Sabrina Brooks-Weekly Artist Post 3- The Cinderella Boy

Parisa Taghizadeh

Parisa Taghizadeh takes an interest in his son's inner world of gender identity with his collection titled "Boy." He films his son in the midst of everyday activities that laugh in the face of the heteronormative mind set. He uses a large aperture in order to develop a shallower depth of field. He frames his son using the the rule of thirds so that his son's face or head is never in the direct center of the piece. This man does not sacrifice ISO or quality, for even the smallest hairs on the cinderella dress can be seen. This gives his photos an interesting composition that makes the viewers focus more on the "peculiarities" of a boy wearing feminine wardrobe. He most likely uses a slow or medium shutter speed, giving the camera time to take in the color and light that gives these images the controversial impact that they were intended to have.

Taghzideh's ground-breaking collection explores what it means to be a man to society. He proves how gender is a social constraint that is developed by society not by birth. He shows his son's interest in outfits such as dresses and pink fairy wings as well as activities such as nail painting that are traditionally considered for girls only.  

The reason I chose is artist was because to be honest, I love it when someone messes with society's idea of gender. I believe that everyone should do what they love no matter what gender that activity may have been "intended" for.  Also, these images make you question yourself, "how would I feel if my son acted or dressed this way?" I see these images as a possible topic I may want to address also. 

Skylar Coleman - Weekly Artist

Alex Cornell

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1. Since these photos are all of ice, snow, and water, the exposure settings have captured impressive detailing in the ice of the iceberg, the clouds in the sky, and mountain like forms. The images are very sharp and capture a good sense of color in a setting that is mainly white. Alex Cornell took a series of photos while in Antarctica and was able to capture the underside of an iceberg which is normally not seen. 
2. Alex Cornell is a designer, filmmaker, and musician from San Francisco. In his series of images from a trip to Antarctica, he was able to capture warmth in a place that is freezing. His photos give off feelings of serenity, peacefulness, and silence while at the same time gives off so much color and life. In turn of just capturing the surrounding land, he was able to capture some of its inhabitants such as penguins and seals. For a filmmaker and designer, his photos still show talent and his understanding of how to work a camera.
3. What caught my eye when viewing Alex's pictures were the ones of the flipped iceberg. We aren't used to seeing the undersides of icebergs and the intense coloring of the ice in some of them is so astonishing and almost looks fake. I also enjoyed the difference in the series of the lighting. Some actually allow me to feel cold based upon the gloomy and foggy sky, while others give off such warmth from the sunlight and blue skies. 

Connor Woisard: Weekly Post Franck Bohbot

Franck Bohbot is a french photographer who resides in New York City. The three photos above are from his series titled "Cuts", a look at NYC's diverse barbershops. Its evident that in this series Bohbot makes the technical decision to use small aperture setting. I believe this is the case because in all his photos the depth of field is very deep in order to keep the person and the rest of the scene in focus. Shooting inside with such a small aperture I would also assume a tripod or some sort of external flash would be needed in order to maintain a high quality image without cranking up his ISO. 

Bohbot attempts to develop a relationship with people and architecture. In his series you his plays up this relationship with the barbers and in their shops. In the three photos above you can almost see how the barber reflects how they have chosen to develop the space they work in. I'm unsure if this is how decided to compose the image this way or if the reflection between the person and space was natural. 

The second photo really played to my personal appeal. Long before I had a serious interest in photography, I was always captivated with portraits that were close up to their subject but also taken at a wide angle to capture their environment behind them. I feel like this style adds to the photos "epicness" because at the forefront you have your subject and behind them you have a scene that almost feels like they have conquered it or mastered it in a sense. In Bohbot's second and third image I feel like I really see the relationship between the person and their space. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it other than "larger than life", "masters of their domain", and "epic". 

