Photography Artist - Hellen van Meene, Cindy Sherman, Rineke Dijkstra

Hellen van Meene is an artist who makes photos, mostly portraits, mostly of young people, and mostly of girls. These young people are in carefully planned poses, with muted light seem to be hovering between melancholy and an atmosphere of departure.

Hellen van Meene's work is really interesting to me. She plays with light a lot and her subjects all seem sad or emotionally contained. I particularly like the images with a young girl as its subject and she looks sad or other worldly. You'd expect little girls to be happy, but in her photos they are just the opposite. I like the juxtaposition.

Through a number of different series of works, Cindy Sherman has raised challenging and important questions about the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art. Many of her photo-series, like the 1981 "Centerfolds," call attention to the stereotyping of women in films, television and magazines. When talking about one of her centerfold pictures Cindy stated, "In content I wanted a man opening up the magazine suddenly look at it with an expectation of something lascivious and then feel like the violator that they would be. - wiki

Cindy Sherman's work makes me feel rather uncomfortable. Her models are women posing in strange ways and with an excessive amount of makeup on. She really seems to be objectifying women and shows them nude and in compromising positions. I don't care for it at all.

Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch photographer who concentrates on single portraits, and usually works in series, looking at groups such as adolescents, clubbers, and soldiers. Her subjects are often shown standing, facing the camera, against a minimal background. This compositional style is perhaps most notable in her well-known beach portraits, which generally feature one or more adolescents against a seascape. This style is again seen in her work on pregnant women. - wiki

Rineke Dijkstra's work doesn't seem nearly as interesting to me as Hellen van Meene's. She also takes images of young people, but most of her subjects just appear bored. They look like they know they are on a photo shoot and are just uncomfortable. It's just not visually exciting for me.

Photography Site - Nature Photographer

Nature Photographer Magazine is a magazine for nature photography. Most of their content is sold only through their magazine and there wasn't much to look at or read on the site. They do have a section of articles that are free to read and one is entitled "Maine’s Intertidal World". I was drawn to this article after skimming through the others because of the images included with the text. These images remind me of the photos I took last week of the riverbank. The article itself isn't very earth shattering, it just talks about the algae and fungus and seaweed and how the creatures living on the edge of the sea have adapted to the hard life of extremes. Linda DeStefano Brown is the author/photographer.

For those who take the time to look, this land of amazement offers an innate beauty in every aspect of its being. As you walk through this World, look down and respect the life you see at your feet.

I think the point of this whole article was that you can find beauty and tiny little worlds in places you would rarely look or expect. Seaweed isn't usually what comes to mind when you think about pretty things. These pictures however, proof that they can be just that.

Photography Photos - Landscapes

This week we were to photograph landscapes but were warned to be careful that we weren't shooting cityscapes by accident. Being in a good sized city and not wanting to drive out into the middle of a cornfield, this presented a problem. I decided to do all of my images down by the river. My landscapes are more like waterscapes, but I like that I have a theme 'flowing' through them all. I took these images on an overcast day and I really like the coloration that I got out of them. They are all quiet and somber, cold and lonely, almost forgotten. I think they are kind of pretty that way. Almost all of the images have a deep field of vision. I played around with the location of the horizon lines in my photos, trying out the 1/3 - 2/3s rule. Many of these images I feel would also look very nice in a very dramatic black and white, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of the somber color scheme I achieved with the overcast day.

Packaging Studio - Final Direction and Problem Statement

Small IKEA table lamp

Problem Statement: Design an IKEA lamp that appeals to people who are constantly packing up and moving such as college kids and recent grads. The lamp should be compact and sturdy enough to withstand moves without needing additional packaging.

Packaging Studio - Initial Exploration

Packaging Studio - Directed Ideation

These three lamp concepts were the believably IKEA products according to my target user. She shops IKEA often and owns many IKEA pieces.

The first lamp is a small side table lamp. It telescopes up to be used as a task lamp and folds down to be a small mood lamp, night reading lamp, and also for storage and packaging. The half-circle lamp is a small desk lamp. The shade is made of a hard plastic and the neck is made from a rounded chrome tube. The neck rotates from the base and slides into the shade allowing the lamp to compact down and protect itself. The spiral lamp would be a small side table lamp. The shade is made either of a rigid canvas or of lightweight plastic. The neck is chrome. The shade spirals down the neck when not in use and while on the store shelf. This lamp is a little further from the IKEA brand but could still fit into their teen and college life lines.

