Photography: a new way of looking at reality

 

“A great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety”. Ansel Adams
Some weeks ago Anna, our coordinator, came up with the idea of providing us with a Media Workshop.
A series of interactive meetings on photography techniques, videomaking strategies and composition basic skills. When I heard this, at first I was perplexed, I am sincere.
I like art and photography but I have never considered to be involved in a media course or develop my knowledge in this field. I have always admired other friends of mine who are excellent photographers, but I have always lived this art at a certain distance. I have just replied yes to Anna’s proposal because one of the things I learnt in life is never say no to new opportunities.
Thus, I approached the workshop with some skepticism but I tried my best to put the teachings into practice. The first task was to go around our neighborhood in Sykhiv and take pictures of different patterns and elements. My perfectionist mindset helped me to not take the task as a game but take the photography strategies seriously.
The techniques our photography expert Piotr explained to us were clear to me at the end of the theory part and I didn’t wait a minute to take my mobile phone and experiment them.
At the end of the first meeting I found myself completely in love with this practice. I took 60 pictures of different things that looking back I would have never considered to take photographs of, before the workshop. I learnt that beauty is in everyday life, in the small things, in stupid things that we often take for granted. I learnt that behind every photograph there are thousands of meanings. I understood that different perspectives are fine, that “what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly”.

 

Valentina, EVS Volunteer in Ukraine with the project “EqUalize”