Event Recap: TELL & FEW Presents The Feminine Eye

FEWxTell_PhotoWalk

On Saturday, August 8th, a group of 11 people interested in learning more about photography gathered at the National Art Center in Roppongi for a women-led photo walk by Selena Hoy, TELL Outreach Coordinator and FEW Community Services Director Tia Haygood, who also is a professional photographer of TopTia Photography.

Walking inside and outside the National Art Center, participants learned pro tips for taking better photos with their cameras, be it a smartphone or a system camera.

First lesson of the walk: You don’t need an expensive camera to create a good composition for a photo.

Instead, Tia advised to try a different approach: “When you go to Kyoto, visit Fushimi-Inari shrine. Everyone will be standing in the same spot, pointing their camera at the same angle to capture the large red Torii. Don’t be like them. Change your angle. Change your point of view. Look at the Torii different to everyone else.”

FEWxTell_PhotoWalk (1)Despite the scorching hot weather, participants eagerly practiced according to the advise, and after an hour even those with more complex camera started to feel comfortable to opt out of the automatic mode.

Tips for elevating your photos above the standard line include:

  • Include objects with textures into the composition
  • Use bokeh: “Bokeh is basically the blurry background on Instagram. Learn how to create real bokeh over fake bokeh.”

After mastering their cameras and basic skills of composition, the participants practiced taking portraits.

“For portraits, place your subjects eye at the 2nd Thirds line. We want to see the mask of the face clear as possible”, Tia advised.

Remember these tips when shooting next time and your Instagram photos will look even more stunning!


FEW thanks Selena Hoy and her TELL team members for collaborating with FEW and TopTia Photography. We hope to hear the Feminine Eye series continues on with many more women photographers and participants!

Do continue to be on the lookout for more FEW and TELL events. TELL regularly posts event announcements on their website and Facebook page as does FEW.