Online Photographers #2: Sharon Hill

Sharon Hill is another photographer that I looked up and studied a little bit on. She likes to take photo's of birds. Another photographer where timing is crucial to get that perfect picture. Especially with birds it can get really irritating because birds can move as oppose to a certain landscape. So looking for the perfect picture can be nearly impossible but with patience it can be done. I like her photo's of when the birds are flying, when they are flapping there wings because most of the pictures of birds I see the wings are blurry. I want to see the detail of the wings as they are flying. She really brings out the beauty of the birds whether they are flying or just sitting down somewhere in there nest. What inspired me was her timing that was done to get that perfect bird picture. She gives us a chance to see a bird up close and what it does. Like when the bird is swooping down to get food that is something hard to see close up and in detail.

Online Photographers #1: Joseph Holmes

Joseph Holmes is one of the photographers that I researched because I like his style of photography, which is landscape. I too like to take photography of landscape because there is so much that the landscape can offer to us. What inspires me from him is his ability to really take the boring colors and make them stand out in his work. He can take the color brown and make it seem like an important color. Like for example his photo's of the cliffs or canyons, he made them less boring by waiting on the right time of day to take the photo. He has influenced me by learning that timing is important for that important picture. Taking a picture or a flower will look different if it is taken at 12pm and in 6pm when the sun is setting or when there is clouds or completely sunny. This is when the cliche patience is virtue really comes into play.

Field Trip #4: Peter Fay

I went to the Ordover Gallery in Solona Beach to view the works of Peter Fay. His work that I saw in the gallery was very dark and had a sad tone to it because of the color of the photos. The photos taken by him were dark. He had this infrared look to most of his photography. I was looking at a stack of his work on a table and all of it was infrared. The ones that looked the best were on the buildings. The infrared look mixed into the picture of the buildings really made the buildings stand out because the buildings have this boring look to it. The buildings just stood there. They were old apartment buildings and he brought it back to life by putting in infrared. Peter Fay's work in the gallery is simple but he likes put meaning in to his photographs.

Field Trip #3: Baja California by Ralph Lee Hopkins

I went to the Natural History Museum and it was worth it. I went to see the Baja California photography by Ralph Lee Hopkins. His photographs were amazing to look at. About half of the pictures that he took I thought were paintings. The picture of the whale made me look at it for a few minutes because I couldn't believe that was an actual photo of the whale and not just a well painted picture. The picture was probably taken with precise timing with the right angle. With the right timing the photo can make a big difference between a hit or miss. Most of these pictures were very clear. The pictures of the different reptiles were very interesting because I have never seen the side of the reptiles. They were like models for the camera. Especially the iguana because of its color green which stands out and the blue sky which really makes the iguana really stand out.

There were other pictures there that were interesting to see, but this one picture that really made me think. It was the picture of the clear image of the cactus but at the same time the sky was a little blurred which made me wonder how would that picture form without enhancing it using programs like Photoshop. When you look at the cactus it feels like time is moving slow but when you look at the sky it feels like time is moving really fast. This picture causes confusion in a good way because it can make you think about it and just stair at it even more.

An-My Le

Le has an interesting approach to her photography. In the video we saw she photographed a lot about the military and her approach to how she wants to photograph them. When she showed the photograph most of them were black and white. She enjoys having them in black and white because they give kind of a not so boring picture because of its two colors but more of an original look to it. It is a more classy look. And when she took the photographs of the military the black and white fit the theme of how the military looks. Her camera is an old school camera that takes only black and white. She seems to not like the newer cameras that can change it into black and white.

Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems is this African American artist/ photographer. Her photographs have many strong meaning to them. The ones she showed in the beginning were ones from the slave era or the late 1800's to early 1900's. She wanted to get the issue straight by putting African Americans into art. I think this is a good idea because anything should be able to be art. The ones that are controversial are the ones that people get offended. Her meaning of art is that anything goes and anything can be on there. She wanted to get sued for making certain photography's. She wanted to get things straight that photography art is photography art and nothing else. She didn't want to send full on messages to the people but she wanted to give them ideas and concern for them. Most the photographs of the slaves were the daguerrotype. She was also a dancer. Weems likes to direct political issues, like for example the presidential election. She is behind Barack Obama and wants him to win. This performance that she directed is very controversial and heavily favored the democrats.

