The best of the best
Portfolio Piece #1
Title: Riverview Elementary School: December 11, 2016
Shot type: Panorama
Reflection
Throughout my entire portfolio, this was one of the only panoramas that was completely spontaneous. I was headed out to a friends house and passed by Riverview Elementary School and knew I had to take a photo. After getting to the top of so many different mountains only to find lackluster color, I knew that I had an opportunity to add a lot of color to my portfolio. This one is different than the rest because it does have that eye-popping color quality to it. It's also the only panorama I didn't take from the top of a peak looking down on a Durango. I really liked how I was able to capture the clouds over the mountains on the far right. The mixture of fierce red and a darker cloud texture really made sense to my eye.
Portfolio Piece #2
Title: Riverview Elementary School: December 11, 2016
Shot type: Regular Landscape
Reflection
Going into each photoshoot, I knew that I wanted to present both a panorama and a regularly framed photo from each photoshoot. When I was able to take such a cool panorama of the sky that captured the colors, I oftentimes had to look for other interesting things that would work well when displayed right next to the panorama. For this photoshoot, the lonely cloud hanging over the colors became the topic of my regularly framed photo. The cloud lined up well with the colors, and I knew I had an opportunity to try and show how cool the clouds were this particular evening. I ended up taking about 30 different photos of this cloud before I decided on this one.
Portfolio Piece #3
Title: Raider Ridge: January 3, 2017
Shot type: Panorama
Reflection
Oh man, this photo shoot was by and away my favorite photo shoot. I ran with my camera bag under my arm all the way to the top of Raider Ridge in the middle of winter. I was racing the clock to make sure that when I got to the top there was enough light left. I ended up stopping and taking photos twice along my journey to the top, taking 108 total photos and three successful panoramas. I chose to put this one in my portfolio because there are some very interesting hues of purple in the sky. This was my only snow shoot, and the framing of having the trees on the far right of the photo really made the sky landscape pop.
Portfolio Piece #4
Title: Raider Ridge: January 3, 2017
Shot type: Regular Landscape
Reflection
After taking so many successful panoramas on my journey to the top of Raider Ridge, I had to look for a regularly framed photo that would capture something different. I had kind of lost my race against the clock at this point, but this photo attempts to show the lining of light just above the ridge line. I really tried to make this still shot focus on the mountains more than the sky, and I think it was fairly successful. Again, the snowy landscape made this photoshoot stand out from others in my portfolio.
Portfolio Piece #5
Title: Lions Den: October 25, 2016
Shot type: Panorama
Reflection
Man, I love the feeling this photo gives off, especially now that it's winter time. I remember taking this photo as my first panorama of the portfolio. I had to get to dinner and I was already late, so I rushed the process and took 3 random panos. This one ended up turning out the best, as the orange sky hues send happy messages. None of my photos have a tremendous amount of color in them, and purposefully so -- the photos are meant to capture the adventure, not necessarily the beauty. The lineup of clouds and sky in this one captured both.
Portfolio Piece #6
Title: Lions Den: October 25, 2016
Shot type: Regular Landscape
Reflection
If you look closely at the panorama before this photo, it captured the entire view of Durango that was in front of me. For this regular photo, I ended up pointing my camera to exactly where all the color was -- down in the valley. I wish the trees had been a little bit more colorful, but I'm not super picky. This was the only photo that I really attempted to show some symmetry in, and I think it payed off. Its the only real photoshoot taken in the fall where the trees still have leaves on them.
Portfolio Piece #7
Title: Animas Mountain: November 28, 2016
Shot type: Panorama
Reflection
Animas mountain was a fun photoshoot, as I was able to take the photos right when a storm was coming in. The fall had obviously left, and it was crazy how much things changed as the photoshoot went on. It became apparent in later photoshoots too, but this one specifically became where I realized how quickly the sky and lighting changed when you're taking photos. If you look closely, you can see that half the town of Durango is in a snow storm and half the town is clear. It was one of my more intriguing panoramas, no doubt.
Portfolio Piece #8
Title: Animas Mountain: November 28, 2016
Shot type: Regular Landscape
Reflection
Throughout eight of my nine photoshoots, I was accompanied by my friend Kathleen. With every photo I took, I tried to take more photos of her. Typically, I would end up taking really bad, awkward photos of her (they were really entertaining). For this photoshoot though, she had the patience to stand there and let me take a photo of her while the storm was coming in. This is the only photo in my shoot that has a person/anything but nature in it, and I think its a good one to choose. The photo evokes a lot of questions/mystery.