These lamps were more ideation, but their concepts were either not as strong, have been done before, or were not 'IKEA-like'.

Packaging Studio - Point of Purchase / Target Market

Photography Artist - Joel Sternfeld, Richard Misrach

Joel Sternfeld is a fine-art color photographer noted for his large-format documentary pictures of the United States and helping establish color photography as a respected artistic medium. He has influenced a generation of color photographers, including Andreas Gursky who borrows many of Sternfeld's techniques and approaches. Color is an important element of his photographs. - wiki

Doing a google image search on Joel Sternfeld brings up a lot of green and brown images, all with earthy colors. Many of them feel rustic or worn in. He doesn't do pretty set up scenes, instead he photographs whats there and shows it as it is. He has a lot of really nice looking landscape shots. They aren't just straight up pretty pictures of grass and sky, there is always something nitty-gritty too look at somewhere. The images are really interesting.

Richard Misrach helped pioneer the renaissance of color photography and large-scale presentation that are widespread practice today. Misrach is best known for his ongoing series, Desert Cantos, a body of work he has worked on for over 35 years in which he studies the landscape and man’s complex relationship to it. His current project marks a radical break with his work to date, in that they are his first images made without film. Working with a state-of-the-art digital camera yielding astonishing detail, Misrach has deftly switched positive and negative along the color spectrum. - wiki

The vast majority of his photographs show a sand or desert scene. The light yellow/orange contrasting with the blues of the sky are very pretty. The stark landscapes seem to go on forever. I particularly like "Cypress Swamp, Alligator Bayou (1998)". It shows dead trees in water that is the same color of the sky. It's eerie and reminds me of a scene in a movie I liked when I was little, "Milo and Otis". The main difference between them though is the temperature. In the movie the scene was unbearably hot, while Misrach's image looks almost cold, if not just room temperature. I also really like "Hazardous Waste Containment Site, Dow Chemical Corporation (1998)" It is very washed out and eerie feeling. Both of the images I picked out look like they were taken after all the life has left the scene. I like that genre I guess.

Photography Site - Digital Photographer

Digital Photographer has some interesting How-To articles on its site. I read up on long exposure photos with blurred motion. That technique provides for really interesting night time city highway shots, and pretty waterfalls.

In contrast to using fast shutter speeds to freeze action, using long exposures is a very creative means to convey motion in a photograph. A blurred image can be a very impressionistic rendition of movement, giving the viewer a sense of sensation.

By using a long exposure at night, your camera can record patterns of moving lights that can’t be seen by the human eye. Cars, trains, busses and other motor vehicles are excellent subjects for this technique. The vehicles often move too fast to be recorded on your camera’s sensor during a long exposure, yet their lights leave ribbons of bright colors across the scene. Busy roadways can become rivers of red and white.

It’s best to set up your tripod at locations where the ambient light (from streetlights and buildings) isn’t too strong, and where you can get a good view of fast-moving traffic. I like to shoot from a city sidewalk or on a bridge over a freeway at dusk. Your time exposures will probably be very long— from several seconds up to a minute— so a tripod is important. Use an ISO setting of 100 to 400, and although you’ll be using your camera on shutter priority, try to use very small apertures like f/16 or f/22 to prevent overexposure.

I'm really drawn to nighttime photography, so I think I'll be looking into a camera that does better at nightime shots. My current camera doesn't do so well. I can't count the number of times I've tried to photograph the moon or night clouds and my picture just turns up completely black.

The How-To about shooting in existing light helped me work with shooting inside. My camera's flash sucks up the battery life like none other, so I prefer working without my flash when I can. It was interesting to see that they suggested using the flash outside to help even a strong light source and to not use the flash inside, even though you might need the extra lighting, as it changes the colors and the dramatic lighting you already had.

There were also articles about how to retouch photos, or how to shoot macro photos, or how to make money as a photographer, but they either didn't have anything new to me in them, or nothing pertinent. I don't plan on being a professional photographer, I just want to learn how to take decent photos for myself and my work.

Photography Photos - City

My idea for these photo is that cities have their own language. For the most part they do not communicate with us with words; instead they use colors, symbols, and lights. Most of my photos in this essay show the city saying something. This first image, of course, is telling us to stop when we get here, look around, and proceed with caution. My images are all capturing a single object, turning it into a character. The colors are for the most part bright and the lighting is for most images rather even. The subject is centered in the image. Each image is taken from a normal distance from the object.

