A little inspiration

...to carry you through the holidays!

Analogue Techniques - Karsh - Hemingway

Ernest Heminway's portrait was one of the images in the Yousuf Karsh exhibit which struck me. It's uncomplicated, strong in light and detail, and has a great feeling of solidity about it. It's incredibly sharp throughout, and looks like it didn't go through a lot of change in the darkroom. The dark background was likely burned in, the contrast is set at a nice medium level, and the rest of the work looks to be lighting and exposure (both of which are done just perfectly).

The composition is strong, stark, and very complimentary to the macho-image that Hemingway often strove to promote for himself. It's a classic pose, a bit boring in style, but obviously plain, as to not distract from the personality of the subject. Every time I see this photo, I can't help but think of Hemingway's turtleneck as a submarine, with the port-hole as the neck of the sweater, with Ernest's head emerging. It's always been a good reminder of who this portrait is of, as his Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Award winning book was titled 'The Old Man and the Sea'.

Favourite Photos

We've been asked lately to send in a few selections of our favourite all-time photos. I feel like I have a small repertoire, but I know it's growing rapidly, and I'm happy to share what I've collected so far. Here's a peep-show.

Colour Block

When shooting this assignment, we were asked to take note of how colours might create feeling, mood, or create their own presence. I know that colour can be very powerful, but I think, in general, it needs to be tied in to a contextual material (figurative) to really claim it's power. I wanted to experiment, and see if a more neutral object would allow colours to create feeling, so I went and shot some fruits and vegetables. Not surprisingly, the colours alone don't do a lot to enhance the way I'm feeling. I just feel like I'd like some crispy fresh food.

Colour, shape, texture, lighting, past experience, personal taste, current mood, and a bazillion other things effect the way we view an image. In the photos that I took, I find that there are other sensations that combine with the natural subjects, which create other thoughts for me. Mainly, I think about taste. To me, this shows that colour is yet another handy Tool in the Photography Toolbox. We can use it to our advantage, but you have to harness it, and apply it, or else it maintains a fairly neutral level of influence.

-Sierra

Crystal - portraits

Went out to play in the sun and the leaves with a friend today...

Here are some results!

Blue moon

Has anyone NOT noticed the moon lately? I snapped this on my way home from school (while forgetting to pay my rent). Just a friendly reminder that there are various governments launching rockets into this beautiful hunk of space.

Zoo TWO

Today, our group went to the zoo to take photos of WHATEVER we wanted. How nice, after a week of stricter assignments. On field trips, as kids, we were always asked what our favourite animal was at the zoo. I thought this was an unfair question... why should we have to pick a favourite??? Why were some more deserving than others? Most kids picked the monkeys or the lions, and I was usually stumped. I liked them all, except for the Prairie Dogs. Today, while I loved SO many of the ones I saw, I did have a favourite... BABY LYNX! Unfortunately they were in a very poor cage for photographing, so I just have one shot of them peeking their heads over their mama to see me. But, how adorable.

Vote: Would you rather have a baby lynx or a arctic fox as a pet?

Little update, part one

Photographic Hero - Margaret Bourke-White

I apologize in advance for the formatting. Blogger changes it EVERY time I attempt to edit my post. I have no control.

“Saturate yourself with your subject and the camera will all but take you by the hand.”

-Margaret Bourke-White

For this assignment, I'll be reviewing three personally selected photographs from Margaret Bourke-White's work, using the information I've learned in school about technicalities, and also adding cute quips of my own opinion.

The first photo, is titled Concentration Camp Internees Cheer.

Margaret Bourke-White,

Concentration Camp Internees Cheer,1945, gelatin silver print,

courtesy of Cam and Wander Garner, copyright (c) Getty-Time/Life

I find this photo really interesting, as Margaret Bourke-White did a significant amount of photography within functioning concentration camps. To her, as the person in the situation of the photographer, it must have been as much of a celebration as it was for these subjects. The men in the photo are looking at the camera with expressions that seem to create a connection between the viewer and themselves, as it seems as if there was a connection between them and Bourke-White. In the photo, you can see a few body parts floating around the edges of the frame, showing that some (or perhaps many) persons were cropped out of the photo. While there may have been a larger subject matter, Margaret zoomed in to enlarge the faces, fill the frame, and nicely arrange the rows of men into the Rule of Thirds. I do wonder what was said, and who said it, to create the action of the subjects, and to really make this photo into the epic piece of work that it is.

The second photo is titled Machine Dance, and depicts European ballet students.

Margaret Bourke-White. Machine Dance, Moscow Ballet School,

1931 © Corkin Shopland Gallery, Toronto

An unusual photo for Bourke-White, these young girls have been made faceless by the Title and pose selection in this picture. Bourke-White started her career as an industry photographer, and really specialized in finding patterns and unique ways of creating shape or motion with the lines of the image. Here, she compares this dance group with Machinery, implying, perhaps

, perfection in their dance, a high level of skill, or a monotony of many things (life as a young woman, the structure of ballet, the expectations placed upon these subjects in dance and life, etc etc). The arranged pattern, whether it was choreographed by the Dance School or Margaret Bourke-White, smartly links all the subjects with a flow that does imply efficiency and great synchronicity. The angle of the camera creates a leading line, drawing the eye from the front right of the photo, to the back left, where the eye travels along the top line, and brings you back to the starting point (bottom right).

Alternately, when you google 'Machine Dance', you will find a link to this amusing video of men dancing on treadmills. The Modern Machine Dance.

