Post #5: You know how she gets. Lets not push the envelope.

You've Ever Wondered by Erica Barban, Curie High School

This photo was taken by a high school student who took part in an exhibition where multiple high school students shared words and creative ideas about their photos and photo ideas. This photo was exposed twice to create the double image. The face of the person is over laid with something that looks like car garage. I just think that this photo is interesting to look at.



Mathematics #57, 1976

I found this picture while wandering the Internet aimlessly. As you can see, that can have very good turnouts. I really like this picture becuase one, it's called mathematics(what kind of name is that?) and two, the contrast is unique. I struggle to really identify what the subject is. To me it's more of a photo gram then a photo, but nonetheless very enjoyable. My best guess...It looks like someone waved a sparkler in front of the camera during a real long exposure. Just a guess.


Small Wars, An-My Le

This photo is a picture of an air assault in the middle east. Obviously the weapons used had tracers in which the photographer could capture, using a slower shutter speed, looking like strange lighting rods. This picture, like the last has very interesting contrast. The bright streaks illuminate the majority of the photo while the rest are covered in dark greys and blacks.



This one didn't have a title that I saw. Here's what I like about it, the patterns. I've always been pretty good at those. Though I don't like how it's not black and white like my other ones, the over all idea kind of fits in I thought. For me, it takes a while to see what I'm looking at, but then I get it, I see the structure. He's the question though, is the picture looking up, or down?



I have nearly no idea what this photo is of. The only thing that I recognize is the bricks in the lower right hand corner. but what are they around. When I first looked at it, I thought it was a picture taken from birds I view, but then I realized it couldn't because the bricks would have to be absolutely humongous. But I like it, and I think that it fits in with the other four nicely, so I went with it.

Post #4: So I decided

So I decided after a long debate with myself that I'm starting to really like portraits. People are just so intruiging. Objects can be made to look really cool, okay given, but people tell a story. Here's what I'm talking about.



I don't know his name. I'm not going to do any research on him. I don't know what he's carrying. If he were to say something to me, I wouldn't understand a word. But I love his walk; it's almost a strut. Hand high, slight smile, intently focused on the ground in front of him. When I look at him, I just think of innocence. To use some photo vocab, I like the the use of still motion, the shadow on of the face and the simplicity of the the pose; there isn't any modifications to the photo, it's just this kid.




This one's different. I know who he is. His name is Jacques. He lives in Montana with my brother. This picture was taken by my brother in New Zealand. I just really like his smile. His near classic look; stunningly red hat, unshameful scruff on the face, and a fish in hand. I love how the colors of the trees and grass and river and coat all mess, then your eyes are forced to stare right into the the smile on his face.

So this picture has been on here before. I just can't get over it. Look at that shadow cutting across his face. His eyes are hiden, his idenity is unknown, which makes this picture even better. And the hat's curves almost make it seem like it's the focus of the photo, not the man.

Is it a portrait? I'm still not sure, but I like it. (ANARCHY...I don't know what that means, but I like it!) Yep, It's another New Zealand photo. Seems to be perfect for a magazine cover or something. The shadow on the rock creates a ruff texture. The colors pop. Green to soft yellow toa vibrant blue. And then, there it is, the man on the rock. Victory is mine! I just think it's classic.

Okay, so this picture was on my blog before too. I'm not worried about it. I really like looking at the pattern of the contraption on the left. The girl standing alone. hell, is that cliche? I think so. Not going to lie, I'm really tired right now and it's hard to focus. But that's the beauty of a blog, you don't need to be perfect, 'cause it's a blog. Anywho, this photo was taken by Hines, who tried to bring attention of the issue f child labor through photos. A noble act I thought, and that's the real reason why I decided to post this picture.

Post #3: Oh why!?

I think that I may cry. Yep, I definitely just shed a tear.

I knew it was going to catch up to, the fact that I hadn't dealt with a camera in over a year. I knew it.

I took pictures. Good ones too. I even thought about them before I took them. It wasn't just hey look, pose, and take the picture, I thought about it.

But when I got to what I thought was the end of the strip of film, I went to roll up the film. I remember that sometimes it could get stuck and difficult to wind, but I didn't remember how stuck it could get. So when the thing wouldn't budge, I made it budge. When I opened the camera, I saw beige and grey taring back at me. I ripped the film and now it was all exposed the the blazing sunlight.

I'm sorry Mrs. Keady, please don't get mad. I'll get it done, I promise. I'm no shmo...remember?

