Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1
This chapter served to explain the overall history of photography. It began talking about Louis Daguerre and the early daguerrotype photography style and progressed to discussing the different types of film and how they have evolved over time. It also explained some of the archaic methods used for photo manipulation before the time digital imaging. This chapter demonstrates the philosophies behind taking photos over the course of this mediums lifespan.

Chapter 2
In this chapter I think that the biggest focus of the author was to describe how to take a photo with successful composition. The framing of a good composition is one of the most important and yet, basic aspects of photography. The chapter went on to illustrate the idea of the “Golden Means,” which promoted the idea of taking photos with the idea of thirds in the compositional set up. It explained that often times this method produced successful photos and echoed the idea of the perfect proportions.

Chapter 3
In this reading the inner, mechanical workings of the camera were discussed. The physical process of capturing light was described and followed its way through the rest of the physical photo making process. This reading also explained how shutter speed and aperature functioned, which I had no idea about before. This demonstrated how you can adjust the amount of light let in to the camera to get a successful picture for a specific lighting situation. It also explained how to adjust the shutter speed to capture subjects in motion.

Chapter 4
This reading further explains some of the technical aspects to taking photos. In particular it discusses the use of lens filters and light meters in photography in order to take superior photos. Thinking about exposure in photos is an important facet it deciding how to light the subject, given each idiosyncratic lighting situation, plays a paramount role in how to take a successful photo. This chapter stresses that idea in full, focusing on taking photos that rely less on post-production correction methods.

Chapter 5
I found this nice quote about light that reminds me of chapter 5. “There are two types of light: the glow that illuminates and the glare that obscures.” –James Thurber. I think that this describes the message of this chapter…the only difference is that this chapter references many more than two types of light. Different seasonal and day light times affect the photos you produce and continually change the different settings you have at your access on the camera. Although it can never be perfect, the dedicated photographer works with the light he or she is given.

Chapter 6
I found this reading to be my favorite among the chapters of the book. It shows the difference between scientific methodology and the artistic process as a means to create a product. What the author aims to illustrate is that unlike a rigid, structured formula to create something, art instead has no direct process to successful work. It relies instead on the intangible and the felt.

Chapter 8
This chapter discusses the different ways to save digital image files. The text describes how to adjust the DPI and PPI for both printing and online digital imaging, and the differences in sharing your photos giving different levels of resolution. This chapter also describes the various methods of digital manipulation that can be used with applications like photoshop.

Chapter 9
This chapter focuses on the final stages of photography and its ability to present photos as finished products in various ways. I think that this is important note to hit upon because presentation of photographs can sometimes be just as influential to viewers as the photos themselves. It describes the many ways of mounting a photo, and gives example of the types of paper that preserve for many years. These are all essential technical aspects to producing a physical photo that should not go unknown by even the novice photographer.

Chapter 10
In this reading the author presents the idea of using different camera angles to enhance the compositions of your photos. In doing this you learn to view your subject in new and visually stimulating ways. Although the viewfinder does limit the area to which you can see, it also creates a rectangular space in which contain only what you want inside it. There is no peripheral vision, nothing to distract you from what you are looking at besides what is there.

Chapter 11
This Chapter focuses on looking at your body of work as a whole and thinking about its implications before shooting. I am on the fence with this one. I am largely in favor shooting with spontenaety and letting the situational theme of my work come from what is naturally occurring. This reading goes on to mention how this type of pre shooting planning can shape the outcome of your work. It promotes a sense of research into the subject before taking photos of it. I find this to be an important factor in my own work. I feel that the more overall knowledge you have about a subject, the more of a connection you are able to have with it, thus producing better work.

Final Project

Social Landscape

Shepard

Morph!

social landscape

Memory of 9/11

I was in my english class when another teacher came into the room and told us to turn on the television. We saw the buildings burning, and I had no idea the magnitude of the situation. I had never even heard of the world trade center until that day, and I wondered what the fuss was about. Then there was a phone call to the classroom telling my teacher to turn the television off. Classes went on like nothing had happened. We had an assembly at the end of the day telling us what had happened, but I still didn't get it. I think I even got in trouble for talking to my friend about some boy that was looking at her.
I went home, and the situation had changed. My Dad made me go to the grocery store to buy canned food. All of a sudden I was scared.

