Under the Sea

Underwater photography is something I look at a lot but I tend to assume its seperate from the ‘art photography’ world.  It’s difficult to see past the wow factor and think about the photographers composition and thought in the image.  It seems like a dream job, travelling the world and photographing.  Adrej Belic does just that.  Although he has a very professional website he seems to be just a guy with a lot of extra money, some underwater camera equipment and time to travel. What I appreciate most about his work, which definitely has more to do with his marine biology knowledge than his photo skills, is his ability to pick out and photograph all those crazy little creatures hiding in the coral and whatnot.  There is some weird stuff on the sea floor and he’s photographing it.  I can’t imagine that he can control much of what he wants to capture down there, just point and hope… a lot.

his site: http://www.abelic.net/

A Pepper, but not just a pepper.

Still working with peppers.  These are the latest images, I don’t think the results I’m getting are quite representing what I’m seeing in my head.  I want Edward Weston sexy peppers and I’m getting…mmmm, grocery store ad. Our assignment for studio lighting was ‘shiny stuff’ which really opened a lot of doors for me in terms of lighting the peppers shiny surfaces and I really enjoy some of the elements but the whole image is not working.  I started misting the peppers with my spray bottle just because I really like water and reflections in my photos but I don’t think its a significant enough addition.  I have also just been shooting randomly (but not randomly, just without a clear unifying subject) and enjoying those results but I’m almost wishing I didn’t.  The images are extremely graphic and have a design quality to them that I’m really attracted to but I wouldn’t say that is the kind of photography I usually like to look at.  Again…I’m looking for sensual not hard lines.  I have been thinking a lot of about shooting environments that aren’t what they seem.  This is hard to explain.  I like the idea of taking a picture of something, or just a part of something so that it becomes something else in the image entirely.  The pictures of rocks below illustrate what I’m talking about…maybe thats a picture of some western landscape I went climbing around on?  Maybe not.  They’re close up images of a rock sculpture on campus, but you get the idea…

check out my shiny stuff

Stephen Shore

For the bi-weekly artists analysis, I chose to look at Stephen Shore.  A few weeks ago we went to see the New Topographics show that was being reexhibited at the Eastman House in Rochester. Among Shore’s work, there were about 8 other photographers who all had work in the original 1975(?) exhibition.  He was one of the few artists working in color so when we went to see the show his work stuck out to me.  I really enjoyed his images of small western towns with really boxy buildings and sparce landscape.  He has a kind of ‘on the road’ quality to his images where it feels like he is documenting a road trip.  I really like the graphic arrangement of his images with the architecture and the shadows they’re casting.  Shore’s work has a special connection with me because I took a roadtrip from DC to San Fransisco and I feel like I could connect with a lot of the moments he captured. Even though he was making these images well before I was born I feel a nostalgic connection with his work.

this week in photo…

I brought my 35mm into the studio lighting room while I was doing my assignment this week and shot about a roll and a half of film I had lying around.  My subjects were bell peppers, I’m generally interested in the forms but I was more interested in just getting started on ANYTHING.  I’m not extremely enthused with my digital results because they’re all slighting underexposed but I have high hopes for the film because my perspective was a little different.  The set up of the digital light studio makes it difficult to get very close to your subject while the camera is on the tripod but my own tripod allowed me to get my 35mm right up in there.  My plans for the images are to put them through photoshop and print out some big negatives with the Agfa anyway so I can always adjust the contrast.  My experience with printing cyanotypes from the Agfa negs is that I will need to adjust possibly more than just the contrast and exposure anyway.  I don’t really know if these images will go far for me but at least I’m starting to work.  Here are some of the digital shots…

feminine chic

In addition to my senior credits in photo and cermaics I am taking Studio Lighting with Woody Packard–a digital photo class that focusses on, go figure, lighting subjects.  We are not very far into the class thus far but I am loving it.  I have never had any real experience with digital photo and I’m finding the immediate feedback extremely useful.  We’re just experimenting with the physics of how light travels for now and building in new techniques each week–it’s a slow process but I’m enjoying seeing the puzzle come together.  Maybe some day I will understand how to put it all together and make a beautiful image.

One photographer we glanced at for inspiration in the class was Irving Penn–a name I recognized but couldn’t place any work with.  Woody didn’t spend much time and wasn’t even sure if Penn was still alive but I was interested so I looked him up for myself later.  Turns out, he’s still kickin’

I am really attracted the the graphic quality of his images especially the woman on the Vogue cover (below) and another image of his that is actually very similar in layout of a bit of a plant but I couldn’t find a version to post.  The portrait of Pablo Picasso was interesting to me because Woody had just been talking about providing a wash of light on the background to bring out the form in front.  I really enjoy the progression of a light background and dark figure to a lighter figure and a darker background.  The lighting gives the portrait a lot of character.  In the last image I posted of the men from New Guinea Penn decided to show the edge of his backdrop in the portrait.  The choice is obviously intentional and I found several other images where he did the same.  He is making no attempt to show these men in a natural habitat and it makes for an interesting kind of contrast between the people in the image and the scenery.

the beginning of the end

My main goal for the start of  senior year is to slow down my process.  I recognize that all aspects of photography take a considerable amount of time to carry out with quality, sadly, my time management skills have always gotten in the way.  I always felt a bit of pressure to get things done the first time and just push through to a result.  Obviously, this isn’t the best way to work.  I have been splitting my time in photo and ceramics and have decided to continue with that for at least this first semester.  I am completely on the fence about which work I will continue with and sharing time causes issues with getting more in depth with my work.  However, the structure of senior year here will allow me to make my own schedule and completely accommodate for two studios…at least, for now.

Anyway, along the lines of slowing down I have a few plans for myself.  I will probably shoot all black and white and as much medium format as possible–provided I can borrow a camera from the school.  I’m hoping that using the medium format camera will force me to take my time and consider my image much more when I am actually making it instead of when I am dealing with it in the dark room.  Was it Cartier–Bresson who never cropped his images?  I need to learn how to consider the whole frame and engage the whole image.  This is an increasingly difficult task for me to outline because I have not pinpointed a topic for my images.  I frequently include water and will probably continue along those lines maybe dealing with reflections.  I shot a few rolls over the summer, one black and white and one color that I’m hoping will just get me started looking at things but probably won’t be useful.

I plan to mix up Cyanotype chemistry to begin printing after it ages for a few days and I will use the Agfa (but I guess that printer is called something different now) to enlarge my negatives digitally and make larger prints.  I would also like to continue printing straight black and white.  I have been considering making some carbon prints–a process that my alt. process class touched on last year.  I have not looked at the prices for materials lately but much of what I do will depend on a budget.  I am making an effort to control my spending and pair up with other students to save as often as possible.

Getting back into the swing of things has been extremely difficult–I have joked with a couple other photo students that we just want to fast-forward to those late studio nights when everyone is already working and pretty much living in the studio.  Thats when I’m happiest anyway…occupied by my work.

Wrap It Up

My final project for Alt. Process was a cyanotype artist book consisting of 14 images.  The images were not strong enough to stand on their own and it was therefore important for me to display them together in a book.  They worked together to tell a kind of nostalgic narrative that really can’t be put into words–it’s more like a feeling.  I took a great deal of time planning the layout of the book.  Because of the way I wanted to bind the pages each piece of paper would have two images (one on either side).  It took several tries to get what I thought were final prints coordinated on each of the 7 pages.  I wasn’t completely confident in my images as strong photos so it was extremely important that I make my book as technically precise as possible.  I felt the finished product was clean and precise, the format of the book (album-like) seemed to fit with the photos inside and I was pleased with most of my prints.

A lot of this semester was about the technical process of making photos for me.  I was originally drawn to Alt. Process not only because I am interested in photo but for the chemical aspect of it.  I really enjoyed mixing my own solutions–it gave me complete control over all aspects of my process.  I am trying to eliminate as many variables as possible in my work so that I can develop a technique for myself  and produce consistent work.

my book:

Cyanotypes and Carbon Prints

Apollo The Sun God

Carbon Print

Carbon Print

Celebration of the Craft (Part 2)

In addition to teaching an extremely rare alternative process, Dick Sullivan also provided life advice.  Any time we were waiting for things to dry we would sit down and have discussions as a group.  A topic I found particularly interesting Dick introduced with the question “Why do we spend $50,000 on a hand-made desk and chair set when we could just go to ikea and get one for maybe $100?”  The issue he was addressing was authenticity.

If you had the choice between an original Van Gogh painting or an exact replica which would you pick?  We tend to celebrate the crafters hand in things.  We find hand-made so much more attractive than manufactured.  We then transitioned our talk to different categories of making–It takes craft to make an inkjet print but it’s in the brain not in the hand.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but I can say for myself that I am more attracted to crafts of the hand than crafts of the brain.