More Photos For the Final Project

I have continued searching through many photos I have taken so far and I have taken even more photos. I picked and edited some more of my favorites and will post them below. Erwitt Elliott take many documentary photographs of everyday people he sees in his life. Getting inspiration from that I went out and tried to take some documentary photos of my own. I am pleased with most of my results but the last photo disappointed me a bit. Some light blurred out the woman who was walking in the photo and that ruined the picture for me. In the future I hope to be more careful when photographing so I don't make the same mistake.

Elliott Erwitt Final Project

Edited Photos and Experience So Far:

So far this project is going well for me. I've been choosing very urban places, including Gloucester and Boston, to take some of my best images for this project. I'm focusing more on the documentary aspect of Elliott Erwitt and how he took photos of everyday life. His urban photos are what inspired me more so than he comical dog pictures. Above are three photos out of the many I have taken so far that I liked enough to edit. These are the best so far and I hope to get some more images that are just as good and even better. Wish me luck!

Natural Light Portraits

1. What lessons or experiences did you “synthesize and analyze” to come up with your original idea-- what was your assignment?

My assignment was to take a photo of a person using natural light as the light source in the photo. My original idea was to take some portraits of my friends, but using them seemed very staged. I wanted something in it's natural state so I decided to photograph my cousin's daughter Roslyn. Since Roslyn is a baby, she doesn't quite understand what a camera is so she just acted like she wanted to. This was difficult at some times but it worked out in the end.

4. What do you like best about your images?

I like that they came out well after I changed my direction from friends, to family. I'm glad that I was still able to create good images.

5. Did you have trouble with some part of this assignment?  

The only trouble I had with this assignment was getting the light to be exactly where I wanted it, especially with a model who moves a lot. I overcame that eventually and other than that I didn't have any problems.

Near and Far

4. What do you like best about your images?
I like that my images are landscape images but 2 out of 3 have water in the pictures as well. I love taking photos of the ocean or a lake (as I did here). I like that my images show the movement of the water and the flow it produces. Overall i'm pleased with my images but believe they could have been a bit clearer in the background.

6. How could you improve your image or process?
I could improve my images by playing with the controls more and using more of the skills we learned in class.  I have to learn how to really work with my camera and let it help me produce better images. Other than that I think my process of eliminating images and choosing the best ones is fine.

2. How did you evaluated your work, what were you looking to create for the assignment, and was this idea a good idea?
When I evaluated my images I looked to see that the subject of the photo was clear and that everything around it was as well made out as possible. When I looked through the images I took I made sure to look and see what I would have to edit if I chose that picture. I tried to evaluate all my pictures equally and in the end these were the ones I chose.

20 Photo Artists

Name: Tina Mondotti
Author: Margaret Hooks
Photographer: Tina Mondotti
Publisher: Aperture Foundation


Name: 150 Photographers On Their Art
Author: Brooks Johnson
Photographer: Varied
Publisher: Aperture Foundation


Name: Nonfiction
Author: Mark Singer
Photographer: 
Publisher: Walker Creek Press


Name: Steichen
Author: Elliot T. Parker
Photographer: Edward Steichen
Publisher: Double Day and Company Incorporated The Museum of Modern Art


Name: Walker Evans
Author: Maria Morris Hambourg
Photographer: Walker Evans
Publisher: Princeton U Press



Name: Ideas Without End
Author: Richard Lorenz
Photographer: Imogen Cunningham
Publisher: Library of Congress Catagory



Name: Henri Cartier-Bresson
Author: Robert Capa
Photographer: Henri Cartier-Bresson
Publisher: Aperture Foundation


Name: The Photo Book
Author: Ian Jeffry
Photographer: Varied
Publisher: Phaidon Press Limited


Name: In Real Life
Author: Leslie Stills
Photographer: Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Lola Alvarez Bravo, Carrie Mae Weems, Elsa Dorfman, and Cindy Sherman
Publisher: Library of Congress Catagory


Name: Black and White Photography
Author: Henry Horenstein
Photographer: Varied
Publisher: Little Brown and Co

Name: 25 Lessons I've Learned About Photography

Author: Lorenzo Dominguez

Photographer: Lorenzo Dominguez

Publisher: Create Space Independent Publishing Platform

Name: Witness
Author: Ruth Gruber
Photographer: Ruth Gruber
Publisher: Schocken


Name: 50 Most Inspirational Photographers of All Time
Author: Chris Dickie
Photographer: Varied
Publisher: Barron's Educational Series


Name: 50 Photographers You Should Know
Author: Peter Stepan
Photographer: Varied
Publisher: Prestel


Name: Diane Arbus: A Biography
Author: Patricia Bosworth
Photographer: Diane Arbus
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company


Name: Mapplethorpe: A Biography
Author: Patricia Morrisroe
Photographer: Robert Mapplethorpe
Publisher: Da Capo Press


Name: Humans of New York
Author: Brandon Stanton
Photographer: Brandon Stanton
Publisher: St. Martin's Press


Name: The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5 Book for Digital Photographers
Author: Scott Kelby
Photographer:Varied
Publisher: Peachpit Press


Name: Gregory Heisler: 50 Portraits: Stories and Techniques from a Photographer's Photographer
Author:  Gregory Heisler, Michael R. Bloomberg
Photographer: Gregory Heisler
Publisher: Amphoto Books


Name: Vanity Fair 100 Years: From the Jazz Age to Our Age
Author: Graydon Carter
Photographer: Varied
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

History of Photographers 19 & 20

Eliot Erwitt

Eliot Erwitt is a Parisian photographer known for his satirical situations in everyday situations which he captured in his photos. His family moved to the United States where he first started to become interested in photography. He studied photography at Los Angeles City College and he finished his education in 1950. He shot photographs all around the world becoming a 'free lance' photographer. He also is known for creating an alter ego that is a pretentious french man named André S. Solidor.

