Ten Rules to Photography or: The Photograph I'm Scared to Take

Ten Rules of Photography

1. Tell some kind of story.
2. Show something most people would not see.
3. Make the composition as much about the negative space as it is the positive.
4. Take more than one photo of your subject; it is likely that you won't use the first one, even if you think it's perfect when you take it.
5. Take the photo you see in your mind at first, and then shoot the same thing in a different way.
6. Do not be afraid of people looking at you.
7. Shoot more photos than you need or want.
8. Do not follow the "basic rules" of composition blindly; put your subject right in the center, cut part of it off, do whatever you need to do to show what you want to show.
9. The final product of the editing of a photograph should look better than what your grandma can do with Instagram.
10. Thou shalt not complain about what model camera you're using. A good photographer can capture a good image with a cell phone camera (although that's not recommended for practical reasons).
11. There are no rules!!!!! Have fun!!!!!!!!! Give 110%!!!! There's no I in team!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Photograph I'm Scared to Take

A portrait of a single mother struggling to make ends meet, sitting quite defeatedly at a kitchen table strewn with bills and post-dinner plates, under an exposed lightbulb, with the feeling of trying to hold on to a last morsel of hope. It's an illustration of the working class in modern America, which I think has elements that have yet to be fully explored that differ from our traditional, mid-twentieth century conception of the "American Dream". It's a stark update to social realism, showing a family swept up in today's changing society, just trying to have a solid place to stand.