week 3

WHAT I DID: This week I went out shooting with a focus on color/shape, and people/animals. I got some decent shots in both categories and had a lot of fun doing it. I encountered the dreaded reaction of strangers you run into while out exploring. I had the "you're on my property- what are you doing?" situation which turned out fine once I explained myself and listened to stories of less respectful trespassers. I also had a more positive experience of a welcoming family with children who were excited by my presence because it gave the kids an opportunity to tell me all about their "pets" being the neighbor's cows. This led to me fulfilling my original goal of focusing on the relationship between and people and animals and let me capture much better/more interesting images than if i had been to afraid to knock on their door. I received mixed reviews on these images. Positive things included: pretty, beautiful, well-done, technically good, a shown level of difficulty, that I seem comfortable with this (I would argue against that). I guarantee you if I put these images up in a photography class that they would not be as generous with the technical praise. I'm glad I've had those kinds of courses so that I'm aware of that. Negative things included: lack of meaning, that it didn't seem like "me" (no offense, but none you actually "know" me at all). My favorite comment was that one of them was "too perfect"- by giggling Sean. I know that meant something similar to lack of meaning, but I value technical quality and challenging myself technically, so I took that as a partial compliment.

WHAT I DISCOVERED: What I discovered from the shooting experience is that I still do really enjoy that kind of shooting. I make connections with people that I would never make if it weren't for the lens between us. The act of "finding" the picture is exciting. It's a difficult thing to get the right picture as it's happening without letting it pass you by. I definitely value the act of telling people's individual, real stories. Since I did take two different styles of photographs, I analyzed what I like about each of them and discovered that the reason I like to take close-ups of shapes and colors is because it's easy. There are endless possibilities- it can be found everywhere, I've got the technique down, and it relaxes me. However, the other pictures involving moving, living things are a but more stressful. For that, one has to be on their toes, ready for anything, willing to knock on doors, as questions, be a director. This is much harder for me and I had less "successful" pics in this category because it's harder to do. I'm happy people thought from the result that I'm comfortable with this process, but I'm really not and would like to improve significantly. This kind of photography is where I came from and what I thought I would do as a career at one time. I'm not sure if it's still what I want to do, but it's not off the table.

WHAT'S NEXT: Since what I explored this week is only one path, it's time to explore the unknown path. Sean suggested I take some night/long exposures with minimal light. I really like the idea. I have less experience with this and may have less success to display. Other suggestions were made to me that I'm pondering and exploring also. I'm toying with ways to bring my two loves together, or if that's a possibility/good idea. Erica and I talked about some ways to do that which may be what I play with next weekend. I'm thinking if I could bring realism, fantasy, beauty, meaning, and quality together it would be the perfect project? Who knows at this point. Or maybe I need to give my imagination a chance but my fear is that since I don't have the experience with it that my work will be difficult and turn out badly.

Here are a few of the pics I took- some of the colors aren't as bright after I saved them for the web.

WEEK 2

WHAT I DID
In the past week, I spent 5 hours doing my weekend assignment experimenting with colored light and shape. I spent 3 hours looking up, finding, and browsing books at the library, and a couple hours thinking and processing what direction I want to take. The books I got were works of the photographers Eric Meola and Howard Schatz. I feel like both the library and internet searches have negative and positive aspects. I was frustrated with the quality of work that is in the section I was looking in. I feel like books are great for history- knowing how photography has evolved. However, the quality of both amateur and professional photography has increased significantly since most of the books in the library have been published that the photos seem irrelevant to me. Most photographers are uploading their work to websites, not publishing books. Remarkably, I was excited to come across the Schatz book because long ago I had torn a photo out of one of my American Photo magazines but had no idea what the artist's name was. The same photo was in this book and now I have a larger resource for that type of photography. I think it's harder for me to find good material in the library, but when I do, I have a larger set of images and a name to associate them with. I get frustrated on the internet when I find the perfect photo, but it was posted by some kid on myspace who got it from his friend and I have no way of finding who the original creator is. Here are my favorite Meola images:



Best of Schatz:




WHAT I FOUND/DISCOVERED:
I thought a lot about my struggle to pick between going out and finding the pictures versus staying in the studio and making the pictures. My reasoning for maybe staying in the studio is to have control of the lighting and focus on color and shape. I discovered that I am drawn to these two books of very different subject matter for the same reason: they both have an intense focus on shape and color, but the first one consists of recording another place/culture that already exists in the world, and in the second one the subject is completely fabricated. I love the look of both but I find the idea of sharing with an audience a world that already exists but if it weren't for me bringing it to them and showing them, maybe they wouldn't know about it or be able to see it. That seems more important and meaningful to me than making pretty pictures. I realized there's no reason why telling a story or sharing my explorations can't also be beautiful, and maybe it's more beautiful because it's real. My conversation with Sean helped me to see that I can still focus on color and shape or play with colored filters in order to alter the mood of the image.

WHAT'S NEXT:
I think what's next is to get comfortable shooting again. It's been a while since I've shot anything and an even longer time since I went out into the world with a camera in hand. Most of the shooting I did last year was indoors with artificial lighting, or documenting of other artwork. Though I'm sure color and shape will play a part in what I do, I could still make it the main focus or have it be a secondary consideration to another subject. I think the next step is to go out and do a little shooting while splitting my focus. I should designate part of my shooting time for capturing color/colored light/interesting shapes and the other part of the time for shooting people/animals etc. At this point in time I don't want to come back with hundreds of photos to go through, but I will consider it a step in the right direction to get out and shoot.

week 1

What I've done so far is collect images (95% photographs) which I have in one folder on my desktop. I also have photography books that are full of inspiring images. I'm considering scanning the best ones to add to my folder so that I have everything in one place. I've looked through these photos and considered common themes and styles. I feel like putting all the images in one place really helped me find commonalities in what intrigues me. The images shown are from my collection of inspiration. The car image is great because of the shine from the chrome and red paint. I love the roundness of the car and the tones of the photo causing it to have a vintage look. With the woman, I have an emotional attachment to black and white photos. I love the lighting set up in the background causing the corners to fade into darkness and i love the way the light falls across her body. The lingerie gives it sexiness, but holding the tie around her neck makes you think about an underlying message. The third photo is light painting/ light drawing. I love colored/ florescent lighting and the concept of painting with light is so great because without the photo, you would miss the artwork since it's only present for a number of seconds. I am not a fan of temporary artwork, but photographing preserves it and makes it permanent. I'm torn because I love the concept of exploring the world with a camera as a photojournalist, but these things peak my interest also and I'm having a hard time deciding which direction to go in. I most likely won't follow the role of an explorer due to lack of money for travel and supplies, so I don't know if I should still be considering it or just focusing on projects that can be done cheaply and locally. I think my next step is to continue collecting all different photos and adding them to my collection. I should also make a list of more specific interests even if it's long so that I have a real list not just saying "stuff that has to do with light." I have concerns about space, funding, structure, time which may be questions for a private meeting. I could make a list of questions in order to be prepared for that. My project for Tues involves some low key experimenting so that's a starting point but I'm not sure where to go after that without asking more questions of myself and in general.