Statement of Style

My Artistic Statement:
I am from a small town in Missouri but am aware that a much larger world exists beyond these borders. I do not let my small town morals and opinions hinder me from searching for something better and different. Thus said, I believe that I have a great appreciation for both the simple and abstract things in life, and if forced to choose I would prefer the simple. I enjoy both color and black and white photos and I do not think that I have any sort of 'genre' to my style, it is rather random. Basically, I like all things beautiful and to sum it up that is what I strive for in all aspects of my work.

Just tried to spice this up a bit. I could see this photo angering most critiques... but I like it.


This is one of the photos used for my final project. My final project is a collage of black and white images of my family members and will be glued to a canvas. This particular picture is of my niece, Lillianne. I manipulated the color but did not make it black and white. This particular photo has more of an antique feel, rather than plain and simple black and white. I feel as if it goes well with the colors in the photo as well as the demeanor on her face.

Lighting

This photo was taken without a flash in natural lighting. My intention was contrast and shadow.

This photo was taken without a flash in natural lighting and then converted to a sepia/ almost black and white. I blurred the edges of the photo to make more of an abstract piece as opposed to a standard photo frame.

Denise McGill = "Priceless Souls"

Denise is a very interesting photographer with a wide array of passion. She has accomplished many feats and brings attention to some very admirable causes, such as autism and suffering third-world countries. In this photo she captures the inner beauty of an autistic child. Autism can be a very lonely and hurtful disorder that many do not know much about. I like this photo because of the contrast between the dark and light. It is almost as if I get a feeling of a light at the end of the tunnel as the light comes through the window. Also, the juxtaposition of the boy's body, his arms spread out and open, makes me feel as if he is or yearns to be freed. The background materials make me think of intelligence, which most people think autistic people lack, when really most of them are very skilled, talented, or knowledgeable beyond the average person in at least one way.

Citizen Jane Film Festival

This is the most recently edited photograph. I enhanced the levels of red, increased the levels of black, took some of the grey out, and adjusted the lightness. I think that this photo may be the best of the three, though I am still wondering how I can make it perfect. I love how she, her daughter, and her installation are the bright, focused objects in the picture and the background acts as such through it's darkness. She looks eccentric and alive.


This photo was the outcome of the first trial/error photoshop session. I greatly enhanced the black and especially the blue levels, almost too much of the blue. I think it is good for an abstract approach but not really for a portrait.

This is my raw, unedited photo for Micaela's portrait.



This photo was taken at the Citizen Jane Film Festival. This was the film/art installation portion of the festival and I photographed filmmaker and artist Micaela O'Herlihy and her lovely daughter. In the left portion of the photo is her creation which is a film creation that she used 16 m.m. film for and was processed completely by hand. Her intention is to stay as far away from laboratory and technological approaches as possible.

Event - Concert

... This was my weak attempt at photographing an event for practice.

Photo Using Aperature and Shutter Speed

With this photo I tried to create more harmony within the photo. I intensified some of the color while softening the contrast between the leaves and the white from the intense lighting. I'm not sure what I should do next but I think I will play with this one a bit more- even though there is not much to alter.

First, unedited photo.

This assignment was difficult! We felt like we were thrown into a raging sea with all of the unfamiliar manual control buttons! Honestly, since this was kind of an experimental thing, I do not consider this photo of the highest quality, but I do like it. I love the sun and it's angelic tone.

Boy Part: Framing

I knew that I wanted to photograph my hand was from beginning of this assignment and was determined to do so.  This was difficult to do.   Almost obvious enough, but the top photo is the strong one in my opinion and the bottom photo is weak.  The composition of the week photo just wasn't working.  My hand angle and the potion of the bag just do not create perfect unity of the entire composition.  And the lighting on my hand is not interesting.  In the top photo, however, the light almost illuminates my hand and I like the position of which it is in.  Basically the light made this photo a keeper.

Basically, this was difficult.  The word chosen to focus on was stipple- a speckle/ to paint, draw, or engrave in small dots. The first thing I thought of were the rocks that hit my car and engrave dents/holes.  I definitely should have thought more into it but I like the sky in this photo.  The top photo is very weak.

For this edited version I simply tried to sharpen the photo up and eliminate some of the cloudiness. To do so I heightened the black. I also increased the blue just a slight bit. I would like to next try and turn this photo more abstract and unreal.

 this landscape framing it was difficult because I could not get very close to the subject, which was the lake positioned s that you could barely see it through a patch of trees.  The top photo is the strong one in my opinion because the lake is more in focus and the light illuminates the lake and helps emphasize it. Also I like the landscape and how the line is aligned.  In the bottom photo the are too many trees on the right side and just is not an interesting composition.  The only thing I would change about the top photo would be to have the background trees more in focus.

