Mike Weinheimer - 2nd Blog Assignment (Portrait)

Hellen van Meene

Untitled #327

Me, Ophelia

Hellen is photographer from the Netherlands. She uses models that have never modeled before and guides them as to what pose and expression she is looking for. For the most part she works with a lot of young children and adolescents because they are easier to guide, control, and freedom when working with them. From time to time she pick subjects from the street. When she guides her subjects she wants them to feel confident and relaxed with her when she is taking the photos. Most of her portraits are influenced by the painting Ophelia by John Everett Millais where the models expression is vacant, the hushed atmosphere of the composition, and the alienating surroundings. In most of Hellen's work it appears to be the use of natural lighting in the afternoon or morning, which contributes to the over all attributes of what she was going after.

Lydia McCarthy

Jessye 2010

Kate 2010

Lydia is from North Carolina and photographed people with a self constructed camera in which she replaced the lens with a fresnel (magnifying sheet). The results of what she took were impressions of refracted light where the highlights rendered as the spectrum and the shadows as undefined lines and shapes. The over all feel of the photographs were painterly due to the saturation of the color, the soft focus, and the rich tones. Lydia choose subjects that she desires, but do not know personally and the characteristics that these subjects have she wants to be able to possess them as part of her character. The work created is about an intense longing to experience a reality that is not of our own.

Tierney Gearon

Untitled 2006

The Mother Project

Untitled 2000

I am a Camera

Tierney is from Atlanta Georgia and has worked as a fashion photographer, but decided to settle down and be with her kids. She goes on journeys with her children to homes of distant and diverse relatives, mostly across the US. The photographs that she takes are of her children and family from different places, but her work is more than just family snapshots. They are out of the ordinary and have an edginess play to it. Her work shows a level of comfort and confusion. the confusion part being that she has the ability to capture life with surreal twists by young people in an adult world. The masks being used contribute to the unusual nature of the family photograph and the children paired with the adults appear to be not sentimentalized. The work is personal and reflects apparent equal helping of chaos and stability and yet appears to stay anonymously distant.

Mary Ellen Mark

Quail Dobbs urges his dog Phyllis through the over sized hoop

Rodeo

Circo Franzatti, Mexico City

Mexican Circus

Mary is well known and has been in LIFE, New York Times, The New Yorker, Rolling Stones, and Vanity Fair Magazine. Recieved countless awards and mentions from various insitutions and galleries. Published 16 books and exhibits her work worldwide. Over four decades she has traveled substanially to make photographs that reflect a high degree of humanism. Mary has a documentive approach on her images that seem to go beyond than just documenting of the worlds diverse cultures.

Glenn Jodun - Second Blog Assignment

Chase Jarvis Blog

While he hasn't been to the most famous of places, Photographer Chase Jarvis has traveled all over the globe.  That said, you would think that his portfolio would be full of snapshots from the different places he has visited.  This, however, isn't true.  Instead, he works in portraiture - sometimes they resemble quick snapshots of various events, other times they're quite set up and every detail accounted for.  In his street style photography, ambient lighting is taken advantage of as well as shallow depths of field, allowing the subject to fit in the setting without much competition.  In the more set up shots, Jarvis makes use of low key, dynamic lighting to emphasize the subject.  In the specific example below, he also make use of an extremely fast shutter speed to capture the subjects speed and force in an aesthetically pleasing matter.

Diabetes Tattoo on the Fence's Drummer.

Water from the Kung Fu vs. the Elements Series.  Shot for the Kung Fu HD Television Network.

