New book Link!

Let me know what you think! Here is my edited book with your suggestions in class.
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5619418/76f08fa8bd973ec8703ecdb0078b118d82ff70f0

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5625086/5342a1885a6c821527709a994b4250b7605e792d

Blurb book

Hopefully these encourage everyone to go out and have an adventure!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5624762/66fd825e4a50b64bf3df05225db6ff18f15fa38d

Blurb Book

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5623087/d6e34f583e5fab5e176824ba8acf0b54582a0e3b

Above is the link to my book "ART 143, a YBP book".

What started as a different project entirely, turned into something that would have been close to a hundred pages, had I really gone for it.  Consider this a vertical slice of what will become a much bigger project after our class is completed.

Enjoy :)

Link for Ellen's book project with blurb, enjoy.

Here and There.


http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5624988/29d921c7f18b9500a8497710d6d0fb78ff1c1fe6

Blurb book

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5624926/97c332a975a3ddc4bb8441bda20ec7c174b71f3b

Blurb Book

Here is my wonderful book, enjoy!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5614787/2f9def4f702a92f5a255c8a721f244d0d207c014

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5624929/5ae0b043a72cb8386bd9d441932b7964e64dfbb5

Reality Project and Blurb Book

Reality Project

Reality Project Artist Statement

                

               When I started this project I had no idea what I wanted to do. Reality in photography is a very broad topic for a project. When we use a camera I believe we create our own kind of reality that we use to show the world through our lens.  I finally decided on an idea when I heard my sisters talking when they were getting ready for school and work. They had a lot more negative things to say about themselves than positive things and they were comparing themselves to the people we see in ads and commercials.  My sisters are beautiful and part of the reason I chose my topic of beauty and reality is, I wanted to show them that the ads we see and how the media portrays women is not real.  My project is about beauty and the media.

                My first image composite  is of me ( I am the model in all of my photos).  On the left half of the photo I am portrayed how the media uses women for ads and commercials. I have my hair done, make up on, and I have been edited in Photoshop. On the right I am all natural I have no makeup on and I have not been edited at all. This shows the contrast of how different women look in the media than real life. My second composite is of four other images. The first one on the left is me when I wake up in the morning all natural no hair done and no makeup. The second image on the top right is me with my hair straightened but no makeup.  Third on the bottom left is me with my hair done and make up on, and the forth on the bottom right is me also edited in Photoshop after I did my hair and makeup. The idea behind this image is to show in a progression how different what we see and reality actually is.  Composite number three is myself again and I am layered over with magazine ads showing models. The message behind this composite is that we let these ads and the media define how we view beauty in our society.  My last composite I received the idea for when I was looking for magazine adds to use in the previous one. None f the magazines really had anything positive to say about being happy with who you are. I decided instead to create my own mock magazine cover and have the internal articles say the opposite of what most magazines say. For example instead of saying 10 ways to lose 10 pounds the magazine cover says, “ways to be happy with who you are”. I hope you enjoy my idea and the work I put into the project! 

Here is the link to my blurb book let me know what you think! 

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5619418/76f08fa8bd973ec8703ecdb0078b118d82ff70f0

Final Project & Book

Updated my book with the edits you guys mentioned in class last night. Thank you so much for the feedback!

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/5609376/d317aef3ad7a3892f16c629eb5aafc149dcd0459

Also, posting the photos from my final project.

Announcement! Photography and Art Exhibitions Coming Up!

Hello Group! There are three upcoming events that I would like to share with you:

1: CGCC Student Art Show Reception
Date: Monday May 4th
Time: 6:30-8:00pm
Location: Library

Come out and see artwork made in CGCC classes!

2: The Good Hurt - MFA Thesis Exhibition in Photography by Clarita Lulic
Date: Friday May 1st
Time: 5:00-8:00pm
Location: Night Gallery, Tempe Marketplace

Link to Event

3: unBecoming - MFA Thesis Exhibition in Photography by Ashley Czajkowski
Date: Friday May 1st
Time: 6:00-9:00pm
Location: Step Gallery, ASU Grant Street Studios 

Link to Event

Vision and Reality project ideas

All of the vision and reality subjects I am contemplating have to do with photographing humans and using layering or long exposure. Here are some inspirational photos and ideas. I am not sure how to successfully execute the last one. : /

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thisdotcomtaken/4383226059/

http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/8478

 

https://bobcatcountry.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/itsaboutme.jpg

 

Vision and Reality Project

I'm not sure what I want to do with this project. I have several ideas running through my mind and I'm sure I could make the majority of them work, but which one do I want to do?