Duck in rippling water

Photo Assignment #3 for Critique

This assignment I approached wanting to focus on perspective. However, when I went out shooting at Stephens Lake (which has many rocks, and water) I was surprised half way through my photo session when I saw the most beautiful snow white duck! I decided right then and there that I had been inspired to change my focus to motion. I love motion photos because they require skill and luck. It is difficult to catch the perfect moment when working with an animal that has absolutely no respect for what you would like for them to do for the perfect photo. It is up to you to catch that moment. And I think that I caught a few. The session in general was kind of awkward because I anticipated an isolated location however was shocked with people sleeping on benches with mountain dew bottles which kind of ruined the mood for a bit, but I steered away from that noise.
 

The first photo was kind of random and although has nothing to do with my favorite duck, the ripples in the water cause by the water beaming off the shore created a beautiful rippled effect. I also liked how the lovely red blossoms added to the all natural greens, browns, blues, and greys of the photo. It added a bit of contrast.  The duck was just fascinating in general. I started shooting from far away but managed to sneak up very closely without disturbing the creature. Even if he knew of my presence, he was not bothered. He kept dipping into the water which made for a few terrible shots but also for a variety, some you can even see his bright orange beak peeping through the shallow water. Trying to catch a photo that emphasized the duck's beauty was my main intention.  I couldn't get enough!

Jason Christopher - Fashion Photographer

This photograph was taken by Jason Christopher, an 'infamous' photographer located out of Los Angeles, California. Jason picked up his first camera (an old Cannon) at the age of 14 after saving up enough paper route money. He is 100% Italian blooded and was raised in Southern California. In high school he developed an interest in beautiful Italian designers that he was familiarized with through fashion magazines such as Vogue, Italian Vogue, and W magazine. That is what he focuses on photographing and it comes naturally for him.

Jason's photography is typically described as romantic, classic, and clean. To him, those three characteristics are necessary to nail the perfect photograph. He has been compared to that of French painter Degas and the Italian artist/genius Leonardo Devinci because of his use of clean, simple lines that make the body resemble something of fine art. Through those tactics along with his use of lighting and color, Jason creates some very nice photographs that are more than delightful to look at.

The photograph I chose to analyze is very similar in characteristics to many of his photographs. He specializes in beauty and fashion photography and truly brings out the most beauty possible in his models. This specific photograph I love because it has a very simple background and the emphasis is drawn to the models and their colorful outfits. The focus is centered because of the ambient lighting that is creating a bright aura around the models. The way that the models are standing is very flattering and the long lines accentuate their legs really does make me think of them as a piece of art rather than an advertisement, making this photo more of an abstract. Although Jason used a direct approach to this photograph, centering the models, they still somewhat are part of the entire composition. They stand out but also blend in naturally with the surroundings.

The intense edges in the rocky, organic background relate well to the geometric designs of the model's clothing. The models in the central focus have a great contour against the setting. The composition as a whole is very strong. The blue sky is so light that it creates a nice contrast to the rest of the image. The vantage point seems to be taken from a slight angle, since the objects on the far right appear to be larger, though only slightly, and to fade into the distance.

Flower in Bloom - Edited

To this photo, I simply adjusted to grayscale.

High Heel- Edited

For this photo I increased the contrast to +77, before it completely lost it's composed pixilation but still has a unique look to it.

Fake Flower - Natural Background EDITED

For this photo I adjusted the color contrast. I increased the red in the photo, took away the blue and sent it towards magenta, and I left the yellow-green color alone. It looks vintage.

High Heel

This photo was taken at Cosmo Park, in Columbia Missouri. There was not much personality or curiosity in the deserted baseball field, so I decided to play around with it a little. I used the fence as a frame by placing the pole in the far right side of the frame, I felt as if it made for a good vertical photo. I had a high heel in my trunk (Half of my clothes/shoes/purses somehow end up in my trunk), so I decided to make a 'statement' by contradicting a high heel with a baseball field. I'm not exactly how to describe the statement, I just feel as if it is open to interpretation.

Fake Flower - Natural Background

This is a photo taken North of COlumbia on a gravel road turn off to private property. It was a rainy, gloomy day but the severely geen grass would be no indication of that. There were not many objects to play with so I brought a fake flower from home that really creates the scene... the horizontal layout is very free flowing and serene, in my opinion. Simple, but sweet.

Flower in Bloom

This photo was a close up (no zoom, however) of a gorgeous red flower at Cosmo Park, Columbia Missouri. Many of it's surrounding flowers were wilted, however this flower was leaning toward the sun and open for admiration.

Botanical Garden- Brooklyn, NY

This photo was taken during early afternoon (approx. 3p.m.) on a Sunday at the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn, New York. I was standing under trees on a trail when I took this photo and did not use the zoom. The photo was taken via Blackberry digital photo because I broke my 'real' digital camera, and I think this photo has decent composure considering the limitations. I think that in terms of emotion, the willow tree's placement in the left half of the photo keeps the serenity of the photo in tact because of the calming water. The ironic part is that this certain lake was in the "Japanese" section of the park, and just to the left of the tree was an obnoxious, bright orange, boat house.

(For copyright purposes, I am not the person who took the polaroid of the palm tree)