Evolving Photographer: Exercise One - Bill Smith, Designing a Photograph

Exercise One

     "Choose one subject to photograph. Consider your choice carefully. It should be something that interests and challenges you and holds your interest for 36 frames of film. Do not select something as small as a fly or as big as a city; somewhere in between is perfect. As an instructor, I have seen some unbelievable executions of this exercise using an egg, a telephone, a statue, or a pencil.
"Once you have made your selection, take 36 different pictures of the subject. Ideally, you should look at the scene each time as new. Try to see something different in it each time. Vary the camera angle, the lens, the distance from the subject, and the focus as you shoot. The first five to ten frames will move quickly, and then you will begin to slow down. Push yourself to shoot until the roll is finished. You will find that the end of the roll will take a lot more time.
"After processing the film, you will be rather amazed at the wide range of images you can get from one subject."

      - Bill Smith

     For this exercise, the subject was the Smithsonian Institution Building. Not quite as creatively tasking as an egg, but this was a welcome subject. I wanted to try and get images of the building that weren't the typical vacation photos. You'll see that I did the "postcard shot" in this series, however. Kind of a gimme.

     I was happy with the 30 shots for the most part. The low fog did me no favors, but I failed to identify changing light conditions. Hence, a lot of these photos appear washed out. All in all, a good start to this project, and it has presented a lot of learning opportunities.