Near and Far Assignment

I was a little behind on this assignment because I couldn't seem to find a 3rd photo I truly loved and on Friday it was terribly foggy and there was nothing to see in the distance. The first photo I did was near rocky neck, I wish I could have gotten more parallel lines with the fencing but the straight but diagonal lines with the parallel background was more important to me. In the 2nd photo this was again on rocky neck but I wish I could have gotten more definition on the inside portion of the wall. I really love the contrast the darkness created though. The third photo I did was on the backshore, using the small brush and long beach landscape it almost created a 4 section photo which I loved. The brush in front, then the rocks and sand, then water, then sky. The brush reached through all of these which is what made it one of my favorite photos.

20 Books of Photography

Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White
Author: Sean Callahan
Publisher: Bulfinch Press
Title: Margaret Bourke-White
Photo: Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio; I loved the way this photo looked painted in a way.

Photographer: Robert Capa
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Robert Capa
Photo: U.S. Forces en route to Naples, September 1943; The complexity of everything in the photo mixed with the simple line of soldiers was really interesting to see.

Photographer: Weegee
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Weegee
Photo: Party 1947; It's hilarious because I have no clue what's going on in the photo.

 Photographer: Edward Weston
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Edward Weston
Photo: Succulent, 1930; I loved the intricacy of the light and shadow in this photo

Photographer: Ansel Adams
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Title: Ansel Adams in Color
Photo: Wainiha Bay, North Shore of the Island of Kauaii, Hawaii; I literally can't get enough of Ansel Adam's photography.

Photographer: Alfred Steiglitz
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Alfred Steiglitz
Photo: Charles Demuth, 1915; This photo made me feel almost uneasy.

Photographer: August Sader
Publisher: Aperture
Title: August Sader
Photo: Prizewinners Westerwald, 1927; It's an interesting photo bit his whole series of different job photos is what drew me in.

Photographer: Eikoh Hosoe
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Eikoh Hosoe
Photo: Kamaitachi #8, 1965; The lines in this photo are beautiful and it also draws you to the guy wondering what he's doing.

Photographer: Paul Strand
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Paul Strand
Photo: Tir a'Mburain, South Vis, The Brides, 1954; I love the contrast in this photo.

Photographer: Harry Callahan
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Harry Callahan
Photo: Chicago, 1953; I love the symmetry in this photo.

Photographer: Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Photo: Striking Worker, Assassinated, 1934; Honestly made me do a double take when scrolling through the photos. Extremely poignant and uncensored to the brutality of the real world.

Photographer: Robert Frank
Author: Jack Krovac
Publisher: Steidl
Title: The Americans
Photo: Crosses at Scene of Highway Accident, U.S. 91, Idaho; Just incredibly sad and almost a dreamy, depressing, nostalgic feeling. You get the feeling that a lot of pain and sadness happened here and now it sits there waiting for people to notice it.

Photographer: Man Ray
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Man Ray
Photo: Flowers, 1931; It almost looks fake or painted and give off a very drawn/painted art feel with a photograph.

Photographer: Lewis Hine
Author: Dover Publications
Title: Men at Work
Photo: The Mooring Mast, Men at Work; It shows America in a simpler time. It showed how there werent safety nets or anything, you just got up and did your job.

Photographer: Imogen Cunningham
Author: Richard Lorenz
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Title: Ideas Without End
Photo: On Mount Rainier, 1912; The flowery lines are nearly mesmerizing.

Photographer: Andre Kertesz
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Andre Kertesz
Photo: Rainy Day, Tokyo, 1968; It's nearly a metaphor for conformism.

Photographer: Josiah Johnson Hanes
Author: Rachel Hanes
Publisher: Barre Publishers
Title: Josiah Johnson Hanes
Photo: Philips Street School, ~1860; I liked this photo because that's where the Boston Public Library is now and I've been there.

Photographer: Tina Modotti
Publisher: Aperture
Title: Tina Modotti
Photo: German Youth Group; To think they started out so young, it was a powerful statement to Germany's power and how young people started to see nationalism.

