I did an experiment recently using motion blur in a still life! I intentionally chose items with some type of reflective material on it to get the light trails. This type of shoot is usually done on a black background because the light trails are easier to capture but I wanted to see if I could do it on colour, so this is the result!
Finished my first semester of my fourth year of photography! It was so busy but I had a lot of fun with all my assignments. One of them was creating an ad for a commercial that has a strong narrative. I chose the Budweiser Super Bowl commercial called “Puppy Love“.
The challenge with this assignment was telling the story in just one image so we had to analyze the story and figure out what the most important parts were to include in our final shot. Check it out below!
Tip: To get nice water droplets on a beer bottle first use a clear acrylic spray to create a waterproof coating on the bottle. Then create a mixture of water and glycerine in a spray bottle to spritz on top and you should get perfect little droplets!
For one of my classes we have a semester-long project working on creating a new visual language. What I’m trying to do is create energy in still life/product photography by using colours and unusual compositions. The purpose of the class is to experiment with different ideas to see what works and what doesn’t work. By the end we should have a good idea of what we want to do and then next semester we focus in on that idea and create a solid body of work. The class is almost over now but I’ve had so much fun and I think I’ve created some great images from it! Take a look!
I’ve been working on a personal project recently called Tangled Roots. It’s about the juxtaposition of the natural versus the unnatural and how they both have roots so deep within the world. Nature has had it’s roots firmly planted for ages but, more recently, humans have created their own roots that intertwine with nature. Some places it’s very noticeable and others not so much. Personally, I am a nature lover but in this project you can choose to see the beauty of whatever you want, whether it’s the vivid colours of nature or the intricate designs of architecture.
Make sure to check out the rest of the series on my website! It’s an ongoing project but I hope you like it so far!
This is the final image for my latest assignment which is based on the story I wrote in my last post! The sunset represents the “constant” because it’s something that will happen everyday no matter what, something you can depend on, and the door represents the missing door from the original Jerry Uelsmann photo.
For my latest assignment I had to find an image that I felt had a strong narrative and write a story about it. I really enjoyed the process and I’m happy with how it turned out! This is my story for a beautiful photo by Jerry Uelsmann!
Every morning I take a walk through the park, enjoying the sounds of nature and the warmth of the sun on my skin. For as long as I have been walking through this park there has always been one thing that never changed, the House on the Hill. I’ve seen the season’s change, the people coming and going, and the wildlife running free, but the house seemed to be trapped in time. It is my constant. It is the one thing I can rely on every morning and it brings me comfort in the ever-changing world around me.
The House on the Hill is the most unusual of houses with no windows and no door, just the frame where a door might have been long ago. It is mysterious and makes me wonder who might live there or how it came to be on the hill in the park. I suppose I could walk up to the house and knock on the non-existent door to see if anyone is home but I choose not to. I fear that if I discover the secrets of the House on the Hill I will loose my constant and my life would unravel before me.
So I continue on walking through the park every morning, passing the House on the Hill and wondering what might lie within but never daring to venture forth. I am content with this because it brings me comfort. It is my constant.
The second part to this assignment will be to take a photo for the story I wrote. It’ll be interesting to see how the whole thing evolves and what I’ll end up with for a final image! I’ve got a few ideas already and I’m going to be shooting it soon so check back for the final product!
This September I will be heading into my 4th year at Sheridan College! I can’t believe how much I’ve learned and all the opportunities that will come from it. This is a shot I did last year in my Interior Architecture class of the Learning Commons at Sheridan. I used the 6×9 view camera with the Phase One P25 digital back and only available light.
This is probably one of my favourite portraiture assignments that I’ve done so far! We had to do a series of at least two images so I decided to go with a more conceptual series rather than advertising or fashion. I wanted to incorporate a self-portrait into my series because it is not something that I do very often and I am usually more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. Because it had to be two images, I had to think about who my other model should be. I didn’t want to use some random model because there wouldn’t have been any connection so I decided to use my sister. She is a great model and is always happy to help me out with assignments! So the left image is my sister and the right is my self-portrait. I flipped one image so that we are facing each other to show that there is a connection between the subjects.
Here is my recent fashion shoot inspired by Irving Penn!
These are my final images from my Mississauga City Hall architecture shoot!
Melissa J. Fletcher 
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