Week 9 EOC: Emotional Attachment

I think that for me as a photographer my love for photography started at a very young age and like most photographers there was something that inspired me and captivated me about photographing the natural world. I grew up living in smaller rural areas of Utah and Colorado, working or at least enjoying the time spent on my grandparents farm, as well as, camping and doing all sorts of outdoor activities with my family growing up. Another of the things that inspired me in photography was National Geographic Magazine as well as all of it’s programming on TV. I as always captivated by the people, places, and wildlife featured in each issue and program. That same captivation and motivation still drives me in my passion to capture the natural world. I have always dreamed to travel the world and photograph those peoples, places,animals and plants that were at risk of vanishing from the Earth forever. My driving factor in this was and still is to preserve life in all of its many forms through photographs, so that in the sad and terrible case that one of those life forms vanishes forever we as a human race have a record of it to show our children and their children. This image of a grey wolf in the snow shot by National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore is one of many like it over the years that have inspired me to become the photographer I am today. It is a goal of mine that through my hard work and continued growth in photography that I will one day become like Joel Sartone and many others and have my own work showcased in the pages of National Geographic magazine. I plan of also becoming like another of my Inspirations Art Wolfe and have my own photographic business that will help to preserve and conserve the planets natural world.

Week 9 BOC: Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is one of those days, just like Black Friday that a shopper can get some amazing deals on different products and services. The only difference between the two days is that on Black Friday a person has to be in the store physically to be able to get the deals; on cyber Monday a person only needs to have access to a computer with an internet connection. For the aspiring or established photographer Cyber Monday can be a great way to stock up on photography supplies or buy that new piece of equipment that they have been waiting to get at a much discounted price. This new piece of equipment could allow the photographer to create new work, or to create new ways to do existing types of work.

For me I would benefit by buying a new lens of two, these would allow me shoot a wider variety of imagery. Being a Wildlife, Landscape, Fine Art, and Environmental photographer buying a lens like this Opteka 650-2600mm High Definition Telephoto lens would allow me to get even more up close and personal with the outdoor subject matter in which I shoot. When photographing wildlife or even plant life in the outdoors you are not always able to get right up to the things in which I shoot so by having a lens like this in my camera bag would allow me to still be able to shoot these longer distance subject bringing them up close in my imagery for the viewers of my work to experience.

Week 8 EOC: Photo Challenge

Combat Photography probably the best way to capture not only life, but history as it happens.

Whenever you watch CNN or read articles in a magazine having to do with war and combat we always get to see what the photographer or videographer see’s through the lens of their camera. So what would it look like if we saw the photographer in the process of taking the photograph? So this is what I wanted to capture in my self portrait. I wanted to show what a photographer might have to use for cover and/ or climb around on, over, or under to be able to capture the best images. The key to photographing any story is to try and tell the whole story with your photographs so often the only way to do this is to be up close and personal with the subject matter you are intending to photograph. So in my photograph I wanted to be down in the wreckage of an old truck to try and make it seem as though I was in a place that might have some conflicts going on. I also wanted to shoot in the evening when the light was starting to fall off to give the photograph a little more depth. This is also why I chose to make it black and white, I feel like the range of tones from black to white better represent the mood in which I was trying to set with the place I chose to photograph in. I feel that sometimes emotional qualities are better represented in black and white rather that color, because sometimes the color can distract the viewer. I shot this photograph with a canon DSLR camera on a tripod using the on camera flash to add just a hint of light to me and the foreground.

Week 8 EOC: What makes a photograph Great?

What makes a photograph great? I think this has to be one of the hardest questions for a photographer to answer. It’s difficult to say what makes a photograph great because each and every person who views it views a photograph differently. The experiences a person has had throughout their life up until the moment in which they view a certain photograph will influence the way that individual person see’s and experiences the photograph. Many photographers will say that the photograph is only great if it has all of the essential elements of design in it, like composition, lighting, form, lines, etc. I think that what Kevin Carter said in response to this question hits the nail on the head; he said, “I think that it is a photograph that asks a question.” I think this is a very true statement, I believe that when a photograph poses a question to the world and to the viewer it becomes something more than just another photograph. I want to make these types of photographs and I suppose most photographers want to do the same. I don’t want to be remembered as just another photographer but rather the photographer that took that one photograph.

“You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
― Ansel Adams

I think the best pictures are often on the edges of any situation, I don't find photographing the situation nearly as interesting as photographing the edges.  ~William Albert Allard, "The Photographic Essay"

Week 7 EOC: Photo Challenge

Throughout the ages in the art world there has been a time when the human body was accepted in its naked form and there have been times in which it has not been publicly or socially accepted. Early painters and sculptors created works of art that in their day were evil and unmoral. Some of these same art pieces are considered today to be some of the world’s greatest pieces of art ever created. Take the above painting by Sandro Botticelli titled “The Birth of Venus” (http://www.paintinghere.com/painting/The_Birth_of_Venus_871.html) this allegorical painting of the goddess Venus emerging from the ocean is one of Botticelli’s greatest works and is a beautiful piece of art. It was many of these pieces of art that also became the inspiration for other works of art. By taking pieces of these paintings people could create scandalous images that were considered the first forms of pornography. When the camera came along there were a few men who saw a way to make a profit recreating these allegorical paintings and then cutting or cropping out all but the most sensual parts of the photograph to make trading cards and magazines. In the movie “Gentleman’s Relish” the story of a painter turned photographer ends up being tricked by his young assistant into doing this very thing. I think that the movie does a good job of capturing how this form of photography came about. This form of photography is also widely spread and in many ways socially accepted in the world today. The Below image is what it might have looked like for someone to crop and take a piece of a painting like "The Birth of Venus" and turn it into a more sensual or provocative piece of art or into something like a trading card.

