Light As A Subject!

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Dun na na na na na na na Batman! I love this image because of how much of a batman fan that I am. I am also a big fan of writing with light pictures and have only just learned how to do it this past semester. I really like how this picture was created, having just the one guy in the middle surrounded by the bat symbol. I also love how lit up the background is. It's not just a dark black background, you can see cars and how he is obviously in a neighborhood. I also really like the ghosting effect that is happening as one person is outlining the subject with the bat symbol. I think this photo is really cool, and has been created very well.

Light as a Subject

http://www.flashleap.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/photography-project-ideas-light-painting-can-be-easy.jpg


I like this photograph for two reasons: First, I like the view of the city lights in the night sky. I think viewing city lights at night can be mesmerizing. Second, I like the "angel" that has been drawn with light in the foreground. I looked at lots of photographs of light sabers and battle scenes using light, but I like the this more comforting image. Maybe this is a photograph of Los Angeles as represented by the angel in the foreground.

Light as Subject

"Downtown Beijing, Just After Rain"

Photo: Trey Ratcliff

While the photo is of downtown Beijing the real subject of this photograph are the city lights.  Taking this photograph, the artists took into account a slow shutter speed, the pollution in the air, even the humidity and fog.  He knew that he wanted to showcase the massive amounts of lights, and intended to make the colors vibrant and bold.  The use of a slower shutter speed creates a glowing blur of light and you begin to see the  light pollution from the sky scrappers in the city as a beautiful sort of ethereal outpost.  The amount of different lights and colors captured also gives the photo a sense of chaos, which fits perfectly with this night time portrait of life happening in downtown Beijing. 

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More of Trey Ratcliff HERE

Internet Research for Next Week:

Find an image anywhere online where the subject of the image is LIGHT.

Down The Rabbit Hole

Link to More of His Work

On my journey down the rabbit hole I ended up in the LIFE photo archive. On my first click I was instantly drawn to this photo. The photo was taken by Grey Villet around the 1900's (photo did not have a date). For starters, the black and white automatically adds a calming, yet striking mood. I really love how the focus is on the woman, but the man is shifted out of focus. I enjoy portrait photography and just taking of photos of people that aren't your usual smile and say cheese photos. The title of the photo is High School Football - Lawrence High, so I'm assuming the man is a football player and the woman is a cheerleader or someone special to him.

Down the Rabbit Hole

This is a photograph of two street vendors enjoying lunch on a table they made out of wooden crates covered in newspaper. I like this photograph because it looks like a simple time in history and it looks like they did this everyday. It looks like they are enjoying each others' company and that they enjoyed their lunch. This photograph looks simple to me because life nowadays is so much different than what it was back then. You can view this photo here.

Down the Rabbit Hole

THIS WAY TO THE STARS

Starting at the National Archives I wandered through the 21st century and found myself looking towards the stars. This image taken by NASAs' Chandra Xray Observatory shows a unique fireworks display created by a black hole. I particularly like this image because of the balance it presents. The balance between light and dark, warm and cool, and even in the spin of the vortex. All of this beauty and balance created by a dark hungry hole in space.

This picture of Salvador Dali, by Van Vechten, immediately grabbed my attention once I saw it. I think was grabs me is the random background, and how it perfectly fits with Salvador's work and how out of the ordinary it was. His facial expression is so serious in contrast with everything else around him that it creates an image that is interesting to look at and draws in the viewer's eye. The black and white also adds an element to it, as it kind of evens everything out but doesn't make it too boring, and his shadow behind him adds some form of dimension to the photograph.

Van Vechten's work

Down the Rabbit Hole To Disney!

Link to Image

Walt Disney on Cover of Life Magazine

Going through the rabbit hole I ended up on a LIFE photo archive. I love all things Disney and thought this picture was really good. I personally think this makes for a great portrait and really shows Walt Disney's life being surrounded by the things he helped create to bring joy to everyone. I think the colors really show the era of when this photograph could have been taken. You can tell it's very old, but still a classic. His pose in this image is very well done, it gives for a very relaxed look in the photograph. A small smile on his face shows in my opinion how much he loves what he does.

