Week 9 EOC: Emotional Photo

 

You look at this photo and you might think, "What's emotional about that?" Well to those that grew up in the generation of the Pop Princess, Britney Spears, you would feel emotional and feel a "connection" to this photo. The portrait was taken by famed photographer David LaChapelle. Personally LaChapelle is one of my favorite photographers for his use of color and shock value. He takes portraits in a style that makes you linger on the photo a little longer than you may have another photo. This photo holds an emotional connection to me because this was the first image we saw of Britney Spears that changed her image from girl next door to sex icon. What was controversial at the time was Britney Spears was only 18 years old. Though it wasn't illegally for her to pose this way it still shocked people when they saw the cover of Rolling Stone with their young daughter's favorite singer posing in such a provocative way. I mentioned before that I believe a good photograph is one that provokes an emotion. The photo doesn't need to be showing a war scene or a political figure. This photo at the time was shocking to my 13 year old self. But now at the age of 25 I see it as a great use of photography showcasing how we change in your lives. Celebrities change too. 

This is what I admire most about this photo. I no longer see a little girl laying on a bed, I now see one of the most famous women in the world.

Week 9 EOC: Cyber Monday

This may be my favorite shopping day of the year. Most like to think that Black Friday is the day to shop but those amateurs are mistaken. On the Monday after Black Friday is the amazing day of Cyber Monday. The one day of the year where almost all businesses with an online store produce deals on theirs products. This day is great for a photographer because most of the equipment we need can be found more available online. To be a photographer you need a camera and "the eye" for photography. To be a GREAT photographer you need a little more. Lens are a photographers best friend. Sure we can see what will make a great picture but a lens is what makes a moment come to life in 2D form. This Cyber Monday I've been researching a new lens that I have been looking at for a couple of years.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L II IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

 

List Price: $4,000

Amazon Cyber Monday Price: $2,074.00

This telephoto lens is not only an amazing telephoto lens that makes getting pictures from far away look amazing it also works as a great portrait lens.  My photography business specializes in portrait photography, having this lens would increase my abilities in my portraits. With the ability to take a portrait with a longer focal length is a great way to make my photography more creative and pleasing to others. Since this is an "L series" lens I want to add this to my collection of lens now that I have been able to establish my business and have gained repeating customers.

Week 8 EOC: What do you think makes a photograph great?

There are many answers for this question. My answer is quite simple. Any photograph that provokes an emotion makes a great photograph. Have you ever seen a photo and thought "eh" that's because it didn't provoke anything. A thought, a feeling, nothing. When you see an ad in a magazine, and you see a pair of jeans you have to have, that's the emotion I'm looking for. When you see a photo of a pregnant woman caressing her baby bump and you smile and think about your own family. That's the emotion I'm talking about. It can be any emotion, happiness, sadness, humor. By provoking these emotions you are touching and connecting with others without words but by your photography. That is what really makes photography such a popular form of art. People want to share these emotions with each other and photography is one of the best way to do that. While watching "The Bang Bang Club" the photo of the vulture and the little girl provoked a feeling of helplessness in myself. By just looking at a photo and being able to provoke emotion that's when you know you are a photographer.

Week 8 Photo Challenge

With this challenge I knew exactly what art work I was going to use. Though in the movie "Gentlemen's Relish" the art being used was photography I have always loved the way nudity has been used in Renaissance works of art. The painting being shown is the "Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. I saw this amazing painting in Florence while I lived and studied there in 2008. Though there is nudity in the painting, in the original it is only a small part of the entire painting. By cropping the photo to only focus on the nudity the narrative of the painting completely changes. Just like the photography done in the movie, it is easy to see how it could be seen as pornography. I included my photographer's "watermark". Though I don't use this same watermark in my own photography I wanted to create one that you could notice but not be distracted by. I created a simple "eye" shape with long lashes signifying a wide eye.

