but I took some fantastic photos that I am really proud of. At one point I stepped underneath the bridge where everyone else was taking photos and took pictures of the clovers that were sprouting next to the stream. I caught a fern on the top of the photo that acted as a canopy, shading the clovers, and really bringing out the vibrancy of the surrounding plant life. It was such a small moment, but looking back at the photo that night, I was amazed that I took that photo. If I saw it somewhere else, I would want to visit the place to see where it was taken. The thing was, I was there already! I took that photo! I was floored that I was capable of capturing something so simple yet wonderful. For the rest of the trip, I continued to pay attention to the small things that made a scene powerful and produced several more photos that nobody else thought to take because I saw beauty in the small things.
The second moment was photographing the sunrise at Crater Lake. We had previously visited the lake the day before and captured the lake with the night sky, but it was cold and windy, and I was underprepared for the bitter cold the night would bring. The following morning, I pulled up my woolen socks and went out to the lake at 5:15am. Seeing the colors in the sky reflected on the lake as the sun rose higher and higher provided a moment of reflection and tranquility that I almost never get in my day-to-day life. The photos I took did not do the scene justice. It was a moment of incredible peace, and I will remember it forever.
The final moment occurred near the end of the trip when we visited the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It was my first time seeing the Pacific Ocean in person, and there was a cloud shelf that lined up perfectly with the ocean that made it look like the sea and sky transitioned perfectly into one another. Not only was I able to photograph the lighthouse on the backdrop of the setting sun, but I was able to truly take in the gentle ebb and flow of the tide as the sea breeze rustled my hair. I took more photographs at this location than I did at any other location because I was mesmerized with the whole scene. There weren’t many other people besides our group there, allowing me to capture the scene in its entirety. Someday, I would like to return to experience it once again.
Often, my life is rushing from one thing to another, and I don’t stop to take in the moment. This experience allowed me to slow down and actually appreciate the world around me in a way that I don’t often do. In addition, I have been wanting to create something meaningful in my life for awhile now, and I was finally able to learn a skill that allowed me to capture an image in the way that I wanted it to look. No photographer takes the exact same image, even if they are in the same location at the same time. I created images in the way that I wanted them to look and feel, and now I can share them with others to convey the thoughts and feelings that I felt while taking them. Finally, I learned the basics of photo editing to fine-tune my images into pieces of art I can be truly proud of. I learned useful skills that allowed me to expand upon the creative side of myself, and I can take those skills to appreciate the world in a way that I didn’t before.
