Self Portrait and Portraits 1

Candids: Being Unobtrusive

You may want to make photographs of people going about their business—vendors in a market, a crowd at a sports event, the line at a theater. You don't want them to appear aware of the camera. Many times people will see you, then ignore you because they have to concentrate on what they are doing. You want the viewers of the image to feel that they are getting an unguarded, fly-on-the-wall glimpse into the scene.

There are several ways to be unobtrusive. The first thing, of course, is to determine what you want to photograph. Perhaps you see a stall in a market that is particularly colorful, a park bench in a beautiful setting—whatever has attracted you. Find a place to sit or stand that gives you a good view of the scene, take up residence there, and wait for the elements to come together in a way that will make your image.

If you're using a long lens and are some distance from your subject, it will probably be a while before the people in the scene notice you. You should be able to compose your image and get your shot before this happens. When they do notice you, smile and wave. There's a difference between being unobtrusive and unfriendly. Another way to be unobtrusive is to be there long enough so that people stop paying attention to you. If you are sitting at a café order some coffee and wait. As other patrons become engrossed in conversations or the paper, calmly lift the camera to your eye and make your exposure. In most cases, people either won't notice or won't mind. But be judicious. Don't keep firing away and become a nuisance. They will mind. You can also set the camera on the table with a wide-angle lens pointed at your subject and simply press the remote release when the time is right. Modern auto focus and auto exposure cameras make this easy to do as well.

(Robert Caputo) http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-tips/portrait-photography-tips/

Alter Your Perspective

Most portraits are taken with the camera at (or around) the eye level of the subject. While this is good common sense – completely changing the angle that you shoot from can give your portrait a real WOW factor. Get up high and shoot down on your subject or get as close to the ground as you can and shoot up. Either way you’ll be seeing your subject from an angle that is bound to create interest.

(Darren Rowse) http://digital-photography-school.com/10-ways-to-take-stunning-portraits/

Environmental Pictures From Google

Photography Self Portrait From Google

Casual Portraits From Google

Plans For the Upcoming Portrait Assignment

    I have recently discovered "The Pit" on the outside of the theater hallway is quite versatile when it comes to taking pictures. There are many different angles and places that make it look like a different place in every picture. Because of these reasons it is my plan to take photos there. It is also my plan to photograph my favorite models. I will be photographing Maddy, Nicole, William, and Ben. I chose these people because I love the style and the emotions that they are able to give the camera. They are extremely diverse when compared to each other and I cannot wait to work with them. I would like to use the rules in portraits that I am most comfortable with, like simplicity, rule of thirds, symmetry, viewpoint, depth, and maybe framing. Keep in mind that I will choose a select few of what was the most successful. Not all of the rules that I listed will be represented in the final product.

Funny Captions

Grandma Rosalina is smoking a fat cigar on the streets of Brazil in 2014. She has been your aesthetic goals since before you were even a thought.

Grandma Rosalina is smoking another fatter cigar on a different part of the street in Brazil. Granny been chillin' out maxin' relaxin' all cool.

Live fast die young, bad girl Gladys sure does do it well in 2008. She hoped for another year to get together funds for her new favorite hobby, Olympic level speed skating.

Rules of Photography II

1. Rule of Thirds

This image shows rule of thirds because of the subject (the yellowish building) being on the far right section of the picture.

2. Balancing Elements

this picture shows balancing elements through having the same image almost repeating in the background of the subject. This element can also be shown by a different object from the subject but can be at the same hight or similar in some way.

3. Leading Lines

This picture shows leading lines because the lines form the wood in the boat leads to the subject of the palace.

4. Symmetry and Patterns (repetition)

this shows symmetry because the the picture can be "replicated still look the same on either side", this photo also shows patterns through the detailing in the stones and the pillars on the sides.

5. Viewpoint

The view point is not really a specific "think you can do". View point is in every picture. The view point is this picture is the perspective of looking down at the bridge instead of the side.

6. Background

This picture shows a background because there is one. This is again a quality that almost all pictures have. The background of this picture is blurred to highlight the subject, the yellow flower.

