Canon VJC Seminar- Reflection

For the first segment of the seminar, the Bird Photography talk, I had learnt multiple things about prediction, background and actions. Just like in bird photography sometimes we have to photograph actions, we have to predict these actions. The speaker on stage had mentioned how he would study about the bird and set up bait or habitats for the birds so he can take the picture of the exact time. Then we learnt how actions could be captured in film. We can apply this by thinking how we can take pictures of rare opportunities by predicting ahead. The speaker mentioned that he loved to capture the birds' actions, he would always make sure he had the proper zoom or lens to capture actions. This is because the actions can tell a lot about the subject, how it reacts, how it moves and what is its nature. He also talked about backgrounds, how a background can emphasize the subject. A bright background could convey something lighter or gentle whereas a black background could mean a threat. It is important to choose a appropriate background as it can help the picture or bring it down.

Next Mr Terence Tan came on stage to talk about photojournalism. What I learnt from his talk was how the angles of taking pictures mattered and how a picture can create its own story and to always take a picture when you find the opportunity to. He mentioned taking so many pictures had to take from different angles, and those angles could each tell different things about the subject. He also showed us how one picture could have told us the whole story. Also he said he always brought a camera with him, in several incidents he had encountered accidents. Being a new photographer for the Straits Times he could take a picture of it as he had a Canon camera with him, this proved to be useful as he could to a coverage on it quicker.

 Lastly in the last talk, the sports photographer talked to us about the reactions of sportsmen, the different angles causing funny shots and how she got bored during the process of taking photos. With relevance to the sports meet, we learnt about how it important it was to capture the reaction of the sportsmen. Eg. When they win, when they begin, when they start. These reactions show how sportsmen react or their attitude.