History of Photography Artist 1 & 2

Paul Strand

Paul Strand was not only a brilliant photographer, he was a filmmaker as well. He focused mainly on his film work before pursuing his career in photography, his wife assisted him. One of his more famous photographs is "Wall Street" (shown below). 

I like this image the best because it shows just how different Paul Strand's photos were from other photographers in that time period. His urban photos make quite a statement.

This piece is called "Under the Dark Cloth" and I like this photo because it's a simple profile photo but the contrast and lighting Strand uses gives the photo a really simple, rough look which is quite intriguing.

 

This photograph is called "Fifth Avenue" and is another one of my favorite Paul Strand photographs. I think it's the angle of the flag and the people slightly turned around and looking at the camera. It's a completely normal day on Fifth Avenue and that simplicity makes me enjoy this piece. 

Alfred Steiglez

Like Paul Strand Alfred Steiglez was also a modern photographer for his time. He ran New York galleries for a big part of his life and influenced America with the European artists he introduced. For much of his life Steiglez refused to sell or promote the photos he took, he kept them to himself. All of his earliest most famous work he took on his honeymoon with his wife. 

This is Steiglez photo titled "A Wet Day on the Boulevard-Paris" and it was taken on his honeymoon. I think I like this picture because it makes a rainy day look beautiful. The light reflects off of the water on the pavement and you can tell the people are in a hurry to get out of the rain and this photo just makes everyday life look better. 

This picture is called "The Venetian Canal" and was also taken on Steiglez's honeymoon while in Italy. I have seen this picture many times before on various websites and I always thought it was beautiful but I never knew who the photographer was. By doing this project and finding more of Steiglez's work I realize how much I like him as a photographer. 

This photo is called "The Terminal" and this is the photo I like the least out of all Steiglez's work. I don't like hos\w the dust or smoke is blocking the view of the horses because it distracts from the rest of the photo. .This reminds me of our bad photo project because of the subject of the photo being obstructed.

Bad Photo Assignment Assessment

4. The thing I liked most about my images was that they were all taken outdoors. It was a very nice day when I took them, it still felt like summer not fall. I also really liked the lighting (though I'm sure a lot of the lighting was off, after all this was a bad photo project) but I really liked how bright and alive everything looked in my photos.
5. The only trouble I had with this assignment was trying to take blurry photos. My camera kept fighting me, trying to make the pictures come out as good as possible so it was challenging to make them bad.
6. I could probably improve my process by taking more than 50 photos. I found myself waiting to get to 50 so I could begin eliminating the photos I would not use. I think if I forgot about the number of pictures we should have and simply took as many photos as I needed I might have taken some better pictures.

Bad Photo Project

Chasing The Light

Over the weekend our assignment was to observe the light, as if we were the camera. The light makes ordinary colors explode into a whole new work of art. The light can brighten things and also make things darker by creating shadows. When you stop and look at the light you begin to see what colors it generally is, yellow, orange anything very bright and alive. The light itself seems alive in a way. I walked down to a beach by my house and watched the light reflect off of the water. It mirrors itself creating more light which seems impossible. It blinds you for a minute and then you see it, the fire-esque shine the light has created on the water's surface. Observing the light has really shown me just what light is capable.

The Aperture, The Shutter Speed and The ISO Control

Today in Photo 1 we talked about how to work certain parts of the camera, specifically the aperture, the shutter speed and the IOS control. We learned that the aperture is a part of the camera lens that adjusts the amount of light reaching the film or sensor. We also learned that the shutter speed is found in the body of the camera and controls motion stop action, it an create blurs and get rid of them in photos. We learned that the ISO control is what controls the camera's sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO number the more sensitive, or faster, the camera is. This photo class was very informative and it was nice to learn how to properly use some parts of the camera.