This is a reflection on the gallery I’ve pulled together over the last few months, plus a closer look at some highlights. For a look at my full collection, simply check out the “Gallery” dropdown selection above.

Always Seeking Opportunity

Throughout the Spring 2022 semester at Kennesaw State University, I spent a lot of time curating photos, screenshots, and video clips for my projects in Digital Storytelling. One of the first lessons I learned is that I should always be looking for opportunities and taking pictures. I can’t always schedule a time to go out and curate images. Sometimes, I just need to keep my eyes open.

Meeting Lae and Bandit was one such opportunity. We wound up just bumping into each other while my mother and I were out exploring the town, getting lunch, and generally enjoying a nice day out. The encounter was completely random and unplanned, but presented an excellent storytelling opportunity relevant to my Sense of Place project. I was able to talk a good deal about the community of Douglasville thanks to folks like Lae. The gallery post containing this image can be found here.

Of course, the lessons I learned didn’t end there. Curation techniques were more varied than I had anticipated, and I had to learn a few of them to produce higher quality content.

Learning the Basics

Cue our first step into photography techniques. This particular image was a screen-capture from the game Sea of Thieves but I choose it because it pulled upon a significant portion of the techniques we dipped into. The Rule of Thirds for example means putting items at points in the frame where they are one or two thirds from the edge of the frame. It’s part of keeping subjects out of the center of the frame, helping guide the viewer’s eye.

Other techniques utilized here are leading lines, which help guide the viewer’s eye further, room to move, which showcases an object in motion, like the ship moving towards the distant island, and contrast, which helps the viewer differentiate the sea from the sky and generally makes the image pop. I also utilized a wide aspect ratio to give the viewer a sense of a wide open world. A look at my initial curation work can be found here.

Branching Out to New Techniques

Of course, we took things even further with image composition techniques this semester. I got to experiment with greyscale photography, and learn just how it can impact an image. In this case, the difference in color allows the subjects of the photo, my dogs, to pop out more for the viewer. The texture of the grass stands out more too, along with the toy on the right, lending more to the environment in the photo. It helps that the shading of the grass also contrasts greatly with the coats of the dogs. Of course, I did call upon older techniques as well. A wider aspect ratio gives a sense of the large space they’re in, and the room to move element helps to show that they are running towards me. To check out the full extent of my greyscale curations, check here.

Final Thoughts

Each curation project has allows me to grow the repertoire of skills and techniques I can use, and has taught me to be attentive of the environment around me. I’ve learned how to be more situationally aware, how to spot opportunities, and how to maximize those opportunities, leading to curated photos, videos, and screencaps of a much higher quality than I had previously been capable of. For a reflection on the projects that benefited from this process, check here. And to all the teachers, peers, friends, and family, I left you a little “thank you” down below.