Weekly Artist Post- Darsey Renz

Rachel Glass

What are the artist's technical choices?

Glass chooses to place her subjects in every day, even mundane areas. She includes light and color to add interest to her compositions. She also has her subjects off to the side as opposed to centered, creating asymmetry. 

What are the artist's conceptual and/or thematic intents?

Glass's subjects protrude sadness and loneliness. They are holding themselves, seeming to want safety or somewhere that they can be alone. They even seem childlike, allowing the viewer to get emotion from the photographs.

How do you respond to these choices and intents?

Glass' works allows me to connect with the subjects in her photographs. Everyone feels lonely at some point. Everyone wants to feel safe. Everyone wants to get away from the world sometimes. Her intent with this series creates an extremely universal emotion.

Weekly Artist Post- Connor Woisard

Janette Beckman, Joe Conzo and Martha Cooper come together to put together this awesome series about the revolution of hip hop. The series features a number of photographs taken of hip hop artist over the last thirteen years. It demonstrates how the culture of hip hop has evolved over a period of a little longer than a decade. Its interesting to think where the culture is today compared to the 80s.

Technical decisions range throughout the photos but excellent composition is constant. In the second photo the dead end sign is so evident and provokes so much thought about its meaning. The lighting in the last portrait of Chuck D is interesting in how it plays with black white theme. The contrast of the colors in the photo below reminds me of the artist we looked at during the beginning of the year.

This series is incredibly interesting to me because of what it represents culturally. Hip hop has become a billion dollar industry and it makes me wonder if the finical impact has taken away from its original goals. To me its become more about money now rather than speaking on the injustices that are present in society.

Keri Woodard - Bruce Davidson

BRUCE DAVIDSON

Bruce Davidson has been taking pictures since he was only ten years old and progressed throughout his older years. Many of his photos from Harlem, New York city have been published and he is also well known for his photographs. His main focus is wandering around the city that he is very familiar with and capturing hostile environments that are not easily seen and recognized by the general population.

In the 90's his attention was turned to the urban underworld of New York City and showing its underlying beauty under the grittyness. Sticking around the same area is considered "paying dues" to this photographer who has stayed around his home and says it takes time to earn your photographs. Davidson explains that his photos are not described as portraits or landscapes, they could be both and he doesn't like to put them in a category. It is all about the subject, whatever the subject may be.

This photographer was inspiring to me because throughout his whole career he has maintained sort of the same perspective. When I am thinking about photos I always want them to come out a certain way and have a central theme, but it is more difficult than it seems. Davidson really captures a central idea through all of his photographs and it intrigues the viewer.

Skylar Coleman - Weekly Post

Kate Schneider

1. These three photos deal with the right lighting and framing. The colors of what is in the photos contrast nicely and make the images more visually appealing. The time of day and lighting from the sun in the first image and the yellow cast over it provides a sense of warmth. The way Kate chose to not include the entire body of the man and barrel also makes the image work so well. Shadows and highlights are picked up on the man in the second image making the image more interesting. The field of depth also works really well. The last image makes the viewer feel like you are sitting in the back of the truck looking down the road. The framing of the truck bed with the road and grass and the contrast of the red truck with the green grass is very balanced. 
2. Kate Schneider is a photographer who bases her works on the traditions of documentary storytelling and ethnography. She focuses on the impact the land have on individual and cultural identity in North America.
3. I really liked looking at all of her series that captured different landscapes and lifestyles. The lighting and colors are well balanced and make the pictures complete.

Kailyn Dickason Weekly Artist Post

Gabriele Galimberti




These Photos are by Gabriele Galimbertie, who is an Italian photographer born and raised in Tuscany. He normally takes photos intended to become books at a later date such as the ones above. When he takes photos like this he also interviews the subjects and all of these photos came with  little snippet of who the child he is photographing is.
I think these photos were taken at a hand holding speed, possibly with natural light in some cases. Theyre not very noisy, but some of them look like they could be and Im unsure if its just the quality from his site or the actual photo. All in all I like the compositions and the neat methodical line up of all the childrens toys.
I think I will look forward to seeing more work from him. His stuff is very interesting and even in these photos thought provoking. Its crazy because some of these children have a ton of items and others only have one, and the comparison is a little depressing. All in all these photos are great and I like his work, and will be looking for more./

Grace Herion - weekly artist post

Bert Stern

Bert Stern has made some of the most iconic photos of stars like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn that our generation only knows by recognition. He is the man behind all the fan paraphernalia.

Stern clearly has a very good understanding of light. Light is really what makes his pictures so beautiful. His pictures are simple but stunning.

I think his photographs are wonderful. They're often fun, interesting, and seductive. You really feel like he is making his subject look as amazing as possible.

Chevon McClenney- Weekly Artist Post

Clarissa Bonet

Recent MFA Photography Graduate Clarissa Bonet captures all the unseen moments while exploring her new city of Chicago. Using a Cannon 5D Mark II along with various lenses including an 85mm 1.2 and 24-70 2.8, Bonet takes advantage of naturally occurring light and shadow to create cinematic urban images. Interested in isolation and common everyday happenings that otherwise go unnoticed, often using strangers in silhouette, heightening the dramatic quality of her recent City Space project.

Using the city as a backdrop Bonet, keeps the city scape vague, void of any specifics as she wanted to keep the focus on the urban environment not the city of Chicago, indicating that these fleeting moments can and do happen in all urban settings. Her use of deep, almost black shadows also reads as a void, lending further to the feeling of isolation.

I enjoy the cinematic quality of Bonet's City Space series, the fact that she uses available light and sort of sculpt and common, everyday scene into something just as dramatic as a still from a movie is really great and makes me want to seek out those everyday moments that happen in an urban setting. I am already really to documentary style and street photography, this extra dramatic layer is appealing and may be something I try and challenge myself with.