Assignments Which I am Most Proud of.

I am most proud of y culture clash assignment. I am proud of this because of the time and effort that I put into it and the look of the final result. I used over twenty pictures, some of which are so small you won't notice them until you look at the picture for a very long time. I learned very useful photoshop shortcuts, and I also learned how the dulled brush can make objects fade together and look mote surreal. I loved creating a surreal landscape. The theme of clashing cultures was a great way to get ideas. My only critique of this assignment is: is wish we could get some photos from google. The Ning is great, but when there are so few assignments which are repeated every quarter, the amount of genuinely different photos to choose from is quite low. I think I could have created more of what I wanted if I was able to have more choice.

Culture Clash

Memorable Experience.

     My most memorable experience in this class was the free choice project. During the free choice assignment I finally got to photograph what I wanted. I think we covered all the photo cliches except for landscape photography. I really enjoyed being able to go back to what I like to photograph. As I said in my first post, nature is my favorite subject. I would take more pictures of animals, but I don't have a zoom lens. Also, during free choice I did more night photography, under a full moon. This is the most memorable experience from this class. I prefer to be working out of the classroom, and the weekly photo assignment allowed me to do this. With the free choice assignment, I felt really in my element.

     This assignment impacted my learning because I was able to get feedback on the photos which I love to take. I helped me to learn what things the class said they liked, and which photos compositions I should try to avoid in the future. This also may have been my favorite aspect of the course, the feedback. I love getting feedback, positive and negative. The passing of the photos after each assignment gave me that feedback. Although I kind of wish I could have got more comments about why people like things.  It would have been great if I could have done more nature, landscapes, or night photography as assignments for this course.

Free choice Assignment

Who Am I / link to Who Am I Video

      Ever since I was very young, I have had a passion for the water. I especially like to sail. I started sailing when I was eight, at a summer camp. I crave the wonderful feeling of silently moving through the water, being propelled only by the wind. I have been very lucky to have grown up on the water. I look out on the ocean every day and never forget how much I love it. The ocean has a special calming quality which allows me to relax. Although it may not be possible I would like to always live near the water. I would also like to sail in High School.

Link Here

Culture Clash

Purpose:

• To create a Clash of Cultures by creating your own Photo montage, combining images from Beijing, China and Yarmouth, Maine, USA;

• To further develop your Photoshop knowledge and skills;
• To create a “surreal” landscape by montaging a variety of photographs;

To know, use, and understand the Four Collage Techniques to in your Photo Montage: Juxtaposition/fragmentation, Point of View, Scale Change, Overlapping

During the creation of my culture clash project I learned how to work efficiently in photoshop, select good photos, and some new photoshop techniques. I learned that command T is transform, and command D is deselect. I also saw the many effects which can be put on a photo, such as gradients and patterns. While I was working on this project I really had to think about what photos would work well with the background and each other. Some pictures on the ning were nice, but just didn’t have the point of view I wanted, so they could not be used in my project. This was also a major difficulty, finding photos that worked that is. Because in the Ning there are very few landscapes, and many photographs are very similar because of overlapping assignments.

Free Choice Photography

This is my favorite photo I took for this assignment. Yes, I know I split the background, and it may be a little too dark. However, What I went through to get this photo makes it special to me. It was a full moon, with only a few wispy clouds in the sky. The wind was dead calm. The only sound was the occasional gargle of water in rocks, or the gentle rustle of leaves. The time was almost 11:00. I had already spent about 45 minutes crawling around, framing shot with the moon and the water, pressing the shutter, waiting, (a long time), then finally seeing the photo, which nine times out of ten was either blurry or underexposed. This is the type of photography I love. It includes nature, water, and low light. As you may already be able to tell, I am not the best at low light photography. I have a general idea of the Iso, aperture and exposure and what they do, but I just turn the settings until the photo looks right. What drives me to keep taking pictures like this is the pure serenity of the moment which I want to capture. I love being the only moving thing on a silent, beautiful night by the ocean. In fact, the photography is just an excuse for me to get out there. Absorbing the silence of nature is a kind of meditation for me. It allows me to relax my thoughts and collect myself.

Culture Clash Planning

• Juxtaposition/fragmentation

Two things which are placed close together for the effect of contrast

• Point of View

The angle and distance at which something is looked at from

• Scale Change

A change in scale in a single piece of work.

• Overlapping

When two images overlap one another partially obscuring one.

Inspiring Digital Artists, Jason Seiler

Purpose

• To become familiar with 5 accomplished digital artists;
• To see what is possible in the world of digital art.

Ethan Merrill, Edward Weston Photo project link.

This is a link to my Famous Photographers project, Edward Weston link.