Kailyn Dickason- Weekly Artist post 3

Pierre Verger









         Pierre Vergers work is about the daily life and traditions of 5 different continents people.  He uses his  photography in conjunction with his research of these people and their culture.  I feel like he uses a larger aperture because everything in the background is out of focus, purposefully so that one can concentrate on the main portion of the photo.  I also think that he uses a hand holding setting for  so that his pictures aren't shaky, possibly 1/60.
            Peter is an artist, an anthropologist, and so much more. In Africa he became titled Fatumbi, meaning one who was reborn for Ifa. He became so closely associated with the culture and the people, he published a few books on them and their culture.  He lived out the last years of his life, nomadic, and working towards protecting his research, and spreading it within the world.
          I chose Pierre because I really like people who study other cultures. I like knowing about other cultures, and I feel as though Pierre really captured the essence of these people.  These photos are also interesting to me because he has years of research behind them. I appreciate how into his art he is.  I also really like black and white photos, and I feel as though he really is a prime example of fine black and white photography.

             

3 photos I'm "scared" to post...

What do I care about?

Surely not these blog posts, if I am to speak candidly... 


And I may just brush that off
as if it were the settled dust on my jacket sleeve, and just
minimalize its indiscretion
as inconsequential
for the purpose of
continuing to
not care.  And then just
write it off
as if it were a tax deduction.
And then
just


forget about it.



Like, why should I give a shit about such a perfunctory task, as a blog post?


The answer?  Well... because I should.

 And no, not because I'm worried about what others will think if I don't.  But because, it reveals something true about my character.  The blog post is just a microcosm of my life.  It fulfills the duty of calmly enabling my sense of carelessness on the lowest scale.  Which in turn, justifies my actions on a much higher scale. 

To which, in a few more years, I'll find myself tragically trapped....as the nucleus of a moon-sized snowball rampantly rolling and gaining speed into an irrecoverable state of peril.



So,


what do I care about?


The truth is,
I care about those that care about me, and my well-being.  Those that help to restore my faith in humanity with their lustrous integrity. 

The ones who
assume the role of bumper
when I go bowling.

Holli Turner- Weekly Artist Post

Christian Berthelot

Christian Berthelot seems to have chosen fast shutter speeds possibly 1/125-1/1000 or higher to achieve the “slowed down” effect we can actually see blood droplets coming from some newborns. He chose dark backgrounds to further give focus to the infants.  To gain a high quality image and keep the “noise” down Berthelot more than likely kept the ISO down to a low number perhaps 400 or lower.

The concept was to take photographs of infants within the first seconds of their lives.  He chose to take photographs of infants that were to be welcomed to the world through the use of cesarean section.  The artist was granted permission to take these photos by obstetrician Dr. Jean Francois Morievnal and the mothers to be. 

These photographs are eye opening.  I have actually never seen photographs like these.  I was placed in a “world” that I have never seen in real life by looking at these photographs.  This is someone’s very personal world and are their very special moments and by viewing these photos I don’t feel that I am on the outside looking in but a part of the action of what’s going on.  Not many photographs that I view have done that for me, which is amazing.

Monica Fowlkes - Weekly Artist Post 3

Photographer Hal

Bathtubs, couples, love and challenge are strong themes throughout these Photographer Hal’s artwork pieces with other key elements including individuality, style, communication and intimacy. Photographer Hal brings complete strangers to his confined, crucible like spaces only to convey his continuing theme of “love of the couple”. The initial title Pinky & Killer used a small space or room to capture the willing couples, soon followed by the title Couple Jam that brought the focus even closer to the subjects who were placed in a bathtub together. Photographer Hal’s latest project is called Fresh Love, which captures the many varied and fresh couples in vacuum-sealed package.

 In the closeness between the couples in some of the pictures I can tell he wanted to capture love as it really is and the bathtub is an ideal place to the vivid reality in my images. Through the medium of photography, the couple has become Photographer Hal’s chosen subject to express the principle theme of world love; this will of course require a search to find subjects who are willing to participate. As a couple he has photographed a wide variety of variables which include being young and old, from the same or opposite sex, of different race, having different styles, girls from the north and men from the south and many others who have been willing to participate.

