Chewacla State Park

Photography Friday #3

In honor of the increasingly warm weather, here are my favorite photographs from beach trips I have taken over the years. Personally, I find the beach fairly dull, so when I'm taking pictures, I focus on the subject I know best--people. 

Photography Friday #2

Recently, I visited the Auburn's arboretum with a friend. The lighting was perfect for pictures, so we had to take advantage of the beautiful day. Armed with our cameras, we explored my favorite place on campus.

People of Pakistan

I am a Pakistani-American. Although I was born and raised in the United States, my parents have worked hard to maintain our Pakistani culture. I would like to think that I've experienced as much of the culture as possible, while living on a different continent.

Every three years or so, I am given the opportunity to travel to Pakistan and visit family. On my latest trip, my family took a week traveling into the Karakoram mountain range, where I took the pictures above. The first shows a boy offering horse rides for a small fee near a body of water, and the second is a construction worker taking a break from working on developing roads through the mountains. When I mention the beautiful glaciers and mountains of Pakistan, people are often amazed. My description of the land rarely matches the desert-like images shown in the news.

While I was in Pakistan, I attended an art festival featuring products and traditions from many of the country's regions. The artists behind the work absolutely fascinated me. Using low-tech tools, many artisans sat working all day while befriending all who walked past.

These are a few of the resulting photographs:

Photography Friday

Sophomore year of high school, I took a manual photography class. I'd always loved photography, but the class taught me that the art consists of so much more than just pointing a camera. After completing a roll of film for an assignment, I was able to develop my film in a dusty darkroom built in a school bathroom. As I slowly learned techniques for printing photographs, I decided the art of photography (to me, at least) lies in the editing process. I find editing to be especially important when, as a good friend says, "any Johnny can grab a DSLR and call himself a photographer."

Because of that class, I have a profound love of black and white photos. To me, the darkest part of any photo should be black and gradually become lighter.

This is the first picture I printed.

A few years later, and a lot more art theory under my belt, I would not repeat this picture. But, hey, it looks pretty cool.