Walker Evans

He was born in 1903 in St. Louis, Missouri where he had an early start to the world of art. He painted a lot, and eventually went to Williams College for a year, but quit to move to New York so he could better study writing. When he picked up photography again, he tried instilling the strategies of literature into his visual art. He died April 10th, 1975 in New Haven, Connecticut, of a brain hemorrhage.

I like this one for its simplicity and contrast between the dark doors and windows under the porch, and the white outside of it. There is little shadow, since the sun is coming from behind the photographer, and it makes it much more interesting.

I like this one because its a picture of art, and it looks as though the woman's head is splitting in half because of the rip. It's his take on someone else's art.

This is another simple photograph, but there is a lot going on- the sign, the doors, the curb, the change in color on the wall, but we still somehow focus on the three men in the middle.

Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham was born in Portland, Oregon in 1883 with a very supportive father, who taught her how to read before going to school and paid for her art lessons.She studied chemistry in college and went to Germany to continue those studies and how to blend it with photography. She taught at the California School of Fine Arts in San Fransisco for a while, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by the California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland. as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship to print from her early negatives.She died on June 23, 1976.

 This man just kind of reminds me of my grandfather, but anyway, I like how there's a lot of headroom on him, and how he has a nice crisp shadow behind him. His face doesn't have much value though, and is mostly the same shade, but I like everything else, especially the contrast between positive and negative space.

I like how the eye moves down and left. Her hair is very pretty and the cookie waves contrast with her smooth skin at the top.

The choice to emphasize the flower by using a static black background was very interesting, especially because the flower itself has a lot going on, and there is nothing else at all to detract from it.

Aperture Exercise and Pre-Assignment

Yesterday we were told to put our aperture to the lowest setting we had, set our iso, focus the red dot on the subject, and experiment with it. The subject came out clear and crisp, where the rest of the things in the picture were blurry. I went around school to try this.

The only worthwhile photos I was able to snap were of lockers, but hey, they're still worthwhile.

Paul Strand Pre-Assignment

Paul Strand was born in New York on October 16th, 1890. At the age of 17, he began to take photography courses. He worked with Alfred Stieglitz. He made many films after the first World War. After being blacklisted by HUAAC, he left the US to live in France, where he died on March 31st, 1976.

In what could be considered his most famous photograph, Strand captures these moving individuals, all going in the same direction, and moving your eyes from left to right across the bottom. The repetitive rectangles in the back also help that along, as well as the peoples' shadows.

Again fence along the bottom moves the eye, and the white house that stands out in the back holds your attention on the piece.

This was my favorite one. I love the big looming shadow over the little people, and how the shadow shows all the details of the architecture. These big shadows are what I want to try to capture, and I'll do that by going to where the boats are and seeing what kind of interesting designs and patterns they'll give me to work with.

The Shadow Catcher

Edward S. Curtis was born near Whitewater, Wisconsin in 1868, later moved to Minnesota, where he learned how to take pictures and print them. When he moved to Seattle, Washington, he took special interest in the native Americans, and took pictures of them. One of Princess Angeline won him first prize in a contest. Because he took such an interest with them, they began to call him Shadow Catcher. For thirty years he took on this challenge, traveling all over North America and in 1930, completed the compilation of 20 volumes, each with 75 hand-pressed photos and 300 pages of text. He died on October 19th, 1952 of a heart attack.

This photo, titled Indian Chief, is one of his works. This has an amazing composition, with just enough negative and positive space to draw the eye in. His face is gently shadowed, as opposed to harsh lights and shadows, and it seems as though everything has a shadow and a highlight- nothing is left out.

This one directs the eye to the right and down, since they are both looking that way. It gives a sense of completeness, since your eyes travel across theirs'. The difference between the dark clothes on the lady and the white bundle the baby is it gives it a nice contrast and balance.

Since they are looking away from the camera, it again draws the eye around the photo, and also gives it a bit of a more candid and personal feeling; They are centered in the photo, giving it a nice composition.

Creepy Creep

This assignment made me experience a whole new level of creepiness. I know what it's like to admire people from a distance or to eves drop creepily, but hunting down people who are just minding their own business and snapping them in their natural habitat was somewhat unnerving, even for me. They would notice and give me a strange look, slow down in their walking, and just ruin the immersion. I attempted to hide behind doors and around corners, but that just added to the creepy factor, and I found myself apologizing often. After being joined by Paula, Ferrah, and Trinity- the last of whom was unafraid to ask these mysterious beings if we could take pictures of them, I finally got a few. We even asked the hall cop if we could snap one of him, but he just sent us out to the tennis courts to take pictures of the gym class. I was reluctant to take any pictures out there, since the camera settings were off.

This pretty girl was pretty unnerved by the line of girls snapping her picture, but she just continued along like a trooper. Frau Paganetti in the background upsets me a little, but what can you do.

And THIS pretty girl was more than willing to help, and started to laugh when she heard the shutters of our cameras.

Intentionally Bad Photos

 

 Damien is caught off guard in this camera-shaky abomination.

 Walker's lookin' good, despite the glaring back light!

 Is that a cat or a bad composition? Both? Both.

 I seem to have captured Walker's ghost among this terrible white balance!

Walker got impatient when I kept waking him up to take bad pictures of him. Fortunately his exit got me a great subject blur photo!