Africa

         Nick Brandt's photography is stunning. I find it wonderful that he spends time and effort to put the soul of the animals into each photo. He doesn't use a telephoto lens, so he has to get up close himself, which is fantastic and absolutely breathtaking if you think about it. 

     

This photo is my favorite because it shows the Lion standing above the  rest of  the land, and how he is looking across it. The rule of thirds is definitely evident here because he is standing in one third of the photo, facing the other two.Brandt photographs on medium-format black and white film without telephoto or zoom lenses, because that isn't how you would capture a portrait of a human. Brandt embarked on his photographic journey to show the world the vanishing wildlife population of east-africa. He intends to conserve african wildlife with the Big Life Foundation. "I'm not interested in creating work that is simply documentary or filled with action and drama, which has been the norm in the photography of animals in the wild. What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of Being. In the state of Being before they are no longer are. Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes."

Funny Captions

Gertrude is attending the Disney princess convention. Where she hoped to find her prince...

Time to round up them cattle, Bob! Don't want that milk to turn to powder like last year!

Robert still thinks the germans are invading. He even attacked the postman last week.

Great Black and White Photographers part 3

           When I first saw Lothar Wolleh's photos, I thought that they were very subtle yet very chilling at the same time. I found them intriguing and simple and I enjoyed the quality of his composition. The first photo I chose was of Rene Magritte, a Surrealist of the time, and the photo had a sense of pride and quirkiness. The second photo seemed dark and disturbing and I just was lured t o its enchanting and grave aura.

 I see pride

I smell cleaning supplies

I hear footsteps among the hall of artwork

I taste my tongue drying of nerves with a famous artist

I feel the cold atmosphere for the condition of artwork

I see darkness 

I smell soot and dust

I hear disapproving grunts from the man before me

I taste all the dust in the air

I feel my body tense in such a grave setting

I would like to make a long series of portraits describing everyone's personalities (in the class), and maybe with the teachers too. 

Great Black and White Photographers part 2

Lothar Wolleh

   

Lothar Wolleh was born on January 20th, 1930. He grew up in Nazi Germany during World War II and studied Concrete Painting through his elementary years. Wolleh spent six year in a labor camp in Siberia, he was charged with 15 years originally for spying on the Russians. He loved to take portraits of other photographers or artists, including the surrealist Magritte. Lothar Wolleh died in 1979.

Rene Magritte

The Patriarch of Constantinople 

Photo Mural Project

1. I think creativity it a good theme that we could shoot at school.

2. I think because not everyone is privileged to have camera phones, we should use the cameras.

3.I would put the mural alongside the gigantic front pavilion as you walk in.

Academic Shoot Reflection and Critique

1. During this photo shoot, I had troubles with not knowing what was happening school wide. It was a very harsh experience because my partner and I couldn't capture very eventful things. Many classes had gone to lunch and some were testing for the end of the 6 weeks. 
2. I found focus and framing to be on my mind a majority of this photo shoot. It was difficult to find good gales in which framing was on point, and even then the photo would come out crooked. 
3. If I could do this assignment again, I would make use of the rule of thirds on almost every photo. It would really pay off to make them more interesting and less amateur. 
4. I would definitely keep my use of simplicity in the large back of the library.
5. I think the easiest rule to achieve is lines.
6. I believe the hardest rule to achieve is simplicity with such a busy school.
7. I am still not totally clear on the rule of thirds. I think if I could see a few more examples I would understand.

Critique:

http://amayasphotojournalismblog.blogspot.com

These photos are very clear and mostly are very obvious in which rule they are showing. 

I believe that they could improve their rule of thirds by coming at it from a different angle, and also their simplicity photo was too busy.

Academic Shoot

Balance
I believe that I followed this rule well. The subject of the photo is an a student on the keyboard in an animation class, and it is quite clear to others that this is a class in a computer lab. I could have probably taken a better shot to show the symmetrical balance of the student and the keyboard.

Simplicity
I believe that this rule was shown very well. This student is taking time in the school library to work on homework during an off period, which is obviously shown by the vast background and his concentration on his work. I think that I portrayed this rule well enough.

Lines
I definitely followed this rule very well. This is a student checking out books in the library surrounded by bookcases, obvious to all. I don't think I need any improvements on this rule.

Framing

Here we have the previous student filtering through professional books for a teacher, well framed by a doorway. It may not be quite that obvious to everyone what she is doing, so I think I could have rethought this shot. In all though, the framing is well done.

Rule of Thirds
I believe that I poorly followed the rule of thirds here. This is a student studying in the library, which is obvious to anyone. I do believe that I could've gotten this photo with a less active background and a less messy foreground.