Photography Artist - Ray Metzker, Harry Callahan

Ray Metzker’s images question the nature of the photograph and photographic “reality.” Through cropping, multiple imagery, and other formal inventions, his work explores options for transforming the vocabulary of the photograph. Metzker has dedicated his career to exploring the formal potentials of black-and-white photography, but they are not his exclusive concern. “When you look at the multiples, you are aware of patterning and so forth,” he says, “but there is still identifiable subject matter; frequently there are people there; there is a rhythm to those people.” - Museum of Contemporary Photography

Much of Ray's Metzker's work is a predominantly black image with the small important details called out by being the only bit visible in the photograph. He plays with shadows and light a lot. The images are very dramatic. I particularly like his image Chicago, 1981. It portrays two men standing at the top of a subway entrance. The camera angle is from the bottom of the stairs looking up at them from the bottom left. The light from the day silhouettes the men and plays down on the subway wall.

Harry Callahan photographed his wife, Eleanor, and daughter, Barbara, and the streets, scenes and buildings of cities where he lived, showing a strong sense of line and form, and light and darkness. He also worked with multiple exposures. Callahan's work was a deeply personal response to his own life. He was well known to encourage his students to turn their cameras on their lives, and he led by example. He tried several technical experiments - double and triple exposure, blurs, large and small format film. - wikipedia

His work is similar in style to Ray Metzker. They both have very dark images, with hardly any gray tones in the middle. Harry Callahan's photographs feature more predominantly people and faces. His wife is often the subject. Between the two artists, I believe I enjoy Metzker's work more. Callahan did some odd nude shots that I don't really understand, and the mood behind most of the shots just isn't as appealing to me.

Photography Site - Camera Arts

Camera Arts has an article about Digital Silver Imaging. Their website and the article explain what it is and why its better than regular printing. Traditional print making uses silver gelatin in the process and its visible when prints are turned sideways and the light catches it. Galleries prefer this type of black and white print over regular inkjet or laser printers photo prints.

We employ a true photographic chemical process in the development of each print - not a color or inkjet process. Inkjet printers build black & white tones by laying drops of ink on a paper’s surface, leading to unrefined results. DSI uses a light source, exposing a silver gelatin layer within the paper to produce a true continuous tone from shadows to highlight. Color RA4 printers rely on color dyes to replicate black & white tones, so blacks and grays often have a hint of other colors (magenta or cyan). DSI’s print process is founded on light, silver, and chemistry. Blacks are 100% black, grays are fully gray, color shifts are non-existent. Ink pigments reflect light, resulting in unwanted glare or metamerism across your print. With DSI, your image emerges from the paper itself, not from a compilation of ink on paper, so there are no unexpected bursts of light.In order to address the challenges of photo printing, inkjet paper manufacturers have begun producing a special photo inkjet papers with a matte finish. However, these papers come with an issue all their own - unwelcome texture. Fiber-based black & white prints are proven to last over a hundred years. The inkjet process has existed for a fraction of that time. Why take a chance that your once-in-a-lifetime image may end up short-lived?

I've often struggled with getting prints to come out the way I want them too. I have a lot of trouble getting my grays to look like grays. Sometimes they come out redish or greenish or brownish instead. I don't know anything about this silver gelatin, but it sounds special. Being able to print high-quality photos is important. I've tried printing out some of my photos on my Canon printer and I've never really been happy enough with them to frame. Its interesting to find out how professionals do it.

Photography Photos - Technical Project

This assignment is to help us learn all the different available settings on our cameras. We were to experiment with the same shot using different lighting, iso, and white balance settings. Not the most exciting photos, but I learned what all the fancy buttons do!

Packaging Studio - Brand Value - IKEA

Photography Artist - Ansel Adams

Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park. One of his most famous photographs was Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California. With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Zone System as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs and the work of those he taught the system.  -wikipedia

I had not heard of the Zone System before. Then again, I've not done much with photography before so I'm not surprised. When my teacher talked about it in class I found it very simple, interesting, and useful. My drawing teachers are always talking about contrast, and this is an actual measurable way of creating contrast in an image. The stark contrast in his images creates a lot of drama, likely what made his photography famous. Looking through the Ansel Adams Gallery website I've found I like a few of his images: Clearing Storm, Sonoma County Hills, Moonrise from Glacier Point, and Golden Gate Headlands. I've never really looked at any of his work before, some is quite pretty, and all of it is dramatic. I really enjoy the high contrast of his images and it's something I'll try for in some of my own work if I have the opportunity.

 

Photography Site - Aperture

Aperture is a photography magazine based out of New York. They also have an gallery. One of their current shows is "Sawdust Mountain Photographs by Eirik Johnson". The website is showing only a few of the images, likely they'd rather have you come to the show and look at them there after paying for admittance, but I'm not in New York, so I'm limited to what they have posted.

"Eirik Johnson: Sawdust Mountain" focuses on the tenuous relationship between industries reliant upon natural resources and the communities they support. Timber and salmon are the bedrock of a regional Northwest identity, but the environmental impact of these industries is increasingly at odds with the contemporary ideal of sustainability. In this exhibition Eirik Johnson reveals a landscape imbued with an uncertain future—no longer the region of boomtowns built upon the riches of massive old growth forests. "Eirik Johnson: Sawdust Mountain" records a region affected by historic economic complexities and, by extension, aspects of our fraught relationship with the environment in the twenty-first century.

Most of the images I can see are sad and quiet. They tell the tale of a town that used to be full of life, all hustle and bustle. Now most of the people have moved on and the ones that remain are quietly just barely keeping things running until the certain end. The images are eerie in that way.

Photography Photos - Theme Sequence

As our first assignment we were given a list of things to capture. Light, Shadow, Color, Lines, Sky, Horizon, Water, Face or Hand, Motion, Closeup, Reflection, and Decay. Each photo essay will be comprised of 12 images. Clicking the image will take you to my Flickr page for that week's set. The entire class is uploading to Flickr and adding their images to the group, Digital Imaging Essentials.

Packaging Studio - Brand Deconstruct - Crayola

Crayons are exciting...

Photography Site - American Photo

American Photo had an interesting article about Chris Kridler. She is a Storm Chaser photographer. I've always loved photographs of lightning. She has some really pretty ones. According to the article she takes two weeks off from work in May/June to chase and photograph storms. Krinler has a lot of tornado shots as well as lightning photos. Her website, Sky Diary has all her photos on it. She works in Florida, but has pictures from New York's snowstorm and Tornadoes from Texas and Kansas among them.

When asked where her work has appeared, this was her answer, "In several documentaries, including National Geographic Explorer, and programs on the Weather Channel, The Learning Channel, the BBC, and History Channel. My photos have appeared in weather guides, books, magazines, the International Journal of Meteorology, and art shows. I get just as excited communicating work through my website. I get a lot of e-mail, especially from kids." She said she got started from taking a storm-chasing tour and photography was only a hobby of hers at that point. I think it's really neat that even if you aren't a professional highly-trained photographer its still possible to take amazing shots.

Photography Reading - "How Do We Read a Photograph?"

Whenever we look at a photographic image we engage in a series of complex readings which relate as much to the expectations and assumptions that we bring to the image as to the photographic subject itself. Indeed, rather than the notion of looking, which suggests a passive act of recognition, we need to insist tat we read a photograph, not as an image, but as a text.

This text contains an image "Identical Twins" by Diane Arbus, and it picks apart how we are supposed to 'read' the image. I quite like the image itself; there are two little girls around the age of 7, they are dressed the same and their hair is done the same, but one isn't smiling while her twin sister is. We then start to notice all the other small details and find that while they are identical twins, they are very different.

The text includes a few more images and talks about how to read them, but I found the first example to be the one that speaks the most to me.

Packaging Studio - New Class, New Purpose

For Spring Quarter we are asked to keep a blog to use as a presentation space. Our focus is "Package = Product".

Photography Reading - "What is a Photograph?"

Graham Clark's article "What is a Photograph" starts off by talking about the history of the photograph. While good to know, as I'm not a history buff, its not particularly interesting to me. It did get more interesting a couple of pages in.

What then is a photograph? It is, at its most basic level, 'a picture, likeness, or facsimile obtained by photography.' The meaning of a photograph, its efficacy as an image, and its value as an object, are always dependent on the contexts within which we 'read' it. On a functional level, then, the photograph is dependent on its context.

The text also makes an interesting note about the direction of a photograph, landscape and portrait being the two main views. The different aspect ration provides the image with different importance inherently. Other sizes, like a square image suggest voyeurism and immediacy; whether this is because of the shape itself or because that's how Polaroids were and we remember, it's unclear.

We can never enter a photograph's depth." Roland Barthes rightly complained about the frustration involved in the misplaced assumption that the closer we look at a photograph, the more we see.

That's an interesting point, photographs are flat thin pieces of paper, nothing more, but they contain the illusion of depth. They try to portray reality as accurately as possible, but in the end they are still completely fake.