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“My People”

Posted by
| April 21, 2013

For my photo essay, “My People”, I chose to do a collection of photos of the individuals in my life that mean the most to me, my family and close friends. I wanted all of the images to capture these people at their happiest or most content moments, because that is the how I envision these people when I think of them. 

At first this seemed to be a daunting task, to take good pictures of people in their element without forcing them to look a certain way. Itā€™s still amazing to me that in just over one month I could get these pictures to turn out the way I wanted them to, for the most part. 
I wanted to take quality photos but because I was interested in getting spontaneous shots, I found myself switching between a Nikon and my iPhone to capture the photos. The Nikon produced higher quality photographs, but my favorite photos in the group are the ones that came from my iPhone. It just reminded me that having high quality or clarity in a photo does not necessarily mean it will always be better than a lesser quality photo that may better capture a person or idea.  

As I said, I originally intended for the photos to capture ā€œmy peopleā€ at happy moments because I like to think of them like this. What I didnā€™t anticipate was that every photo would capture the personality of the people in them. My sister is a total goofball, and that shines through in her photos. My best friends make me laugh incessantly, and when I look at their pictures I want to laugh along with them. My dad is a very serious person, and I can see that in his photo. My grandparents are quiet and conservative, and I can see their demeanor in the picture I took of them. Even the shot of my dog is spot on, because she is always giving me inquisitive looks. I do not think these photos could do a better job of capturing the subjects exactly as I know them.

As you can see from the photos, I chose to make every image in the collection black and white. I did this for several reasons, the first of which is a little obvious: because it made the group of photos cohesive and also made some of the shots appear to be more meaningful and thought-out (when in fact, most of them were spur of the moment, and I had no idea what Iā€™d end up with). 


The second reason is that while a few of the shots were focused on the people I intended to photograph, others include some background faces or colors, which I found to be distracting. The black and white effect seems to eliminate those distractions from the photo and brought the focus back to ā€œmy peopleā€. 

Finally, the black and white filter gives the photographs a sense of nostalgia or memories, which I found to be important to my essay and what it means to me. Soon these photographs will act as more of a memory of the people I used to see on a regular basis, and I wanted them to always reflect that idea.

This project forced me to create a collection of photos based on however I interpret the given title. For me, the title meant exactly what it says, and I liked that it gave me a reason to take these pictures of the people that I value the most in my life. 


The essay is something I can take with me into my future as reminder of how lucky I am to be surrounded by such amazing, inspiring, and happy people. In less than two weeks from now I will be packing up my life in Ann Arbor and leaving U of M behind, and in less than a month from now I will be packing up my life at home and moving to Madison, Wisconsin. 


These people, currently playing such important roles in my everyday life, will no longer be the faces I see on a regular basis. This assignment has been a special opportunity for me to capture the moments that I will want to remember when I am no longer surrounded by ā€œmy peopleā€. 

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