I really enjoy the photographs because I thought that the fact that there were people squeezed into theses little tubs and that some of them were in outrageous costumes really draw your attention to it.  It really opens up my creative mind about taking ordinary objects and making them unique.

Jennifer Maddox- Weekly post 3

Alex Cornell

1) I grabbed these photos from Alex Cornell's album Plant Iceland. In the second photo you can tell he left his shutter speed open longer to capture the running water of the waterfall. Otherwise he used a fast shutter speed to capture the beautiful landscapes of Iceland.

2) Cornell seems to find the beauty in all the areas around him and he captures them wonderfully. He seems to have the desire to display nature and the different environments around the world. I feel like he also used the woman in the first picture as a way to put the landscape in perspective to how vast it is.

3)I enjoy his photography a lot because I also love photography nature. There is so much beauty in our world and thankfully there are photographers like Cornell that help people see the beauty that one may never have the opportunity to see.  I love his decision of captured the photo of the waterfall by showing the watering rushing past him as he took the photo.

Brianna Ivey- Weekly Artist Post 3

Kathy Shorr

1. In Kathy Shorr Photographs "BFF" Kathy takes pictures of women in New York City with their best friend. It took Shorr two years to do her project. When choicing her subjects, Shorr sought after women who had an obverse bond with each other, similar fashion, hair and clothing style and/or personalities

2. Shorr started working on her project "BFF" after photographing two best friends and she notice how close they got together in the picture. Shorr began to think about the bond she had with her friends in her teen years through out her adult life. BFF represent the strong and dynamic relationships between women who are friends with on another.

3. While looking at Kathy Shorr paragraphs it show be the bond between friends especially women who are friends with one another. It remind me of my friends through the years and how close we become like sisters. If you watch reality shows it stereotype women that women cannot be in the same room or space without fighting or being catty. Kathy Shorr pictures show that women can have a close bond with each other.

Keri Woodard - Weekly Artist Post 3

KEN SCHLES (New York, 1960)

The artist displays an amazing balance between the lights and darks of each picture. It has intense shadows leaving a suspenseful and erie kind of feeling with just enough light to see what is happening. In doing this, the artist conveys a sort of "truth" with no added color to try and make it more aesthetically pleasing. Without focusing too much on a central subject, the artist shows the whole scene and leaves the viewer to wonder. Schles' unique style illustrates a narrative behind his photographs.

Ken Schles highlights urban landscapes and gives an insight to some of these peoples lives in the streets. The grainy and blurred effects that he uses give inanimate objects a weird sense of motion. For example, with the first photograph it is almost covered in shadows, but the viewer still gets a sense for the room and what is going on. The title of the book that the works came from is called "Invisible City" and that tells us that he intends to show what is being overlooked.

I think that the artist I chose is incredible in the fact that it is only black and white and it really makes you look twice. The viewer can see immense amounts of detail and get a sense for where the photograph was actually taken. The general public that Ken Schles photographs are usually oblivious or just too busy to see what is going on. I feel like the artist may have wanted that to get the viewer to have a self realization about the world around them.

" The city is a place where the self is confronted most brutally with the other, and where it is also most detached from it."

Brianna Ivey-Weekly Artist Post 2

Sorasart Wisetsin 

1. In Thailand photographer Sorasart Wisetsin phographs “The happiest dog in the world," His named his canine mused Gluta. In his photographs of Gluta he shows the unconditional love of animals have of people who reduce and provide for them love and care. Wisetsin used a Canon EOS 60D camera to create his photographs of Gluta. 