Post #2: My first ideas for my first photos

I'm going to be honest. This doesn't really make all that much sense to me. You-- being Mrs. Keady, assuming the only person who will really ever read this--you said that I need to come up with ten ideas for photos because that's how many prints I'm going to turn in over the entire semester. Okay, I guess that's fine. But here's my deal, here's my beef, do I just get to take pictures once? Do I just take these eight pictures and call it good for the semester? Either way I guess it doesn't mater because I'm just trying to start somewhere.



Paul Strand is the s****. (PG rating right?) It's true though. I haven't found a Paul Strand Photo and said that it was alright. Okay maybe I have a couple times but I still really enjoy his work. His use of shadows and line, symmetry and structure. Everything he does is for a reason and I love that. It's organized in it's unusual way.



Take the photo from the previous blog. Look at the way the mans face distorts the shadow from his hat, and visa versa the shadow distorting the mans face. The curves of the hat and the form they take. The hat almost becomes the subject instead of the man. Really, I'm more interested in how this man got such a hat then who this man is.



Or consider his more famous wall street photo. Sharp shadows create the buildings simple pattern. The people walking below, completely random but yet perfectly laid out. Their shadows casted on the sidewalk give them a mystique, a reason for looking at them. Where are they going? It doesn't matter, look at the way their going their. Look at their shape, their shadows. Same for the building.



So I guess I answered the prompt in my rambling so far. What about Paul Strand do I want to emulate, what do I want my "theme" to be throughout my portfolio? Shadows and the lines and shapes they create. I hope that's not cliche. To be honest, I was ever so tempted to take candid portraits the whole time. I think this way I still can, I just got to make sure that the candid portraits fit into the theme of shadows too. And besides, Taking pictures of things is much easier then people...things don't over think things. Wow, that was an accidental pun, I promise.



So I have to tell you about ten photos I'm going to take. Ten preplanned, pre-visualized photos that I must try my best to stick to. But really, I've got a better idea. I'm going to tell you about them one post at a time, including one in this post so that you, Mrs. Keady, don't get mad for possibly wasting a post. Really, I don't have a choice, I have to do it this way. One, I don't have ten ideas yet. And two, I'm not a very good condenser so if I wrote about ten different photos, this post would be god awful long. Nobody wants that, do they?



So here it is, my first photo Idea. Have you ever seen the inside of a Koo-koo clock? Well I have. The gears and chains, and what-not, create a hectic feel, and yes, when portrayed in the right light, there can be a whole lot of interesting shadows. So I'm going to rip open a clock, set it in some angled light, lay the chains out in a random, yet purposeful way across the table next to it, and start snapping. Here's the best part, if the photo doesn't have enough shadow or light, I'm going to hang something in the way of the light so that it casts its shadow over the clock and boom, I've got my shadow.

Post #1; Video Response

So here's the deal. In photo the other day, this girl Catlin and I had to watch this profusely long video on the history of the image. It was a struggle. First and and foremost, the producers of the video decided that it would be a good idea to have a very old lady in the video for an interview. Yet the only credentials this women had was that she was one hundred and one years all. Why does her opinion matter? I don't know. But apparently it does. And how the hell did they find her? In the classifieds of the local newspaper, "need a one hundred year old woman willing to talk about pictures?" Sorry, just wondered.

In the video they talked about one photographer that I really enjoyed. Not so much enjoyed listening about, but looking at his pictures. Paul Strand became one of the photographers to use strait photographer and nearly revolutionized photography in the 1910's.

The camera, now more available to the public through the invention of the Brownie Box, had become overused in a way. Any working class citizen could now afford to have a camera and the professional craftsmanship of photography had nearly vanished. People began to say that there is no way to make photography grow out of the Victorian era when so many people where abusing their cameras for simple devices instead of a tool for art. But Paul Strand stepped in and showed that he could make lines and shapes become something new. People didn't have to be ordinary and buildings could be so much more.

Paul Strand, Untitled, 1916

Lewis Hine was a photographer who tried to bring attention to child labor in the early 1900's through photo's. Images depicting young children, dirty in work clothes, by the masses or all alone. When the pictures went nationwide, anger grew in the minds of Americans. When America said that they were sick of looking at such depressing photos. Hine replied by saying that he hoped that by showing so many photos, when the time for action came, America would be sick of child labor.

Lewis Hine, Girl Worker in Carolina Cotton Mill, 1908