Black and White In Class Assignment

Final Project - Shoot 5

More shots for my final.


Some editing done in different degrees.

Oh, and here is one from last week that I couldn't get to upload before!

Composite Image

Source images (via google):

Final Project - Shoot 4

 

Retouching

Here is my retouched file.

Lauren Greenfield

Lauren Greenfield is an photographer and documentary film maker. This photograph is from her book "Thin", and it shows this girl, Brittany, while at Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida, a residential facility dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders.


This photograph is a close up portrait of a girl with messy hair and her mascara and eyeliner are smudgy and messy around her eyes. We can see her from just below her shoulders to just below the top of her head, and is also cropped on one side so that we do not see her entire arm. She is standing outside in the grass. There are a few pine trees behind her, and some other trees even further away, but it looks like she is alone in this field, and everything but her is out of focus. She holds her one hand up to her neck, and we can see that she has a plastic ring on her hand with a heart on it that says, "God Loves Me", and she is wearing two necklaces, one beaded, and one that looks like fake pearls. She is wearing a blue sweater that looks like it is too big for her. Her hair is a mess, it is flying all over the place and has been dyed different colors. She is very pale, and the sunlight is casting a shadow over part of her face. Her facial expression does not have much emotion.

This photograph makes me feel very sad. To me, this girl looks very sick. Her hair is messy and looks like it may be falling out, such as a cancer patient's hair does. Or maybe she cut it off herself because of depression or some other disorder. She is very pale, and her messy makeup makes me believe that she has been crying. She looks like she is miserable; her face doesn't give much expression at all, other than her eyes are slightly closed, as if she doesn't want to "open her eyes" and see real life. She must have lost weight recently, because she looks very sick and also because the sweater she is wearing appears to be too large for her by many sizes. I feel like she is wrapped up in herself and can't look at the whole picture - this feeling is emphasized by the photographers use of a close shot, but still cropping off parts that we normal expect to see in portrait photography. The shadows draped across her face make you think that perhaps she has done something bad, and maybe she is not a good kid. The "God Loves Me" ring on her finger feels almost like a joke, she is clearly miserable and not optimistic about her future.  

This photograph of Brittany by Lauren Greenfield fits in well with her other photographic work. It differs in that most of her other portraits are set up so that the subject is centered and there is very little cropping of anyone's body. She does have some other portraits where there is a little cropping, or the subject isn't in the center, but this example seems to be the most severe of the cropping - I think she does this on purpose though to really emphasize Brittany's feelings. This photograph is also similar to other works by Lauren Greenfield because it captures a moment of reality and real feeling by the subject, and we can tell that this is really how Brittany feels and she is not putting on a show. Lauren spends a great deal of time with the people she photographs, and I feel that this is a good photo example showing that - no one else would be able to capture these images but her, as she has spent months getting to know them, and getting them comfortable with her. 


Video links for presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m5vu2lzygY

Final Project - Shoot 3

More images for my final project. These were shot with the help of someone else. I had the camera on a tripod, and would have my helper sit in place for me to meter the shot properly, getting fstop, shutter speed, focus, everything set up the way I wanted, then I got in place and had my helper only press the shutter. Other than the last one, that was a random one I shot handheld, but I like the way it came out.

Final Project - Shoot 2

I decided to get a few shots outside as the sun was heading down (instead of writing my English paper).

Again, all shot hand held.

Final Project - Shoot 1

For my final project I am working on self portraits.

I'm still figuring out my technique. For these, all shots were hand held, and I metered using a small pocket mirror so I could see what was going on on the LCD screen on my camera. For framing the shots, some were "guesses" and some were using the live view on the LCD. Most were auto-focus.
 This is obviously very limiting.

I was also trying to work with just natural light.

I had a tough week to deal with, between massive homework, my two jobs, and family stuff, so I didn't get a chance to shoot as much as I had hoped. I might do another shoot tonight.

Writing Assignment #1

1. What do you see? (Literally describe what is in the picture i.e. an old man sitting on a park bench in the winter feeding birds. There is snow, three trees to his left, and he is wearing a red scarf...go more in depth than this, though).

2. What does that make you think about? (i.e., that makes me think he is retired and lonely).

3. How does that make you feel? (it makes me feel sad that he is lonely, but happy that he is active and finding something that makes him happy).

Limbo 5, 2004 © Bianca Brunner

 1. There is a girl in a thin dress running into a body of water. It is very dark out, so it must be very late at night. She is facing away from us, and her arms are swinging as if she is trying very hard to get away from where we are. We can not see anything past where she is in the water, so we do not know where she is headed to. The water is not calm, but not very choppy. The icy blue-green color of the water makes me feel as if the water is very cold.

2. The image makes me think that she is trying to get away from someone or some thing, as she is not gradually wading, but rather is headed in to the water full-force. I think that she is scared of something, but brave enough that she is trying to escape. I feel as though she must be leaving some kind of big event or party, because she is dressed in what appears to be a nice event.

3. It makes me feel a little afraid and cold. What is coming after her? What will happen to her? I am afraid that she will drown or get hypothermia. I also feel very cold looking at this image because the water appears to be icy, and often water gets very cold when it is so dark out.

Watering Hole © Amy Stein

1. There is a big black bear staring at a little girl, who is on the opposite side of a chain linked fence, looking back at the bear. She appears to be frozen with fear. She is wearing a bathing suit and is standing at the end of a diving board of a pool which is below her, in what appears to be her backyard. There are no other adults around, and she appears to be all alone, other than the bear. The bear and the girl's body posture are mimicking each other, both standing tall with their arms and hands (or paws) at their sides.  

2. I think that the bear and the girl are both equally afraid of each other. I think the girl is wondering why there is a bear right by HER backyard, and I think the bear is wondering why this little fur-less thing is by HIS drinking hole. 

3. This makes me sad because the bear would probably be seen as the "bad guy" in this image, when it is actually the girl and her human family that have built their home where this bear naturally lives. I am afraid that the bear will be hunted down and killed, because he is seen as invading the people's habitat.

Assignment 3 : Still Life

Here are my still life shots of various objects from around my house.

Medicine Cabinet

Makeup Brushes

Baby Murlocs

Wait,What's a murloc?

Bookshelf

Jodi Picoult is my favorite author.

Blanket

Lime

I found this bird's nest when I went apple picking about a month ago. I'm not sure what kind of bird made the nest, but I love it.

Jewelery Nest

Jewelery Nest 2

Nest

This sculpture is one I made in my sculpture class about 7 or 8 years ago. It is supposed to be a bird house.

Terracotta Bird House Sculpture

Terracotta Bird House Sculpture 2

I collect salt and pepper shakers, and these are some from my collection.

Bird Salt & Pepper Shakers

Koi Salt & Pepper Shakers