2. Wisetsin while living in a dorm, found Gluta in the streets and took care of her by feeding  and playing with her, however he couldn't keep her because of dorm policy. Eventually, He officially adopted her and had to take her to the vet due to an illness and  had to get surgery. Gluta made it surgery and began to heal physically and emotionally. Wisetsin hope by more people would be inspired by Gluta's story and in return want to help neglected and strayed animals

3. Being a dog lover and having a dog of my own, Wisetsin photographs show me how important it is to take care and think of animals who are being hurt, neglected and abuse. A lot of times when people seen animals and even humans on the street we often tend to ignore them and the pain they are going through and only think about ourselves. When we should have compassion and empathy towards beings whether they are animals or hum as who are hurting.

Joshua Caudell - Weekly Artist Post 2

For this week's post I will be focusing on Pet Photography.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II EF50mm f/1.2L USM, Aperature ƒ/2.2 Shutter speed 1/400, iso 320, Flash (off, did not fire)

Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF50mm f/1.2L USM, Aperture ƒ/2.8, Shutter Speed 1/500, ISO 100,
Flash (off, did not fire)

Canon EOS 5D Mark II EF135mm f/2L USM Aperture ƒ/2.8, Shutter Speed 1/500, ISP 100 flash (off, did not fire)

1.   Russian photographer Elena Shumilova uses natural light for photograph both her son and her animals.  The camera that Ms. Shumilova uses are the Canon EOS 5D Mark ii and Canon EOS Mark iii to compose these photos.  Here are the pictures that were taken with these two cameras and why she used these lenses and camera camera combination to get these awesome photos.  The Shutter speed was more than 1/60 of a second.  They were at least at 1/400 of a second or 1/500 of a second.  The Aperture not completely wide open.  It was either set at f2.2 or f2.8.  The rest of the info can be found underneath the pictures above these paragraphs.

2.   To accommodate for the pictures, Ms. Shumilova uses natural light to capture the pictures and blurs out the background for that subject and picture separation look.  This offers the best artistic expression which many would call the subject background separation bokeh.  Several interesting things to note that the animals were interacting with her children in these pictures.

3.  As an animal lover, I love the fact that this child is playing with these animals and having fun.  There is nothing more joyful than what you realized.  I can relate with Ms. Shumilova as a photographer, animals are one of my favorite things to photograph because Pictures like these evoke my emotions.  That is the reason why I enjoy photographing so much.

Devin Escalante - Weekly Artist 2

Mario Popham

1.  In these photos, Mario seemed to consistently shoot from around eye level.  He chose to take these photos in black and white which really touch a different feeling for the viewer as opposed to the same photos with color.  These photos ate part of his exhibit called Enduring Growth in which he tries to portray the struggle between nature and the man-made environment.

2.  It seems as if though Mario is trying to show the relationship between humans and mother nature.  You can see the calm and serene nature backgrounds, and then a person or building which clearly interacts and changes the environment completely.  I think by having these photos in black and white as opposed to color really creates a deeper feel for what Mario was trying to communicate to us.  I enjoyed the fact that he stuck with black and white instead of having just some here and there.

3.  I've always had a strong liking for black and white photos.  Although color ones are always beautiful and it helps place the viewer in the moment, black and white photos can really give off a stronger edge to what you are looking at and helps you to focus on what the artist is trying to show you as opposed to just looking at the beauty of the colors that you see everyday.

Connor Woisard Curran Hatleberg

Its difficult to say exactly what type of camera Curran Hatleberg most likely uses but it seems like regardless of the type of equipment, he always uses a high shutter speed. I would assume this only because it seems like most of seems are shot candidly with people moving around in the picture. Another clue as to why this may be true can be found in the first picture with the toy boys fighting. As you can see one of the boys is frozen above the ground in the image. Another technical observation I made about the first photo was the wide format of the picture. This makes me believe some sort of wide angle lens was used in order to capture the entire scene. 

Hatleberg seems to focus on capturing the daily life of people. Not many of the photos seems as though they were composed with a certain deliberation but more rather just tried to capture the moment as they happened. Another prevalent theme in his photography is play with light. In many of his other photos their are dramatic beams of light contrasted with dark shadows. 