I have my daughter and of course she has many toys and we play with them all and have huge imaginations. It keeps me a kid at heart and creative. My daughter actual inspires a lot of my photography and she helps me with projects and ideas. With asking her opinion and looking at few websites and pictures, these are a few ideas I have come up with, but with small twists.

Minions Traveling... my twist is I have small toys at my disposal (including Minion toys) and I could take their pictures in different locations around the valley.

Having several of one person in a picture. This one is a picture of the photographer and her internal struggles with herself. My twist is my daughter dislikes being an only child, so could have her be twins or triplets with different personalities.

I like the idea of a picture within a picture. I happen to have an antique looking frame that I could use to take a picture of someone in different locations and outfits and place them within each other.

Then lastly was my mothers idea. I happen to have a celebrity crush and she thought it would be funny to photo shop wedding pictures of me and Chris Pine. The picture below gave me an idea of photo shopping a little more, but it might just end up a little bit creepy. This photographer took pictures of herself with a mannequin family.

All pictures were found on http://www.boredpanda.com/category/photography/

Vision/Reality

http://petapixel.com/2015/03/18/how-i-created-a-shot-of-myself-falling-in-the-kitchen-with-food-flying-everywhere/

While I have a couple other ideas in the back of my head in case this one doesn't quite work, I hope I'm able to achieve something close to my inspiration.  This is a perfect example of 'enhancing reality', without being totally implausible.  

Anytime I choose to edit a photograph, it's normally because the image does not quite convey the scene as I saw it.  The color could be muted due to poor white balance, or the frame wasn't quite lined up properly, or any other amount of things that can go awry when attempting to capture that perfect image the first time.  

This example takes a similar approach in attempting to depict not a person, place or thing, but an event.  I imagine it to be the equivalent of being able to have photographic evidence of your most outrageous story that you've told all of your friends, and yet they still don't believe you.  

Reality

I thought that something of this nature would be kinda cool but instead of drawings real people.and what not i'm not really sure what I wanna do for this one.

Reality Project Research

Reality Project Research 

Links: http://quillaquiver.com/2013/02/09/beauty/,
http://nonsensesociety.com/2012/09/shelby-tsuji/








,





For the reality project I had a few ideas and I did not know which one I wanted to pick. I have three sisters and hearing them talk made me decide on which project I wanted to try. I chose to do something with our society's perception of beauty for my reality project. While listening to my sisters talk about themselves, they had a lot more negative things than positive things to say about how they look. I want to something with how my sisters comments effect how we perceive ourselves and with how Photoshop has changed how we perceive beauty. We also tend to judge how we should look off of what we see in magazines and in the media. I want to try and show how these ideas do not match up to show what beauty really is. If this doesn't work I am going to try and solidify a new idea.

Article linkhttp://barneygrant.tripod.com/p-erceptions.htm

Project Inspiration - Vision and Reality

I have been toying with 2 different ideas for my project. The first is an idea I got from here:  http://www.boredpanda.com/recreated-historical-photographs-davorin-dinic-serbia/  They go back to a city and try to capture images from the same locations as older photographs.

My family has lived in the Valley for several generations and I am lucky to have some photos from my great-grandparents era. I was thinking of trying to get similar photos as it is seen now and merge the two. Similar to what was done in the photo above.

The other idea I am toying with was something inspired by this photo

https://500px.com/photo/59960744/masquerade-by-m%C3%B3nica-poncelas

Based on the idea that social media makes everyone feel lonely (source: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/01/the_antisocial_network.html )

The primary thought was that looking at someone else's news feed you can be led to feel they live a perfect life. An excerpt from this article helps sums up this theory.

"Any parent who has posted photos and videos of her child on Facebook is keenly aware of the resulting disconnect from reality, the way chronicling parenthood this way creates a story line of delightfully misspoken words, adorably worn hats, dancing, blown kisses. Tearful falls and tantrums are rarely recorded, nor are the stretches of pure, mind-blowing tedium. We protect ourselves, and our kids, this way; happiness is impersonal in a way that pain is not. But in the process, we wind up contributing to the illusion that kids are all joy, no effort."