Down the Rabbit Hole

 

Original image here

Who doesn't love Walt Disney! Innovator,inventor, artist,businessman, philosopher and all around great guy. Disney has played a roll in not only my life but the lives of billions across the globe.Aside from those aspects I also love this picture because it shows Walt and his passion, Mickey looking on in the background, Walt standing, arms crossed in a with a smile on his face. I love the color and natural grain it has.Even though the background is that of a cartoon the whole image seems to come to life        

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/panoramic_photography/images/san_fran_earthquake.html


I like this photograph because it is a historical snapshot in time. The destruction of the 1906 San Francisco was devastating and seeing a picture of it is much better then reading a description of it. I am glad that someone took a picture of this so that we can appreciate the force of mother nature, Also we can see how much reconstruction has taken place since 1906 and the beautiful city that San Francisco is today.

http://blogs.archives.gov/prologue/?cat=721


I always been fascinated by this photo. It is a photo of General Eisenhower addressing the troops before D-Day. I know many things were going through his head at this moment along with the soldiers that were being sent to France. He had his resignation papers ready if D-Day turned out to be a disaster.

 Photo: Sally Mann

"Candy Cigarette"

1989, Gelatin Silver Print

         I am in love with so many aspects of this photograph.  The light cast on the subject separates her from the scene and draws the focus to her, this is only reinforced by the contrast between the whites in her dress and the dark of the trees and background.  I also adore the sharp focus and natural grain, indicative of film photography at the time.  The image emits a feeling of sadness, displacement and lost innocence.  While the other children are lost in their own imagination enjoying the day playing outside, the girl in the white dress has a demeanor that resembles a loss of wonder.  It is a photograph that shows a soul that has grown jaded and cold, trapped in a child's body.  She mimics a pose that tells me she's seen that same look of disenchantment before, perhaps on her mother's face, weary of life's disappointments and lost opportunities, finding solace in a long drag of her (candy) cigarette.

More of Sally Mann Here

Internet Research for September 18th

Visit the National Archives Website, and follow the rabbit hole until you find an image that you absolutely love.

I loved this photo in light of all the rain we had this week.  Driving with the sharks in Arizona is an untruth.

I found this photo
 on Facebook. I like how the merger blends and looks like it is a true to life photo.

Truth and Reality

Challenge of Truth in Photography

I chose this photograph because I liked how colorful it is and how the title deceives the viewers into thinking one thing, but the photographer then states that its actually something else. The title is called "Xmas" by GeorgesBogaert on DPChallenge.

The title leads the viewer to think that it was taken on a cold snowy day near Christmas, and that the background is the texture of water frozen and cracked, or possibly snowflakes frozen to a surface. The author then states that the photo is actually a water drop on a microwaved CD which then cracked and gave us the illusion of frozen snowflakes. You can find this photo and the authors statements here.

The Real Truth is Challenging

This image is unreal and nothing close to the truth.

This image is unreal and nothing close to the truth.  This photo epitomizes  just how photo manipulation can create a scene that is entirely different from what is actually in front of the lens, what is “true”.  The photographer uses a blend of multiple exposures and post production tools to create a photo that appears unreal and surrealistic; she contrasts the almost scary and distorted face with a comical  birthday outfit to purposefully make the viewer uneasy.   It is a simple concept, using the multiple exposures of the face only to create a distortion of reality and results in an insanely fun image.

The image is from a series titled “Nightmares and Dreamscapes” by Portland photographer, Addie Mannan.

More of Addie Mannan

Everything that we see is not reality. The photograph that I have selected looks like a giant hand with a little person hanging on to the pinky. While this is a picture of an actual hand. and also a picture of an actual person, the photograph has either been manipulated or the perspective skewed in such a way that we have to do a double take (look more than once) to determine that this photograph does not represent reality.  We know that there are no giant hands and that there are not people that small, especially in relationship to the hand. However, it is quite amusing to look at this picture and appreciate the novelty of the shot and how a photograph can actually take real elements and portray them in a realistic way, but still lead our eyes to fool us and our minds to have to think twice saying: could this actually happen!

http://www.viralnovelty.net/22-stunning-photographs-artworks-misleading-optical-illusions/

Challenging Truth and Reality

I chose this photograph for the 'Challenging Truth and Reality' assignment because of the unique perception in the photo. I chose this after finding out about the artist, Erik Johansson, a few years ago and falling in love with his photography that challenges perception. The artist seems to be painting the landscape before him, but it's as if, in doing that, he becomes his own painting - just as almost all artists seem to, in a sense, morph into their own work.What I find interesting is that the photographer didn't photoshop the painting, but actually painted it himself. That, in itself, is almost challenging truth and reality because most people might believe this is a heavily photoshopped image.

Find It Here

Challenging Truth and Reality

Link to Image and Artist

This is the image I choose for the assignment. I was drawn to this image because here we see a man being pulled away by a shadow, possibly off to a distant land or simply away from his troubles. This photo was found on Flickr and the artist  leaves it open for interpretation but I feel like it challenges truth and reality in the perception of how its viewed