The End of a Semester

So here is it, the end of the semester and my last post for this particular class; it has been very educational, interesting and overall a great class. I actually came into this class thinking it wouldn't be that hard, after all I have used my camera and all the programs attached to this class for years. I know how to take a picture. I was wrong. Well, not about being able to take pictures but about how very much work the class would be. Along with many hours in the lab during class, I spent many a late afternoon and weekend day in the school photo-lab and loved every minute of it! I love every member of my class and would consider them a dear friend. In the end, I got way more out of this class than I realized I would. Thank you to our instructor Kate, for being the base of my "photography family tree" and thank you to my fellow students for a really awesome semester!!

Water is Life

I LOVE water photography!

I love the colors:

I love the shapes:

I love the movement caught as a still life:

I watched an interesting video on how to do it that is super interesting: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yvyk5rcUm0  What can I say I so love love love water photography!

Artist Statement: To Define or not to define my art, that is the question

Part of my final project for my digital photography class this semester I have to write an artist statement. Like many in my class I have never done this before; what do I say? What do I not say?, HOW do I say whatever it is that represents my art? Is my art, art or just pretty pictures? What defines the difference? Oh the questions that come along with this one little piece of paper!!  I'd rather be taking pictures :)  But alas that is not the point of the assignment. The point is to write about my art. As I suggested to a fellow classmate, I goggled artist statements and came across a very interesting article about what they are about and what to think about when writing one. I am posting the link to maybe help some of my fellow struggling classmates.  How to Write an Artist Statement

Fangirl Issues

I love photographs and there is one photographer who's work I really enjoy. In fact I almost made an ass out of myself at last years Sullivan parade; while waiting on the float I was a part of, I saw that a photographer I admired had a small float too. I was overcome with my fangirl excitement and practically vibrated with the need to run over and introduce myself and gush about how I loved her pictures. Luckily I was able to control myself and just mooned from afar but still I love her work :)

Brook G Photography

Every Idiot

It seems that a common punch line one hears in photography is that "every idiot with camera thinks they are a photographer". But lets face it, with the advent of digital photography, lower to medium grade cameras at an affordable cost and Photoshop knock offs like Gimp or photo sites like Instagram with built in effects that can mask just about every technical shortcoming, it's getting easier and easier to make that statement true. But regardless of actual "talent" there is something to be said for those of us hobby photographers that want to learn to create the photo's we love to look at. When my kids were tiny I used to "plan" a studio visit. I would have a vision in my head of what I wanted then I would buy/make the outfits and props I needed. Then I discovered friends with higher end cameras who would allow me to borrow them to try to create the pictures in my head. Now of course I have my own equipment and I love the freedom to drop everything and run with an idea in my head. I still love pictures, mine and those made by both professionals and amateurs but even if I am just an idiot with an expensive camera, I am a happy idiot with a camera, much like a painter with new paints or a dancer with new choreography, I love my art outlet.

 

Studio vs Outdoors

So I own studio equipment...lights, backgrounds, reflectors, the whole nine yards but I personally prefer outdoor settings. This weekend I spent most of my Saturday helping out some fellow students in setting up and working with a makes shift studio and lighting in a spare classroom. From it came a lot of great pics and got me thinking maybe I am just prejudice against the studio because it takes so much to set up and take down. On the other hand I can see the ability to control the light and "setting up" the portrait can be fun too.  I think I will always be an outdoor girl but I think I may set the studio up in the basement and try doing some fun stuff with the family and see if maybe I can change my own opinion :)

Food Photography

I love food art! It is so fun and interesting and creative! I look at an orange and see an orange but someone else can look at it ad see a cat? How amazing is that! I need to find someone who likes to do art and offer to take pictures of it for fun because I find it absolutely fascinating!

