The Cringy Look Back of My Early Photography

Yes, it is that time where as a senior in college I have to lookback at where everything pretty much started to click for me. To your shock, I did not want to work for Sports Illustrated four/five years ago. I actually wanted to be an equine veterinarian with a minor in photography PLUS I wanted to study at Purdue and keep the family alma mater.

Nowadays, I look back at 18-year-old me and want to smack her on head. I mean, come on. I wasn't very good at science and there was no way that I could get through all the blood and guts. I could barely make it through a spaying procedure on a dog! That should've been my first clue.

I've come a LONG way since then. Since the 2015 Spring semester, I've been wanting to shoot all kinds of sports. So far I've shot; baseball, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, dance, diving, football, ice hockey, dirt track auto racing, soccer, softball and track & field. I want to get even more sports under my belt. I'm looking at motocross, skateboarding, BMX sports, maybe visit my love of horses and look at equestrian jumping and cross country.

But, let's get to what you really want to see. The part where everything starts to make me cringe just by looking at it.

This. Is. SO. Not. Right.

This was a practice of the men's basketball team at my high school back in Lafayette, Indiana. Why didn't I soot an actual game? Because, I was a huge band geek that wanted to play more than shoot. Anyways, this photo is disgusting to me. The colors are off, the motion isn't great, the angle sucks and obviously I didn't know what photoshop was. 

For your entertainment I've remastered this photo.

It looks a little better, however, I would never think about turning this in to one of my professors today. I think they would kick me out of the program. It doesn't really look any better considering that it was a simple JPEG file as opposed to a RAW file that I use to shoot with now. The only difference is that RAW files capture even more pixels and that's how I'm able to capture fantastic detail. Of course back then I used a simple point and shoot camera on the sports setting.

Now, I'm happy to report that I use a Canon 5D Mark III on its manual setting. This means that I can control everything on the camera. Things like how much light is let in the lens and how quickly the shutter clicks. I'm very proud of this camera and I'm so grateful to my father for scoring me one that is still in its prime at a resonable used price! So, without further adieu, this is the newest photo that I have taken in that gross yellow looking gym!

That's much better, isn't it? I'm sitting right under the net AND it's an actual game. I didn't have to do much in photoshop on this photo, but the biggest touches I made were to the contrast and coloring. Ever since I started in my photojournalism program, I've used photoshop almost everyday. I've learned so much about photoshop that when I talk about the post production process my parents kind of nod off because to them they have no idea what I'm saying. To me, though, it's the best conversation. Photoshop is 100 percent my favorite Adobe service. I don't ever want to part with it and I hope that it stays with me for a very long time. I mean, I have the dang iPhone app right now. THAT'S how big of a nerd I am.

For "funsies," I'll include a fantastic picture of my dog, Kassy, to show you that amazing detail of my new camera!