Portfolio final

Thoughout my portfolio my images focus at lines and contours. These are just the photos that I presented to the class. On the disk there is over 150 photos.

Summary

What I liked about Digital Fine Art Photography?

• the assessment of favourite famous photographers because it made me look at the different styles of photography and acknowledge what type of photographer I might want to become


• that the portfolio was open and we could make our own decision on what and how to present it

What I disliked about Digital Fine Art Photography?

• As I totally repel technology (computers and the Internet) I struggled with the online assessments. (I would have liked it if we got to chose either blogspot or flickr or if just blogspot was used)

What I learnt in Digital Fine Art Photography?

• how to use Adobe Photoshop (although I'm still trying to get the hang of it)
• different styles of photography
• different cameras; lens and abilities
• aperture and shutter and how to alter the speed to create different images
• how to re size images for Internet use
• different historical photographers

Week 4 - Seeing Triple

Our task for week four was to take three images of ourselves and layer them into one another. This was done using Adobe Photoshop and although it was a bit difficult to use this program at the start it was fun and engaging.

Portfolio Idea Four

These images represent another idea that I have considered for my portfolio. They include photos taken at Eden and at the Dandenong Ranges.

Famous Photographers

Our assignment was to chose our favourite photographer and share his/her works with the rest of the class. The photographer I had chosen was Alvin Langdon Coburn, but here are some of the other photographers that were mentioned.

Cartier Bresson- was a French photographer who was considered to be the founder of modern photojournalism. He used a Leica 35mm camera and mainly took candid images, like the one you see to the left (http://www.lacasapark.com/la/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/cartier-bresson-hyeres1.jpg).

Bresson had wrapped his camera up in black tape to make it inconspicuous and preferred not to use the flash as he saw this as impolite.

He photographed in black and white.

Kyle Humphrey- is a 20 year old photographer from North Carolina coast. His works include portraits, landscapes and images of clay people. Although he is a fairly young photographer and has only been taking images for a couple of years Humphrey has won multiple awards for his works (such as the North Carolina Aquariums 2010 for his image 'striped bass' featured below

and the North Carolina Coastal Federation photography contest). Humphrey's style of photography is very modern, he is potentially a photographer to remember in the future .

(http://kylehumphrey.com/ : both images)

Anne Geddes- is an Australian born photographer who has made her mark on the world by photographing images of children. In 1988, Anne's image of her daughter standing in a tutu (Image unable to locate) appeared in a local magazine in Auckland. This image sparked an interest in what was at the time a very different style of portraiture. After a short time as a wedding photographer Anne decided to specialise in children's portraiture.

(image: http://cdn1.ioffer.com/img/item/106/870/487/X5W8.jpg)

Portfolio Idea Two

These are just some of the images that I have taken in consideration for my portfolio. These images were taken in both Melbourne city and Hobart city.

This image was taken from the top of Rialto tower.

I like the contrast between old and new, when looking at the buildings, that is illustrated in this image. The word 'forum' and the power cable that runs through this image adds a certain pizazz to the image.

This image was taken on one of the main streets of Hobart city. I like the rail in front and the lamps that continue right down the street. This image reminds me of a little country town although it is the main city of Tasmania.

Portfolio Idea Three

Another idea of mine for my portfolio was to play around with lighting. These are some of the image that I have taken. These images were taken in Eden (first two) and at Hobart airport (last image).

Presentation of photographer

Alvin Langdon Coburn

Born in Boston on the 11^th of June 1882 Coburn received his first camera in 1890 when he was aged 8 and began his venture into photography expressing his artistic ability. Coburn was renowned for his cityscape's of New York, London and Venice and his portraits of famous American figures such as George Bernard Shaw, Henry James and William Butler Yeats.

Although his photographs were ‘distinguished by his exploring originality of approach,’ Coburn was the first to demonstrate abstract photographs in 1917 when he invented a kaleidoscope- like instrument with three mirrors clasped together which was able to fit over the lens of a camera and reflect and fracture the image. Coburn called this style of photography ‘Vortographs’, which was extremely important in the development of formalism and modernism in photography.

The reason for the change from his original pictorial movement to a more abstract cubism imaging was his involvement in a group who called themselves Vorticists. The group was made up of photographers including Wyndham Lewis, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Charles Nevinson and William Roberts. In a journal, Blast, written in 1914-15, Lewis attacked the sentimentality of 19^th Century art and emphasized the value of violence, energy and the machine. “In the visual arts Vorticim was expressed in abstract compositions of bold lines, sharp angles and plans.” It was during this time that Coburn began experimenting with vortographs. Coburn created his images using a variety of printing techniques such as gravure, gum and platinum. Gravure printing is characteristically used for long run, high quality printing producing a sharp, fine image which involves engraving the image onto a copper cylinder. Gum Bichromate printing is created by permanently applying pigment to paper by using a photochemical reaction on most occasions several layers of colour pigment would have been applied to the one print. Platinum prints are photographic prints made by a monochrome printing process that provides the greatest tonal range of any printing method using chemical development. A majority of Coburn's works were published in Camera Works- the exquisite fine art photographic magazine which was edited and produced by Alfred Stieglitz from 1905-1917.

In 1907, George Bernard Shaw considered Coburn, who at the time was 24 years old, the greatest photographer in the world.

Quotes

- “Photography teaches its devotees how to look intelligently and appreciatively at the world…”

- “Why should not the camera artist break away from the worn out conventions… and claim the freedom of expression which any art must have to be alive.”