Why Take Photos?

I think people take photos to capture a moment of time. The certainty that we do not have an unlimited amount of time on earth looms in the back of all of our heads, and when we take a photo we can capture and save a little bit of the experience that we have in our lives. I think this is why I take photographs as well. With this medium you have the ability to directly share what you see and have seen with others. I think that this is a beautiful idea that allows humans to connect with each other visually, experiencing an image together.

Inspiration

I have always been inspired by the writing of J.D. Salinger and the music of Joni Mitchell. I feel like when I experience both of these artists' work I am drawn closer to myself. They see the world in finding the emotion in the small idiosyncratic bits of the world. This helps me see myself and the world around more truthfully and more intensely. In a way, this is what I aim to acomplish with my own work.

Creative Process

For me, the creative process starts much like the act of putting the key in the ignition of a car. You have to actively start it up, romanticize it, feel it. If I don't psych myself up for the act of creating, I find that I really do not care much about what I am doing. In painting this translates into muddy colors, sloppy application... bad work. I think the most important part of he creative process for me is being excited about what I am doing- to feel the possibility of how good something might turn out. I like to put myself in a position where I feel like I can succeed at what I am doing, both mentally and physically. I also need to give myself enough time and space to not feel rushed. If I slow down and focus, I oftentimes produce better work that I am more satisfied with.

Dang Good

http://nh.craigslist.org/ats/2012911250.html

Sinning Hands

I believe that this project was the most fun out of any that we have done this semester. With my project I was really trying to conceptualize the intention of the project metaphorically through the use of household objects. In our consumer based culture I feel that we all to often rely on objects to identify ourselves. With my project I tried to use objects to represent each of the deadly sins.

Color Project

After completing this project I have been more compelled to think about how color can effect the way I begin to compose my work. I know that in painting, I have always been a sucker for a over saturated colors. I tend to gravitate to a warmer palette of colors in painting, and I have found this to be true in my photography as well. I wonder if our natural inclinations come out in all forms of the art that we create. It must in some way, but for me the similarities between my photography and paintings have become more apparent in light of this project. Color intensity in a photo has such a profound effect on the way the viewer initially reacts to an image. Too much, and the image becomes a falsity; too little and the image is passed by for something more striking.

Kingsbury Dang

Often times in architecture we are not able to visit the buildings we study. It would be physically impossible to see all of them, so we instead rely on photographs to discover what they look like. While this method of looking at buildings sometimes does not allow for the viewer to fully experience the actual physicality of the structure, photography gives the viewer a specific, permanent view of the building’s ethos that might have otherwise been overlooked. The photographer’s creative license to decide what to include in his or her compositions has the ability to shape many people’s opinions about a building. Their individual views of a building shape our views, giving us a professionally aesthetic view of a structure. A great example of this practice is demonstrated in photographer, Julius Schulman’s work on the case study houses of southern California.
It has been said that “architects live and die by the images that are taken of their work, as these images alone, are what most people see. For every person that visits a private house, there may be 10,000 that only view it as a photograph,” (Visual Acoustics 1:33).
“Architecture affects everybody. From the hospital where you are born, to the schools and grocery stores, markets, libraries, theatres…every part of a person’s life is based upon an architect’s presence,” says Julius Shullman.

Kingsbury Creeping

The way you look a building is often determined by the experience of actually physically being there, having it surround you, seeing the way that people interact with it. However, when you can't get to the building yourself you must rely on photographs in order to get an impression of it. During the assignment in Kingsbury today, I tried to get the best impression of the building that I could. As a photographer you have the ability to edit and manipulate your subject in a way that it will depict what you want. This can sometimes be despite the other factors in a given photographic scene that would hinder the image from the artist's directive. In today's assignment I wanted to focus on the cool, empty feeling that I have always associated with Kingsbury, taking photos without people in them that showcased the long geometric architectual line associated with it.

Exercise 5 Light

kitchen photos

White Balance