Also Try: The Modern Machine Dance replicated by High School Students.

The third photo is quite recognizable and popular. It is Mohandas Gandhi, in Spinning Thread.

Margaret Bourke-White. Spinning Thread,

© 1946

If you're familiar with the other popular Bourke-White photo of Ghandi, and were born in my generation, you may have grown up with similar thoughts about this man...

I thought Ghandi was a weaver, until I was about 15 years old. I also thought that the photo of him, with his spinning wheel, was terrible. And this one, without the wheel, was even worse. While I understood that it would be hard to photograph a weaver, I thought he looked a little... dumb... in the picture.

Now that being said. These photos require a lot of context before you can understand and appreciate them. Without that, you see a poor man holding a piece of thread, and you might appreciate the way the frame hugs the body, and the way you feel as if you are really perhaps in the room with the man, but you will likely not call this a great photo. Add the fact that this is an influential world leader, and the whole situation changes. Add the fact that Margaret was the last journalist to see Gandhi before his assassination, and you have the dramatic effect imprinted in what was originally a dull photo. In this instance, I feel as if the more context you have, the greater the photograph becomes. The spinning wheel is also a great metaphor of Gandhi's, as explained further in this quote.

"To Gandhi, civilization was equated with good conduct. Western culture was plagued by various maladies such as materialism, competition and overindulgence. An assimilation in that direction would only hurt India and the depressed classes. Industrialization as advocated by Ambedkar would only cause the further exploitation of the Untouchables. Labor saving machines would result in more unemployment, further starvation, poverty and homelessness. It would provide benefits for the few and suffering for the many. Gandhi believed progress would not be thwarted by the refusal of labor saving machines because the only progress that mattered was that that considered all people. To Gandhi, progress is only progress if all Indians progressed together. The only device that considered the needs of all Indians was the spinning wheel. With it people could become self sufficient and labor for their benefit."

Cited from Resistance to the Soul : Gandhi and His Critics, Michael F. Plotkin

Other sources say Bourke-White was required to learn how to use a spinning wheel before actually meeting with Gandhi, despite her deadlines.

With all this information, the photo does take on another meaning, a certain greatness, and the legendary status that it carries with it.

SCHOOL

Dear Neglected Blog,

School is momentarily overwhelming and I haven't had the time to update my blog, BUT!

Good news!

The internet will be installed at my place as of this evening. Soon you shall delight in daily (or near-daily) blogs.

Cheers!

-Sierra

Jen

Composition at Home

Although I have a very limited work-space in terms of the size of my apartment, I do find it to be visually stimulating a lot of the time... it was nice to work in a familiar place, and I wish I had been able to spend more time doing it! The only issue I had shooting this assignment was the lighting (and being un-at-home). My apartment is usually a VERY halogen(y) space, and photos taken there are usually overly-warm and soupy looking. I worked a bit with daylight and the white-balance to try to create different moods/feelings than WARM, which is usually the only element I detract from pictures in my place.

Here are a few examples of different compositional elements I found (quickly) in my home.

Symmetrical Balance

Line

Rhythm

Texture

Form

Depth

Working the subject... 100 creative(?) ways

This assignment likely wasn't as terrible as I thought it was.

But I did not enjoy it.

It was brutal.

Firstly, I tried selecting the objects as if I didn't know what the assignment's objective was. I didn't want an unfair advantage, so I tried to pretend that I couldn't work with some of my more photographically workable objects.

I came up with a bunch of excuses for why I wouldn't like the assignment, and maintained a fairly discouraging attitude throughout the whole experience. This clearly wasn't helpful in any way... but it did help teach me an important lesson. If I had set my mind to creating 100 various images of my objects, with a positive mindset, I likely would have produced much better photos. It shouldn't be a difficult thing, to access that positive determined space, but I just have to become aware of 'the way' I am, and work towards having a 'better' photographic mind. I will definitely apply what I learned here in the rest of my work. Can't wait!

Storefront

We went out today to shoot a quick 40+ pics of a Storefront...

Learning how to use Lightroom...

It is probably from the year 2050.

-Sierra

DT 2.1 - Lines lines lines.

Shooting the theme 'lines' stumped me. I'd been having a hard time feeling 'into' the progress of taking photos, especially going out and seeking 'line'. While I'm not satisfied with what I produced, I feel more grounded to the idea of setting my mind to committing more of myself to what I work on.

Park n' Kraut

Simple Composition - AT

Negative scans...

Digital Techniques - In-Class Assignment

I find defining 'genres' in photography to be an impossible task, especially when asked to define one particular genre, especially when that genre is titled as your 'favourite'. To break the 'kind' or 'type' of photography that I enjoy (most of all) down into a single word/sentence, wouldn't be possible. Especially since I wouldn't know how to answer that question, even in a paragraph. Pretenses aside, however, I'll throw out a few words which describe what I enjoy most in photographs.

Experimentation and uniqueness...
Emphasis on natural beauty/beauty in nature...
Documentation on Humanitarian and Environmental Relief...
Etc.

In the next ten months, I hope to learn as much as I can! I really just want to keep an open sponge-like mind, and absorb everything school has to offer. Technically, artistically, historically, etc etc, and personally.

Best-photography related memory? Off the top of my head - unwrapping my very first camera at Christmas. I was seven years old, and thrilled with the possibilities rolled up in my film canisters. It. Was. Awesome.

End.

Slideshow Test

Test Post

This is my first blog post. I am writing a blog post and including an image.