Hobbies, Merrill

I have been selling on eBay since 8th grade. Although I never use packing peanuts because they are very annoying. I mostly sell my own things, however I sometimes do consignment selling at 15%. Also it is very expensive to ship priority mail so I rarely do. The only things I really use in this photo are the laptop and the scale.  However the box and peanuts made the photo more interesting.

Food, Merrill

I took this photo while in whole foods. I picked this photo because it looks delicious! I love sweet things, so that may be why my camera gravitated to the eclair. Also I have never looked at a pastry this close before, and with so much detail. I took this through the glass of the display, so I am surprised I did not get any reflections in this photograph. The people at whole foods didn't really mind me going around and pointing my camera in random foods. I stayed out peoples way and they just ignored me. I struggled with this assignment to make my photos really interesting. I noticed cool colors and textures, but nothing really stood out as the subject in the sea of contrasting subjects and interesting textures.

Creative Portraits

          I created this image by photographing Molly and Kenzie who were posing very nicely. I made sure to allow for space for where they were looking to. I think the background of bricks and photo letters adds some more interest. This was taken during the allotted class time. I think Molly and Kenzie are trying for different things, Molly is trying to look all serious and inspired, gazing off-camera and Kenzie is trying to take it more lightly. I always thought off camera looks were more serious, but that's just my opinion.

         These last two photos I took in Portland. The above photo is from the narrow gauge railroad. I was taking pictures of the train and this little guy just kept staring at me with his, sort of sad looking gaze. I tried very hard not to be creepy when taking this photo. I have some difficulty taking pictures of other people, especially when I don't know them just because I know I don't like strangers photographing me. in November I read an article on Engadget (tech blog) about Matt Stuart and street photography, I kept trying to channel his fearlessness in photographing other people. (here)

        Which leads me to my next photo of what I think is an arguing couple. I took this by briskly walking by, my phone upside down and by my side constantly taking photos. While I still can't get over the creepy feeling, I really like the result. I think that I really captured the emotion of the argument with the woman pointing her finger and the man with his head cocked  in a confrontational manner. Also the accidental off kilter framing adds to the mood even more because the diagonal lines add tension, I think.  

Selfies

We chose this photo because it had a good plain background. Also Chris's getup was perfect and offered a nice foil to my typical American clothing. However, at the time of the shot we were not thinking this deeply. I really dislike selfies, so this is something of a parody of the typical faces squished, weird expression, smiling selfies. Our solemn expressions break the selfie mould. This photo also had the best focus.

Portrait Techniques

1.Play with backgrounds

By choosing a different background the photographer can change the mood of the portrait dramatically. The background can very from being very minimal to being complex and descriptive.

2. Subject Expressions

Extreme moods and emotions add interest to the photo. Playing with varying moods can make the image a lot better.

3. Alter your perspective

Totally changing from the standard view of a subject can make a portrait truly amazing. The from the mould of standard eye level photography.

4.Looking off camera

Having the the subject look off can make a photo more candid or intriguing. This off-camera look can also make the photo look more serious, and less corny.

5. Candid Shots 

Candid shots can really bring out the expression in the subject. These shots sometimes include the subject looking off camera. The point is that the person being photographed doesn't know it.

Famous Portraits

Richar Avedon, 1980, Roberto Lopez

I like this portrait because it is plain and honest. By the was the man is presented it is easy to understand his profession. He looks as tough as the land he works, this is conveyed in his furrowed brow, lean face, and mildly toned physique. Richard Avedon's style is shown best in this portrait. Avedon rarely uses props, and mostly includes a plain white background. He lets the subject do the talking.

Arnold Newman, N.D, JFK

This photograph of JFK illustrates a man(JFK), his fortress in the foreground and his lands in the background. I think the large, towering architectural features emphasize the commanding position this president is in. Interestingly, Where JFK is looking is cropped out from the viewer. This crop shows that photographers don't always have to follow the rules. Arnold Newman's style uses interesting backgrounds and unique framing to describe the person being photographed. 

Annie Leibowitz, Whoopie Golberg

Annie Leibowitz always portrays he subjects in unique, edgy poses. Often, like in this photograph, these poses describe the subject's personality. Woopie is a playful and funny person, so apparently a bathtub of milk shows that. Leibowitz photographs many famous personalities. Some of these famous personalities include: McJagger, Demi Moore, Miley Cyrus, and john Lennon. Most of the people were at least partially unclothed during the shoot.

History of Photography

By completing this poster I learned that formatting is key. It is very difficult to make all the font sizes and border sizes all the same over a period of four days. I also learned that the first photograph was really a piece of work! it is impossible to see anything from it. Joseph Nicephore’s image demonstrates how far we have traveled in the field of photography in just two hundred years. Our timeline puts into contrast this imaging revolution, because the first camera phone is at the other end. The third and final thing I learned while doing this project was that the life of a photographer can be hard. While researching Annie Leibovitz I discovered she filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and had to sell of all her photos before then. It is amazing how such a famous photographer can have such an abrupt fall from grace.

