Assignment 5: Still Life

Layton Lamsam: Shark Reel

This is the reel that I use fishing for shark and other large fish. I choose a background of green leaves and yellow flowers in order to compliment the green fishing line and gold metal accents. However, I ended up making this photo back and white, so the color coordination is not apparent. I decided to make the image black and white in order to emphasis the “gear” or “cog”-like nature of the reel similar to a steampunk style. I wanted to create a sense that this was an object all about sheer mechanical power with industrial toughness and simplicity. This feeling reminds me of the second shark that I caught with this reel: a two and a half foot leopard shark. The reel had so much torque that the shark skipped across the water as I reeled. I chose rear lighting in order to maximize the number of metal reflections coming into the lens and I chose full daylight in order to maximize the magnitude of those metallic reflections. I chose aperture priority at f/9.0 in order to get as much of the reel as possible into focus. I could not go past that or else my ISO would have been too high or my shutter speed too short. I chose 85mm because it did not compress the depth of the reel too much, but it was high enough to allow a good close-up shot.