Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men

Read this at the beginning of the quarter, but I am coming back to review it and write my response. Yipee. I found it interesting how Bright compared the progression of landscape photography to political and social climate. This is something I tend to not think about when I am looking at landscape photography- at least ones where human influence is not blatant. The way she talked about Ansel Adam’s “Eden-like” beautifying style was something I hadn’t really thought about. It is interesting to think about how the photographer can manipulate an already present landscape in order to make it represent what they want. I suppose this is almost always a part of photography.

It was also curious to realize how male based the art of landscape photography is. Despite Bright’s references of museums and collections that exclude female photographers, it made me wonder how much the lack of balance has to do with male and female differences in interest.

For someone that tends to not be invested in landscape photography, I appreciated the analysis and historical connection that Bright brought into the article.

A couple photo students in the UK swallowed 35 mm negatives and were able to develop them after they, ya know, came out…..! SO COOL!

Click the picture to check out the article

Check out David Burnett’s photo-documentation of Apollo XI sending the first men to land on the moon. Pretty cool stuff.

I can’t say I am a huge fan of sports photography, but Walter Iioos Jr. has changed my mind a little bit. Originally form New Jersey, he photographs for Sports Illustrated. I am especially interested in his older work (man, there’s just something about film and old school sports uniforms…?) Click the first link to see a compilation of some of his older work, and then the second is the link to his website so you can see more recent stuff.

http://everyday-i-show.livejournal.com/165301.html

http://walteriooss.com/

I would really just like to enter summer mode and go on a road trip.

cCheck out Jeff Luker’s photography (click tha pix)

Text Reading: Editing, Presentation, Evaluation, Practice

I wish I had been forced to read this chapter- I mean REALLY read it- at the beginning of this quarter. The information on resizing images without losing quality, and the basic overview of Photoshop tools is easy to understand and quite helpful. I’m not even b-s’ing this. A lot of this is stuff that I couldn’t remember how to do from high school and struggled to remember with the last couple of projects. Helpful stuff!!! Lately I’ve been thinking about how incredibly important post production really is. This is something I didn’t think about a lot when I first began pursuing photography. If you’re not super rich or super famous, you’re going to have to get smart and figure out how to make your stuff look good AFTER you snap the shutter. Just something to keep in mind when printing, especially in large amounts like for our Portfolio project.

HEY!

Who’s going to Sasquatch this weekend? It’s definitely a great place to bring your camera (if you’re careful…) Here’s a little inspiration. Hope to see some of you there!

I just really enjoy this picture (no sarcasm)

Click on the photo to check out some of Stephen Shore’s other work. I like.

Reading Responses

Well I’m going to combine a few of these…

The Essential Way

Mainly review, because it goes over how to load, develop and process film. I actually read the filters part at the beginning because I don’t know much about them and I hate tungsten light, especially with night shots.

Vision: Tools, Materials & Processes

Yup, remember reading this in 290. However, it made a lot more sense now to review the viewfinder camera.

Reproductive Processes & Tools

I found the information on trouble-shooting negatives really helpful. It’s easy to just accept that a negative is weird or messed up and forget about it, but there are things you can do. Also, I love the contact sheet on 271. I’ve always been into collage, and creating one image out of many. That’s something I’d like to try out with 35 mm.

The rest was a lot of information on Photoshop and Lightroom. Not really something I’m going to read now, but it’s a nice reference point for when I’m using the programs. Heh I also like the rug on pg. 314

A friend of mine showed me this book ‘The Altered Landscape.’ IT IS SO COOL and really ties in to our architecture project. I don’t know how to show you guys much of it online but there might be a copy at the library because I think he is using it in his Planet class. Really though, if you want to see some crazy landscapes (altered, der..) check it out. There were even a couple of the Becher’s prints in it oh boy.