Last Blog! Reflections etc.

So tomorrow marks our final class and the due date for our final project.  I would like to say that this semester has taught me a lot and provided me with deeper insight into the world of photography.  I enjoyed it very much, even the tedious time in the dark room :)  The final project has been my favorite and I am happy with my prints so far.  I also enjoyed looking at other photographer's work, especially the books where you can see the pictures first hand.  I was fascinated by the pinhole cameras, especially the photographer who went around the world imposing images on rooms.  Black and white photography has gained a greater appeal for me, perhaps even more than color now.  There are more ways to create unique and mysterious photos with black and white film, such as with shadows and contrast.  I have found that my favorite pictures that I have taken are the surprises.  Perhaps I did not mean to take the picture at all, or maybe it came out completely different than I expected.  That is something you cannot do with a digital camera, what you see is what you get with those.  I like the surprise when you develop film and see your prints for the first time.  Although time consuming, the prints when finished are more valuable to me than digital photos, more art-like.  I wish I had the time to print more of the film I have shot over the semester.  I am considering taking the documentary photography course next semester.  The idea of photographing events and surroundings intrigues me.  I am not very creative, I feel, when it comes to composing pictures, so perhaps this course will fit me.  I will save my artist statement for comments on my project, but Thank You professor for a great semester, I found your insight and class helpful and encouraging!  Have  a great summer, take great pictures, I know I will! :)

Starting the Final Project

This week I began working on my final project.  After developing my first roll I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome.  I took my plastic model horses to the field and photographed them in nature as if they were real.  I plan on going to the barn today to get some shots of them next to actual horses, furthering my objective of shooting objects within real settings.  I am having some trouble coming up with my last two rolls, however.  Being stuck in Easton is proving difficult, but I know that there are many ideas waiting to be realized.  I would like to shoot some film in the rain or bad weather, but we haven't had any! Of course :) guess I cannot complain about that too much.  I am a little worried about the due date, but at the same time, excited to see the final outcome.

Susan's Self-Portrait

Susan’s self-portrait depicting the back of a picture frame and her shadow on a wall definitely caught my attention.  I believe this is primarily due to the fact that there is no actual person in the photo.  After taking the time to study it, I realized that she might be telling her viewer that she does not want to be seen.  It appears as if she is hiding, hiding, in fact, in two different ways.  With the picture turned around, we don’t know what it is of, but the assumption can be made that it is a photograph of herself.  The shadow as well can be assumed to be her, seeing as it is a self-portrait.  I really like the composition of this photo.  The white objects make the shadow and the back of the picture frame stand out.  There is almost enough context to conclude that it is in a bedroom, or personal space in her house.  This adds to the personality of the picture because, although her actual self cannot be seen, her surroundings and her intentional “hiding” gives the viewer a personal feeling nonetheless.  I believe this picture qualifies as a successful self-portrait, one of a photo-shy photographer trying to capture herself.

Unexpected Portraits

This week's assignment had some surprises in store for me.  I was slightly disconcerted because I had less pictures than usual and had had many camera and battery and such problems.  however, the film I did take held some strange elements that made these photos some of my favorites yet.  First was the picture of my boyfriend with bunny ears.  While I was taking the picture I didn't notice the two triangles of light across the photo, yet after developing, they made a somewhat normal picture much more interesting.  Next, in a picture of my friend and one of the team's horses I discovered a cute smile I hadn't seen on my contact sheet.  My self portrait was a surprise in that I took it without looking through the lens and I like how it turned out.  I had three decent pictures of my dad's dog, Merlin, but one of them, taken from above, intrigued me because it made me think of a true portrait of a dog because that is how the world sees him.  The top of his head it what most people see a lot of the time.  I also likes the composition, lines, and focus of this picture.  The biggest surprise of all, however, came in a picture I did not intentionally take.  I went to Starbucks to take photos, but it was there that I realized my camera was not working and as I was playing with it I took a few accidental photos.  One of these was of a man standing at the counter.  I like the photo because it is not entirely in focus and represents to me the typical morning coffee-goer waiting at the counter.  The most interesting part, though is the reflection across the middle of the picture.  It is of a parking lot with cars through a window, but I have no idea how it got there because I was not looking through or at glass with my camera.  This intrigued me greatly and I am still curious as to how it got there.  That is one of the joys of photography, I am realizing that sometimes your best photographs are mistakes.  :)

Bo Egestroem - Danish Modern

This week's interest found itself in the digital world and was prompted by Digital Pro Magazine.  Here, I found the work of Bo Egestroem, a fashion photographer.  The front picture of his article amazed me.  I loved it!  You can find it at http://www.egestroem.com/.  It is the fourth thumbnail in.  Not only is the photograph extremely detailed and has an interesting perspective, but it has a somewhat fantasy element that I found absolutely fascinating.  The eyelashes of the model seem to be of another world.  I cannot figure out if it is makeup or digital enhancement.  But whatever it is, it completely changes the picture for the better.  All of Bo's work is like this.  Simple faces with obscure additions that make me do a double take.  His work really stands out to me as different and in a wonderful way.  The dramatic emotion it provokes, the sense of unearthly beauty, makes Bo's images unique and an amazing part of the fashion world.

The Role of Photography in Communication

As I began to think about his concept, the cliche, a picture is worth a thousand words, pervaded my thoughts.  How true it is, I thought.  A photograph is able to capture the exact thing that one is able to see.  In essence, it is a moment in time, preserved for the future.  When you show someone a photograph, they can see exactly what you saw without complicated and altered visions created by description.  In this way, I see photography as a very important part of communication, one that needs not use words to get its point across.  A simple photograph can tell a whole story, who was involved, what happened, where, why, etc.  It can communicate someone's thoughts, or emotions, and even create some of one's own.  Photographs allow us to better understand history from the time the camera was invented.  This sheds light on much of how we know what we do about the past.  Often when one thinks about the term communication, the exchange of words comes into mind first.  However, photography can play just as big a role.

Karim Ramzi

Over the past few years, I have been increasingly interested in the world of modeling and fashion.  Now that I have discovered photography, the integration of the two intrigues me.  For this blog, I googled fashion photographers in Paris because I am considering doing an internship abroad there.  The name Karim Ramzi was one of the first names to appear, so I viewed some of his shoots.  His work appealed to me because it was not what I expected to see.  The models were in varying positions, sometimes looking contorted or sexual.  He used black and white often, and models from all different cultural backgrounds.  Looking at his work, I was able to gain a new perspective on fashion photography.