Mystical Assignment
- Connor Reid
- Dec 1, 2016
- 2 min read
Title: Bigfoot's Territory
Date taken: 11/25/2016 – 6:17:34 PM
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel T3
Lens: Canon 75-300mm
Shutter speed: 1/15 sec
F-stop: F5.6
ISO: 800
Focal length: 300.0mm
Tripod: No
When I think of mystical photography, the first thing that comes into my mind is fake. In mystical photography, the photographs usually entail something that is mythical or simply just doesn’t exist in real life. In order to shoot a successful mystical photograph, according to my definition of mystical photography, an individual needs to put the photograph in some sort of photo editing software, such as Photoshop or Lightroom. Editing software is need for such photographs is because it is darn near impossible to shoot a mystical photograph without it, some sort of editing work needs to be done in order for it to be mystical in my book.
As a photographer, I follow a philosophy that I created when taking photographs. That philosophy is to pretend any photo editing software exists. Following this philosophy makes me a better photographer because it forces me to take extra when taking photographs to make sure the photo comes out exactly how I want it. Meaning I take a look at the angle of the shot, how much light is in the frame, and where my subject is in the frame. In my mind, using any photo editing software is cheating because these such software will allow you to practically take a photograph without even physically taking a photograph. Using photo editing software takes away the true meaning of photography for me; going out to that perfect spot during the perfect time of the day with perfect lighting to snap that perfect shot.
In the above photograph, you will notice a bunch of pine trees in the midst of low level fog. This photograph was taken in the morning in the middle of a forest in Idaho. In my mind, when the mythical creature, Bigfoot, is mentioned, I immediately envision that this is the type of environment that you would find him in. In all of the readings I have researched on Bigfoot, all of the “sightings” have happened in foggy forests. In order to get a mystical of shot of something that doesn’t exist, I figured I’d take a photograph of the mythical creature’s habitat.
