Assignment #8; Discussion

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 9:11 pm

I should not be starting this discussion until tomorrow, but it's my ball and I make the rules.

Do not post your images until the 15th of this month.

Assignment #8 is: An unusual point of view--a point of view that will "make" the image.

Some examples:

NASA's shots of Planet Earth taken from outer space. We've seen plenty of shots of the Earth, but NASA's shots, pedestrian in execution, totally grabs the viewer by virtue of the point of view.

Steven Spielberg's movie JAWS was exceptional in that the shots with the shark were shot with the camera at the water's surface; mostly out of the water, sometimes under. Very effective.

A shot of a basketball player dunking shot from above the net.

Roman Vishniac's shots taken inside the human body.

Some possibilities:

Your child riding his/her bike home shot from the roof of your house.

Your pet tarantula shot from underneath a glass topped table.

Food cooking on the grill shot at grill's eye level.

A tree surgeon working on pruning shot from an adjacent branch.

A portrait shot on a fire escape into the home or on the fire escape looking down on the stairs or looking up or whatever works for you.

These are just ideas to get you started thinking. Post some of your own ideas here to help others get to thinking.

The point of this assignment is to get you to think outside the normal points of view to a point of view so interesting that it makes the shot work because of the point of view, and not necessarily because of the subject matter or the execution of the shot.

NOTE: This will be the last Point of View assignment for the foreseeable future. We may visit this again at some time distant.

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 9:49 pm

This reminds me of a post that someone put up about a year ago. At least I think it was on this site. The picture was taken from inside a machine in a laundromat.

Funny... unique perspectives can really capture attention and if they're really original, you never forget them.

:) keithwms

Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 8:47 am

I remember it too. Yes a unique point of view can really sell an image. It requires a lot of thought in preparation of the shot.

I mean, you don't shoot a picture of Earth from outer space on a whim. It does require some planning.