editing #2 night shots

spring in black and white

for this assignment we were told to shoot in color knowing that we would be changing it to black and white later. i found that when shooting with a black and white eye it makes things much simpler. when getting rid of color i am able to use space and placement more affectively.

the chelsea galleries

walking around chelsea with classmates we saw 16 different galleries i liked a lot of them but these were my favorites

Mark Ruwedel – Records . This showcased abandoned houses in the west coast. I respected this work because I could tell their was a lot going threw mark’s head besides just capturing abandonment. He was showing various stages of decay and abandonment, some houses looked as if they had just been abandoned, and others looked like they’ve been un lived in for years with overgrown grass and weeds outside. It seemed to me that the more abandoned and decayed a house was, the darker it was or later in the day it was. I also liked the fact that the backgrounds were very blown out and white. I find this happens in my black and white pictures as well and while trying to push ideas of times changing and decaying I always found that the UN detailed white skies gives it a certain mood that couldn’t be captured with detailed well exposed sky.

Mitch Epstein-Trees. Mitch showed trees in urban, city areas and captures the relationship between city and human life. The main focus and subject in his work is a tree. A tree will be the most dominant subject; around the tree he will include peoples involvement whether it be an apartment building, a bench with people sitting on it. What I  liked most about his work is how he took this idea and very sneakily snuck human life into a perfect composition of a tree. In many of his pictures a huge tree would be in front of a house and you could only maybe see a window or a door perfectly placed in the crevice of a branch. I love placing certain contrasting subjects woven within others and Mitch was very good at this. You know your good at this tactic if at first glance you don’t see a window or a door but just a tree, however the tree is so beautifully composed that it makes the person closely look at it and discover these hidden jewels. Some other of his pictures which showed the relationship between people and trees were more straight forward, like the huge tree with all the peoples names carved into it.

When I first walked into Catherine Oppies gallery of high school football players I didn’t see art right away, I saw more of a commercial style I’ve seen time and again. However after further examining the portraits of the football players it brought me back to my high school years and these images really projected the wide spectrum of egos, emotions, and attitudes, of a high school football player. I could tell by looking at the portraits who was the star player, who had a lot of confidence and who didn’t. the photographer did a good job to capture the mind set and attitudes of the players. The pictures had these attributes which commercial photography often lacked. The portraits of two or three players projected the unity that you share in high school sports with a certain group of kids.

checking out class mates blogs

ashley does an unbelievable job making a big ruff looking man covered with tattoos vulnerable, and innocent as she captures him with intimacy, in the series are some of my favorite portraits done by anybody.

ava's picture of the view of a roof top is done nicely, the way its set up looks like there is a picture frame of a house inside a house.

billies picture intrigues me and there is much mystery in it, he makes it look like he is going to get sucked in by his computer. it makes you wonder what will happen next.

i really like this picture by brandon, it gives me a feeling of two different realms existing aside one another

i was impressed by glens shot because ive seen the building a hundred times and always thought it was pretty ugly somehow he makes it beautiful.

kelly's photo is timeless, it reminds me of a stieglitz photograph and shows the clashing of generations between the taxis and the trollys, the buildings on both sides brings it all together nicely.

kevin's picture is hilarious and it shows a struggle within that we all face

its very random that i see a picture that can touch people emotionally in this way while having a good structured artful composition lindsey demonstrates both

this photo is split up nicely by paul with the shape of his body with the girl perfectly placed in the negative space. the picture has a narrative quality because of the 2 people, the messy room and girls expression

petes photo is so appealing because it is cut in four layers, the sand and sky being evenly distributed adds to its appeal.

this picture shows a house with so much character, tara does a great job making a complex scene organized, the vibrant matching red colors with contrasting whites reminds me of a painting 

i was drawn to this photo by samantha because ive seen so many of these light experiments by people and they almost always lack control.  they rarely have such a perfectly balanced composition.

shawna does a a great job with her cellulite series they have a soft elegant feeling created by the dark cellulite positioned elegantly against a soft white backround. it is hard to portray feelings like she does with such little detail of the person.

placing people in a different environment using photoshop

the dead forest

to me the only benefit of shooting digital is the ability to shoot in low light conditions. last night i decided to try out my new tripod . i found myself using the light coming from houses in the far distance. i eventually ventured into the miles of woods which are surround by a half circle of lit up houses which i used to my benefit. in order for the camera to focus, there needed to be a clear path from the red dot in the middle of my lens to the lights. in the dyeing woods filled with fallen trees, sticker bushes and streams this wasn't always  easy and probably the worst place to learn how to use my tripod. it was a challenge  because i would see  areas i wanted to shoot so badly but found it to be impossible after numerous attempts and maneuvers. i'm not used to letting anything else control the outcome of my pictures. the pictures were not successful, however the experience was, in the night, under the giant full moon i  learned a whole bunch about my craft as erie feelings came and went of stealthy eyes stalking me as my face was buried in the camera. i felt scared, excited,determined, and lost. lost my boot completely to a mucky stream, used my flash to find it. after  hours  feeling like i had overstayed my welcome, having no idea what direction my house was in,  tired, with soaked socks, i kept telling myself that this was the last picture, but like a mouth , the specs of light kept pulling me back in. at the end of it all taking the first step back into my realm, i found that the whole thing left me catching my breath for a while because a place so dead made me feel alive.

horsetrack

ever since i've been a  photographer i have always loved film and loathed digital. i believe that as things get more technologically advanced, they also get more complicated, quickly fading away from the  simplistic ways of the olden days. however i've decided to give digital photography another chance. these shots are the first taken with my new digital camera, the things got so many bells and whistles i didn't  know where to begin. the first day i got it i changed the setting to black and white and haven't figured out how to change it back, somehow when i put them on the computer there all in color.

i did my first test run at the racetrack, paying close attention to composition trying to be very aware of everything in the frame and how each detail broke up the image.  

 one of the first things i noticed at the racetrack was the slanted staircases, i used them as a tool to dissect my frames

 i began to realize how shadows were dominant and tried to use them to compose. if you look close you can see the horse and jockeys shadow on the dirt.