Creative Assignment 6
Editorial Assignment 6
I visited Street Dreams here in Warrensburg and took a few shots for this assignment. I love muscle cars so I enjoyed visiting with the staff and getting to check out all the cars! Click here for the complete slideshow.
Creative Assignment 5
Here are the shots for my fifth creative assignment. These photos were taken in my hometown this last weekend. Enjoy!
Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark is an American photographer, known for her images which fall between social photojournalism and portraiture.
She was born March 20, 1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mark began photographing with a Box Brownie camera at age nine. During high school, she was head cheerleader with a knack for painting and drawing.
Mark’s photography has addressed difficult social issues, including homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction and prostitution. She works primarily in black and white and has contributed to publications including LIFE magazine, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair.
Mary Ellen Mark has achieved worldwide visibility through her numerous books, exhibitions and editorial magazine work. For over four decades, she has traveled extensively to make photographs that reflect a high degree of humanism. Today, she is recognized as one of our most respected and influential photographers. Her images of our world’s diverse cultures have become landmarks in the field of documentary photography.
In my opinion Mary Ellen Mark is an inspirational female photographer. Her work is never over done or loud, but rather simple and speaks for itself.
While looking through work by Mark, I noticed an extremely wide variety of photographs; pictures with an editorial/journalist feel, photos of celebrities, still life images of nature. It is obvious that her specialty is in capturing different aspects of extreme social issues, but it was interesting to see that she does sometimes step outside of those boundaries.
The only thing I was not too fond of was that the majority of Marks photos were in black and white. I, personally, do appreciate a black and white photo, but every once in a while it’s nice to see some color.
To see more on Mary Ellen Mark visit these links: Link 1, Link2, Link 3.
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton, born October 31, 1920 in Berlin, Germany was a German-Australian fashion photographer noted for his nude studies of women.
Interested in photography from a young age, he worked for the German photographer Else Neulander Simon. In 1938 Newton left Germany to escape persecution and worked briefly in Singapore as a photographer for the Straits Times before settling in Melbourne, Australia.
Newton settled in Paris in 1961 and began extensive work as a fashion photographer. His works appeared in magazines including, most significantly, French Vogue. He established a particular style marked by erotic, stylized scenes
A heart attack in 1970 slowed his output somewhat but he extended his work and his notoriety/fame greatly increased, notably with his 1980 “Big Nudes” series which marked the pinnacle of his erotic-urban style, underpinned with excellent technical skills. He also worked in portraiture and more fantastical studies.
He was killed when his car hit a wall in the driveway of the famous Chateau Marmont, the hotel on Sunset Boulevard which had for several years served as his residence in Southern California. It has been speculated that Newton suffered a heart attack in the moments before the collision.
Although I find some of Newton’s photos a little repetitive, in a way I admire his work. For being a photographer in the 60’s and 70’s he took a big chance photographing nude women and publicizing it. Even now some people have a hard time appreciating a nude photo. Newton was not only successful, but also respected for his studies of nude women.
For more on Helmut Newton visit these links: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3.
Chuck Close
Chuck Thomas Close was born July 5, 1940; in Monroe, Washington. He is an American painter and photographer who achieved fame as a photorealist, through his massive-scale portraits. Though a catastrophic blood clot in 1988 left him severely paralyzed, he has continued to paint and produce work which remains sought after by museums and collectors.
Most of his early works are very large portraits based on photographs. In 1962, he received his B.A. from the University of Washington. He then attended graduate school at Yale University, where he received his MFA in 1964. After Yale, he lived in Europe for a while. When he returned to the US, he worked as an art teacher at the University of Massachusetts.
In 1988, Close had a spinal artery collapse, on the day he was to give a speech at an art awards ceremony. He felt ill beforehand, asked to be first, gave his speech, then painfully went to a hospital across the street. A few hours later he was a quadriplegic and his painting career might have been terminated. However, Close continued to paint with a brush held between his teeth, creating large portraits in low-resolution grid squares created by an assistant. Viewed from afar, these squares appear as a single, unified image which attempt photo-reality, albeit in pixilated form. Eventually Close managed to recover some movement in his arm and legs, and now paints with a brush strapped to his hand. Close’s paintings are labor intensive and time consuming, and his prints are more so. While a painting can occupy Close for many months, it is not unusual for one print to take upward of two years to complete.
I consider Chuck Close an inspirational person. While reading his life story I was amazed at all that Close had overcome and still managed to succeed. Before this assignment I had not heard of this artist and even when beginning the assignment I was not sure I had chosen a good candidate to critique. Although his work may not be to the likings of every individual, it’s the concept behind the painting that has to be admired.
To see more on Chuck Close visit these links: Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
Editorial Assignment 5
For the fifth editorial assignment I shot a boys baseball game. Maybe not as exciting as a university level game, but photogenic just the same. Click here for the slideshow.
Creative HDR Assignment
Here are the 3 images I completed in class for this assignment. I am completely new to HDR and to this program so with all considered I think they turned out pretty good. I am interested in HDR and will probably continue to improve my technique in the future.
Creative Assignment 4
For my theme this semester in Creative Photography I have decided to stick with abandoned houses. I wanted to change things up a bit for this assignment so I did a little more post processing.