I was thinking of taking pictures of examples of things someone might share on social media, and then another that shows what might also be happening that is not shared. Two-sides to every story type of photo.

Assignment # 4

International Center of Photography (Better late than never)

Photographer: Sebastião Salgado
  

The photographer Sebastiao Salgado's exhibition is called Genesis. Most of the pictures in the exhibition are black and white landscape photographs. The photographs portray nature as it should be or was before us as humans came in and took it over. He said this about his photographs; “So many times I've photographed stories that show the degradation of the planet. I had one idea to go and photograph the factories that were polluting, and to see all the deposits of garbage. But, in the end, I thought the only way to give us an incentive, to bring hope, is to show the pictures of the pristine planet - to see the innocence." When people see his photographs he hopes to motivate people to help conserve these beautiful landscapes for the future.

I chose this exhibition and this photograph in particular because they are beautiful. I have no other way to describe them. Landscape photography is my favorite form. Depending on where we live without photographs we may never be able to see these amazing places. I also loved how his eight year journey to take these photographs is to help us see why we should be worried about conserving nature. It would be very sad indeed if these places ceased to exist. The photograph spurs you to action (at least it did for me). 

Link to rest of photographs: http://www.icp.org/exhibitions/sebasti%C3%A3o-salgado-genesis

Who you looking at?

A Decade of Fashion would cause me to stop and stare. A celebration of ten years since Glenda Bailey became EIC of Harpers Bazaar, she and Creative DirectorStephen Gan continue to focus on stunning photography. 

 My youth was spent thumbing through the pages of fashion magazines and gawking at the settings, models and clothes. I marveled at what was considered 'fashion' and  longed to be a model. I especially am in awe of the coral dress that resembles a wave. These images reminded my old, jaded self that fashion IS art and the model is a mere pawn in the hands of the artist- the photographer. 

ICP Exhibition Personal Best

As I scrolled through the many exhibits I wish I could have seen, I came across one that made me smile. It's Elloitt Erwitt Personal Best.


Elliott Erwitt was a photographer and filmmaker and took some of the most memorable photographs in the twentieth century, including Marilyn Monroe and astonishing everyday life. He completed twenty books of his collection and displayed over 100 photographs from over a 60 year time span.


There were a few photos I would have picked but the one below really caught my eye. He captured such a simple picture in a unique way and even if the people being photographed knew about it, it seemed like such a quite moment between two people.





http://www.icp.org/exhibitions/elliott-erwitt-personal-best

JFK November 22, 1963

JFK November 22, 1963

http://www.icp.org/exhibitions/jfk-november-22-1963-a-bystanders-view-of-history

This exhibition showed a few photos of the day JFK was killed. I would have liked to go to it because it had some different perspectives that i had not seen like the photo above. 

since this was such a historic event we have seen a lot of the same photos over and over again. so i thought it was kinda interesting to see a new angle.

SIGNS OF LIFE

    This Exhibit hosted Peter Sekaer's work who was one of the key contributors to U.S. government photographic projects during the Great Depression. I have always been interested in early American photography and enjoyed the images especially during the great depression. i would have enjoyed the chance to see his images in person.

 http://www.icp.org/exhibitions/signs-of-life-photographs-by-peter-sekaer

ICP Exhibition: What is a Photograph

http://www.icp.org/exhibitions/what-is-a-photograph

I still struggle with the idea of what a photograph represents, reality, the perception of reality, or is it simply light data recorded on a sensor or piece of film that may or may not resemble something we have seen before.  

This exhibition, "What is a Photograph", challenged the idea even further by examining the rise of digital photography and with it, the opportunities is presents to photographers not just as those who record people, places, and things, but to the photographic artist as well.  It examined the idea of the merging of analog and digital photographic mediums and how the two together have created some incredibly exciting and challenging works of art, but are they photographs?  

I can only imagine that this look at the reinvention of photography as an artists medium would have helped open my eyes to the possibilities of going beyond the image, and allowing myself to be open to the limitless possibilities, with the image only being the beginning.