Photographer: Jerry Uelsmann
Publisher: Bulfinch Press
Title: Other Realities
Photo: Memories of Max Ernst; Just.. what?

Photographer: Jacob Riis
Author: Richard Locayo & George Russell
Publisher: TIME
Title: Eyewitness
Photo: Street Arabs at Night, 1889; This photo was so emotionally striking at first and then you get drawn into the details on their faces and it's nearly heartbreaking.

Hand Held

I thought the movie Hand Held showed an important view into another world's problems. There are a lot of other movies that do this but it's not common to find one that is strictly a person's view and story as they experience it. Too commonly is the information strictly factual. Through the story you get his home life, his emotions, and his confusion as to being a person in charge of reporting a whole nations depression. It's really moving when you hear his emotional telling of the story.

 Michael is now heading up his own team and working with companies in photography and digital retouching. He just went to the Virgin Islands to take photographs as he reported on his blog here: http://mikecarrollphoto.blogspot.com/

Edit*
The above comment was not actually true. That link was posted off the real Mike Carroll's blog but it's not actually him. It's a different Mike Carroll. His ACTUAL website is here:
http://carrollmj.com/

He's still living in Massachusetts and he's still taking photos and visits Romania annually for his charity. As well as visiting them because that's where he loves to be. He has no planned next photo shoot.






Orphans in Romania

The condition for the children has gotten slightly better since the change in government but it's not anything that makes a true difference. The children are still suffering, people remain helping and donating their time and money and it has become a bigger noticed issue.

Angelo Merendino

American photographer Angelo Merendino took photos of his wife, Jennifer, through every stage she fought with Cancer. It shows a struggle that people don't think about until it happens to them. This was found using Reddit/Imgur and all credit goes to him as these are his photos. The photo album listed below is the photos set in order without any extra photos he added later. His website shows all of their photos, including ones not involved in this 'set' so to speak. The website also talks about their relationship in full, telling their whole story.

The photo album:
http://imgur.com/a/Po7i1/layout/horizontal#0

The link to his website:
http://mywifesfightwithbreastcancer.com/

Shutter Speed Priority Post Assignment

     I enjoyed this assignment. I chose to take pictures at the dog park because it was a quick and easy way to get fast moving targets that flop around. I wish I could get a more diverse subject range but I only had so much light that day and I had work. When I went up there all the small dogs were being very lazy and I thought it was hopeless until one of my old friends who I used to play baseball with showed up. He brought his very energetic Pitbull, Rotweiler, and their puppy. Their older ones names were Buddy and Bella and he didn't tell me the baby's name. I believe the smaller dogs wanted attention once I started playing with the big dogs but none of them were running around so I was still focused on his dogs. There was a lot of bright light with very little shade. I decided it would be better to use a very high shutter speed with a higher ISO, this created a lot of bright "non-contrast" so to speak and I had to fix that in post by lowering the yellow setting closer to black when I turned them grayscale. I think if I redid this I'd find more subjects than just dogs.

Shutter Speed Priority Photos

Bella fetching a ball

Buddy running after a thrown bone

Buddy chasing his 11 week old pup.

Pre Assignment - Shutter Speed Priority

I'm actually more excited to do this project. It's been one of my favorite forms of photography. It's actually the reason I purchased my Rebel t3i. I could have bought any digital camera and been content, but the ability to control real (non-digital zoom), f-stop and shutter speed was what drew me to it. I've always loved action shots, especially in action sports like motocross, snowboarding, skateboarding, etc. I expect it to be easy to find subjects to take photos of, but I believe that getting the right settings might be more difficult, because most of the time with these you get one shot. You have to account for ISO, F-Stop, Shutter Speed, and white balance.

Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred was born in New Jersey in 1864. Born to a German father and Jewish mother, he had two younger siblings who were twins. His father serving as an officer for the Union army bought his way out of future fighting, sold his company and moved his family to Germany. Stieglitz, who was unchallenged in American schools took to the rigorous studying involved in German schools. He then took to mechanical engineering school. He enrolled in a chemistry class taught by a famous photographer, who helped him find an engineering outlet that also let out his creative side. He then met more German artists who taught him to pull art from nature, this is where he bought his first camera and traveled the country side. His brother died and his father called him home. His father (loving his first born son) helped him start a photo company where he paid so highly to his photographers and demanded such high quality he rarely made a profit. He then purchased his first hand-held camera. He then married a family friends daughter, which later found he was too brash and did not actually love her. It was more of a financial helper than one of love. Alfred went on to marry Georgia O'Keeffe, he slowly became one of the biggest influences for photography to become noted as an art form. He passed at the age of 82.

Ansel Adams

Ansel was born in San Fransisco, California. He was born to wealthy/middle-class parents. He found enjoyment in environment and telescopes at an early age.He then picked up piano in his youth, as well as hiking, photography, and camping. This evolved into his photography career. He helped form the group f/64 where he has very sharp, clear images. It's very prevalent in his nature photos. I enjoy his nature shots all though it's very hard to find any online that are truly his and not just his art style.

His art is here at his website: http://www.anseladams.com/

He passed away at the age of 82, with the rights to his photos going to his family.

Paul Strand Post Assignment

I enjoyed this assignment when I figured out how to do it. I'm not going to lie, when I was told to "take photos like Paul Strand" I had no clue what to do. I started to see geometry in light and shadow and noticed how cool it could look with contrast. You can't really just go out and take a photo of something meaningful with that though, so I took photos that could be interpreted many ways. The stair photo for example, one could say it represents stepping from the light to the darkness and corrupting yourself to gain an advantage in life and move up in the world. That's just one idea but art is really about what the viewer sees or hears, I'm also too lazy to think of some other explanation. Contrast can mean millions of things and that's been shown in millennia of art and music. Light and Darkness, Good and Evil. That's the major theme of humanity's story telling. Paul Strand understand this very well with his photos and I tried to incorporate that within my photos as well.

Paul Strand Assignment

I liked this photo because of the lines involved as well as the shadow of the strings on the fretboard.

I liked how there were so many straight lines and shadows but the grill cover interrupted that with many different curves and lines of light and shadow in all different directions.

I picked this one because of the light and shadow and I just really liked how the contrast looked.

Post Assignment Get Close

I liked this assignment because you can get a lot of creativity out of it. Excluding the fact that most people just did flowers, you can get a lot of interesting and thoughtful photos from this technique. I like how I got the machine heads (or the metal pegs that the strings attach to) on my bass. I wish I could have gotten a little more focus on the whole head of the bass instead of just the machine heads though. I liked my photo of the rose except it was a little dark even after attempting to fix through ISO and White Balance changes. I fixed it in post, but it almost looks like it was a yellow or white rose now. For the iPod I was really just walking around my house and was taking random close ups, when I took the photo of the iPod I aimed right at it, then realized it would probably look better at a much steeper angle with the window in the back because the light would contrast against the dark color of the dock it's sitting in. The result was pretty much the idea I was going for. The dust on the iPod was an added effect, I wasn't really going for it at the time but then during the time for taking the photo I realized it was a message. How even though we have perfectly good things, we almost always upgrade them for the next model leaving the technology behind because it's a bit outdated. If I were to retake this photo I would have two people in the background out of focus, one with an iPhone 5 with headphones in and one with a tablet showing the person with the headphones in something. It'd speak the message a bit better in my opinion.

Get Close

Close up of an Ibanez Bass head.

(Focused on the two machine head tuners, [the metal pegs] so the sides of the guitar are a bit unfocused.)

Close up of a rose.

Close up on an iPod in a dock.

Paul Strand

Paul Strand used geometric shapes and light and shadow as his tools when taking photos. 

 

I like the complexity of the differences in shapes. I can't tell if it's supposed to be portrait or landscape. The light differences give a very nice contrast. I'm not sure if there's a deeper meaning behind this photo though.

 

I like the idea of complexity this photo gives off. The soft shadows it casts across the rest of the gears from the upper and lower tier show a depth to the photo that would seem almost fake in color. 

I like the effect of the shadows and geometric features this gives off. I dislike how many of his photos like this don't really have a deeper meaning and they're just face value. 

Dorothea Lange

      I like Dorothea's photos because I recognize them. The "Migrant Mother" is something I've seen a lot in my life. It's something I've always noticed popping up here and there as a true culture piece for the history of America. Her other works really show the emotion behind the dust bowl .

 This is the Migrant Mother photo. It shows how people had to be strong when moving because of the impending dust storms. The children are crying into their mother's shoulders and the mother is being strong. Obviously with pain in her eyes though.I like the structure of this photo a lot and there's not much I would have done differently.

 I think this photo was taken to represent how fast we all have to grow up when facing danger.I like the emotion and attitude behind this photo but I dislike the weird alpha channel/white over the whole thing. It seems that it may be just this copy of the photo but I believe it goes back to when this photo was taken.

 This photo shows how hard work was just a normal part of the Dust Bowl. How everyone had to work to get their fair share and it was constantly a struggle filled with hardships. It shows a woman spending her time preparing crops outside.

B-Block Bad Photos - Reflection

  This week we took bad photos on purpose, whether that's to learn a lesson or to an easy way for Ms. Underwood for say "look how much my students have improved," well that's for time to tell. It was too easy to finish all these photos because I didn't have to worry about anything. Once I got down to the last few photos it was annoying to make sure I was hitting on one of the 5 different "bad photos." I guess it was enjoyable but I like when I have to climb or fit myself in the perfect angle to get a beautiful shot, this wasn't as challenging.

 

WHY ARE YOU TAKING THIS PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS?

WHY AM I IN PHOTOGRAPHY?

   I've wanted to take this photography class since my Freshman year. I was going to take it but I realize I wasn't a fan of film photography. So I dismissed it and took graphic design. It came my senior year and I realized I needed another fine art credit. I also realized Ms. Underwood took over the photography department and it was going fully digital. I thought I'd step in and try it out.

  I've always enjoyed digital film and digital photography so I thought this would be for me. I've already had history in Photoshop and After Effects. As well as working with a DSLR. Art in digital form has always been a big passion for me, I don't have a steady hand as I'm very energetic and can't sit still well so I figured digital is the way to go because I can fix small things in post.

 When taking photos, I've always felt like I'm missing technique. I know about the rule of thirds and what not but there are things unbeknownst to me that I could take into effect and make my photo have a truly good composition and set up.

Bad Photos B-Block

Camera Shake

 Poor White Balance

 Poor Composition

 Poor Exposure

Subject Blur

t3i Camera Description

My camera has two methods of accessing it's aperture settings. One is to hold down the "AV" button which allows you to use the scroll wheel located just above the shutter release button, scrolling side to side to change it. Releasing the AV button will accept the change. The other method is to press the button below the AV button with a "Q" in a square and a "print" icon on it. This will allow you to change the aperture with either the scroll wheel or the directional pad options "left" or "right".

When in Manual mode, the camera sits on shutter speed automatically. You roll the scroll wheel left and right to select a shutter speed.

The ISO button is just above the scrolling wheel, it is labeled "ISO". You can use either the the scroll wheel or directional pad to change the options.

Light Walk

I went on a light walk, like I was instructed to but instead of normal white light of day I investigated into something I enjoy more. Instead of light being everywhere and shadows being spots, I went on my light walk at night and noticed stars and lights that were scattered in smaller places. Ambient lighting creates a more interesting mood than a sun glare through my lens in my opinion.

I've always liked ambient light and soft glowing light more than harsh sun glares. A sunset with pink and orange doesn't compare to a large moon filling the sky with a deep blue over the ocean.

Dark hints of color where they barely show have always interested me over bright saturated colors. All though a bright hint of color in darkness always makes a photo/image/art complete. Even the flash of blue of police sirens seemed more interesting at night. The deepest darks that pull you in and make you want to investigate. I guess it's the opposite of the point of this exercise but what would light be if it weren't to light up the undiscovered?