Shadow

I just stumbled upon this image composition. I'll admit finding shadows which are interesting and distinguishable is very difficult, at least for me. I turned off all the lights in my house, then started shining a plug-in torch onto different surfaces to find what looked cool. The boots really popped out at me. I did rearrange them, but still I think the boots are an intriguing subject. I like them because of the neat texture on the grip and laces. During this assignment I leaned that shadows can be in and out of "focus" not as a result of the camera, but due to the distances between the object, light-source, and wall that the shadow is reflected on.  

Hot. Cool. Yours.

        It is amazing how many different letters are lurking around us. I think that this is a case of if you know what you are looking for, then you shall find it. This helped me with my learning because it shows that it is possible to find things that are not that obvious if you just look for them. Also, the geometry of our words helped us. We picked word with many Os. There are a ton of circular objects in our surroundings and not many Rs. If I did this project again I would choose another word with many Os or Is. This is important to my learning because it helped me understand what shapes that look like letters are most common in our environment. In addition, I learned how to use photoshop more efficiently. I learned the shortcut for black and white. Also I gained a greater understanding of how to use the brightness and contrast sliders to the right amount. Photoshop is a very important tool for any photographer to understand. It is interesting to see how some compositions "read" and others do not. It is very startling when the word pops out and makes sense. We had to go through two revisions to make sure that the objects read correctly to form a word. Photoshop and the revision process are very important things for any photographer to understand.

Unusual perspectives

        I created this image over February break in Florida. I was coming home from a great dinner out with my grandparents and Mother. When we were driving over a bridge close to their house I removed my eyes from my smartphone and looked up, I saw in the cooling Floridian night that there was a light fog which made the picturesque streets and lights of the quiet town of Venice seem to glow. I persuaded the adults to let me get out and wander the streets for a few minutes. Keep in mind that this is at 10:30 at night in Florida. I had to do a lot of persuading. The resulting pictures have some halos and blurring around the lights, which I think looks very nice. To capture this photograph I did have to stand directly in the center of a road, but at 10:30 in Venice not much is going on. The Florida night was humid and mild, there was the occasional sound of a passing car or thumping of bass from a far away club. The most noticeable feeling was the emptiness, Venice felt like ghost town, which left the lights on. Almost like Yarmouth, but with more light and less snow. 

     I love photographing at night, however I never carry a tripod which always becomes an issue with long exposures such as this photo. I have become fairly good at holding perfectly still for the 10-25 second exposures required for this series. But without a tripod on 2/3 of the pictures I took on that Venice night came out non-blurry. The ones that did come out well, I really like, not many of them fit the unusual perspective requirement though, so I hope to be able to weave them into other assignments later.

Composition, Rule of Thirds

     This photo is an example of compositional strategy because it uses the rule of thirds. Because the horizon line is on the lower third dividing line of the picture. This photo also has very interesting lines in the branches of the tree. The branches and the tree are the subject and they contrast with the background to bring out the subject. The background in this photo is included because it is in focus. This shows the details in the opposite shore and the color gradient in the sunrise. The background is included by having a more open aperture. There is also a flat straight line in the horizon which promotes the feeling of peace and calmness. One thing that I could have done better in this photo is decluttering the foreground, I think that the fence takes away from the subject of the photo. However if this was cropped then I would loose the rule of thirds. 

Shapes Assignment

I took this photograph with the blue scissors as the subject because I wanted to have shapes with an interesting subject. The one pair of blue scissors I tried to get to really pop out of the picture and grab your eye as a subject. In hindsight I with I used the blue filter option on my camera to maximize this effect. The scissors are also not in the center of the frame, they are a little to the left which shows the rule of thirds. There is also diversity of color in this photo. 

Hopes and Inspirations (or something like that)

I enjoy photographing nature. The stereotypical things such as sunsets and sunrises. Because I live near the water I normally incorporate the ocean into my photos. I almost never take pictures of other people. I like to take macro shots of flowers, as I said earlier stereotypical photographs. Sometimes I depart from nature I take pictures of cityscapes. I also have an interest in architecture so this is where my hobbies overlap. I take most of my photographs on trips and these trips coincidentally involve trips to cities and rose gardens outside those cities. One final way I love to take pictures at night thunderstorms and the moon is ost of what I do.  I am open to learning about capturing new subjects, I think that my current outlook is a bit too narrow.

Things that help me learn are praise and criticism in the right amount. It really helps me to learn when I know what I am doing wrong and how to improve. I think this is a fairly common trait among learners. When I am doing something right I would like it to be appreciated. I am a visual learner, so any way to see something that we are learning helps.