If you have read about my experience with the photo 1 assignment, you must know by now that it didn’t go very well: I was very uncomfortable and most of my shots were blurry. My story idea was about UF Muslim students and their lives during the holy month of Ramadan. I went to Islamic Center of Gainesville for my first shots and here are two which I liked.
This is a photo of a UF student from Saudi Arabia reading the Koran in the mosque before it was time to break the fast. I thought the way he was sitting was very interesting, and I also thought the picture showed how focused he was while reading the Koran.
The second photo was taken right after the group prayer ended. After a group prayer ends, some people sit down and make du’aa (ask Allah for forgiveness or for anything they would like), some pray individually, and others decide to leave. This picture shows you all three situations, but what I like the most about it is the different poses of each person praying. The guy in white is bending, the person next to him is standing up, and the man in blue is kneeling on the floor. All of the three poses represent how Muslims pray.
I also went to a group dinner hosted by Islam on Campus. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to use these photos for the first assignment because the event was held after the deadline. Here are two of the pictures I took there.
This is a close up of a plate of dates. Muslims usually break their fast with dates. It has been known that the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon), used to break his fast with dates. I thought this close up looked nice.
This is an overview shot of the dinner hosted by IOC. It looks pretty blurry to me, but I liked it because it gives you the whole picture of what was going on there, and it also shows my main subject, the vice president of IOC, giving a speech.
I do not know any technical reasons for why I liked the overview of the IOC dinner shot, but I guess I just liked the mood conveyed by it.
Another thing I noticed on closer inspection was the mirror in the room which gives it an appearance of depth and makes it seem more crowded than it is. This is a good thing of course, when you are portraying a getting together of a community of people. I do not know if you did that on purpose or it happened by accident, but it sure added to the effect of the shot!
Yes, and as for the mood, I liked the fact that the picture conveyed some of the feeling of a communal meal time. Being from India, where I have quite a few Muslim friends, I have a rough idea of what a get together “feels” like in such a community. I think, having some frame of reference made me appreciate the picture more for its reality.
I also like the fact that you got some kids in the frame there. Kids are always good, especially when its a social shot. Overall, good mood capturing picture.
Thanks Rati
The picture actually had more elements to it, but I decided to crop it so that I can emphasize the fact the the room was crowded. Also, if you look closely, there is a guy wearing a green shirt who is standing up and giving a speech–He was the person I interviewed for my story