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Amber I like pictures that seem impossible or surreal. I have a memory of when I was very young standing in my backyard by the hazelnut tree with butterflies all around me. I thought it had really happened but upon rational investigation I determined that it must have been a dream. With images such as this, I like wondering how it could have happened or what kind of world this scene would exist in. Snow fascinates me because it is so white and transforms the landscape into a new world. I only see it about once a year so it pulls me away from the ordinary and the expected. But besides subject matter, I love images that explore light source. For example, I like it when the sun is the subject or when the subject blocks the sun so that the rays flood around it. I also like macro images that show a new and detailed perspective. The picture turns me into an ant and lets me see through its eyes. I will never forget an image I remember from several summers ago. I was in my family's 18-seater van driving through Washington in the middle of the night. Looking straight down, I saw myself in little or no colour, bouncing about and laughing. I was seated on the driver's side in the second or third row and my siblings were asleep around me. My face shone with delight. The mood was thrilling, as though I were riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad during the fireworks at Disneyland. The next thing I knew I was seized by claustrophobia. A piece of curved glass at my side muted the din and darkness outside. I stood up in panic then learned how to turn around. I saw my brother and rows of upright benches. Then I was lifted up and out into the open air. On the side of the highway and later in the hospital I learned that there had been a mattress on the road and my dad had swerved to miss it. The van rolled and slid along the shoulder, all while I was dreaming. It struck me that I had dreamed about the accident as it happened. In this course I hope to learn how to create visually interesting images. I am excited to experiment with developing film photographs. I am looking forward to getting lots of practice taking pictures and receiving feedback on them. This image jumps out to me because of the strong contrast. The soft beams of light flow through the stiff and crooked branches of the tree. The tree's shadow draws the eye upward and the sun's rays draw the eye back down to the smooth and enigmatic middle ground expanding out into the foggy background then back into the tree and so on. The tree in the background gives the impression that this is a forest, close and private. It also brings special attention to the light coming through the first tree because the other tree is in shadow. **Thanks for the introduction to you! Nice attention to detail and choice of image. Very Dramatic!**
 * 5/5**