Assignment 1 - Part 1

I think one of the biggest problems I have as an artist and photographer is that I am entirely too insular. I don't really know many photographers by name. I don't really go to gallery shows or too many museums. I partially blame that on having lived in Upstate NY for 5 years in my early twenties, you know, my formative years, where there is nothing to go to pretty much at all ever. Now that I am living in North Jersey again and there is certainly a lot more around, I'm not really sure where to start. Feast or famine, I guess. Either way, I'm at a loss.

Please, don't take that to mean that I don't look at photographs or I don't love photographs or that I am oblivious to the world around me. I'm always looking, and I'm loving a lot of what I see - I just don't pursue it further, or remember to bookmark whatever website it happened to be on.

So, for this assignment I turned to guaranteed good source for awesome photography: National Geographic. (Note: Click the links after the photos to see them on larger on NatGeo's site.)

Olympic National Park, Washington

Photograph by Michael Hanson

I love how ethereal this is. The height, the atmosphere, and the texture of the tree bark. I can almost feel that damp forest air.

Hippopotamus

Photograph by Anna Ponomareva

I love how you can see the texture of the hippo's slimy, bristly face. Oh, and, he's SMILING!! How can you not love it? (Did you know that hippos actually kill more people in Africa each year than crocodiles? The more you know...)

Birds Sitting in the Fog

Photograph by Roger Becker

I love the lighting, the ripples on the water, and the subtle details in the shadows of this photo. At first glance you think it is a painting - I love that. The overall feel is beautiful. Added bonus - this was shot in New Jersey! Yay for our state not just being a big garbage heap, yay!

Sunflower

Photograph by Rick Barich

I <3 macro photography. It makes you look at things we consider ordinary in an extraordinary way. I think it maybe makes people appreciate things more. The colors in this photo are gorgeous, and I love sunflowers.

Grazing Horses, Mongolia

Photograph by Eric Kruszewski

I collected horse figures when I was a girl. I'm positive that "a horse" was on my birthday wish list for way longer than most other girls. They are so graceful and so beautiful and I think this photograph captures this well. I love the very low perspective, as if we are hiding in the grass where this photog must have been to get this shot. The atmosphere and the colors are really pleasing to me as well.

I picked all nature/wildlife photos because that is where most of my interest lies right now with photography. I used to dream about some day working for National Geographic and getting to travel the world and photograph all sorts of awesome stuff. Then I started thinking that it wasn't really the photographers so much as the subject that made these photos. My interests shifted around a bit, especially when I was still working with B&W film, but now that I've come full circle and am back into this kind of work I'm realizing there is so much more to it than having something "pretty" to shoot - especially in this area when almost every natural setting has some trash, some litter, and other debris all over the place - it is so hard to be in some of these moments in the first place: somewhere that looks untouched.