I like this photograph because the mirror image is so clear and the background is faded out and yet still beautiful. I like how Erwitt captured the happiness on the woman's face in the mirror and that he was skilled enough to do this. It's a very nice picture because you can picture the woman in the car facing the ocean even though this is not shown in the photo. I also find this photo very romantic, which makes it enjoyable as well. 

I find this photo very ironic and uplifting. It's funny how the seemingly normal couple are walking their tiny dog, until you get a closer glimpse at one of their legs. This photo implies a lot. The photo shows a dog's legs next to a person's leg, but which is the real dog: the man or the woman? One would figure it would be the woman walking such a small dog, but the boots suggest it could be a man as well. So who is the dog? That's what Erwitt wants you to think about. 

Marilyn Monroe. I can bet you've heard of her even if you aren't a fan of hers. Marilyn was a very complicated individual, much more than what she revealed to the public. I believe some of the madness in her mind was captured in this photo taken by Elliott Erwitt. From far away she looks just like Marilyn, an actress doing a pose like any other photo. But if you look closer into her eyes, there is something else there. Something that is very far from the happiness a great actress should have. Erwitt may have used humor in some of his other photos but he reveals a deeper meaning in all his photographs no matter what form of production he uses. 

 Dorathea Lange

Dorathea Lange was one of the most inspirational photographers of all time because of her skills when taking documentary style photos during the era of the Great Depression. She first learned the art of photography at Columbia University in New York. Lange also worked for the RA and the FSA. Her most famous photo is titled "Migrant Mother" and has been featured on many things related to the Great Depression and is still admired today. Lange died of esophageal cancer when she was 70 years old. When she entered the later years of her life she suffered a lot of health problems because of her suffering from Polio as a child. 

I'm sure you've seen this photo before whether in History class or everyday life. This is Lange's most famous photograph "Migrant Mother" taken during the Great Depression. The first time I saw this picture I had no idea who took it. I like this photo very much because it reflects the pain that not only a mother faces in a depression but the children as well. The hopeless look on her face reaches out to you and I love that Lange was able to capture this emotion. 

This photo is the definition of a documentary photograph. It is taken merely to see and know how things were during the Great Depression. This photo makes me sad, to see the conditions that people had to live in. Over all this photo is a great photo, it's clear and to the point. It shows the housing conditions and how many people live there. I don't think documentary photography is my favorite type of photography because to me it lacks substance. I wish there was more emotion instead of stone cold facts. 

This photo says a lot. It's ironic and sad that the kids are doing such a childlike pose when they look so angry and sad. These children probably had to learn to grow up at a very young age because of their situation of having to grow up during the Great Depression. This photo gives the impression that a lot of children didn't have time just to be kids, they had to take responsibility that most kids don't have to. I like the use of grey tones in this picture, while there are some dark grey colors there is never the harshness of black that some black and white photos have. This gives the photo a dreary, dirty quality that goes along great with the theme of the Great Depression. 

History of Photographers 17 & 18

W. Eugene Smith

W. Eugene Smith is a fabulous photographer who refused to conform to society's view of 'proper photography' with his brutal and vivid images of the chaos of WWII. He was also a well known journalist, his ability to take photos only increased his creative value. Smith entered WWII and took photos of the war as it progressed and was wounded while trying to capture the gritty photos. He worked for many different magazines during his lifetime including Life magazine. 

I like this photo because there is a truth behind it. I wonder who that man is talking to on the phone and what significance it had to the situation in the room, the women who look agitated and nervous. The ability to capture an emotion or a set of emotions in a photo is a wonderful thing and this is what Smith has done. He has made the situation more real, caught in the moment through a camera. 

This photograph makes me sad when I look at it. It's not just because of the probably dead child in the soldiers arms, it's because of the soldier holding it. These were once innocent men, not touched with the horrors of a brutal war, and someday long after this photo was taken these men probably still wake in terror from post traumatic stress. This war changed a generation. Once again Smith was able to capture this gritty reality in a gritty photograph.

This photo was featured on the cover of Life magazine. I like it because of the darkness on the man's face, not jut the shadowing but the dirt and sweat, and then the shocking white color of the cigarette he holds in his mouth. When men were away at war smoking was one of the only normal routines they had, the one thing they could control. It's ironic to think it probably held some sort of hope to them, "If I survive today I'll get my cigarette," they might have said. The determination Smith has caught in this soldiers eyes says, "I've survived another day and I've earned at least this." 

William Eggleston

William Eggleston is mostly known for his usage of color in his photographs, sometimes even especially bright. He believed that his artwork was so bold that it should hang in honor in many galleries all over the world. He was inspired by Robert Frank, a well known Swiss photographer. He was a big fan of dye-transfer printing because he loved the way it enhanced an image. He was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award in 2013. 

I like this photo because of the colors. It may be shallow to say but after researching so many black and white photographers it's nice to have some colorful image. But as we were taught in Photo 1 color does distract from the actual image and I think it does so here. It's a fantastic image but looking at it without all the colors and tones is it really that great? To me the colors make this image, not the subjects.

The effect one color has on a photo is amazing. The dark blue grey color of the sky mixes so nicely with the forest green grass it almost looks as if the sky and ground are blended together. Then you have the child in the shocking crimson coat which is what your eyes are drawn to immediately. The use of colors and color patterns in this photo is amazing and the vividness is also appealing to the eye.

The normality of this photo is striking, but once again color seems to mask the imperfections of the subject itself. The girl's face is very pointed and the lighting could have been better. But I think that's what makes this photo, that it looks like he saw a pretty girl and took her picture in the spur of the moment. That's why it's a good picture, because it looks like if someone asked why he took it the answer would be, "Why not?"