7. Create depth

This picture shows depth because it created a path for the person looking it it to follow to the subject that is the end of the dock, and also maybe the background.

8. Framing 

This shows framing because the large colorful building is highlighted by the middle window through the contrast of the darkness of the window frames.

9. Cropping

This picture shows cropping because the photo was cropped to have the main subject be the eye, and to emphasize it.

10. Mergers and avoiding them

This image shows a merger by having the horse's head positioned in a way where the necks look conjoined. This merger could be changed if the photographer moved to the right and looked at the two horses looking more "angled" the two ends of the horse to show the space between them. 

Prompt Shoot

Electric

Cold

Purple

Abandoned Theme Parks

1. Tell me which amusement park featured in the two articles that you would like to visit and take your camera along and what about that park made you want to go there. Write at least a paragraph.

   I would personally like to go to "Nara Dreamland" in Japan. I would like to do this because of the wonderfully bright colors that still seem to stay "untouched" in the way. I personally and terrified of abandoned theme parks, so I would like to go to the happiest looking one that there is. Most of the park is outside, and I love the idea of bright natural lighting in a sort of sad place.

2. Post one photo from that park. You may use the photos from the link, or you can google an entirely new photo. I would prefer to see a photo of the park in disrepair and not a photo of it when it was still operating.

3. Think of at least FIVE other unusual places you think would be of interest to photographers. List them.

- Grandmother's old house in Mexico City

- Grandfather's old house in New York

- Mall Parking lot

- Whataburger

- Downtown austin neighborhood

4. Use google or another search engine to research ONE of your five places and see if anyone has already started documenting that place. If you find that someone has already started - post at least one photo of their work.

No one has taken a picture in the way that I want to. they took pictures for a commercial reason, not in an "emotional" way.

5. Write a paragraph about why you think that it would be fun to document that location. Tell me what interests you about that place and what kind of photos you could expect to take there.

    I would like to document Downtown Austin Neighborhoods. I would like to do this because Austin is such a beautiful and diverse place, why wouldn't the houses at the center of Austin show that same diversity? All of those houses show a different story of the people of Austin. The colors and design ideas will be one of a kind at every house.

6. Tell me what it would take for you to go and take photos at your location. What would you need as far as equipment goes, travel plans, expenses you might encounter and what laws you would have to take into consideration to take photos at your spot.

   I would just need a ride and a camera, that's why I like this idea so much. It is so close to home.

Africa

1. On your blog post your reactions to what you read and what you saw.

In the given article, I read about photojournalists capturing the beauty of the African Wildlife. In the article, I read about how a photographer, Nick Brandt, spend a very long amount of time following these animals, and risking his life to take photos that did the animals justice. The photos that I saw seemed to follow a common theme of being on sort of a "yellow scale". The pictures were taken in ways to show tranquility and balance.


2.

3. Describe it and tell me why its your favorite.

This picture is my favorite picture that Nick Brandt has taken, because of the balance that Brandt has created in this picture. I also thoroughly enjoy his relationship with the subject. He seems to have a peaceful understanding with the elephant.

4. What rules of photography are evident in the photos you selected, be sure to explain the rule to me?

Balance- the picture is symmetrical, and shows a peaceful and tranquil environment.

Simplicity- the subject is extremely prominent and the background is very simple and does not take much attention from the subject.

Lines- the lines up the trunk and on the tusks lead to the body of the subject. 

5. What kind of camera and lens does he use and why is this important?

He uses film on a Pentax 67 camera with a modified lens, this camera and lens duo helps Brandt achieve a soft focus, a shift lilt effect, and other characteristics that Nick Brandt is known for creating in his prints.

6. What is his reason for taking these photos?

Nick Brandt takes these photographs because he wants to send a message to protect the beautiful place and animals that inhabit that area. Many parts of Africa are being industrialized and Brandt wants to show people what they are destroying.