The image I chose as an example of what was shown at the exhibition is one that makes me think of the movie "Natural Born Killers".  The director, Oliver Stone, used images very similar to this throughout the entire movie, green hues, black and white with color mix, double exposures and just about any other trick in the book to show the journey of the characters in a way that no performance alone could do.  Thinking about it now, he must have considered it necessary to tell the story he wanted to tell, and it would not have had nearly the same effect on the audience, had it been shot and edited like any other film.  Due to the nature of the film and it's incredibly violent content, it gave it all a fantasy feel that in a way, toned it down and made it more palatable.  

It seems that one day I may need to use such tricks in order to tell the stories I wish to tell in my photographs.

International Center of Photography - Gerda Taro

First - just in case anyone else had the same problem I did, try this link to get to the collections of past exhibititions: http://www.icp.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions

I started to browse through the past exhibitions, but was somewhat disappointed that so many had only a handful of photos, and some none at all. It really made it hard to get a feel for many of the collections. However there were a handful that had a nice showing of the artist's work so I tried to focus on them. I stumbled across Gerda Taro and was struck by the dates 1910-1937. Only 27 years old! (Actually I would find out later, she died just shy of her 27th birthday.)

Gerda Taro

(1910 - 1937) German

After seeing the gallery of her photographs I wanted to find out more about who she was and why she died so young. Turns out her passion for photography was what led to her death. During the Spanish Civil War she was taking photographs of the Brunete region near Madrid when the car she was in was hit on the side by a tank and she was run over. She died from the wounds later.

You may see some of her photos published under the name 'Robert Capa' which was the name she and her partner first published their combined works under. Later her partner (Ernie Friedmann) would take the name Capa for himself, but Taro (originally Gerta Pohorylle) would begin to publish her photos under her own name. Her last photos from 1937 are her most acclaimed, and those are the ones in this exhibition.

She was Jewish, and joined a leftist group to appose Nazi Germany. Eventually she and her family were forced to leave the country, and she would never see her family again as they went towards different destinations. She became a photographer and changed her name, but continued to fight for what she believed in.

Her photographs are very powerful, and I will let them speak for themselves. I will warn you, some of them are very graphic.

This photo especially stuck out to me. I think its the slight smile on the face of the man, and the way it almost looks like he and the woman lying next to him are looking at one another or possibly even holding hands. It is only upon closer inspection you realize neither of them are still alive. What a eye for the perspective in this shot. Gerda found a way to share the tragedy that this country was going through at the time and make it feel more personal to those watching from a distance. It really makes you wonder what Gerda could have gone on to do if she had not died so young.

Full Gallery can be found here: http://www.icp.org/browse/archive/collections/gerda-taro-september-26-2007-january-6-2008?page=3

Internet Research Assignment #4: Visit the International Center of Photographys Exhibition Catalogue.

For this week's assignment, you will be visiting the International Center of Photography's Archive of Photography Exhibitions. Browse through the different exhibitions they have held, and select an exhibition you would have liked to visit. Your paragraph should include a boiler plate description of the exhibition, and why you would have liked to have seen it.

http://www.icp.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions

Link to Page

This was the only image I could get a hold of from the website that appealed to me. The website was having technical difficulties. None the less! I was drawn toward this photo due to what I like to do most in my free time, drive around aimlessly and stop and take pictures of whatever appeals to me. I would like to travel more of the country but don't we all!

http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.02163/

6 helpful functions of the "Shift" key when working in Photoshop

http://petapixel.com/2015/03/14/6-helpful-functions-of-the-shift-key-when-working-in-photoshop/

Thought this might be helpful 😀

Patton

Library of Congress - Photo Inspiration

I spent a while going through the library searching miscellaneous pics waiting for one to be worthy of re-posting. I found it more economical to search for something that actually interests me. 

I found this image searching under "Arizona Monument Valley".   I am interested by black and white landscapes lately and getting the composition right especially capturing the clouds with out a washed out sky.   Searching through this library gave me some great examples to try to fallow. 