Week 7 EOC Adult Content

Pornography is always a touchy subject, especially for photographers. In the film "Gentlemen's Relish" they touch on the subject of turning photography into a more lucrative career by the use of pornography. I felt the film showed an accurate depiction of how a photographer in the early 1900s. Though the overall story line was created for an interesting plot it was not uncommon for people of high esteem to be involved in the purchasing of pornography. Photographers always seem to be proving that they are creative individuals. Since we use a machine to make our art it makes it difficult to see how a photo can be considered art. In the film the photographer would take a photo of a historical event incorporating nudity but then by just cropping into the shot to emphasize the nudity it became pornography. The subject has been taboo in the United States because of how our society is. If you were to travel to Europe they embrace sexuality and the human form. Though as a photographer I do not have an interest in pornography or nude photography I do feel that if done tastefully it is considered an art form. Some might think that taking pictures of your vacation is not art but be completely surprised when they see a beautiful photo of the architecture in Paris. It all depends on whoever is looking at the photo and how they want to interpret it.

BOC Week 7 Photo Challenge: Collage

Two of my favorite fields of photography is portrait and travel photography. My collage displays of a few trips I took this past summer. I was very fortunate to visit Paris, France, Alaska, and Charlotte, North Carolina to see Britney Spears in concert. I love documenting my travels because even though the memory is there it is always more fun to look back at my pictures to see all the amazing things I have gotten to experience. I took all these pictures with my Canon Powershot SX110 IS set on manual. Though I used a point and shoot camera on trips I always shoot on manual. Being a photographer I feel we always like to have control over what is being taken and how it will look.

My favorite part of these two types of photography is that not only are you documenting interesting things but you are experiencing things that will shape and develop you as a photographer and as a person.

Week 6 EOC: How has art changed me?

I feel art has always had an influence in my life. Like any person who feels they need to make a living as an adult I did not pursue any art education when I was first attending college. It felt that there was no way of making a career out of being creative. My mentality was to do something that I thought I could live with. I thought that was social work. Turns out it wasn't my kind of work. Art really influenced my life when I traveled to Florence, Italy for six weeks. That was where photography really influenced in my decision to pursue art as a career. "Art and culture are both beauty and power. While they enrich, beautify, and entertain, they also inform, innovate and connect. Engaging in creative process allows access to; the language needed to build community across difference; the tools needed to inform, engage and mobilize; and the imagination needed to create new political, social, economic and technological solutions to the challenges we face as a nation in a changing world." (http://www.artischange.com/)

Since my discovery I began my schooling at the Art Institute of Las Vegas. Though some classes feel like a chore, like any type of schooling, but it was here that I finally realized that other people have been affected by art as well. For the first time I have projects and assignments on subjects that actually interest me. "When strategically engaged, art challenges, educates and informs to create awareness."(http://www.artischange.com/) Instead of it feeling like tedious work it felt like I was learning something I could put to use. After each quarter I felt myself becoming more and more comfortable with my abilities and trusting that I did have talent to be a photographer. Before coming to the Art Institute I knew I could take a picture but it wasn't till I finally discovered that you can love your career that really changed my way of thinking of art. I have always surrounded where I live with art and it took a while to understand that was what I was suppose to be doing. Creating art. "Regardless of whether one considers him or herself a part of the creative or cultural community, cultural transformation is possible only when art, culture and creative process are acknowledged, engaged and present."(http://www.artischange.com/)

Week 6 BOC: Photo Challenge

When you see photos in a magazine or in an advertisement majority of the time you think "Wow I wish I looked like that!" or "Wow I want to go there!" Well as photographers we want you to think these things. It's not only our job to take the picture but to edit it so that it looks almost perfect. In a way we photographers are a product of how society wants to see things. We can edit almost anything and make you believe that it is real. In portrait photography the emphasis is on the face. Would you want to see your senior picture with a acne and dark circles? I did not think so. It's our job as photographers to show the client at their best and to make them feel beautiful if that's what the photo shoot is aiming for. I do most of my editing at school or on my own laptop at home. I'm the type of photographer that likes the editing to be done as natural as possible. If I can get away with only a few touches I feel that is a successful photo. The amount of editing depends on the project.

I took this self portrait of myself editing a set of business portraits I recently took. I never realized that the concentration on my face can come off as mean. But when I sit at the computer to edit a set of photos I zone everything out and examine the photo as if I were that person. You are always more critical on yourself than others would be and by looking at all the small details I am able to see what should be improved.