Lightroom As a Storage Catalog

So I've been using Adobe Lightroom as a photo and batch editing software for I don't even remember how long; let's just say probably before I owned or even borrowed a camera with enough "umph" to require a program of this level. Regardless, I know Lightroom, we've been friends for many years. We have had our up and downs. I have spent countless hours banging my head against a monitor trying to get a particular fix or effect that I like; it has patiently waited for me to figure my problem out. What I never used Lightroom for was as a photo library! That is the first thing I learned this semester in my digital photography class. I was amazed that I never knew this wondrous option was available. It's like buying a Hummer when you never drive out of the city! If you use Lightroom and have not taken advantage of this fabulous feature, check out this link on setting up a fabulous photo library!!

http://thelightroomlab.com/2010/06/getting-started-right-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-3-setup-and-catalog-creation/

Moon Photography

I LOVE the moon and the different phases and colors and the surrounding sky. But capturing it on film has so far alluded me. I've tried on several occasions to capture it and all I got was a big over blown bright light that it totally unrecognizable as the moon. I am thinking this summer that capturing the moon may be a personal project of mine. In the mean time here are a few of my favorite shots.

Camera Lens aka Photographer Porn

The only thing more addictive than photo props is camera lens. Once you have experienced a SLR camera that allows you to alternate lens, it sort of becomes an addiction; a very pricey addiction. There are so many options though, how do you know what glass to spend your money on, you know when you win the lottery and can afford it :)  I found a great web article to help better understand what the differences are. Take a look when you get a few minutes!  Understanding Camera Lenses

Art vs Photoshop

Always in the graphic's world you hear the word "photoshop" which to some means a "created" image but to some relates a less positive term as a "false" image. I personally love photoshop and use it to create many fun projects and am always amazed by what it can produce. Like any "tool" it can be used for good or evil but it is all about the mind of the onlooker more than the intention of the artist that defines whether it is a successful image.

True Art

So as I sit here in the photo-lab on a Saturday afternoon printing my little heart out for an upcoming portrait assignment I come across an artist named Samuel Silva. Silva is an artist who draws realistic pictures with pen and ink that are so life like they look like photographs. As a person who can't draw a strait line with a ruler I find this absolutely fascinating! I am a point and pray photographer, I feel like the shots I love are often just pure luck, so the idea that someone can sit down and create line by line a picture that is beautiful is phenomenal to me.

Art or Gross?

In a magazine recently I saw a whole "artistic" spread of full paged layouts of moldy food displayed as "high" art and I have to say I was pretty impressed!! Even though it was rotting food, it had an way about it that made me want to keep looking and get up close to see the different colors and textures. In art classes they say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but until now I really didn't get what that meant.  

Color Booping in a Photograph

So I am sure there is a technical term for it but when I "enhance" or make a color more vibrant I always say to my self I am going to "bop" the color on a picture. In nature there are pictures that are so vibrant and beautiful not editing is needed but sometimes in my own photography, "bopping" a color is the difference between a picture that I like vs a picture that I love. I am personally drawn to color but love black and white photos too. Ok, lets face it, I am kind of a picture whore; I love taking pictures and looking at the work of others photographers.  I love that some colors happen by nature but I love being able to bring out what my camera didn't "see" because I didn't have the setting right or it looked different on my 2x2 screen than it does on my computer screen at home.

There is a question of going to far though. When I see a picture like the one above I just want to stare for hours but then I see pictures like the one below and I feel like the picture got pushed just a little too far, I don't like the "plastic" look of the piece; but I still like the picture :)

I guess everyone has an opinion.

Letters Around Town

I am obsessed with objects, both created and naturally occurring, that create letters. I find it fascinating to look past the "Bigger" picture and find something you weren't looking for; that ability to make a connection and see something different that it was intended to look like just fascinates me. Abba Richman has a collection I just love to sit and stare at.

Jumping in the Deep End

So I am not much for posting on the web. I stalk friends and family on Facebook and Twitter daily but I don't personally post much on either site. Not to be unkind to anyone but who cares what I had for dinner or who doesn't already know I love my kids and that work is stressful. 

With that in mind this blog is part of class I am taking so I have to reach down deep and find profound and interesting things to say to the cyber world as a whole that don't make me sound like a vapid narcosis; talk about a tough challenge! So here we go, lets see what rabbit I can pull out of my creative hat.