Selfies

It's not amazing quality, but I think we were very creative with this selfie. We used a normal object from the school (the railing) to create something completely new. While it is obviously fake, it is still executed decently. The background is lined up well, and our expressions serve well to capture the moment.

Famous Portraits

Arnold Newman's portraits tend to depict people in front of their work. Whether it's a pilot in front of his plane or an artist in front of his work, the background serves as a description of the person. Here, we see an artist, sitting casually (with an almost smug look on his face) as the majority of the photo is consumed by his art. This photo was very eye-catching, and the smug facial expression looks as if it was done out of confidence- "check out what I did". While being confident, he is still off to the side, letting his art be the subject.

Richard Avedon's photos do something a little different. They attempt to tell a story with very little detail, and typically just a white background. The story comes from the person and the person alone- their expression, clothing, hair, etc. It leaves you with a lot of questions. This one stood out to me: Who is this man? What does he do? Where is he from? His expression here is tough to decipher. At first glance, he looks disappointed or exhausted. But the longer you look, you almost can see the hint of a smile in his lips. Maybe he is remembering something, or recovering from a long day of hard work.

Annie Leibovitz's photos are very unique. They are pure, real, and often risky. Some are nude, but with a purpose. Sometimes there is no other way to capture the mood a photo (take Lennon and Yoko Ono for instance). I really liked this photo when I saw it. It captures two separate generations, most likely a father and son, matching in their expressions and stances. It clearly shows the difference in age, while also showing it's similarities. They both stand proudly; the younger man as if it's about something he's going to do, and the older man as if it's about something he's already done.

History of Photography

From doing this poster, I learned a lot about the history of photography. Not only did we learn about the first cameras, but also the evolution of photography as a whole. Photography evolved from a simple, new art form, to a social tool that we know now as the media. Images became the new medium for sharing the world. As for the cameras, we’ve come a long way. Photography started as just positives and negatives on a piece of paper. From there, we were able to develop the first point and shoot cameras, which eventually became digital. The most amazing piece of it is how far we’ve come in recent years. In the span of about 30 years, we went from the first digital camera, a clunky machine that shot at .01 mp and took 23 seconds per photo), to having cameras in our phones that were capable of shooting much higher resolutions and taking multiple pictures per second.

Shadow Photography

Taking this photo, I first took note to the dragon's head. I tried to line it up in a way that used the butterfly behind it to my advantage, creating almost a full animal. I also really liked the shadow that was created by the handle. The shadow also gives a smaller silhouette, allowing you to see the entire shape of the vase on the wall, while only part is shown in the photo. The positioning also put the other shadowed handle right in the middle of the real one. This nicely put a lighter color in between to compliment the metal, rather than a darker shade that would have taken the pop out of the handle.

Walk, Run, Fly

1. What 3 things did you learn as a result of doing this project? Explain how these things are important to your learning.

First, we learned how to look at objects differently. By looking for letters, we approached everyday objects and structures with a different viewpoint. We looked at how normal objects can be viewed differently to create something totally differently.

Next, we looked at how we can use view points to create new images. Altering your point of view can cause certain lines to line up differently and create new images, like letters.

Lastly, we were introduced to photoshop and how to use it. We learned how to transform pictures and adjust their color and contrast to create a well balanced image.

Unusual Persepctives

In most of my pictures, I tried to get very close to objects. Getting a clear, up-close shot reveals textures and patterns that are usually ignored. Pictured here is a plate on it's wall mount. The metal mount caught my attention, not just for its spiral shape, but also its texture and color. Looking closer at the metal, I noticed it wasn't just gray, but also contained spots of yellow and orange. I thought this was very cool, especially with the black and white image on the plate. I tried to get an angle that captured both. This created a great contrast between the black and white picture, and the speckled yellow of the metal.