Carina Linge found on the Conscientious Blog

Unfortunately, the photographer's blog is in German - with the exception of the menu keys.  Conscientious doesn't offer up much of a description of the artist either, besides saying that her work is extremely conceptual which I suppose I agree with.  Merely looking at her two portfolios lets the viewer know that she's particularly interested in the feminine figure, in relation to natural forms in some places and in relation to more of a mod style house in others.  We also see a more indirect approach to what most would consider portraiture.  The subject's face is hardly ever within the frame, if it is it is never in entirety.  In most cases, we see studies of the subjects hands and legs, and in at least one the subjects buttocks.  She also uses high key lighting, bathing the subject, as well as the background, in even lighting with a white balance that seems to almost subdue the color in a way.

mein guter, alter freund, 2008.

amor et psyche, 2007.

Loretta Lux found on Daily Serving

Loretta Lux is actually a classically trained German painter from the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste.  She has since then recently began working with digital photography and Photoshop to arrive at various eerie solutions.  From Daily Serving, the reader is informed that the artist photographs her young subjects  in vintage clothing in an artificial reality, disconnected from true reality and therefore slightly disturbing to her viewers.  Probing into her own website, it was revealed that Lux makes use of Photoshop to manipulate both her subjects and the background.  The subjects receive a skin treatment to achieve a corpse-like complexion, and then various filters and masks are applied to create her unsettling, disjointed backgrounds.  Aside from this, Lux's approach to portraiture is rather straight forward - at least 3/4 view of the subject with their faces in line with the camera.  That said, it is also worth mentioning how she forces her subjects to look directly into the camera, almost challenging the viewer, unsettling them even further.

The Drummer, 2004.

Isabella, 2001.

LaToya Ruby Frazier found on Flak Photo

This particular photographer's take on portraiture is rather different that the others, in that it doesn't seem to strive to be considered "fine art."  The pictures, while some may be posed, serve as what the artist says a self-portrait/documentary, where she attempts to bridge the generational gap between mother and daughter.  In truth, many of the images from her portfolio say candid, capturing the members of her family when they least expect it or when they're not paying attention.  In others, she takes a direct approach, posing them in front of a patterned wall and shooting there.

Notion of a Family, 2010.

Notion of a Family, 2010.

Alexis Mattila- 1st Assignment

Steven Beckley



Steven Beckley is a Canadian photographer living and working in Toronto. His intimate, personal photographs are "primarily influenced by his academic background in Psychology, his artistic practice involves exploring the complexities of identity, relationships, intimacy, and sexuality in contemporary experience." His approach is an interesting combination of both documentary and cinematographic styles, where he employs portraiture infused with biographical elements and idealized fiction: a touch of surrealism that creates a successful window into his perception of the world. Beckley works to portray emotional intricacies that explore and reveal layers of human beings.
"His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including exhibitions in John B. Aird Gallery (Toronto, ON), Newspace Center for Photography (Portland, OR), Photo Center NW (Seattle, WA), and the University of the Arts (Philadelphia, PA). His images have been featured in major international publications, including Photo Life (Canada), The Photo Review (USA), and Photo World (China). He was awarded the Director's Choice Award at the 2010 CENTER Awards (Santa Fe, NM)."

Source: http://www.stevenbeckly.com/


Kamile Gudmonaite





I stumbled upon this photographer and couldn't find a whole lot of information about her, other than she is from Vilnius, Lithuania. I found these images appealing because of the way she uses people as 'props' in her photographs, but not in a way where they seem posed. It's almost as though she is focusing on the actual figure in relation to the piece as a whole, rather than zoning in on the story of the actual person. Not saying that her photographs don't tell stories-- because they do. They feel rich in authenticity and are incredibly successful in creating a certain mood and/or essence. I suppose I was wondering about the essence of the whole scene, based on the influence of the figure, rather than asking myself questions such as "What's that person doing?" or "Why are they in this situation?"
I wish I could find more information about her. She's really talented.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjofugl/


Nina Ahn



Found her on BOOOOOOOM, but she doesn't have a lot of information either. She was featured in BOOOOOOOM's 'Small Victories' show. I like the how she uses documentary style photography in a non-generic way. Her images give a sense of carefree, genuine observation of things she witnesses in every day life, and at the same time, i feel as though a great deal of care and consideration were put into the way each image was captured.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hjnina/