Week 7 EOC: Adult Content

Pornography and Adult content have been a part of photography from its earliest days, just as it is in today’s society. In the film Gentlemen’s Relish a Artist and Painter is tricked into making this type of photographs from his young assistant. The Assistant convinces the Artist and Photographer to recreate famous paintings, which contain nudity and then the assistant crops the photographs down to show the more erotic poses of the recreated painting that he then turns around and sells. The film is based in the early 1900’s when photography was starting to become its own Art form. I think the movie does show the way pornography came about in photography and is still true to this day in photography. The film also talks about the morals involved when people take these type of photographs, and as a photographer I think that it is very important to know where to draw the line when it comes to your own morals as to what kind of assignments you will be willing to take on. In the marketplace today sex sells and many companies are looking for this type of photograph to promote their product. How you go about taking these types of photographs however is the challenge most photographers will face. I think that as a photographer you can take sexy or sensual styles of photographs without having to fall victim to making pornography.  I think that there is a place for all types and style of Art, however some of those types and style of Art are not for me personally as a photographer.

Week 6 EOC: Photo Challenge

What is a collage? A collage is a collection of stuff put together to represent an individual or an idea. I this challenge it is a collection of my own images representing a small portion of what I shoot and what I enjoy doing as a photographer. My idea behind the number of images was to give the viewer a taste of what I do or can do as a photographer. I wanted to show that I can shoot Architecture, Landscape, Nature and people all in a single collage. I think that putting together a collage like this one is a fun way to showcase my work and my style of photography for others to see. I also think that this collage shows my abilities both in the studio and out on location.

 I used both Photoshop and Lightroom to edit and merge the images together. I first did my editing in Adobe Lightroom which is my preferred first step editing piece of software and then I used Adobe Photoshop to compile the images each image being a separate layer. Adobe Photoshop is also a great tool in editing digital photographs and I use this program after I have finished editing my photographs in Adobe Lightroom for any finishing touches I may need to do that can’t be done in Adobe Lightroom.

Week 6 EOC: How Art has changed me.

From the time I started at the Art Institute of Las Vegas I have been even more inspired by all forms of Art from traditional Art to Photography. I would have to say I think that rather than Art changing me I have changed the way I view all forms of Art. I have come to appreciate different forms of Art more than I used to and I see myself looking deeper into the piece of Art to figure out how it may have been created, the techniques that were used, as well as the mediums involved. I think that the Art of Photography has changed me the most, or I have changed the way I view the world because of my photography. I find myself looking at things with a new perspective shaping everything in my mind in the form of a photograph. I have always been a photographer, but it wasn’t until I came to school to get my degree in photography that I started to see myself as a professional photographer. I came into the program with knowledge of photography and have been able to expound on that knowledge as well as gain new knowledge in photography. I feel that I know have knowledge and skills needed to have and run my own photographic business. I also feel that my skill level has been raised to a whole new level in the time I have been at the Art Institute of Las Vegas. I continue to learn and grow in my knowledge and passion of photography, using that passion and knowledge to create my own works of art that I hope will one day inspire an new generation of photographers with a similar passion for the art of photography to reach out and grasp their own potential in becoming professional photographers in the future.

Week 5 EOC: Photo Challenge

As a photographer I spend a lot of time editing photographs getting them ready for print. While my goal is to capture everything correctly in the camera at the time I shoot it I like most photographers spend time editing my digital photographs making sure they are as close to perfect as I can make them. This is very important for a photographer like me that shoots Fine Art photography. It is important to find way to gain an edge over the competition; this is why I will sometime start the editing process of my images while in the field. Being able to wirelessly send images straight from the camera to a laptop so that it can be viewed in full resolution is one way to make sure I have everything just right in the camera to give me that edge. Not all locations allow for this way of shooting and sometimes weather condition won’t allow for it as well, but I like to be able to see the image in full resolution rather than just depend on the small screen on the back of the camera.

The above photograph is a picture of me making some quick edit to a photograph I was taking in the field. I am often in the great outdoors which I consider to be my office, it is the place I spend most of my time creating the works of art I will be selling in my gallery. One project in which I am working on is photographing the random things in which I find that people have either throw away in the desert of collected and dumped in the desert. Today’s subject happened to be a sofa love seat sitting on the top of large hill surrounded by construction cones and a detour sign. The photograph to me is interesting and can tell many different stories depending on the viewer and their own feeling and interpretation of the subject matter.