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

1000 Year Long Exposure

This is a link to an article about a camera that was placed at ASU that will capture an exposure of the Tempe Skyline over 1000 years.

http://petapixel.com/2015/03/05/this-camera-will-capture-a-1000-year-exposure-that-ends-in-3015-for-historys-slowest-photo/

Inspiring Library of Congress Photograph

This photograph is of the house of Andrew John Volstead, my Great Grandfather.  He authored the National Prohibition Act of 1919, which was enacted to carry out the eighteenth amendment which established Prohibition in the United States.  I was hoping for a picture of Andrew himself, but they weren't available here.  This image amazes me, that a part of my family history still stands, and had such a profound effect on so many lives.  I would have thought that those against Prohibition would have gone so far as to burn down the house of the author, and even if they had it would still stand and will be preserved for generations to come, in a photograph.  

Here is the link to my image:  http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/hhh.mn0140.photos.092702p/

Library of Congress - Photo Inspiration

Digging through the archives I came across a collection done by Frank G. Carpenter. This is a varied collection of photos from his travels across the world. Part of this collection includes some images from the Alaskan frontier. Most of these were fairly typical of remote way stations and dog teams pulling sleds across the vast expanses of snow. Then I came across this photo titled 'Dogs Pulling Pupmobile'.

Dogs pulling pupmobile 

Pupmobile?? What in the world is that? Now I was intrigued and had to keep digging. Turns out, before there was steam locomotion they relied on smaller 'tramways' powered by horses, mules, and yes.. even dogs!

This photo completely drew me in. I fell in love with the curious angle of the shot and the wonder it supplied with its simple title. You never do see the infamous pupmobile in this shot, It literally could be anything from a dog-drawn buggy, a modified sleigh, or even a one-man train car we have all seen images of. I had to keep going to finally find a shot of what form this device took.

Bonus pictures: Here was the next tease of the infamous pupmobile. Check out those stylish ladies traveling cross-country via pupmobile!

And finally a side view for those of you still curious!

More information on the pupmobile and other early modes of transportation can be found here: Alaska Railway Technology - Save it for parts

Assignment #4 Image From Library Of Congress

Assignment #4 Photograph From Library Of Congress 

Photographer: Johnston, Frances Benjamin, 1864-1952

URL:http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/csas/00400/00448r.jpg

I spent awhile looking through some of the collections on the Library of Congress website. There are many great photos on the website from a variety of different photographers. I enjoyed looking through the collections and seeing the images the Library of Congress has collected over the years.

I looked at quite a few photographs, but really liked some of the photos I found in a survey of architecture collection in the south. The image I chose is a photograph by Frances Johnston of the Lion Bridge in St. Augustine, St. Johns County, Florida. I chose this image because I really like the leading line of the bridge. The reflection of the bridge in the water also adds some great detail to this photograph. The bridge also has a certain rhythm to it that carries your eye across it.This photograph was taken in between 1935 and 1936. After studying it I wanted to see if the bridge was still around so I went searching for a current image of the bridge and found out that it was almost torn down in 1999. However, they chose to restore it instead. The restoration was completed in 2010. Here is a current image of the bridge just in case anyone else was curious about it. 

(This photo was taken by Destin Bradwell in 2012)

Photograph Collection on Library of Congress

Dr. Seuss

As I looked around The Library of Congress I found many profound photographs. It was a very interesting site that I will be looking at over and over. I could get lost for hours on that site and learn many things about the past.
I picked the above picture for a couple reasons; 1. It happens to be Dr. Seuss Month at my daughters school so it's been on my mind. 2. I have never actually seen a picture of Ted Geisel. and 3. I really enjoy The Grinch.

Internet Research Assingment #4: Visit the Prints and Photographs Collection on the Library of Congress Website, and select an image that is especially inspiring to you.

Please spend some time browsing through the various collections available on the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs online catalog until you find an image that inspires you.

Here is the link:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/

Link to Image

   Line, Shape and Form


   Well I've done this project once before! And I didn't feel like I really got a chance to try anything really cool. I really liked the pictures of the vegetables an how  he made them look like something unknown and alien. I really like how they change the way they look completely So I'm thinking about trying that! 
    I really like the architecture on the buildings and some of the very intricate corners in the lines so I might also try to photograph some of thoseOne of my favorite shapes are these blown glass sculptures by Chihuly! When they were displaying them at the botanical gardens me and my mom went to photograph them and they were quite something the way the sun hit them and shined through them was absolutely stunning and the shapes that you could make where are amazing! The red sun is my favorite one and you can probably see why!