When looking at his images:

OLD

- Soft focus lens

- Romantic

- Misty

- Reminiscent

NEW

- Dynamic arrangement of forms

- Pound argues how Coburn’s Vortography leaps beyond

the‘stale and suburban’ style of pictorialism

- - Freed the camera from the representation of reality

- Brought photography on par with modern abstract painting

Information thanks to;

• Biography of Alvin Langdon Coburn 1882-1966, http://www.photocollect.com/bios/coburn.html
• John Simkin, Spartacus educational, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAPcoburn.htm
• Alvin Langdon Coburn (1882-1966) Landscapes, Portraiture http://www.profotos.com/education/referencedesk/masters/masters/alvinlangdoncoburn/alvinlangdoncobourn.shtml
• Alvin Langdon Coburn Biography (1882-1996), Alvin Langdon Coburn, Symbolist Photographer: Beyond the Craft http://arts.jrank.org/pages/10306/Alvin-Langdon-Coburn.html
• Famous Photographers Of Urban Scenes Alvin Langdon Coburn, http://www.urban-photography-art.com/alvin-langdon-coburn.html, Urban Photography Art
• The collection National Gallery of Art, http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggphoto-128370.html

Also a special thank you to Google Images and Wikipedia

Self Image

At the end of week three's lesson we were asked to take a self portrait without making references to physical characteristics. This assignment proved difficult as no one really knows how to describe ones self. The reason for my hardship in completing this assignment was because I was looking for that one thing that represents me entirely in all aspects of my life; work, school, home. It didn't occur to me until much later that I act and behave differently in accordance to my surroundings (ie. the way I act in front of my family is different to the way I act in front of my friends and is the same for when I'm at work). The image I chose represents the different aspects and quirks about myself but like a puzzle comes together to form a single "image" or self.

Portfolio Idea One

Portfolio! What can I say? So much I'd like to do and show but so hard to come up with an idea. Here are a few photographs that I have been playing around with, still no idea of how to present it, but I am very partial to these images and even though I might not present this at least it up for people to look at.

This image was taken at the Pixar convention. I like the size difference between the cars and the light globe; people automatically recognise this as the lamp that introduces the beginning of the movie. (Thank you Pixar)
I am not 100% sure where I took these images, all I know is that I took them on the same day. In the image above I like the reflection of the pool and the lines and contours of the windows.

Digital Fine Arts Photography week 3

In this weeks photography lesson we were explicated as to the true definition of several terms which we had issues with previously;

Semi- half, unfinished or incomplete (can be a metophor)

Photography doesn't have to be a photo of something it is your perception of something- depth of feild should be taken into account.

In the presentation shown to us this week we learnt about large format imaging (8 x 10 camera). We learnt about four major contributing photographers to this style of photography and learnt that to shoot with this type of camera your images cannot be spontaneous, as thousands of shots cannot be made and in order to take these photographs you needs to be organised and set up the set precisely.

Richard Avedon- fashion photography

-made his name in the 60s

-took heaps of photos of celebrities

-experimented with black and white photos (took photos of people on a white backdrop [worked with two others to help him] due to this he was able to take multiple shots of the same image)

-pays really close attention to detail which is illustrated in his photography

Richard Avedon was one of my favourite photographers in this lesson because he took his photographs bearing in mind the smallest among of detail, but that make people beautiful.

(Image to the left is copyright; Richard Avedon)

Richard Misrach- works with colour (landscape) mid west America

-photographed images to evoke consumerism and human interaction with the environment

Gregory Crewdson- Highly controlled environment used to tell surreal stories

-David Linch of still photography

-Very dark images using light to evoke meaning

-Photographs set an interesting narrative

-Some of his images were created in abandoned houses, decorated to deliver a story

-Doesn't use photoshop to alter images after

Gregory Crewdson was my other favourite photographer in this lesson because his photographs evoke solitude, lonliness and depression and capture surreal but beautiful images.

(Image to the left copyright: Gregory Crewdson) The image to the left demonstrates fears of body image and can suggest that teenagers are very much infulenced by what the see on television and in magazines and can have a very negative impact on the physical, emotional and mental state.

Andreas Gursky- focuses on consumerism (ie. factories)

-Photographed in colour

-Scaned negatives and made mutiples

-Manipulated and altered images/objects to create another image/object.

-Very controversial photographer as how much of a photograph can be alter until it is no longer considered a photograph

Digital Fine Art Photography Week 1 & 2

Week 1 of digital fine arts photography was an introductory to the course. During this lesson we learnt about the programes that we will be using in class, such as Image Capture and Adobe Bridge CS4 and created Blogger and Flickr accounts.

Week 2 of digital fine arts photography we learnt about different photographers in history, such as Alexander Rodchenco, Eugene Ache ect. We learnt about Henri Cartier-Bresson (decisive moments photographer), Lee Freelander (2D shapes photographer) and William Egelston (colour photographer) who used a 35mm lens in revolutionary ways. My favourite of these photographers was Henri Cartier-Bresson because he was able to create beautiful unstaged images and could see the world for what it was through the lens of a camera.

(Image to the left is copyright: Henri Cartier-Bresson)

"The decisive moment, it is the simutaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of a event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression." Henri Cartier-Bresson.

After the presentation we were given a list of words in which we were supposed to take photographs of. These words were; Extreme-close up, wide angle, surface, mixed lighting, blurry, drab, tasty, self-portrait, semi, portrait of a stranger, beautiful and ugly. My issues with taking these photos was that for the first 20 minutes I was trying to work out the functions of the camera and how to focus and what to put the Aputure and Shutter speed on. Also I didn't know what some of these words mean and what the where supposed to portray/represent.

Surface

Blurry

Ugly