Photography allows me to express myself through taking pictures of the things I am passionate about and produce vivid images that show my talent and skills with an SLR camera. In my work, I try to convey the natural world, as well as the architectural world that we live in. In doing so, I combine my talents in detail, focus, and lighting to produce photos that reflect the environments around them, either man-made or natural. I personally find it important to take multiple shots of one subject in order to chose the most realistic, vivid image possible. Although time consuming, this method ultimately produces a rewarding result that gives off different viewpoints. I find that a tripod is a great gift to have, and helps me steady my camera in order to capture detailed and noise free shots throughout anytime of day or night. By combining viewpoints, lighting, and the use of a tripod I can produce images that give off unique characteristics to draw the viewers eye.
My personal best collection of photographs would have to be landscape images, which capture the tranquillity and serenity of great man-made achievements as well as the beauty nature has to offer. The techniques I have used in this collection have tested my macro, and landscape skills with my Canon Rebel camera. Shooting in macro format allows me to gain up-close focus with a shallow depth of field. I have found that changing my white balance to monochrome gives me the opportunity to take these photos in greyscale, which emphasises the details and contrast in the individual areas of the photograph. Shooting in landscape format allows me to capture vast areas of landscape using a large depth of field. These photos are all evidence of my compositional skills through the use of elements and principles such as: leading lines, emphasis, the rule of thirds, rhythm, value and colour. My inspiration for landscape photography comes from my passion to reveal true beauty of nature to a world that otherwise does not notice. I am inspired by artwork produced by artist Ansel Adams, as he is famous for intriguing landscape photographs of the American West, and also at Yosemite National Park. My future goals with this collection is to take landscape to the next level, in the way that people stare in astonishment at due to the beauty and crisp, vivid imaging.
All in all, I hope to give people a fresh and intriguing experience when viewing my photography, as I enjoy pursuing my goals by taking them. My inspiration in photography comes from the culture and life around me. Though I have highlighted only one form of photography that I enjoy, many more forms are being added constantly including portraiture, creative photography, close up/macro and many more which are emerging collaborations in my portfolio as I grow as a photographer.
Dylan Patten 