Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz was born in Hobo-ken, New Jersey, in 1864. He went to New York in 1890 determined to prove that photography was a medium as capable of artistic expression as painting or sculpture.

Alfred often made platinum prints; he achieved the desired affiliation with painting through compositional choices and the use of natural elements like rain, snow, and steam to unify the components of a scene into a visually pleasing pictorial whole.

In the final years of his life, he took photographs less and less. When he did take pictures, he did so out of the window of his gallery. These final photographs captured the various stages of his photographic development and solidified his position as the most significant figure in American photography. 


Examples of his Work:

I love pictures of hands. This one makes me think the owner of the
hands was suffering in someway.

I like this one because I find it simply beautiful. The way the lights shine off
the wet street, is captivating. 

I honestly like this one because I find the man in it a bit goofy.

Edward Muybridge

Edward James Muggeridge was born on April 9, 1830. When he was 20 yrs old, he immigrated to America. It was in San Francisco, where he acquired an interest in photography. During this time he changed his surname to Muybridge.

In 1872, Muybridge began experimenting with an array of 12 cameras photographing a galloping horse in a sequence of shots; to prove whether or not all four hooves of a running horse left the ground. However because he had yet to prefect his technique, he couldn't. After perfecting his technique, he proved that horses do have all four hooves off the ground during their running stride. Later in life Muybridge worked at the University of Pennsylvania, producing thousands of photographs of humans and animals in motion.

Examples of Muybridge's Work:

I love this image. It's a bit out of focus here but I think that is part of the reason I like it so much. You can really see the full range of motion.

I love the grittiness of this picture.  It doesn't have to do with are current assignment, but I wanted to show a different type of Muybridge's work. 

Shutter Speed Priority (Pre-Writing)

The point of this assignment is to take stop action pictures. I will have to set my camera to TV mode, shutter speed 1/200. I will start with and ISO of 800, and I will have to set my white balance depending if its sunny or cloudy. I will also want my camera on multiple picture mode.

For this assignment I plan to get some friends together and go to stage fort park. Depending on the weather I might switch my location. I want to capture my friends jumping off of things or running by. I might even play with dropping some objects, and trying to capture them before they hit the ground.

Inspirations:

Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham, born in Portland, Oregon in 1883. Her father named Imogen after the heroine of Shakespeare's Cymbeline. Imogen grew up in Seattle, Washington and attended the University of Washington, majoring in chemistry. Her exhibitions in Seattle were often soft focus photographs of romantic tableaux she and her friends staged. She also did work in street photography, soft focus, sharp focus plant photographs, and polaroid film. She had her first one-person exhibition in 1914, it was held at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.



Works by Imogen:

Picture 1: I like the fact that the girls face is partially covered. It's adds an air of mystery and is very beautiful.

Picture 2: I like the ghostly feel of this picture. She seems to almost have an aura around her. It is truly a unique photo.

Close Up Self-Assesment

1. What lessons or experiences did you “synthesize and analyze” to come up with your original idea-- what was your assignment.
   
   - The assignment was to take 50 close up images, edit down to our best 10, then post our favorite 3 in the group event.
   
2. How did you evaluate your work, what were you looking to create for the assignment, and was this idea a good idea?  
   
   - I evaluated my work by looking at all of my images, and picking the ones that I thought looked the best, or most interesting. I also looked to make sure that the image was taken properly, and was a decent close up.
   
3. And what steps did you take to create your assignment?  
   
   - To create this assignment I had to learn how to make a "soft box" to put over my flash while taking mt pictures. Once I did that, I had to set my aperture (Av) to the smallest setting. My ISO had to be set, and so did my shutter speed. Then I got as close as I could to my subjects, and took my pictures.
   
4. What do you like best about your images? 
   
   - The thing I like best about my images is the simple beauty they capture. Taking a close up picture cuts out the (sometimes confusing or distracting) background, and allows you to get a new perspective of the subject.
   
5. Did you have trouble with some part of this assignment?  
   
   - I didn't really have any trouble with this assignment. Sometimes it was difficult to get my camera to focus, being so close to the subject, but that was about it.
   
6. How could you improve your image or process?
   - The next time I do a close up assignment or project, I am going to try to get a variety of subjects, instead of just flowers like I did this time.

Other Examples of My Work:

 

Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams (Feb. 20 1902 — Apr. 22, 1984), born in San Francisco, California. He was photographer and environmentalist. He lived in an environment that was decidedly Victorian and both socially and emotionally conservative. As a child he had a hard time fitting in, he didn't do well in his classes. He spent most of his time taking nature walks.
Ansel had a wide variety of artistic talents, for example he was a very good piano player. He worked as a pro photographer with 8x10 view camera. He had a great eye for composition. By developing the "Zone System" he was able to make black and white images that are some of the best in the world then and now.
Some of my favorite Adams photographs:

1: I like the fantasy feeling I get from the first image. The way the light and mountains reflect off of the water is almost magical.

2: I love the way it looks like your on another planet. It's almost like you on the moon looking at earth, instead of the other way around.

3: I love the different textures in this photo. The way the soft flower petals compare to the rough wood.

Bad Photo's Self-Assessment

1. What lessons or experiences did you “synthesize and analyze” to come up with your original idea-- what was your assignment. 
   
   - The assignment was to take 50 bad photos, 10 of each of the following category's:  bad composition, wrong white balance, wrong exposure, subject blur, and all over blur. Pick your best five, edit them, and post them.
2. How did you evaluate your work, what were you looking to create for the assignment, and was this idea a good idea?  
   
   - I evaluated my work by choosing the five pictures I thought best completed the assignment. I was looking to take pictures that fit into the criteria required for the assignment. 
3. And what steps did you take to create your assignment?  
   
   - I carried a camera with me when I went to my nieces birthday party, and made sure to take lots of pictures. I tried to take ones I knew would come out poorly. For the required pictures that I couldn't get at the party, I brought a camera with me to my friends and took pictures I thought would work for the assignment.
4. What do you like best about your images? 
   
   - I loved taking the wrong exposure and blurred pictures the best. It was fun to take a shaky image and watch how the subject or surrounding area turned into a blend of colors and shapes. I like taking over or under exposed pictures, it gives a whole new meaning to the subject being photographed.
5. Did you have trouble with some part of this assignment?  
   
   - The only troubles I had with this assignment was finding things to photograph, and using a smart camera for the first half. Once I had a better camera it was much easier to manipulate the images I wanted.
6. How could you improve your image or process?
   
   - Starting with an idea of what to photograph would help. Also having models would be a good advantage. 

Other Examples of my Work: