UTSA | Photography

Stephanie Price Presents Jenni Tapanila

2011-12-14T10:54:00.000-08:00

Jenni Tapanila is a photographer from Istanbul, Turkey. Her work is grotesque, blunt and straight to the point. She takes a basic photograph of a man and writes something personal on his chest. I think its a great play on an overdone theme. I love the photograph with the needle in the tongue a lot of her work is similar to this she loves gore and theatrics.
http://www.suzi9mm.com/gallery.php?nid=6

Stephanie Price Presents Akif Hakan Celebi

2011-12-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

Akif Hakan Celebi is a Hong Kong based photographer, working mostly in nudes but also some fashion work. I came across this artist a couple of years ago on Deviantart. His nudes are no where near traditional, he is constantly placing woman in strange positions almost taking the sexiness out of the nude itself. But he shows these woman with powerful glances somehow taking control of the image. I like his work because it plays on the balance of power between the woman and the photographer. Not to mention beautifully shot.

Stephanie Price Presents Emil Schildt

2011-12-14T10:40:00.000-08:00

I came across Emil Schildt while reaserching for my alternative processes class. This artist experiments with tons of alternative processes such as cynontypes, liquid light, and photopolymergravure. Mostly presents nudes and likes to experiment with ruining the negative, giving his photographs an almost painterly effect.

Stephanie Price presents Sue Anna Joe

2011-12-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

I came across Sue Anna Joe a couple of years ago on DeviantArt, her work to me is beautifully crafted. She is a Malaysian based photographer, mostly she creates portraits and her self portraits are striking. My favorite thing about this artist is her ability to go from one extreme to another, she can have something so beautiful but still emotional or sinister and sickening.

http://www.shedoesthings.com/photography

Stephanie Price presents Joey Gidseg

2011-12-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

Joey Gidseg is an Austin, Tx based photographer. Although a lot of her photographs are of the local flavor of Austin, in her series, Hymie and Louise, she shows an intense reality most people are scared to approach. She portrays an older couple and how they deal with the day to day of growing older and sickly. These are not only beautiful photographs, they say something about a fear we all have : Are we going to be alone when we can no longer able to fend for ourselves? Or will Hymie be there to take care of us?

http://www.joeygidseg.com/#s=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&p=3&a=0&at=0

Stephanie Price Presents Lee Friedlander

2011-12-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Lee Friedlander is an american artist, creating somewhat simple compositions while attempting to play on the obvious, he shoots an ordinary traffic scene but cuts the dog in half. Or he takes pictures of an event but instead of the actual event he shows people taking pictures of said event. He likes to play around with what a traditional photograph can show in a humorous way, well at least humorous to me.

Brianna Cristiano submits Eyal Landseman

2011-12-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

http://eyalland.com/ - check out more stop motion

Eyal Landseman is a well known stop motion photographer. Landseman is most famous for the music video Her Morning Elegance but has other work worth checking out. Landseman's stop motion videos are what also inspired me for my final work. Mine is not as smooth as Eyal's but it was the same idea of creating a video soley based on photographs. It is something I would like to explore more.

Brianna Cristiano submits Manuel Alvarez Bravo

2011-12-14T07:39:00.000-08:00

Manuel Alvarez Bravo is a photographer from Mexico City. I learned about him in my art history class and his work intrigued me. He is known for his juxtaposed photographs of window fronts and signs. In this photograph above called Optical Parable he has reversed the negative to trick the viewer. It is almost a humorous take on going to the eye doctor. His work is smart and I like the way he positions the compositions. He has thought about each one clearly and knows what statement he is trying to make and it comes across in his work.

Brianna Cristiano submits Jennings sheffield

2011-12-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

http://www.jenningssheffield.com/video-projected-on-right-wall-of-installation.html

Jennings has these videos which I got to see during SPE that really inspired my work for my final.

Her videos are about her epileptic seizures and how she feels when she experiences one. She uses animation of her brain scans for one side of the wall and the other is a mixture of sounds and visuals she gets while having the seizure. It makes the viewer very uncomfortable after watching for a few seconds. I think she is successful with her work because it conveys the emotion and entrapment felt by her. My final I wanted to show what it was like during my panic attacks so her videos really gave me the idea of completely consuming the audience with that unsettling feeling.

Brianna Cristiano submits Mark Schatz

2011-12-14T07:12:00.000-08:00

Mark Schatz was my first photography professor at San Jacinto college in Houston. When I took his class I remember he was into photographing sculptural work. The work shown below is his recent work. He has been making these environments out of cardboard, wood, polystyrene foam and different mixed media.

It is really interesting the way he manipulates the cardboard using layers and layers to create an environment. I like how he used recycled cardboard for the cityscape it gives it a new element. When I first saw these it made me think of our surroundings and how small we are in comparison to the world. http://www.markschatz.com/perscart.html

Blair Bodden submits Susan Kae Grant

2011-12-13T22:39:00.001-08:00

Susan Kae Grant is a photographer who explores dreams, memories, the unconscious, and unexplainable experiences to create her body of work Night Journey. In researching Grant, I found that she herself did scientific research when creating this work. In her artist statement, she states, “This project is the culmination of research conducted at the Southwestern Medical Center Sleep Laboratory in collaboration with sleep scientist, Dr. John Herman. Using myself as subject, I was tape recorded in the laboratory on many occasions while awakened from REM sleep. These awakenings provided vivid access to the dream-state. Audio recordings captured in the sleep laboratory served as inspiration to create the photographs for this series.” As an undergrad, I am always looking for inspiration and knowledge, which I found when researching Grant. I have always been intrigued with creating my own worlds and stories. Grant has accomplished this with scientific driven research and using her own experiences to convey her concept.

Blair Bodden submits Corinne May Botz

2011-12-13T22:19:00.000-08:00

Currently, as an undergraduate student I am working with the notion of storytelling, narratives, folklore, and fairytales. For my current work I am using and working with miniatures to covey my concepts. In doing research for my work I came across the photographer Corinne May Botz. Botz has several different bodies of work but the one that grab my attention the most was The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.

The artist documented miniatures of crime scenes that were created in the 1940s and 1950s by a criminologist Frances Glessner Lee. In Botz’s artist statement she states, “the models, which were based on actual homicides, suicides, and accidental deaths, were created to train detectives to assess visual evidence.” This work actually with out me realizing has inspired my current work as an undergrad. Even though Francis Glessner Lee created these miniatures for a specific reason, Botz has brought a life to the miniatures that create a setting for a story gone wrong. This is what intrigued about the work that when looking at it you start creating a story in your head to companion the photograph. This is the goal that I am searching for with my own work and hopefully I will accomplish as well as Botz has.

Blair Bodden submits Laura McPhee at SPE conference

2011-12-13T21:36:00.000-08:00

Laura McPhee was a guest speaker and distinguished artist at the SPE South Central Conference held at UTSA in San Antonio. McPhee spoke on Saturday October 1st at the San Antonio Central Public Library. McPhee spoke about her work River of No Return. This work depicts life and nature in the Sawtooth Valley in Idaho. She explores the region with her large format camera to capture landscapes, lives of the rural people, and the effects of wildfires. During her talk in San Antonio, McPhee started with describing her life as a child and the stories she would hear of family members. McPhee related these stories to her work and the investigation of living in a rural community by documenting a family living in this particular part of Idaho. McPhee takes a traditional art form of landscapes and turns them into so much more. This comes from the content of the imagery but also when standing in front of these large scale prints they seem to ingulf the viewer.

Brianna Cristiano

2011-12-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

Has blog credit for attending the Cecilia Paredes talk.

Blair Bodden has 2 blog credits for painting

2011-12-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

I painted during the week before and week of SPE.

Travel Photo of the Week. - Sun

2011-12-08T17:12:00.001-08:00

Check around~

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/photo-of-the-week/

HEESUN PARK REVIEWS Joo Myung-Duck

2011-12-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

“My Motherland”: Veteran photographer Joo Myung-duck is showcasing around 130 serene black-and-white photos of Korea’s traditional houses, relics and landscapes taken in different provinces of South Korea from the 1960s to the present. It is the third and final exhibition of the Daelim Contemporary Art Museum’s four-year project to shed light on the photographer.
Joo is one of Korea’s first documentary photographers to focus on critical social issues, landscapes and disappearing cultural heritages. He introduced a new genre, “Korean Realism” through his first solo show “Mr. Holt’s Orphanage” in 1966, which displayed photos of war orphans. The first documentary photos created a great sensation as most photos taken at the time were elegant indoor shots. ( from WALKHILL September 2011)

heesun park review Jason Engelund

2011-12-08T06:43:00.000-08:00

Jason Engelund creates compositions that investigate light's ability to evoke sublime and contemplative experiences. Approaching photography as a method of capturing light, Engelund starts from the Greek translation of photography: phos "light" and graphé "drawing". From there he has created a style that is interdisciplinary, combining the aesthetics of painting and mechanics of photography. Juxtaposing the subjective nature of perception and the "truth" of photography, Engelund's work raises questions regarding our experience of light, while exploring photography as a contemporary art form.

While the images in the main gallery of this website may lead the viewer to think the images have effects applied or were painted, all images were made in camera using long exposures and extreme out of focus. Shots include subjects such as colored lights of airport runways at night and printed as a negative, naturally occurring reflections of light, and in camera light leaks across frames and rolls of film. ( from website)

HEESUN PARK REVIEW EIRIK JOHNSON

2011-12-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

He is a photographic artist based in Seattle, WA. His work has been exhibited at apaces including the Museum of contemporary Photography in Chicago, the Institute of contemorary Art in Boston, and the Aperture Foundation in New York.

More info :http://www.eirikjohnson.com/

HEESUN PARK introduce JERRY N. UELSMANN

2011-12-08T06:22:00.000-08:00

Jerry Uelsmann is a pioneer of surreal photography. He began assembling photographs from multiple negatives decades before digital tools like Photoshop were available. Back in the day, he was even friends with legendary nature photographer Ansel Adams and taught workshops with him in Yosemite for years.

Katy Schmader presents Sarah Moon

2011-12-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RSknnxOals

I am not sure what I appreciate about Sarah Moon's work, but what I am incredibly inspired by, is the way she speaks about her work, and how she takes advantage of photography as an art form. Although her images are well constructed, and technical well down, I enjoy what she has to say as an artist more than her work.

She discusses how she uses her camera to create a situation that isn't there, and cheat reality, to show the audience an alternative reality. She takes advantage of what the camera sees, instead of what she sees. I think as an artist, this is a beautiful way to think, and method of thinking I wish to take advantage of.

Katy Schmader introduces Paulo Ventura

2011-12-07T21:25:00.000-08:00

Ventura's images are breathe taking. Many of his images remind me of a children's story, they have a nostalgic feeling about them, that makes me want to stare at his work for hours. Until I read the description of these pieces of work as a whole, I didn't really understand the representation of them, I just enjoyed the work. These pieces are a part of his collection he "the automaton."

In order to better understand what was going on in the work, I looked up the artist statment. According to the artist, (found on amazon.com) "'The Automaton' is based on a story told to Paolo Ventura as a child. It centres on an elderly, Jewish watchmaker living in the Venice ghetto in 1943, one of the darkest periods of the Nazi occupation and the rule of the fascist regime in Italy. The city where the watchmaker has lived his entire life, now desolate and fearful, is the stage on which the story unfolds. The old man decides to build an automaton (a robot), to keep him company while he awaits the arrival of the fascist police who will deport the last of the remaining Jews from the ghetto. Paolo Ventura is internationally known for the complex creative process he adopts. Having created the narrative script for the book, he then builds elaborate models and miniature figurines in his studio and incorporates them in what appear as almost film sets. These are then photographed and his final artworks are the photographs of these constructed tableaux. 'The Automaton' is a photographic narrative from beginning to end."

To really understand and appreciate his work, I feel I would have had to read his artist statement, but I believe the story is worth telling, and it is an interesting way to make something such as a piece of literature your own, and pull inspiration.

Katy Schmader presents Gianni Berengo Gardin

2011-12-07T21:18:00.001-08:00

Gianni Berengo Gardin is an Italian photographer. I love his work because of the attention to detail, and composition. I believe I am completely in love with this images because when I look at a work by Gardin, I feel like I am experiencing that landscape, or scene for the first time. While these images are simple, and not the most conceptual, I appreciate the technical quality of the work. Gardin's prints introduces me to a new aspect of an everyday situation I myself might not have seen without looking through the lens of his work. They are beautiful.

Dominic Macias presents Lisa Krantz

2011-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

Lisa Krantz works for the San Antonio Express News as a photojournalist. Her projects involved documenting the closure of Sam Houston High School and the growing town Helotes. These photos capture what human life is very well. I feel her work has been very successful and should keep doing what she is curently doing

Dominic Macias presents James Nachtwey

2011-12-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

When reading, "Photos that changed the world" I stumpled upon this image:

This image is from the Darfur war between two tribes. James Nachtwey has documented his event as part of his drive to document wars and conflicts around the world. His work, to me speaks more words than any "fine art portrait" does as this is raw human emotion rather than something simulated.

Katy Schmader submits Galina Mnikova

2011-12-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Galina Manikova was a woman I discovered in the Alternative Process textbook in the school library. I really admire her work to due the attention to the medium that she presents her work on, and how it effects the message she displays to her audience.

These images are from a variety of projects that she has worked on. The first image is from series discusses issues about the wailing wall. These prints are at least six feet tall that hang from the ceiling and are printed on silk. Because of how large the image is, they make an incredible impact on her audience. As an artist, I was always curious when it is appropriate to work in specific mediums such as cyanotype. I think her art reflects very well, and takes advantage of cyanotype as it compliments what she is discussing in her work.

The second image is a series six of silver gelatin prints on glass sheets and screwed together to create a new image. Although this process could have been done on photoshop, I admire this piece because it works in multiple fashions, as a photographic image, and as a sculpture. also due to the way that it is created, it forces her audience to take a closer look at it, the object is very intimate.

I think my favorite series she has is a series called being blue, which the third image is a part of. This work is a series of portraits done in cyanotype on both fabric and paper. On her website she discusses how here work reflects on loneliness and suffering, and loving and longing. Once again I admire her ability to take advantage of the medium she works in, and to understand what that medium can say to its audience.

a lot of her work can be found on her website:

www.galina.no/

Dominic Macias presents Susan Mullally

2011-12-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

Susan Mullally's What I keep documents the members of a church that his held under a highway bridge and asked them what is the most valuable item they keep on them at all times. She has been working on this since 2007. Each image is accompanied with text about the person and how much the object means to them.

Dominic Macias presents Joseph Auquier

2011-12-07T20:28:00.000-08:00

Joseph Auquier works primarily in with female nudes. According to the text on his site, His dedication to the female nudes equates to a cult following of Femininity. His pictures give the women a certain "god like" as they were one with the earth around them.

Dominic Macias presents Michael Nye

2011-12-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Michael Nye is another Local photographer who works in large format on a social issue from mental health to hunger. Each of his projects, he goes right to the person whom is effected by hunger or mental health rather than interview an expert who lives in an Ivory tower. With each portrait there is a recording from the person talking on the issue.

Dominic Macias presents Mark Menijvar

2011-12-07T20:01:00.001-08:00

Mark Menjivar is a local Documentary who's project was to shoot the contents of a house hold's fridge. When listening to him speak, he would go into details about a few of the images and the "Behind the Scenes" stories with each person. I would like to see some of those stories set up next to the images as they added a dimension that what as already there

Dominic Macias presents Mr. Toledano

2011-12-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

Mr. Toledano is a documentary photographer. The picture above is from his bankrupt series. He went into office spaces that had recently closed down and documented what they left behind. I enjoyed this series as well as his "Phonesex series" and his very personal "Days with my Father" when he documented his father's grief process (and combined with his short term memory loss.)

Dominic Macias presents Sarah Suddhoff

2011-12-07T19:35:00.001-08:00

Sarah Sudhoff is a former instructor of mine at UTSA. Her recent photos (5 months pregnant ones) seem to be going a different direction than he previous projects (Repository and Hour of our Death.) I checked her site and I found no statement from her about this photo or this series.

Dominic Macias presents Rion Sabean

2011-12-07T19:20:00.001-08:00

Rion's Sabean's Pin-up series is rather humorous. A friend sent me a link on Facebook thinking I would like it. When view more of this work, I found myself laughing out loud. I think he is showing how ridiculous people look when they do these poses. He site says his work revolves around social commentary that focus on gender and sexuality issues and brings them into the light. (paraphrased from his Artist Statement found here.)

Dominic Macias presents Ejen Chuang's Cosplay in America

2011-12-04T22:55:00.000-08:00

Cosplay is a simply costume play. People dress up in these costumes based on anime, video game and even comic book characters they seem to fancy. Eien's project, "Cosplay in America" is a documentation of people who partake of this hobby at anime conventions across the nation.

This collection is a great start to getting past the feeling of seeing a grown person, dressing in costume outside of halloween but it fails to answer why people dress in costume to these events. Perhaps an interview with the person could really give this project some depth.

Brianna Cristiano Submits Mark Osterman

2011-12-03T23:47:00.000-08:00

Mark Osterman is known for his knowledge of historical photographic processes concentrating in Ambrotypes. Osterman is a very eccentric guy I was watching a video about his processes and he was talking about how dangerous it is and how he likes Ambrotypes because you can tell it is hand made. I find that interesting because people now days want things that are easy and fast and I felt a connection with this guy because he wants to kind of preserve the past and the past processes. He was saying how film is in its last years and that made me really sad. Everything has become digital and accessible to the public it doesn't have the same charm as old photographs have. I really enjoy his work.

Brianna Cristiano submits Vivian Maier

2011-12-03T22:46:00.000-08:00

Vivian Maier was a street photographer in the 1950's. Nobody knew about her work until after she had passed away a young man bought a box of her negatives and was amazed by what he saw. She had over 100,000 negatives and a box of undeveloped negatives. This story is really what made me take a look at her work. Maier's work is stunning there is very much thought that has gone into each photograph. Her work captures the true essence of the city life. there is something

very captivating about her work. She seems to make the most public moment intimate. It is a glimpse into the subjects world. If you are interested in street art and traveling photography you should definitely check her out! http://www.vivianmaier.com/

Ray Perez presents Chip Simons

2011-12-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

http://www.chipsimons.com/
Sometimes photography allows us the liberty to alter reality through the use of our technical photographic devices. Chip Simons offers a whimsical and distorted view of the world through the use of colored light and wide angle perspective. I imagine it would be hard to have a bad day capturing these fun images. I think it's very important that we dally with the ideas and techniques that offer the most satisfaction in our involvement in photography. Take a photo that makes you smile or laugh!

Raymundo Torres presents Sal Lopes

2011-12-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

Sal Lopes offers a new a cool view in photography with classic procedures such as Platinum Paladium process.

"Over the years, he has had more than fifty exhibitions at venues including The International Center of Photography, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Chrysler Museum, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Williams College Museum of Art, among others. In addition, his photographs are included in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Chrysler Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Musée de L’Elysee in Lausanne, Switzerland. See Galleries & Exhibits''

http://www.sallopes.com/index.php#id=album-47835&num=content-2986188

Raymundo Torres presents Troy Paiva

2011-12-01T19:25:00.000-08:00

''Troy Paiva, AKA Lost America, has been creating light painted night photography in abandoned locations and junkyards since 1989. His documentarian, yet surrealist, sometimes playful, sometimes haunting work examines the evolution and eventual abandonment of the communities, infrastructure and social iconography spawned during America’s 20th century expansion into the cities and deserts of the West–and the intensely exhillerating, yet strangely comforting act of sneaking around in the middle of the night, creating art from its ruins.''

Another night photographer, and he shares his secrets with us, yay!

He uses long exposures and flash lights to create a mood in total darkness.

http://lostamerica.com/

Raymundo Torres presents Susan Seubert

2011-12-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

Tintypes! Yes I have found and artist whose tintypes I ablsolutely enjoy. Susan Seubert has a way of conveing nostalgia and other emotions in her work with the sole use of a tintype, which gives it a cence of antiquity and everlastness.

http://www.seubertfineart.com/#

Raymundo Torres presents Jack Spencer

2011-12-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

Never had I enjoyed reading an artist statement like the one of Jack Spencer. I agree with his idea of art being in the process of creating an art work and art turning into a conversation between the viewer and the piece and how the work stands on its own to fall or raise at the end.

http://www.jackspencer.net/

Raymundo Torres presents Larrie Thomson

2011-12-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

Night photography, never had I heard of such thing until I found the works by Larrie Thomson. According to his website all of his pictures are taken at night and are not manipulated digitally he only uses a bit of lighting help from his trusty lamps and gels. His technique is someting that I would like to attempt. shooting at night sounds like fun.

http://www.nightphotographer.com/index.htm

Raymundo Torres presents Ernst Haas

2011-12-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

The exact moment is what Ernst Haas captured. That is what attracted me of his work also, his abstractions and modern style.

"Ernst Haas (1921–1986) is acclaimed as one of the most important figures in 20th century photography and is considered a pioneering artist in color photography."

http://www.ernst-haas.com/index.html

Raymundo Torres presents Simon Emmett

2011-12-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

Yes a fashion photographer, but with a good cense of light.

His blurry glam photos captured my attention because they show that is is not always necesarry to have a full portrait to show beauty.

http://www.clmus.com/photography/simon-emmett/celebrity

Raymundo Torres Presents-Patricia Aridjis

2011-11-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

The taboo of prision life cached my eyes attention by shining a light on "The Black Hours"

Black hours is a photographic essay about women in prison. Loneliness, lesbianism as a way of satisfying affective needs; self punishment and suicide attempts are like gaping wounds in the wrists that cry for help. Drugs to escape reality, maternity, solidarity. Life is limited by watching towers, guards, gates and schedules.''

Very strong and sensitive are the works by Patricia Aridjis. I enjoy her the use of journalistic photography and the crude subject matter.

http://www.fundacionpedromeyer.com/china/paridjis/index.html

Raymundo Torres presents- Cesilia Paredes

2011-11-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

I was in the quick conference she gave.

Raymundo Torres Presents- livia Corona

2011-11-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

The photographic works by Livia Corona attracted my interest because of childhood memories. In her collection "Enanitos Toreros" she depicts the daily life of these small entertainers.

Also, I am attracted to the "Taboo" aspect of the subject matter. where we

don't particularly pay attention she forces us to look.

http://www.liviacorona.com/#S1,,Enanitos_Toreros

Katy Schmader presents Brenton Hamilton.

2011-11-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

On his website Brenton Hamilton states that a lot of his work is influenced by Renaissance painting, human anatomy, astronomy, and botanical. He picks and pulls to created layered images, in this case on top of cyanotypes.

His images are elegant and well thought out. There seems to be a lot of attention put toward how the image is laid out. Each piece is considered. I enjoy the variety of tones that Hamilton brings to his image with the medium.

Hamilton says that he aims to achieve a dream-like image, which he accomplishes well. they are very enjoyable.

KATY SCHMADER PAINTED

2011-11-30T12:07:00.001-08:00

add 2 (TWO) blogs.

Stephanie Price presents Tina Modotti

2011-11-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Tina Modotti was an italian photographer who lived in mexico most of her adult life. She was the lover of edward weston for a while starting out as his model she learned from him and you can see parallels in their works. The reason i like Tina Modotti so much is her subtle use of lighting and compostition. I can feel a passion from every photograph. For example the first photograph shows the struggle of the everyday woman and her labor. She shows this woman not from the front but shows mostly the full jug on top of this woman shoulders allowing us to imagine the struggle of carrying it. And when she depicts mother and child she crops the mothers face and shows the back of a naked child. These photographs challenge me to take a second look at my own compositions for my personal project.

Christy Campbell presents Ruth Thorne Thomsen

2011-11-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

Ruth Thorne Thomsen uses the pinhole camera to create these soft looking photographs. She overlays many images to create her pieces. They are mostly shot in the environment with people or objects included over. Thomsen uses miniature props that she makes to use for her photographs. In some of her works she gets ideas from 20th century surrealism. Her images are very captivating, making you think about a different world where these images could actually exist in real life.

HEESUN PARK PRESENTS ROBB KENDRICK

2011-11-28T07:34:00.000-08:00

Modern cowpokes, vintage portraits: at the Bar B ranch in Oklahoma.

ROBB KENDRICK’S Photography regularly in National Geographic. But his ture passion has become wet- plate photography, a historic photo technique used during the mid-19the century. The tintype photos mad with the wet-plate process are each one of a kind, as they are all handmade from start to finish.

When I looking for tin type photographer I found out him about it. Very interesting tin type photography he has been taken and he also working on title “ Object “ it is very interesting work , please check out.

http://www.robbkendrick.com/

HEESUN PARK PRESENTS LOLA ALVAREZ

2011-11-28T07:23:00.000-08:00

Autorretrato

Lola Alvarez Bravo (1907–1993) was one of Mexico’s most important photographers.
She traveled throughout Mexico photographing people in everyday circumstances with honesty and respect. Her assured formal aesthetic, which often bordered on the abstract, included strong compositional elements, crisp details, and the play of light and shadow on surfaces.

Christy Campbell presents Bihn Danh

2011-11-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

Bihn Danh uses found photographs from the Vietnman war and prints them on leaves using photosynthesis! His concept is to connect the past and present through this process. Danh has many different works but his most compelling are these of the leaves. They are so beautiful and delicate!

Christy Campbell presents Rocky Shenck

2011-11-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

“I love to go out wandering with my camera, sometimes with no specific agenda planned for myself,” Schenck said in an interview with author John Berendt. “I always stumble across something or someone that intrigues me – whether it’s a hypnotic landscape or a perfect stranger going about their day unaware of my eavesdropping on their reality. I simply take my camera with me wherever I go and try to remain open to whatever life shoves – or gently places – in front of me.”

Rocky Shenck said this about how he likes to create his photographs. These quotes describes his photographs so well. They are dark and mysterious, yet simple and beautiful. He also works with a lot musicians to film their music videos.

Christy Campbell presents Grete Stern

2011-11-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

Grete Stern moved to Argentina after fleeing from the Nazis in her home country. In Argentina is where she made the majority of her work. She works a lot with advertisement collages and still lives but in a very different way than usual. Her work has a lot of overlaying imagery and playing with the "otherworldy" idea. Stern did a project where she would try to recreate peoples' dreams and photograph them.

Rebecca Villarreal presents Lisa M. Robinson

2011-11-22T16:31:00.000-08:00

Lisa Robinson is a Landscape photographer and her specialty seems to be these barren photos of snow. Looking at her work for too long and you get this really lonely, "There's no one left on earth," feeling. She reminds me a little bit of Sara Frantz...yes the drawing and painting professor...her photos look a lot like Sara's drawings in that all you see are these man made objects in a sea of white. Its such a stark contrast to what most are use to seeing in landscape work. If you looked at it conceptually her work has this theme of scenery devoid of life and human contact. It works for many of the images. I won't lie and say some of the photos of this barren land she's taken are a little boring, but most of the work is really neat to look at. My favorites are Valhalla and Veil, the waves frozen in time like that its just crazy to believe nature sometimes just stops...with out the help of photography. The other thing that is really working for me in her work, are the bits of color that just pop against the white snow. If some of those pictures were taken in the spring time things like the park bench and the basketball hoop would be lost. Her work looks at the world in a slightly different way, in many ways its one of those things we never notice.

Ray Perez likes to Cross Process

2011-11-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

Cross processing color film is a fun and unpredictable process that can offer very colorful and dynamic results. You could probably achieve something similar in photoshop, but without the experience of shooting and experimenting using your technical photographic skills.

Cross Processing

http://www.crossprocessing.info/

http://chuckgoodenough.blogspot.com/2010/11/cross-process-c-41-film-through-e-6.html

These are some informative links on the effects using certain types and brands of film. There are also some exposure compensations to consider in the process of exposing different types of film. Now, with the access to high quality film scanners, it is possible to produce beautiful abnormal colored images. Try it, you'll love it!

Rebecca Villarreal presents Don Gergorio Anton

2011-11-19T18:43:00.000-08:00

Wow! is about all I could intially say when I found his work. He's a perfect photographer to look at for this class because he works with an alternative process. He prints transparent images on copper if I remember right. His work is incredible, he seems to pull inspiration from a little bit of everything. Many seem describe his work as not catching a moment in time, but as catching that emotion or essance of life in time. Conceptually his work is spot on with his ideas of catching the soul. The process he's working with gives all of his images that etheral look. Some of his work reminds me of Mexican exvotos with the combination of text and image. All of it seems to have diementionality, nothing is flat with what looks like many layers of imagery. It translates well from computer to magazine prints, nothing is lost it would seem from the original. I would really love to see his work in person.

He's done an artist residency at Light Work and has shown work from coast to coast and everywhere in between.

Rebecca Villarreal presents Abigail Hadeed

2011-11-19T18:28:00.001-08:00

Okay so I found Abigail Hadeed in one of the many photo magazines that are scattered about the Darkroom, her work is pretty cool. She is a Caribbean photojournalist who tells stories about the people and places she photographs through her photography. Looking at her work strictly for the darkroom techniques her contrast is a little high and I love it. I tend to gravitate towards photos that have more contrast so I'm a little bias.She's done an artist in Residence at Light Work in 2006, where she appropriately enough learned how to create Cyanotypes and platinum printing. She's shown work in a few places and has a few books out. I hope that she will soon have a website with all of her work in one place, because I would love to see more of it

Ray Perez submits Best blush light

2011-11-16T08:38:00.000-08:00

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/composition-4.shtml
http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/tutorials/light03.htm

This are good links that describes the different temperatures of light and the colors they cast. In the case of our tintypes, bluish light may be our best option for exposing our tintypes directly. I wish everyone my best on this endeavour. It's perfect weather to be shooting outside in the open shade.

Ray Perez presents Michael Ticcino

2011-11-15T15:43:00.000-08:00

http://www.mjticcinoimages.com/#!__surreal

There is such a vast opportunity to create beautiful surreal art work when we understand the effects and values of light. I appreciate the dynamics and control of the visual elements embraced by Mr. Ticcino. I ponder the presences of color in these images and how they would affect the compositions. Lighting is and has always been one of the key components in the evolution of art throughout its history. The nature of light is to guide us on a certain path. It is our nature to follow visually, if not subconsciously, to observe light in certain natural directional patterns. Light.

Ray Perez presents Todd Hido

2011-11-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.toddhido.com/

Todd Hido captures a feeling of solitude in the function and structure that we consider our homes. We don't really take the time to observe the atmosphere created by natural and artificial lighting. The elements of fog and snow add more visual stimulation to the image. The glowing interior lights provoke our imagination about the lives that exist inside these lonely structures.
I appreciate his series of barren interior spaces. It forces us to look around the space to try to locate objects other then the walls or doors. The ambient light, again, contribute to the strangeness of seeing or being in an empty room. I am also affected by the color of the light in combination with the color of the interiors. These images are good examples of photographing a mundane subject matter and capturing an intriguing observation.

2011-11-08T15:44:00.000-08:00

Tillman Crane is a photographer who uses 5x7, 8x10, and pinhole cameras in his work. He mainly just documents places and objects but the way he does it is intriguing. The photographs above are from his "Olson House" portfolio. With this project Crane simply photographed the empty house and the few objects that were left inside. Normally this type of photography could get a little boring, but I think that the way Crane composes his images creates interesting photographs. Crane places everyday objects in the beautiful lighting that naturally occurs in the house. These items are transformed into important objects that create a kind of narrative in his work.

http://www.tillmancrane.com/index.php

Rebecca Villarreal presents Ellioutt Erwitt

2011-11-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Elliott Erwitt is a photographer who has shot almost everything. He's mostly known as a photojournalist but much of his work goes beyond that. His work and achievements have transcended decades. He won the Life Time Achievement award in 2011 from the International Center of Photography's Infinity Awards.

His photography is all about observation of ordinary places, which to some maybe a little conceptually simple...but that just maybe the beauty in them. His idea is so simple, but his images are complex and emotion provoking. Which is one of many reasons why much of his work has become iconic over time. His most famous photo is of Jacqueline Kennedy at JFK's funeral clutching his flag. Its obviously a charged image emotionally, but stepping back from the enormity of the situation he the images transforms Jacqueline from the first lady to a woman grieving for the loss of her husband.

All of him images are snapshots in life moments that can be funny to serious, I can't completely explain it all they just resonate. He's got a good eye and part of that reason I think is because he doesn't try to make something happen, he just lets life take its course. His portraits are the same way, its as if with many of them the people sitting for him were having a conversation with him completely forgetting there was even a camera in the room. You are looking at snap shots of who the person is not the celebrity or character they play.

Rebecca Villarreal presents Bill Dewy

2011-11-08T13:35:00.000-08:00

Bill Dewy is an aerial photographer who approaches his photos with a painter's touch. Many of his photos look as if he took a giant paint brush created a composition and photographed it. All his photos have sweeping lines that translate in to brush strokes that were not smoothed out before they dried. Each photo seems to be a composed of a study of lines and texture. All of the lines in his work create a since of movement that allows the eye to travel the image a million times over. His use of texture is phenomenal too, looking at his photos you almost want to try to sweep your hand across the image to see if you can feel the prickly sensation of the hay. The other great thing about his photos are the colors, all his yellows are rich and his blues deep. He is some one to look at if you are interested in landscape photography.

Abigail Marquez submits John Coffer

2011-11-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

John Coffer is a traveling wet-plate artist who has been working with this medium since 1978. He began his work in a 19th century style darkroom wagon named the "Photographic Van" and crossed the country doing traveling portraits. Since then, John Coffer has moved on from using dry plate tintypes to using the wet-plate collodion process and has been giving workshops throughout the United States since 1996.

His work possesses a quality of antiquity represented by the medium as well as the subject matter, focusing on imagery from the old time country in the 19th century.

Gabriellena Weidanz submits Helene Schmitz

2011-11-07T12:26:00.001-08:00

Helene Schmitz is a contributing photographer for National Geographic. She is known for her vivid, brightly colored photographs of flowers against a black background. Currently she lives in Stockholm and she was the first woman to be awarded the Swedish Environmental Agency's Nature Photographer of the Year award.

Gabriellena Weidanz submits Elena Kalis

2011-11-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

While researching for ideas for photography and other art projects, I came across Elena Kalis' webpage and found it quite whimsical and interesting. Her biggest inspiration for this project is the Ocean. She describes the ocean as being "vast and multifaceted. One day it is bright, sunny and fun. Yet there is another side which is darkness, unconsciousness, death. I can never get tired from it and it is my main daily dose of inspiration.” She definitely creates awe- inspiring images!

Abigail Marquez submits Teresa Van Hatten-Granath

2011-11-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

Teresa Van Hatten-Granath works with digital imaging as well as alternative processes, including cyanotype and gum bichromate prints. Although most of her work is digitally based, I find interesting the way she combines the use of computer and traditional skill, through this medium. Although her images are composed digitally, imagery is also integrated into her prints through scanning.

I find myself drawn to her work through her use of the human body, most often female, where it is often centered and then surrounded with other imagery. The color choice for her compositions seem to really affect the "natural" feel of her prints, as they most often are a combination of primary colors and the nude body.

Stephanie Price submits Laura McPhee

2011-11-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

When I was attending the SPESC conference this fall i had the chance to catch Laura McPhee's discussion of her work, River of No Return. What I found the most interesting is that i was so drawn to her landscapes. Usually i see a landscape and i walk right by but as she showed and talked about her photographs of this beautiful scenery, i couldn't help but to stare. They seem to speak more than just how beautiful the land is, its almost as if she captures the scenery in a way that it can speak to us not just in beauty but something more. I especially love the image of the frozen dead fish in the water these are defiantly images i can refer to for my personal project which deals with water and reflections.

http://www.lauramcphee.com/ronr.php

Stephanie Price submits Keliy Anderson-Staley

2011-11-07T10:32:00.000-08:00

I was researching ideas for my tin types when I came across artist Keliy Anderson-Staley. She uses a wet plate collodion process ( artist shown coating plates above) with her 4x5 camera. This is a process that was popular in the 1850's. Her Imagined Family Heirlooms series (shown above) made me think of our project Cabinet of Curiosity. She has assembled photos(tin type) and objects she has collected to create this almost eery assemblage of a family's history. Its an interesting modern take on the technique and the collection of this imaginary family is very interesting, makes me re-think my cabinet of curiosity and how much more depth my images could potentially show.

http://www.andersonstaley.com/

Abigail Marquez submits Christina Z. Anderson

2011-11-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

Christina Z. Anderson works with alternative processes as a form of art, including gum bichromate. While doing some research on the process for our own assignment, I had the opportunity to look through some of her work.

Her prints convey emotion and humor through composition, but more so, through her handling of the tricolor gum bichromate, sometimes starting with a layer of cyanotype for a full color print. The concept behind the images in the Gender Vanitas series is clearly represented with this process, allowing for humor, irony, and a sense of antiquity behind a stereotypical culture. This is a great example of what can be achieved with the split process in gum, rather than monochromatic prints.

Katy Schmader submits Alicia Ross

2011-11-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

Alicia Ross works with photographic imagery and than pushes and pulls the image within the boundaries of cross stitch patterns. I love the way her work plays with the medium that she has chosen.

The images plays with the idea of what she calls the domestic female versus the idealized sexual woman of desire. In her work Ross plays with the boundary of these two roles by intertwining fine art with pornographic image to distort our ideas of the role.

I looked at these images due to my interest in work with embroidery. The techniques she uses when working within cross stitch really work, and it is a great example of what the medium can do.

Pako presents Peter Beste

2011-11-03T15:16:00.000-07:00

Peter Beste is, as far as I am concerned, the only photographer who has captured the essence of what Black Metal is. Beste's photograph give a little glimpse of what the people performing and creating this genera of music look when they bring to reality their persona. In the Black Metal community the photographs often fall into the silly and humorous, while trying to appear really sinister and grim.

Beste's choice of location for some of the photographs is dead spot on with what the subject matter is usually for this genera of music; which involves a close relationship with religion, desolation, anguish and Norway's landscapes. Another aspect of Beste's photography I found really interesting, is how in some of his photographs there is a random element that works very well with the composition, and makes it even more interesting.

www.peterbeste.com

Andrea Couture submits Dan Burkholder

2011-11-03T11:15:00.001-07:00

Dan Burkholder is an artist working with alternative processes. The above photos are examples of his platinum prints. The first one is pigment over a platinum print and the second is platinum over gold leaf.

When creating the pigment over platinum prints he combines the process of platinum printing with digitally applied archival inks. The platinum part of the gold leaf prints are printed on a very translucent vellum paper. Burkholder then applies gold leaf to the back of the paper so that all of the highlights in the image are the reflective gold of the gold leaf. Both of these techniques produce very rich prints and I have a feeling the web images don't do them justice.

Even though Burkholder is mainly taking landscape photos, he ends up with images that are very rich and ominous. The saturated color of the platinum printing comes to life with the different techniques that Burkholder uses. Another aspect that gives the images a sense of ominousness is Burkholder's use of focus, depth of field, and exposure time.

Here is his website:

http://www.danburkholder.com/Pages/main_pages/main_page_3-06/Dan_Burkholder_Home.html

Andrea Couture submits Blue Mitchell

2011-11-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

Blue Mitchell is a photographer that Libby suggested I look at. All of the images above are from his "Mythos" project, but I suggest looking at his other work too. This work has a dream like quality to it and shows the early moments in an experience. After Mitchell has composed a photograph he uses a transfer process and adheres his image to wood panels. After attaching his photo to the wood he covers the image in a gloss, then leaves it as is, without a frame. This process definitely enhances these images and I would love to see them in person. The care Mitchell takes with each image is definitely apparent in his final pieces. There seems to be a sense of importance with each piece. I feel that this is an important aspect to this body of work because these beginnings of experiences become very important pivotal moments.

These images definitely inspire me to keep working with my "Other Worldly" project.

Thanks for the suggestion Libby...I'm in love with this work.

Here's his website:

http://bluemitchell.com/

Jason Rudd/ Robert and Shauna ParkeHarrison

2011-11-02T17:20:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog post,EVER. I absolutely love these surreal images,which by all means is my cup of tea. The pair are collaborating together by displaying our shattering world with dreamlike surreal images. These convey loss and human struggle which by all means I can identify with. These human conditions are intertwined with that of landscapes scarred by technology. These images are constructed by photomontage and painting techniques. As a Dali enthusiast I enjoy finding Surrealism in the form of photography as well. They are manipulated beautifully and sincerely convey their narrative in such a powerful manner. -End

Ray Perez presents Albert Watson

2011-11-01T15:05:00.001-07:00

http://www.albertwatson.net/

What can I say; a lighting master. I am intrigued by the effect of his minimal, high contrast lighting techniques. The control of his directional lighting really isolates and defines the subject's form and shape. The close vicinity of the light produces a bright point light source which diminishes quickly, creating a soft edge. We tend not to place a raw light source that close to our subject, especially if it is a person.
I have had the pleasure of utilizing this unique lighting technique on both stills and people. I highly recommend the process and the knowledge you will gain from playing with a raw light source.

Heesun Park reviews Michael Frye

2011-10-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

Rock Formation at Night, Bisti Badlands, New Mexico

Petroglyphs and Star Trails, Wind River Range, Wyoming

He is a professional photographer specializing in landscapes and nature. He believe that light is

what allows him to create a mood, whether that mood is lyrical, playful, or mysterious.

his most of picture used very colorful light, it create very mysterious picture but also can see

beauty of nature. his work is very playful and mysterious. However, I really enjoy his work.

In fact, I just start practice to take picture at night. it is very hard. I have been practicing for 1

year but I have not taken any good successful picture. His work made me more challenge my

self. The picture of Petroglyphs may not really interesting during the day. but the star

movement and playing with light it came out together it made image very interesting.

more info : http://www.michaelfrye.com/port/night/night1.html

Heesun Park reviews Bruce Barnbaum

2011-10-31T17:48:00.000-07:00

Moonrise Over Cliffs & Dunes

I was just research about a photographer and found out Bruce Barnbaum.

When I see his art work I could not believe my eyes... Since I am focus on landscape I look up

his Classic landscape work. I just could not stop look up his work. It was so beautiful .

"Bruce Barnbaum's photography expands upon the dynamics he finds everywhere in nature, relating forces that move the universe to the sweeping forms that mold his imagery."

His art work is very realistic and abstract, I am not big fan of abstract but I love his work.

his work makes me change my thought about landscape. I believe that I will learn a lot of things

through his work.

More information

http://barnbaum.com/barnbaum/Portfolios/Pages/CLASSIC_LANDSCAPE.html#2

heesun park about Gum Bichromate Print Info

2011-10-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.christopherjames-studio.com/build/ALTgum.html

Check out please.

Heesun Park reviews Christopher James

2011-10-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

John Q., 2005, cyan & gum

Christopher James is an internationally recognized artist and photographer whose paintings

and photographs have been exhibited in galleries and museums in this country and abroad.

His work has been published and exhibited extensively, including shows in The Museum of

Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The George Eastman House, and the

Philadelphia Museum of Art.

His work "John Q" got my attention , because I am also working on alternative photographic.

" John Q" especially, very interesting a portrait. The Lips, eyebrows facial .. all detail is so clear.

I feel like look a painting but also feel like a photo. I also liked the color that he selected .

The color made the portrait more stronger image.

About more information gum Bichromate print

http://www.christopherjames-studio.com/build/ALTgum.html

Rebecca Villarreal presents Guy Gagnon

2011-10-30T11:37:00.001-07:00

Guy Gangnon is a Canadian photographer, who in all realities just discovered a love for photography in the last 10 years. I found him in one of the Photographer's forum magazine and the one picture that he chose from his portfolio really caught my eye enough to look up his work. At first I was a little disappointed because some of the first images I saw were his portraits which were a little commercial and not really what I was expecting from the photo in the magazine. But the further I clicked around on his website the better the work got...to clarify his work is good but the more you click around the more you find his fine art photography. His landscapes are gorgeous and for a minute I thought most of them were double exposures, it turns out many of them are reflections in water that the focus is really crisp. Another thing to make note of are his skies all of them have a cloud in them (a rule if you ever took Larry's basic class he drills into you) and they have contrast to them. I don't know how to describe it other than awesome and if you are into Landscape photography he's someone you should look at. I will say that for some he maybe a little to contrasty but I honestly don't have a problem with it, all his darks still have texture and the same with his light areas.

As a photographer he seems interested in exploring many different styles of photography, though he says on his website that urban, architecture, and macro photography are his main interests.

Ray comments on Looks Who's Taking: Connecting with Social Media

2011-10-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

There are some fun and valid reasons why photography has taken a form of art by means of social media. First of all, do you believe photography is an art form? If you do, do you believe all photography is art? I know there is art in all mediums that I have a hard time considering it as art. I Do believe art is subjective to a certain extent, but where do we draw the line, so to speak. I can see the beauty, and have embraced the resource possibilities of social media and the different means of communication. I am entertained by the logistical possibilities via photography. But, I also feel strongly about the basic elements involved in creating or capturing a photographic image. I really hope someone argues this point with me! Maybe social media photography should be classified as entertainment, or as a special event. Maybe I'm old fashion, But I have a hard time considering this type of photography as art. Maybe my elementary aged nieces and nephews are freaked photographic fine artist because they have taken some amazing photo that carry much more validity as fine art than many photo exhibit that are currently being displayed, in public, galleries, and museums. While I appreciate the passion for capturing images for whatever reason or purpose we have, we are entering new territory as far as form and content are concerned. Looks Who's Taking: Connecting with Social Media was certainly an I opener for me.

Blair Bodden submits Annette Fournet

2011-10-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

Annette Fournet is a contemporary photographer who lives and teaches photography in Memphis, Tennessee and in Prague, Czech Republic.

Fournet uses collected old snapshots, carte de visites, and portraits in the body of work titled Lost Promises. This series Fournet states, “celebrates all the promises of life – marriages, special occasions, and family gatherings.”

In this body of work, Fournet has combined found images, scanned materials and her own black and white photos to create a narrative for the people in her photographs. These images that she finds are usually old portraits or snapshots of people she does not know. So in creating this work she gives these individuals a new story. Again this is another artist that I found doing research for my own work it is very intriguing how she uses found material and found individuals to create the characters of her narratives.

Blair Bodden submits Carrie Mae Weems SPE Conference

2011-10-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

Carrie Mae Weems was the Keynote Speaker at the Society of Photographic Education South-central Conference held at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Weems gave her lecture on Friday September 30 to a recital hall full of students and faculty from seven different states. Weems is a very articulate and strong speaker which shows the passion she has for creating the bodies of work she has done and still will do. During her lecture the body of work that she spoke that struck my interest was the work she has done in the city where she lives. The body of work is titled Social Studies 101, Operation: Activate, 2011. This particular work interested me because Weems decided to use her art to take a stand in her community on violence but she still incorporates her contemporary style to these messages in what is said in them and how and where they are presented. This shows that our art can be used for so many things if we choose to do so with it.

Blair Bodden submits Brianna Burnett

2011-10-26T07:45:00.000-07:00

To give a brief background on Brianna Burnett, she is from Houston and studied her BA at Austin College in Sherman and received her MFA from Texas Tech University. Most of Burnett’s work seems to be done in an alternative process, tintypes. I found this work intriguing not only for use of the tintypes but for the basis of her work that she completes. Behind Burnett’s work revolves the act of storytelling. Burnett uses this idea in all of her bodies of work which take a look at interpreting stories. In Burnett’s artist statement she states, “I interpret stories, retell memories, and interpret narratives I have heard. This act of retelling becomes an oral reference of time and collection…As humans, the stories we collect keep us connected all to being alive and experiencing life. I envision this body of work as being a collection of images which reference experience, past, connections, and community.”

The use of storytelling and narrative has always inspired my work as a student artist. In my research for my work I have found several artists that influence and inspire me to keep going with my work even though sometimes I struggle with getting my idea across clearly. Brianna Burnett is a great resource for concept based work and also for the use alternative process in her work.

Rebecca Villarreal presents Aaron Huey

2011-10-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

Aaron Huey is a photojournalist who has worked for Harper and National Geographic, his work is driven some by politics and much by what he believes in. He's very passionate about people's rights and much of his work reflects this. One of the projects he worked on centered around Native American rights, he's helping to continue the fight of the Lakota Sioux Indians to regain land they lost back in 1890 at Wounded Knee and to show the world just how far reservation life has declined. His lecture on TED talk, was amazing to listen to and eye opening with information on how hard life for the Lakota Sioux has been. To say the least the photos from Pine Ridge are worth more than 1,000 words. They are ghostly images of suffrage.

The more I've looked at his work, the more I think he has an eye for Americana. For one project he walked all over the U.S. with his dog and took pictures of the places and people he saw along the way. All his images tell stories about America, when and if he ever finishes the project it will be a great portrait of what makes America...America.

His website is filled with tons of work and I encourage every one to take a look at it, I haven't even gotten through all of it.

Rebecca Villarreal presents Binh Danh

2011-10-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Binh Danh is a photographer who uses a the alternative process of photosynthesis to create images on leaves. His work is extrodanary to look at and was one of the things that inspired me to try the process out in class this semester.

Much of his work is based on his Vietnemese heritage and the trials and tribulations Viet Nam has suffered over the years. Many of his images come from old negatives he's found of war and the people who were in the middle of it. Danh uses a variety of leaves and grasses to print on, the quality is amazing to look at of the image and the print. I never would of thought you could get some of the range he does in a plant. There is a bit of poetic feel to his use of leaves as his canvas, more so I think for the leaves vulnerability and the past's vulnerability. Something I like about the process, because there are conflicting ideas on it stability to last for long. An idea that coincides with history's ability or inability to keep the past alive in the future.

He's definantly someone to look at.

Ray submits David LaChappelle

2011-10-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

http://www.davidlachapelle.com/

David LaChappelle lives in a wonderland of art and creativity. These are just a few of his highly dynamic images derived from his passion for visual stimulation.
I appreciate the vast combinations of techniques and processes. In the spirit of our class, Studies and Sketches 3, the tryptic image, probably utilizes photo oils or pencils, mounted on cardboard. His use of elaborate sets, add a definitive narrative to his final images. I enjoy studying the different light sources and how they work in the final comps. His images, in my case, provoke a desire and a thought process to create art. What compels our choice of color in the work we create?

Andrea Couture submits Kristin Giordano

2011-10-25T07:05:00.001-07:00

Kristin Giordano who does mostly landscape photography. She takes photographs of landscapes that have the presence of the human without usually seeing an actual humane within the picture plane. She uses a 1970s Diana and a Yashica to create her photographs. Using these cameras creates an ethereal quality in her photographs that she probably could not get with a regular digital camera. I really enjoy her photographs and the airiness of them. These are the type of photographs that I would like to work on for my personal project that deals with memory.

Here is the link to her website:

http://www.kristingiordano.com/

Andrea Couture submits Carrie Mae Weems talk

2011-10-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

Many of us went to the Carrie Mae Weems talk during SPE. I thought that she was a great speaker. She seems to be very passionate about her art and allows her life to be consumed by the work she is making at the time. Weems had a lot of interesting things to say and I enjoyed seeing her work. The work that I was most drawn to was her Kitchen Table Series.

I think this series is interesting because all of the photographs are set in the same scene, only the characters and a few simple props move and change. Each photograph is set where most of the kitchen table is seen and the light hangs down, shining brightly in the middle of the table. These photographs are simplistic but they say a lot. This series talks about the human relationship (romantic, mother/daughter, friend, ect.) I really enjoy the interaction between the characters; it reminds me of the things that really do happen around a kitchen table. I also feel that many of life's events happen around the kitchen table and that is where we learn about each other and ourselves.

If you would like to see more from this series, visit this link:

http://carriemaeweems.net/galleries/kitchen-table.html

Midterm Blog entries are ridiculously low.

2011-10-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hey Advanced Photo students...where are your weekly blog entries? These are to show me the progress of your personal research and so far, I only see 4 names here. Many of you officially have an F on this requirement. You will now only be able to achieve 1/2 of the grade for the blogs...come on people. This is not that big of a requirement. Check your syllabi for the weight of the blogs in your final grades. You are advanced students, get your game on!

Katy Schmader presents Sarah Cusimano Miles

2011-10-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

http://sarahcusimanomiles.com/

I first met Sarah Cusimano Miles at SPE nationals in March. She recently spoke at the South central conference in town. Man oh man is her work exciting.

Miles had access to all the unused animals at the Anniston Museum of Natural History in Anniston, Alabama. Miles composes these creatures to create these beautifully composed images. I believe a lot of her influence comes from religious renaissance artwork. All the objects in the frame of her photograph tend to have a greater meaning than purely being fixed into the image.

The greatest thing about these images is how they are composed. Sarah Cusimano Miles breaks the image into a grid. In each portion of that grid she takes several different photographs at different focal lengths. When she uploads all these collected images into photo shop she masks off each image in a way to give herself in infinite amount of focus. This process creates incredibly detailed images.

Not only are these images beautiful, but they create a conversation between the specimen and the viewer.

Katy Schmader present Dan Mountford

2011-10-21T14:43:00.000-07:00

Dan Mountford is one of my favorite new finds. Mountfords work is mostly made up of double exposure that is all done in camera, without the use of photo shop.

Due to the technical skills, and the flawlessness of his prints, he seems to have worked the technique that he uses down to a science.

His prints are clean, and well thought out. They really take advantage of positive and negative space, not only as the finished product but as well as the process. In order for these images to work the way they do I feel Mountford has to put in an incredible amount of work, and thought process.

Mountford’s mages are excellent examples of double exposure, and the otherworldly project that we are currently working on. These images really helped me to think about how two images relate to one another, what those two images together say as a whole, and what that says about the image conceptually.

Chris Castillo presents Roy Flukinger at the Harry Ransom Center

2011-10-07T07:47:00.000-07:00

At the end of this years Society for Photographic Education South Central conference, co chair Kent Rush led a small group to Austin to meet Roy Flukinger, Senior Research Curator of Photography at the Ransom Center. Flukinger showed us the public areas of the building and selected pieces from the Gernsheim collection for us to view.

Temperature, humidity, and light levels are some of the main conservation concerns. The building's lighting, temperature and humidity are completely controlled. Lights are UV and infrared shielded. The windows have screens to block out daylight and the overhead lighting is dimmable.

From the collection, we saw work by photographers including Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, and Carleton E. Watkins. We were also shown examples including an albumen print, a wax paper negative, and a pre-photographic era (1810) camera obscura.

The collection has around 600 pieces of 19th century photography apparatus, Flukinger said.

Until we set up our own class tour to the collection, click this link to hear Flukinger introduce the collectors, the hunt for the first photograph, and how the Gernsheim collection was brought to The University of Texas at Austin.

For more information, visit http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/multimedia/audio/

Chris Castillo presents Bill Durgin

2011-10-06T19:58:00.000-07:00

Bill Durgin is a photographer who uses the abstracted body to redefine genre boundaries. Is he a still life photographer? Is he a portrait photographer? Is it documentation of performance? Durgin’s work is a combination of of the above categories.

According to his artist’s statement for his nudes and still life works, he riffs on classical painting genres. He pays attention to relate the scale of the body equal to the scale of his juxtapositions (plants, wig hair, animals…) Dancers, models, and the artist himself pose as the subjects.

His nude work is unexpected. Bodies become objects, distorted, contorted, and universal. The spaces that surround the bodies are ambiguous, isolating, and haunting. They allude to the white cube gallery, but could allude to sinister or controversial spaces, like prison systems or psychiatric institutions…

He details his technical process. He shoots on 4x5 film, scans it, and minimally retouches the C41 prints. The photos are true to life’s real surrealism.

For more information visit http://billdurgin.com/

Rebecca Villarreal presents Taryn Simon

2011-10-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

Taryn Simon is a hard person to describe as a photographer. Her work is impressive to the lengths she goes in the research alone to put it together and get the shots she wants. Much of her process is about the research and letter writing to just about anyone who can help her reach her goal. Many of her projects seem to surround the idea of injustices done to people by the government, their own family members, and the things we aren't supposed to see. Out of all her work my favorite project, that inspired me to write about her, was her work called The Innocents which was based around how photography is used as tool to convict the wrong people in many cases of crimes the did not commit. All the men in her photos were tried and convicted almost solely on the use of photography in a photo line up. Many spend years in jail before being aquitted by DNA or a confession by the actual criminal. Some of the photos in series are powerful to look at with the story attached, with one photo a person's life is completely ruined and they must forever live with a stigma of having been in jail.

That's really what seems to make Taryn Simon's work, work, is the story she investigates and insures is true paired with a photo that puts an image to the facts or research.

Rebecca Villarreal presents Rebecca Villarreal

2011-09-28T08:27:00.001-07:00

Okay so just to clarify from the start, I'm not blogging about my own work, I was bored the other day and decided googling myself would cure me of being bored. In then end I found two Rebecca Villarreal's who were photographers and the rest is this blog.

Rebecca's work is defiantly different from mine, I would probably describe her as an alternative landscape photographer. She does both color and black and white photography and seems to have a good eye for both....though I think her color work might be my favorite. Anyways breaking down both portfolios, in her color portfolio she has a more traditional approach to the landscape showing scenes of the beach and sand dunes. The most striking part of the photos are the skies, if she did in photoshop at all to the work she did just enough. It doesn't look to far over done and it doesn't look too grey, if any of that makes sense. The thunder heads just over power the viewer and take up a good portion of the work, but I'm okay with that because I'm not let down on the color. The best way I can describe the work is its just enough.

Her black and white images take on what I would call an alternative landscape, she zooms in on her subjects so much that they are slightly out of focus if not completely out of focus. And this maybe bad of me, but I do enjoy an out of focus picture if its done right. She does it right with her triptych of the beach foam is gorgeous, when I looked at it for the first time I got a loose sense of water before knowing the title and once I read the title. I was quite happy knowing my guess was right but it wasn't upon first glance just a picture of water. Also I have to say she was clever in how she decided to make her triptych pieces different sizes than the traditional equal thirds. She did a great job keeping texture in her pictures, I think some of the images maybe a little too gray but I still enjoy looking at them.

Overall its lovely work and I hope she continues producing artwork.