Archive for ‘Announcements’

While exploring some awesome light-painting photographers, I stumbled upon this flickr page called “Shining Light on Cancer“. It’s a group page where anyone can donate some light painting photos that they’ve taken, along with light painting tips and tutorials. The Shining Light on Cancer Group donates light painting photographs to create a book for cancer charity. They are dedicated to helping a great cause and use their projects to help those with cancer. Not only are the images on this page interesting, creative, and beautiful, but I also thought this could be a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in taking creative photographs to make a difference.

Alexander Dragunov is a Russian photographer.
“Alexander believes that the most difficult issue is to be different from other photographers, and to find one’s own unique style. He said, he’s not quite there yet. Alexander is just an ordinary traveling photographer, but he’s on the right road to success. The implementation for him is something secondary.”
I particularly liked this photo because it looks like one of those sneaky, candid photos taken without the subject being aware.  It it also an extra bonus that he is drinking tea. His other work also have some pretty nice composition as well.
You can enjoy more of his artwork here: http://www.adragunov.com/

STOP! Before you read anything I have to say about this  amazing photographer, browse through his website here.

Now that your day has been made, this guy is literally living the dream, or at least my dream. It is evident that his underwater dog pictures immediately bring a reaction to the audience that draws you in to see more pictures of crazy eyed dogs desperately catching a Wilson tennis ball underwater. The first two photos I pulled from his collection is a “behind the scenes” shot, and the final product of the exact picture he was taking. I would love to know what camera he shoots with, and if he’s accepting resumes for an intern this summer, so I can learn more about underwater photography. Any shots underwater captivates me because it is showing the audience what is rarely seen to the naked eye. It would be amazing if I had access to underwater equipment to expand my trade in photography, especially if that means I get to play with dogs all day.

Other than the fact that this guy’s name looks like a furniture line from Ikea, his commercial photography is impeccable. I’ve always wanted to expand my trade into commercial photography with mastering the studio to shoot products for a catalogue or an ad. The problem is that I have absolutely no idea how to work any equipment in a studio to make this happen. Looking through Lofterud’s galleries, it is clear that he is the “top-dog” when it comes to shooting products. Below I inserted some pictures from his portfolio that have caught my eye on his product shooting. The aspects I noticed from the pictures is that there is not visible horizon on the surface the product is sitting on, and the products are reflecting onto the surface to add a dynamic feel to the picture. I attempted this concept on project number two with the “item” shot that you can see blow up obnoxiously large in the hallway of the DMC on the second floor, or posted below pictures I pulled from Lofterud’s gallery. The problem is that you can obviously see a distinct cut in the photo dividing the surface where the flowers are sitting on and the background, but I managed to show a little reflection in my piece. But overall, Lofterud’s commercial photography exudes elegance and sleekness in his products and hopefully one day I will shadow a commercial photographer like him to learn this trade.

Fun fact, Björn Lofterud did shoot Ikea furniture that you can see here.

Paolo Marchesi is another photographer I am extremely jealous of his talent. Going through his works I noticed that he takes an artistic approach to action. With sports photography its easy to approach the subject matter in a perspective that is appropriate to publish for a newspaper. I, myself, tend to stay in this realm of shooting for a newspaper (since I pretty much do) and not explore beyond what is expected of me. Looking through Marchesi’s pictures definitely lit a fire under my butt to expand my approach to sports, and action in general, in a different view. The first photo I pulled from his gallery really caught my eye because it is showing the swimmer in a different perspective than what spectators are available to see. Also putting the picture in black and white brings an extreme, but eye popping contrast between the swimmer and the water that brings stillness to chaos. The second picture, first off, is extraordinarily impressive from capturing an underwater picture of a man grabbing a fish. Grabbing a fish with your bare hands is already a rare feat to accomplish, let alone capturing that with your camera and still managing to produce a beautiful product. Again, his perspective here is amazing, but what makes this picture special is his use of depth of field.  So overall I feel like his work is extremely powerful because it has a running theme of bringing stillness to chaos that leaves a sense of peace to the picture. His work definitely inspires me and hopefully someday I will have access to the equipment and opportunity to take the kind of pictures that Paolo Marchesi takes.

An American street photographer named Vivian Maier was born on February 1, 1926 in New York City.She spent most of her youth in France,where she then begun to like the art of photography. Over time she started a hobby that consisted of her taking multiple pictures over 5 decades, which later on sparked her interests to be a photographer. She has traveled all the world documenting some of the most amazing and interesting photos i ever seen. I just look at some her photos aren’t they stunning!!! One of  them reminds of what paige’s idea ,that she want to do for  the next project in class. You should check out her website…

Vivian Maier

Vivian is well know for her”Kodak Brownie”

Well, I suppose nothing is meant to last forever. We have to make room for other people. It’s a wheel. You get on, you have to go to the end. And then somebody has the same opportunity to go to the end and so on.” – Vivian Maier

The holiday season is upon us and we are talking about painting with light in photography this week so I thought this blog was really cool.  It gives a few examples of what you can do with your Christmas lights and how to capture them in different ways. Check out the link below!

http://photographyblogger.net/20-dazzling-christmas-light-painting-pictures/

While looking for some inspiration for our storytelling project, I stumbled across photographer Michael Wolf. I’d definitely encourage looking at some of his images and through the different photography series he has online. The majority of his images focus on one particular object in large cities; one of my favorite of his series is his Paris rooftop documentation (a few images shown below).

His website is: http://photomichaelwolf.com/#

Working on the project we have due this week has made me have a great appreciation for the amount of detail and work that go in to the buildings and monuments around us each day.  I have been to Paris a few times and the city completely captivates me because of the incredible history and architecture the artists display through their work.  Looking at things in black and white gives me the opportunity to see things that I would not notice otherwise due to the distraction of color.  The above pictures are fascinating to look at and let your eyes go where they want to with the different lines and shapes.

It took me awhile to find this guy but I saw him awhile back and was blown away by his portraits. He spent six years learning a cumbersome photographic process invented in the 1850s called Wet-Plate Collodion process that relies on metal plates to print photographs. Here is a link to what that is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collodion_process. The way he uses light and the way the image burns on the metal gives you something that digital photography can’t. He is writes this on his website  “these photographs are a commitment to time. Unlike any other portrait process, the ego and body seem to melt away, leaving an imprint of the soul in silver on the plate—eternal still silver.” I picked a few of my favorites to show you.