Christian Boltanski



Christian Boltanski was born in Paris in 1944. A successful photographer, sculptor, painter, and installation artist, Boltanski's artistic endeavor began when he dropped out of school at the age of 12-- where he started painting and drawing. His artistic work is haunted by the problems of death, memory and loss; he often seeks to "memorialize the anonymous and those who have disappeared". This dark, unsettling, profound style can perhaps be assumed to be his own way of making sense of his short childhood, a way to understand the plaguing complexities of life and death.
Boltanski has exhibited internationally at museums including: Muse d'art modern de la ville de Paris; Kunsthalle Wien; Stedelijk van Abbemuseum. Eindhoven; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and many more. His work has been featured in Documenta (1972, 1986) at the Venice Biennale (1993, 1996), and at the Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh (1991). Boltanski currently lives in Malakoff, France.
Boltanski's personal quotes:
"We are all so complicated, and then we die. We are a subject one day, with our vanities, our loves, our worries, and then one day, abruptly, we become nothing but an object, an absolutely disgusting pile of shit. We pass very quickly from one stage to the next. It's very bizarre. It will happen to all of us, and fairly soon too. We become an object you can handle like a stone, but a stone that was someone."
'I began to work as an artist when I began to be an adult, when I understood that my childhood was finished, and was dead. I think we all have somebody who is dead inside of us. A dead child. I remember the Little Christian that is dead inside me."

Source: http://www.tate.org.uk/magazine/issue2/boltanski.htm


Ren Rox



A London based photographer, Ren Rox art directs all her shoots. She blurs the line between 'editorial' photography and fine art in her pieces, creating abstractions and unique compositions that not only help the photographs speak for themselves, but give character and meaning behind to figures being captured. However, Rox is not limited to fashion photography. Her personal pieces take a more abstract route, finding intrigue in light, color and texture. Many of her photos seem to have a kind of serene quietness to them, though the subject matter is often very animated.
Publications include: The Face, Dazed & Confused, Dazed Digital, Elle Girl Korea, BlackBook, Oyster, Neo2, Flaunt, Vision China, Fader, NME, and many more. Rox was also Shortlisted in the Portraiture category at the 2010 Sony World Photography Awards.

Source: http://www.renrox.com/


Jess Gough




Jess Gough is an up and coming photographer born in 1989. He uses light, color and scenery to create intriguing documentary-style photographs, which are mostly captured outdoors, giving his work an adventurous and carefree vibe. All of the photos featured on his website were taken between 2009 and 2010, and his interviews and published work include Mossless Magazine, Vice Magazine,Rebel Magazine, Waterfall Magazine, The Company of People, Booooooom, Blood of the Young Zine, Husk Magazine and more.

Source: http://cargocollective.com/jessgough

Devin Mace - 1st Blog Post Assignment

Daily Serving - Non Dominant Discourse

Ezzam Rahman, “SO?”, 2010, printed paper, plastic ribbon and chocolate

Seelan Palay, “Accomplished, Staying, Changes, Recession, Déjà vu, Payday, Dangerous, 2010 Sweet”, Collage on Paper

This group of artists addresses the issue of censorship in Singapore and the ‘O.B. markers’ or topics that are deemed ‘out of bounds’ by the government of Singapore.

Using one of the few outlets (if not the only one) they can, these artists are voicing their protests against the injustice of censorship and the difficulties it presents to self-expression. This discussion explores the effects of censorship on life in Singapore (in a general sense) and more specifically, the production and public sharing of art. The series by Ezzam Rahman critiques the governments view of legitimate artists and artistic practices by displaying the portraits of ‘Cultural Medallion Recipients’ with plastic ribbons and chocolate coins. The work of Seelan Palay addresses issues of patriotism and the sacrifice expected of patriotic citizens. She has collaged bold words from headlines with everyday portraits of normal citizens, calling into question the headline meaning for the common people.

