Spontaneous Photo Outing

Last night a friend of mine and I were gorging ourselves with pizza at a local pizza buffet. After the final bite I felt like falling into a food coma. It sounded appealing, but then my friend said, “You know what we should do? Let’s go take photos!”

My first thought was “But that requires movement. I’ve already shoved like a million slices of pizza in my mouth, what more do you want from me?”

After I pushed away the sarcastic thoughts I kindly agreed. Don’t get me wrong. I love spontaneous photo outings, but the food coma was getting the best of me. I’m glad I fought against the temptation to pass out and let my body focus on digesting delicious yet disgustingly unhealthy amounts of pizza.

When we left the restaurant we had about an hour-and-a-half of day light. I realize now my friend’s timing, was spot on for landscapes. Here are the results.

Brooks McFadden Photography-0490_web
6 sec f/32 iso 100
Brooks McFadden Photography-0505_HDR
HDR

 

Brooks McFadden Photography-0503
Mid Exposure
Brooks McFadden Photography-0504
Under Exposure
Brooks McFadden Photography-0505
Over Exposure

Visual Society Contest

BYU-Idaho’s Visual Society offers contests and opportunities for students to learn and teach each other about photography, videography, and graphic design. July 13th they held a contest with the theme “Memories.” I submitted the photo of the Indian in the Book, and I have posted about this photo at least a billion and a half times, so I won’t bother blabbing about it too much other than it was a composite of two images I shot in Bannack, Montana at Bannack Ghost Town.

1/80 sec f/1.6 ISO 160 50 mm 6-3-16 1:52 p.m. Bannack, Montana
Click on photo to view post about the process.

The photo above fit the idea of memories the most out of the photos I had taken throughout the semester, so naturally I submitted it into the contest. The Contest was held July 13 and I the photo places 2nd in the judge’s choice.

Photobook: Finish

Over the last three months I dived back into photography. Previously, I photographed weddings and engagements. I invested much of my time into developing a portfolio focused on wedding photography. there is nothing against weddings and engagements, but I was reminded of what I missed. It had been three years since practiced photography. Three years since I took a photo for fun. Three years where I decided how the subject looked.

This book contains the journey of me returning to what I love. I’ve missed this. It’s funny, because I’ve even had times where I ran away from it. I thought photography was just a hobby, and I wouldn’t have time for hobbies anymore. The short amount of time hiding from my passion felt empty and unfulfilling. Covering weddings helped, but it wasn’t satisfying. I love weddings because I capture memories, but there’s a difference when I photograph something of my choice. Ansel Adams said, “You don’t take a photograph. You make it.”

I’m done taking photographs. I want to make it.

Front Cover

BrooksMcFadden-Photobook

Featured Images From the Photo Book

3 Month Photo Winner

Winner: Indian in the Book

1/80 sec f/1.6 ISO 160 50 mm 6-3-16 1:52 p.m. Bannack, Montana
1/80 sec
f/1.6
ISO 160
50 mm
6-3-16
1:52 p.m.
Bannack, Montana

I photographed and composited a conceptual photo about 4 years ago. It was about time I made another. Amidst the other photos I’ve done I felt like this was something I did that came from me for the sake of expression. Other photos of mine have served the purpose to please a client, friend or news outlet. It’s sometimes nice to take a photo because you want to take a photo.

It’s funny, because I hadn’t planned for the final result. I wanted to capture a story of Bannack, Montana and never could think of one until after. I wondered what could be coming out of the book. I remembered the backlighting of the girl dressed as a Native American. I placed it on top of the book image, shrunk the placed image and applied a mask to erase enough of the image to make it look like the girl was coming out of the book. In the end, it was all to tell a story and let the audience decided what happens next.

Two images used in Composite

Brooks McFadden Photography-0872 Brooks McFadden Photography-1071

 

Photobook: In the Makings

Here’s the beginning of an up and coming photo book. The book will contain 20 pages of my work ranging from portraits to fine art. My main goal was to keep it as simple as possible to draw more attention to the photos, so I used simple fonts  and white backgrounds. The theme of the photo book will focus on the quote “You don’t take a photograph. You make it.” – Ansel Adams

Front Cover
Front Cover

Page 1 - ContentsPage 2 - ThemePage 3 - ThemePage 20 - Photography BioBack Cover

Fine Art: Stairs

During my trip to Bannack Ghost Town in Montana I searched for a reocurring theme that might have been overlooked. I was drawn toward the architecture though, because of the opportunity to walk around in nearly all the buildings. The staircases caught my eye the most. The hotel had a beautiful spiral staircase in the hotel. This sparked my idea to capture the theme of old stairs in the ghost town and the results are below.

Title: Futura Medium
Title: Futura Medium
Title: Iowan Old Style Body: Iowan Old Style Italic
Title: Iowan Old Style
Body: Iowan Old Style Italic
Body: Iowan Old Style
Body: Iowan Old Style
Body: Iowan Old Style Italic
Body: Iowan Old Style Italic

Brooks McFadden Photography-1166 Brooks McFadden Photography-1148 Brooks McFadden Photography-1138 Brooks McFadden Photography-1134 Brooks McFadden Photography-1131 Brooks McFadden Photography-1126 Brooks McFadden Photography-1125 Brooks McFadden Photography-1124 Brooks McFadden Photography-1114 Brooks McFadden Photography-1112