Week 8 Photo Challenge: War Photography

For this weeks challenge, I decided to pose as a war photographer in a desert setting. The actual location of where this photograph was taken is a few hundred feet in front of the Nevada State College campus, in Henderson. The settings on the camera were f/5.6 at 1/400 and ISO 100. As you can see, I added in an image of a U.S. soldier(I got this image from militarytimes.com) to give it a more realistic touch. Watching the movie Bang Bang Club made me realize just how fearless war photographers must be to be out in the middle of war zones, just to get a good shot that will end up in a newspaper headline.

Week 7 EOC: What Makes A Photograph Great?

While watching The Bang Bang Club, a film about the group of photographers that documented the Apartheid movement in South Africa during the 90's, the question was asked: What makes a great photograph. The photographer being questioned was really at a loss for words for an answer. Truthfully, there are so many variables and conditions that go into the making of a photograph that it is nearly impossible to determine what exactly makes it "great," without being subjective. Things such as composition, lighting conditions, facial expressions, subject interaction, etc. are all considered when determining its greatness. In the case of war photography, photojournalism, and sports photography, the decisive moment is key. To quote an article from takinggreatpictures.com, "The decisive moment happens when the action reaches an apex, when a subject portrays the perfect expression, when the [subject] conveys a special look, when the light becomes its most dramatic."

Week 7 Photo Challenge: French Postcard

For this week, I created an image in the style of a vintage French postcard. The original source image can be found at this link: click here. The painting I used was Cranach's The Three Graces. As you know, the original painting features three women embracing each other which makes for an already risque scene. I used PhotoShop to crop out the woman on the right because the other two women are making eye contact, which leads to a more intimate feeling scene. Next, I turned the image to black and white and gave a sort of sepia style filter. Finally, I added a vignette as the last detail. The result is something that could resemble an image in the style of a vintage French postcard.

Week 7 EOC: Adult Content

After having just watched Gentlemen's Relish, a BBC historical film about the emergence of pornographic subjects in photography during the late 19th century to early 20th century, I can say that I think it seemed to accurately represent the attitude towards such "titillating" photographs during the period of Edwardian Society in London. Such suggestive subject matter was understandingly not very overt, however it did surprise me just how widely accepted it was for that time period.

Week 7 Photo Challenge: Collage

For this week, I created a collage made of pieces of my three guitars. Taking the shots were somewhat difficult because I didn't really have anything to stand them up against so I had to hold each one with one hand and take the picture with the camera in my other hand. The lens I used was my new Canon EF 24-105 f/4.0L, and nearly all photos were taken at f/4 105mm. I drew my inspiration for this collage after watching Whatever Works, a comedy starring Larry David. There is a particular scene where the mother is showing off her photographs of collages of people, utilizing different parts of their bodies to make one "person." I thought this would relate similarly to a guitar collage because of their different parts, such as the headstock, body, horns, and neck.

Week 6 EOC: Art Changed Me

When I first started attending the Art Institute, I was majoring in Audio Production, which is a very dry and technically oriented degree. After seven quarters of being unhappy of where I was going, since I was a musician who wanted to be able record my music and other people's music, I decided to switch majors to Digital Photography. This decision was made after taking Principles of Photography as an elective class, and it totally woke me up. After years of having a fun little hobby of taking pictures of landscapes and family, I finally realized that I could further explore this passion and eventually turn it into a career that I could enjoy. Further exploring photography as an art gave me a whole new perspective on how to look at it, analyze it, and enjoy it. Finally, although quite a bit off-topic, I feel I cannot end this post without mentioning the single most important thing of art that has impacted me: Fugazi. Not only their music changed me but it was also their ideals and do-it-yourself determination to do things the way they visioned, without any compromise, that I believe has further shaped my approach and attitude to being a professional in the photographic industry.

Week 6 Photo Assignment: Editing A Photo

For this weeks photo challenge, you can see me editing one of my favorite pictures I've taken so far. I shot this portrait of a jewelry maker at the local farmers' market several weeks back. The software I am using is Adobe Camera Raw inside of Photoshop and am utilizing my Wacom pen tablet for precise modifications to the image. I used an old external hard drive as a prop to fill some empty space near the bottom left of the picture. An aperture of f/4.0 and a shutter speed of 1/200 at ISO 1600 was used in conjunction with my camera's pop-up flash to capture this self-portrait.