7. What is his hope by taking these type of photos?

Nick's hope is to show people what they are doing, to show them the importance of preservation

8. Find something he has to say about Africa, and post the quote on your blog. 

"In 1995 I first drove the main road from Nairobi down through southern Kenya to Arusha in northern Tanzania. Along the way, in completely unprotected areas, I saw giraffes, zebras, gazelles, impalas, wildebeest. A few months ago, just 13 years later, I made the same drive. I didn't see a single wild animal the entire four-hour drive. It's not that they've moved elsewhere. It's that they've been wiped out—turned into bushmeat." - Nick Brandt (2009)

Great Black and White Photographers part III

1.) What first caught your eye while looking at your photographers photos? Is there something in particular about their photos that made you want to choose them?

What caught my eye about Ansel Adam's photos, was that they were so modern compared to the other photographers that we had to choose from. I began to see, looking more into Ansel's photography, that most of my favorite photographers took inspiration from him.

2.) Look at those 2 photos you posted last time in the assignment Great Black and White Photographers Part 2. Use your five senses to tell me more about those photos.

I see... the light source creating soft curves cascading across the soft details of the dessert and the village walls. I see the shadows and harsh lines that draw my eyes over to the subjects. I see the many things that could harm me in the desert.

I smell... the fresh dirt and clay in the air. I smell The savory smells from the near by village.  I smell the

I hear... many insects, and cooing desert birds in the distance. I hear lizards scurrying across the sand around me. I hear the people in the village celebrating and living their everyday life.

I taste... the absence of moisture in my mouth. I taste the salt from my lips. I taste the breath coming out of my mouth.

I feel... small grains of sand slowly cut at my face as the wind blows. I feel the cuts to be quickly met with the forgiving wind. I feel the hunger growing in my stomach from the savory smells. I feel the sweat cool all over my body causing me to shiver.

Mural Project

1. What theme, that we could take here at school and think of one for OFF campus too, could we do a series of these panels to place around the school?

I have always wanted to do a collage of portraits. In and out of school there are so many people and so many different characters that you could show through a photograph.

2. Should we use phones only, or should we open it up to our regular cameras for those people that don't have camera phones?

I think that to keep the quality of the photos consistent, using a "professional camera" could be worth the extra effort.

3. Where would you want to put the mural on campus?

I would like on put the mural in maybe the entrance to the academic hall, or the entrance of the school because not all people can identify to a single isolated part of the school, but everyone walks into the academic hall, or the school's entrance.

Masters of Photography Project part II

Ansel Adams

"Moonrise"

    Ansel Adams was a spectacular photographer that was born on February 20, 1902. He was born in San Francisco, California in the United States. In his early childhood, people quickly realized that Ansel was different from the other children when he started to take interest in the beauty of nature over sports. He had a wonderful relationship with his father and a distant relationship with his mother. But after the death of his grandfather his father began to have trouble with in his business and suffered great financial losses. This caused Ansel's family to have many struggles to the point that they had to send Ansel to many private schools.

    In 1927, Ansel became comfortable enough to create his first photography portfolio. He became comfortable to reveal his photography to the critical eye because he had finally found his own style. His first portfolio earned him almost $3,900, and created a basis for his first job in commercial photography. Through the jobs that he had learned how to appreciate how important it is to "carefully craft photos". Between 1920-1942, he managed to settle down, get married and further mature and develop his "style", but Adams still felt unsatisfied with is work. In 1933 Adams opened his own art and photography gallery in San Francisco, and his first child, Michael, was born. His daughter Anne was born two years later in 1935. In 1940, Ansel created the largest photography show called the Pageant of Photography. In 1941 he began teaching at the Art Center School of Los Angeles.

    Adams died on April 22, 1984 at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, in Monterey, California. At 82, he passed away from cardiovascular disease. He lived his life with his Wife, Virginia Adams, son, Micheal Adams, daughter, Anne Helms, and five grandchildren. Adams poured all of his hard work into what made him stand out as child, and created a successful career for himself. Ansel Adams left the world with some of the most remarkable and foreword thinking photography that created inspiration and creative motivation for a new generation of photographers.

Ansel Adams

"Taos Pueblo"

Photoshop Tutorial

Rule of Thirds

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Balance

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Lines

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Avoiding a Merger

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Framing & Lines

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Simplicity

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