Behind the Photo pt. 5

For today's episode, we're going back to the start. The origins of SnapsByLogan, five years ago. We'll look at several of my photos from my first year of shooting just to get a bit of perspective on where I've come from.

I actually still like this photo quite a bit. Just about all of my early photography was dirtbike related, and this one's no exception. I love the setting, the snow setting it apart from most any of my other pictures. At the time I was still shooting on automatic settings, because I didn't have the knowledge yet on how to set up cameras. The reflection of the snow made for a very bright setting, and so my camera adjusted by cranking up my shutter speed. It resulted in a super crisp, high contrast photo that I'm still happy with today.

This shot goes to show that I've been obsessed with golden-hour backlighting from the very start of my shooting haha. I like the color grade that I've put on, with the subtle green tinting to the whites. I don't know if the darkness in the left corner frame was added in post or if it was out of camera, but either way I really like the contrast that it adds to the photo, the dichotomy of the darkness to the bright flash in the right frame.

I really like the composition on this shot, shooting through the fence and adding some depth to the shot. I like the slowed down shutter speed, adding some motion to the shot. Cropped up close and tight to the rider, putting the viewer in the action. Between the last shot and this one I apparently was pretty into green tones, again adding green but this time more to the midtones than the whites.

We'll end things on a non-dirtbike shot, with this shot of a P-51 soaring over the Rocky Mountains. I remember being stoked on this shot when I first took it, but now, it doesn't really do anything for me. I just pick apart everything wrong with it. The ugly vignette, the piss-poor coloring, uninspired framing. And that's why I wanted to end on this one, because it reminds me of my growth. If I'm looking back and hate my work, that means I'm doing something right, and growing as an artist.