The people in these photos resonated with me on multiple levels. I felt like these photos were so intriguing -for me especially- because they provoked so many questions about the people in them. I felt myself looking at each person in the picture asking questions and wondering more about who they were. 

Cynthia Bowles- Weekly Artist 2

ENRICO NATALI

1. In Enrico Natali's "Detroit 1968" series he uses the black and white affect while capturing images of society at that time. He enhances the contrast of the images while also changing the images levels to the backgrounds and or foregrounds. In these photos, the main focus is off centered or in motion. One person is looks sharper than the surroundings even if there is more than one person in the picture. Looking at the first image, he might have used a F8 aperture to focus on the guy up front while still slightly capturing details of the people behind him, or he could have edited the photos to create that affect. 

2. Overall, he intended to capture the way society looked during that time. He wanted to show how Detroit was after the industrial revolution. During this time, Detroit had a lot of racial conflicts and political issues. He documented the living conditions, socialization, and differences between the people. He provided a way for people today to look back at these images and realize how racism truly was. He showed the black people in a really poor, and rundown environment, while the white people seemed to be more successful and privileged. He helped reveal the unspoken truth about that time period. 

3. I chose this photographer because I liked the contrast of these photos. I also appreciate how lively his photos are. Although the main focus in the image is in the foreground, the background has movement and detail that brings the image together. By practicing shutter speed and aperture, these photos makes me wonder what he programed his camera to in order to get such affects.  

Simone McPhail - Weekly Artist Post 2

Rick Ashley

I don't know much about the camera Rick Ashley used to shoot his photo series. I can guess that he shoots with a large format camera but that is kind of a stab in the dark. I can tell however, that Ashley used lighting to shape and highlight his subject. His brother really pops out of each background because of back lighting, probably more than just the three point lighting but the key and the fill lighting shape the subject in each picture.

Rick Ashley uses this photos series to tackle preconceived notions about people with Down Syndrome. The subject, Ashley's brother, has down syndrome but is still just as much of a complex, emotional, and vulnerable being as the rest of us. These pictures are used to engage Micheal ( the subject) in becoming the prominent figures  he portrays and the portrait. The pictures are also refute the modern stigma of Down Syndrome.

Upon first seeing this post I was immediately drawn to the idea that a disabled man was being portrayed as the strongest man in the world. I know from prior experience with people born with down syndrome and other conditions like it, that sometimes these people are looked at in a different light because of their condition. It seems like an important thing to me to not only promote people living with disabilities to be all they can be but also encourage people to step outside of themselves and look at people for who they are regardless of their disabilities. This calling people out in such an encouraging way to the subject is a really great call to accountability.

Skylar Coleman - Weekly Artist

Paul Edmondson

1. In these three photos taken by Paul Edmondson, a sense of depth is captured by using set objects in the foreground that help lead your eye out into the horizon line. He uses the natural lighting of the time of day to truly bring out the natural colors that the sun reflects into the sky and off of the ocean. I am not sure what kind of camera he uses, but he is able to focus on images up close and far away when necessary.
2. Paul Edmondson is a conceptual and still-life photographer from Seattle, Washington. He is drawn towards places where humans and natural environment intersect. He is known for his landscape photos of the American West. When looking through his photos, they all captured my eye because of their unique layout, lighting, field of focus, and color. He captures nature and humans exploring the beauty of it in a very awe-inspiring way. Paul uses different angles and perspectives as well.
3. I chose the three images because of the way they capture depth and give a sense of the viewer’s perspective. I also love seeing photographs of nature and always find them very intriguing. The lighting in these three in particular caught my eye because of the time of day they were taken in helped capture more of an emotional connection with nature and its beauty. They also all three have a common setting of water, and again like in my first weekly post, I find myself drawn towards images involving water because of my own love for it.