Timelapse

 For this time lapse, I took over 300 photographs of traffic and rushing water. The first half of the video shows me walking through a classroom before peering through a window to observe the rush of traffic and people, while the second part depicts from two angles the fountain outside the PNC Bank building near First Avenue Station. I wanted to see if I could draw parallels between the rush of city life and the activity and flow of nature. Somehow, it never occurred to me that the fountain was of course man-made, so there were no parallels. It was all the same. Either way, this was a familiar environment for me to film in, and while the process was difficult, I enjoyed the process and would do this again.

Final Project and Artist's Statement

      For my final project, I intend to capture what I see as the truth of nature: everything is made of smaller parts. No doubt this is a commonly accepted statement of fact, and it's obvious too. Yet how many of us really take the time to focus on the little, barely visible things around us that build up the world we see around us. We walk past things everyday: sidewalks, lampposts, houses, people, buildings, cars. But how much do we know about them? And, if shown just a small piece of these objects, would we be able to recognize them?

I intend to take a series of photos of these things and more. The flame of a candle, graffiti on a wall, closeups of a flower, small details and such. And all of these pictures will be taken with just my camera, the 55 mm zoom lens that came with it, and as natural lighting as possible. This is to demonstrate that special tools and circumstances are not at all required to slow down, stop, bend down for a moment, and take the time to really look at the little things, the details, and see not just how they hold up all these bigger structures, but how well they do so, and how under appreciated they are.

Sayf Farooq's Portfolio

This is my final portfolio. After long thought and much consideration, these are what I consider to be my best photos from just this semester. I had to stop myself from choosing an excessive amount of photos. Ultimately, I believe these reflect my growth and skill over this semester better than any other photos. I believe they show my grasp over my camera and knowledge, and are a great sample of my other works.
 

Nature and Light

 The following photographs are of a vase sitting at my desk. Most of the photos are pretty good, but for the final one, when decided to combine a few exposures as an HDR image, I ended up with something almost ethereal. The backlighting combined with the vividness of the flower makes a truly incredible effect. Also, there was a rainbow near the pool I go to, so I was able to capture that as well in all its glory.

Exposures Long and Longer

 The first photo is my attempt to recreate the 3D effect on a photograph using alternating colors. It seems I blended the images rather than layering them, but I cannot figure out how to undo it. I am currently practicing it. The second photo is made of three exposures taken outside my window of a very foggy morning. I took these around dusk and combined them to fix the exposure and include every detail. The final photo is a panorama stitched from a bunch of photos taken from the trolley ride here. It shows the skyline really well.

Abstracts

These images were taken around my neighborhood as I focused on how the sunlight hit certain objects. There was a table set outside for discarding, so I took a photo of the sunlight crossing through it. The shadow comes from tree branched overhead.  Also, I captured the inside of a flower and a ray of sunlight traversing the sky. I think the effect is beautiful, and I really enjoyed how these came out. 

Light and Life

 These images are all from the same day. I was working with my plasma ball trying to focus on long exposures and the focus of the light rays onto a heat source (my finger) (middle picture). While taking a break to stretch, I saw the sun setting framed between the clouds and trees, so I rushed downstairs to take a photo from the parking lot (bottom photo). As the day drew to a close, I noticed the light on my balcony was lit, and perfectly accenting the subtle colors of the sunset. I loved the way they blended, and once again, out came the camera. I think the natural lighting and setup of all of these pictures is perfect, and I greatly enjoyed seeing the way these events lined up.