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.