From Daily Serving – From the DS Archives – Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky tries to capture the gritty side of commercialism and the world of industry with the intentions of an environmentalist. While some of his photos (including the one above) have an urban exploration feel to them, Edward also has photos from a series in China of factories, crammed with workers. His most recent work has been centered on the oil industry, a hot topic of late; so far he’s focused on oil rigs abandoned by their companies. The primary goal of his photography is to show the effects of commercialism on nature and the costs of continued industrialization for us as well as the world.

Beyond Megapixels – Finding Good Subjects to Photograph Part 2

In this post, Steve Russell acts as the ‘Martha Stewart’ of photography and offers up helpful suggestions to prevent artists from becoming bored with their surroundings (i.e. developing ‘photographer’s block’). Steve suggests trying out macro photography, which can turn dull seemingly everyday things into interesting subjects. He also suggests using a prop and playing with the environments in which to put the prop. Steve also offers up some ideas about looking at subjects that seem boring in new ways, by switching focus to patterns and repetition rather than thinking about subjects as a whole. Steve gives a list of other helpful tips for reversing photographer’s block and making everyday surroundings interesting again.

Beyond Megapixels – Rainy Day Photography

Tiffany Joyce offers up 5 tips for taking pictures in inclement weather. To begin, Tiffany talks about the importance of weatherproofing your equipment (most importantly, your camera) through a number of different means including a zip-lock bag and some electrical tape. She also suggest experimenting with shutter speed and exposure time in order to capture the rain in different ways. In addition to suggesting a wide array of f-stops for a variety of possible shadows present on a rainy day, Tiffany also offers advice about using a fill flash. Tiffany’s tips can help any photographer conquer the elements instead of being limited by them.

BOOOOOOOM! – Emil Kozak

Emil Kozak is a photographer who was born in Denmark but live and works in Barcelona. His work is centralized around the slow pace – easy going way of life in Spain and is inspired by the culture shock she experiences/(experienced). His attitude towards his work is a very ‘do what you love, enjoy what you do… aw hell, just have fun’ kind of view.

BOOOOOOOM! – Martin Hultén

Martin Hultén’s work is done with the intention to question our perceptions and judge between the real and the imaginary. His photography assumes the position of a stranger in a new place. Through this perspective, he wishes to tell stories about things that ‘have never been told before’. His goal is for the audience of his photography to question their own perceptions and to not settle for first impressions because things might not always appear as they seem.

Beth Harris - first assignment

Ryan Pfluger

Ryan Pfluger is one of my favorite photographers so I was excited to see that he was in the archive of the Feature Shoot blog. He is a portrait photographer in NYC. I think that he uses light really well and I really enjoy his photography. Some of his personal projects focus on his childhood and his relationship with his father. He focuses on the relationship between him and his subject subtly in his other work too.

Emil Kozak

Emil Kozak is a photographer from Denmark who is living in Barcelona Spain. He has a project about the differences he has found between the two places. I really like how he takes photos of very interesting scenes that it seems that he just finds. I found about him on the Feature Shoot blog.

Brian Ulrich

Brian Ulrich has a long term project called Copia about our consumer dominated culture. I think the project is very interesting and I like the images from it a lot. He has photos in stores and of shut down businesses. I found him on The Photography Post blog.

Allison Davies

These photos are from her book Outerland. She doesn't have a website so I couldn't find that much information on her. I really like her landscapes that seem other-worldly. I found her on the blog But Does It Float.

Sarina Finkelstein

I found Sarina Finkelstein on the blog Feature Shoot. She has a lot of different work on her website. I think that you can get a good feel of the surroundings she photographs from her photos.

Emily Shur

I really liked Emily Shur's photos of celebrities. She is really good at making each portrait interesting and unique. I also found her on the Feature Shoot blog.