Capturing COMUN ’24: Photography

As of the 30th session of COMUN, I was asked by the EXCO to help out throughout the planning and session with photography. I took on this role, as it would benefit me in several ways. Firstly, this form and field of photography that I would capture is not one of my stronger suits, so I felt that it would be good practice and try out new techniques.

The first role that I was asked to help with, was taking the portrait photos of the EXCO and Secretariats. I was able to choose the location, and decided to go outdoors, to get a nice natural lighting on the faces, with a sort of nature background, as it would contrast well with their formal attire. Throughout the process of taking these photos, I also learnt small tips along the way, such as the level of the camera needing to be at the persons face, and will make a big difference even if it is just a bit below or too low.

As can be seen in the COMUN Site, https://www.comun.lk/exco, all of my photographs are visible there, with some examples below.

 

Not only did I take individual portraits, but also group photos. This consisted of both a more professional and formal looking one, as well as a fun one! Something that I noticed from the difference when taking these photos, was that in the formal one, as the photographer, I also had to lead and set up the organisation of where everyone was standing. Such being as based on height, for the image to turn out balanced out, which I think I did quite well. In the more fun photograph, it was a lot more free as I had just let the people pose how they want, and all I would have to do was make sure they were not turning their back towards the camera, which I had to point out to a fair amount of people a couple times. These group images are also seen on the COMUN site above, with some examples below.

Then, later on during the COMUN Conference Agenda sessions, which took place early March, I was also appointed as one of the photographers of the event. For these photos, along side some of the other student photographers, we went around the campus to the conference rooms, and took photos to capture the scene. This helped with my creativity, as I was able to test out different forms of photography, and try different style on how I wanted to show and present the mood of the photo. For instance, I could change the angles to show a more wide scape range, or a more zoomed in close up shot to possibly show a sense of a more serious mood.