Balboa Park MOPA: Beloved Daughters Exhibition. Field Trip #2

I went to the Beloved Daughters Exhibition in MOPA Balboa Park. The exhibition was done by Fazal Sheikh. This exhibition was really really hard to view because of the little writings written on the wall. I felt sorry for all of them. They were all pictures of women in the country of India. And as most people know women and India are treated wrong and abused too much. The pictures were really clear but all of them had this color of sadness. There was no bright colors to any of the pictures. The pictures had this sad look to them. There was also no smiling from any of the pictures which made it more sad. 

The exhibition was in sections. When I first entered it was the elders first, then walked towards the adults aged around 20-40, then the children. The ones that I payed most attention to was the wives the ones aged 20-40. When I read the writings on the wall they hard to read because all of them had issues with there lives whether the issue is abuse from the husbands or just not be able to produce a boy. They were ostracized and forgotten from there families if they weren't able to produce a boy. And example I read from the wall was this person by the name of Krishna. She married a person that drinks a lot and abused her for most of her life. On top of that she had no boys which made her life a total mess and and much more harder to live. All the pictures were hard to look at after reading what was on the wall. 

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman's approach to art is very interesting. She likes to use make up as a way of portraying it as art. I have seen make-up used as a part of art but she takes it to another level. Not only she likes to put make-up and take pictures, she likes to act in her pictures trying to get the viewers to think of what she was trying to do. She has very many pictures of her depicting other people. Sherman is sort of in a way like a caricature towards the people she is trying to imitate. There was one part of the video where I thought it was interesting where she had the make-up on and she was wearing something formal. This is where she poses as other characters like old, young, mad or sad. She really seemed that she liked the one where she was the old lady. Just a change of looks and actions can change the way a person looks. If she smiles perfectly and if her back was not bent over then she won't be able to look old but rather young and sophisticated.

In the video Sherman mentions that she likes to over do the character. It brings sort of a comedic scene or another way of portraying the character. Like for example her eyes would be crossed eyed or she would alter her nose to make it bigger or have this dorky look. Since most of her works are serious she wanted to have fun in a few of her pictures and look dorky. Very few of her pictures are simple, most of them are very complex and have this load of make-up on her. If I would of stared at her works I would have never known that it was her in all of her pictures. The power of make up is very powerful and can change how a person looks dramatically.

Food Close-Ups

Here a few pictures from Flickr, click on the link below to view the rest

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44278191@N02/sets/72157622722369584/show/with/4070942726/

Chris Mayne

Chris Mayne is very interesting a good photographer. There are a lot of things he showed us and the photo's he showed us. The first thing he showed us was his picture of birds. He took a bunch of bird pictures but from many different angles. He taught us that patience is rewarding because finding that perfect picture can take a long time to do. Mayne personally like to get down flat on the ground and take his pictures that way. He mentioned that it gave him more stability and less shakiness from his hands so he can take a perfect picture. What I thought the best pictures he took were from the Hummingbird. When the hummingbird was taking the nectar from the plant I thought that was cool to see its wings not blurred from him capturing the bird. It is not everyday you get to see a hummingbird's wings in motion and be able to see its wings clearly. 

Not only he mentioned his pictures it is the equipment he used. He loved to use his cannon cameras. But it was not only the camera's that was important to him, it was the his other equipment like different types of holders. There was one holder he showed us and I was able to try it on. It was a holder that was able to make it more stable than use two hands. It rested on your stomach while you hold the camera, making your stomach almost like a third hand. It was also cool to see the different lenses. I got to look inside the lens and looked at how powerful and clear the zoom power was. It was an overall fun experience to see a professional photographer and his photo's and what he used to make those photo's perfect.