Julia Kelly
So my name is Julia Kelly, and I’m a 15 year old student at the International School of Geneva. I’ve only really become interested in photography in the last 2 years – when I was younger I refused to accept that photography could be considered ‘an art’ because it was easier to take pictures than to draw. I take that back completely.
Anyways, I’d have to say what really got me started was this one picture of a leaf I took a while ago, thinking I’d use it as a screen saver or something. When I saw it on the computer, I was stunned – I don’t know why, but there was something I really liked about it.
Seeing an exhibition of the winning photographs from the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 2006 was also pretty inspiring – especially those in the category age 10 and under! More recently, I saw an Annie Lebovitz exhibition in Washington D.C. Amazing.
This last shot is probably my favorite of all the ones I’ve ever taken. You can really imagine a story behind it.
Now I use a Canon EOS 400D although it’s taking ages to get to grips with all the different settings etc – there’s far too much to think about! In fact, most of my best shots so far have been taken on a digital compact Pentax camera, which is brilliant for macro photos. Macro is probably what interests me most because it becomes very close to arty/abstract stuff. I like picking out the details, the shapes/colour/patterns you often overlook. It’s very basic/simple stuff. Either that, or I try to capture an emotion or story. I’d also love to learn how to make screen savers/banners/avatars/book covers (like the ones you seen made with film characters etc – corny, I know, but there are some really brilliant ones out there) using photoshop or something similar.
These were all taken on the same day, using the B/W mode on the compact camera. As you can see I have a real passion for dandelions (though only when they have gone to seed).
Things I hate in relation to photography:
- Overcrowded pictures
- Aperture priority mode (no seriously I never use it)
- Noise compact cameras make when turned on/off (when I worked out how to turn that off is when I really got going!)
- When people just upload every single one of their photos to their facebook / myspace profiles without sorting through them
Useful stuff I’ve learnt: – When forced to use long shutter speed, put 2 or 10 second timer on so that photo doesn’t shake from when you pressed the button (the one that actually takes the photo). – BACK UP YOUR HARD DRIVE!! Or wherever else you store your photos.
A lucky shot taken in the Papillorama during the macro photography course.
Photoclub: One of the best things I like about the club is all the photography courses organized – thanks. I learnt heaps – especially in the macro one, thank you again Jiri! Oh and one last thing: How many people would be interested in contributing towards one of those machines that turns slides/negatives into digital? It could then be property of the Photoclub, and everyone could take turns borrowing it, because digitalizing old negatives is only really something you need to do once or twice in a lifetime.
For more photos please visit my flickr page.
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