Osmond's Best 10


Professor Holtz gives a lecture on mass extinctions throughout earth's history, one of the lectures in his lectures about the prehistoric past. The lecture takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Shoemaker Building. 

Portraits: I like the enthusiasm captured in this shot and the angle makes it more dramatic than a shot simply up front. The shot was taken under quite a bit of pressure, because there was a class coming in and I had to hurriedly pose Prof Holtz. I told him to look at the back wall and say random things, capturing this moment. It's just a shame that "Sep" was not erased. 



Besides his career in music production, Koo also serves in church as a guitarist and singer during sunday worship services.

Portraits: Chose this because I love guitars and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to take pictures of my friend while jamming. Tried to play with the rule of thirds, lighting, and also capturing emotion here. I think they all come together quite dramatically. I canted the photo as well to give it a more exciting and energetic look, fitting of a rocker. 





A train departs the L'Enfant Plaza station, an interchange serving four train services.
ISO 100 | F/22 | 6.0

Shutter play: Took many tries to get this shot as I struggled to time it right. But I really liked the final shot, which puts elements of shutter play, quality of light and composition together. I like cross-cutting right-angles of the station and train come together, creating a lot of depth behind the motion-blurred train. 




Cars driving past the Washington Monument, a landmark obelisk standing at 555 feet tall.
ISO 100 | F/11 | 4.0

Shutter play: Took many tries to get the lines of the car lights striking across the image almost perfectly. Felt proud of this moment of improvisation, using my legs as the second and third legs for a mono-pod to achieve this shot, which certainly pushed my micro 4/3 camera pretty hard. 



A woman takes her passenger on her rickshaw down Constitution Avenue. ISO 100 | F/20 | 1/25

Shutter play: I like the sense of speed I could capture in this photo. Took many tries and finally pulled it off, with the rickshaw in decent clarity at the centre of the blurred image.




Yong Jun Yuan, a visitor of the Luray Caverns, trails behind the tour group to capture photos of the cave's intricate spaleothems. Yong, a sophomore, is a journalism student at the University of Maryland, on exchange from Singapore.

Quality of light: Lots going on in this photo, from the contrast of light between the sheltered walkways of the cavern and the open and well-lit chamber, drawing attention to the scary stalactites. I also tried to use the barriers as a point of entry, guiding our eyes to JY at the centre. 



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Street: I love the mood captured in this shot: the lady taking a tip, the man in the cap looking away from the sun, which beats down harshly on the top of the double-decker bus.



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Street: One of my favourite shots. I like the moment here, and also made sure to capture the setting that tells anyone familiar that it's in the middle of DC.




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Feature: Took this for the feature assignment, but it wasn't submitted. I like the vibrant colours at play here, and the cute moment where the boy on the left has a moment with his father although he was occupied with the rest of the children.





Families gather in front of the Washington Monument for the Blossom Kite Festival. The annual event attracts thousands of people, including families who have come to fly kites and spend time together on the fields

Feature: Really tried to find an angle that captured a story at the Kite Festival. I knew I wanted families in front of the Washington Monument to establish characters and setting, but needed a kite in it to provide context. After patiently waiting for one to pop in, I caught this silhouetted shot that brought all the elements I wanted together: parents overseeing their children; kids on the right playing; a parent piggy-backing her daughter curiously looking at the kites in the sky; the monument clearly in the background; the beating sun that created the silhouette; and the kite to give context for all of this.


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