Love and Loss

As I worked my way through the photographs, my emotions shifted a lot. At first I was happy to see the happiness that radiated off of the couple, but then it sort of disappeared and was replaced with a melancholy feeling. I became a little emotionally affected by the time I saw the last photos. 

"These photographs do not define us, but they are us."
I find this quote paired with the photographs very powerful. I think that what the is saying is that the photographs don't define them as anything- him and his wife won't always be happy, they won't always  be sad, they won't always be going through a battle with cancer… but that was them at a time. Life happens and time passes and photographs are only a still of that. These photos are them, though. These photos are a part of them that will always be, even if the wife did die.

If I were in a situation like this, I'm not completely sure if I could take photographs like this. Sometimes I try and take photos that capture emotion but when the photo is developed the image is flat and boring. On the other hand, I love taking b&w photographs because I feel that there is nothing to take away from the feelings in the photo. In conclusion, I may or may not be able to take photos like this.

If I could write Angelo a letter I would thank him for taking these photographs at such a terribly tragic time in his life. He inspired me, made me realize that I love black and white photography and that I want to do this for the rest of my life. Life is short and beautiful and tragic and Angelo opened my eyes to see that.

Photo Mural Project

If we were to take photos here in school for a mural that we would be putting up, I think it would be interesting for the theme to be "teachers without students". Basically, students with cameras would take photos of what teachers do at school when they don't have class. It would put an interesting spin on what we think of our teachers.

If we were to do this project, I feel it would be a good idea to only take photos with normal cameras. When you blow up phone pictures to a bigger size it gets really pixelated, even if it is only a little bit bigger. Plus, some people don't have that great of a camera on their phone if at all.

I think that a good place to put the mural would be a very popular area of the school so that everyone would see it. Some popular areas are outside the library, in a hall, or in the cafeteria. I would say to put it in the courtyard but there aren't really any walls to put it on there.

Abandoned Theme Parks

Out of all of the amusement parks in the two articles, I liked Koka Family Land in Shiga, Japan the most. The whole feel of it is magical and it reminds me of my earlier childhood. Some things that come into my mind when I see photos of this park are: Alice In Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and these little candy sticks my mom used to bring home for me and my siblings. They were pink with blue stripes. I find something about this them park's run-down unicorn rides and pastel colors eerie but beautiful... almost magical. The vines and trees intertwining with the metal structures add to that.

Other unusual places that photographers may like-

- Pamukkale, Turkey (there are some stunning hot springs here)
- The Magical Lagoon in Mount Cook, New Zealand
- Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (There are some adorable colorful neighborhoods there)
- Spotted Lake of Osoyoos, British Columbia Canada
- Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia (world's largest salt flat)

Pamukkale, Turkey

                                                        Source

I would love to take photos at the hot springs in Pamukkale. You simply can't find things like this in America. Bright blue water has always caught my eye, I find it one of the most beautiful things in life. I think it would be fun to take photos here because it is such a change of scenery. I could work with reflections on the water for photographs as well as the rest of the unique landscape.
This may not be the ideal place for me to want to travel because it is very far away and travelling can be very expensive. For the trip I would need my camera, a small tripod, plane tickets to and from Turkey, and spending money for food and a hotel. I already know that photos are allowed at this location, and I am almost positive that it is open to the public since I have seen photos of crowds of people there. The only thing I'd expect is maybe a small fee to get in to the springs.

Africa

After reading the interview of Nick Brandt, I felt a sudden urge to make a change in the world. The Earth's most beautiful animals are practically disappearing before our eyes. As Brandt says in the article, "they've been wiped out- turned into bushmeat". Things like this can happen in extremely short periods of time. Brandt visited Africa in 1995 and then came back 13 years later, only to realize that the majestic animals he saw before were gone. 

I find this photograph by Nick Brandt absolutely stunning.  His choice to make the majority of his photos sepia was a great one in my opinion. Sepia makes photographs eerie, and I especially see that in this one. One of my favorite details in this photo is the way the hyena's hair sticks up in some places. The hair on it's back, it's tail. You can see every little hair, and I think detail is really important in portraits. The look that the hyena is giving the photo is very special feeling, very intimate, understanding. This photograph is my favorite out of all of Nick Brandt's work that I have seen so far.

I don't see any specific rule of photography that this follows. It isn't simple enough for Simplicity and there are no lines directly drawing your eye to the hyena except the horizon. 

After researching I found that nobody knows for sure which camera and lens Brandt uses. The most popular belief is that he uses a P67 120mm soft focus lens with a Nikon or Canon camera. His choices of camera and lens are important because they affect the way his photographs turn out. He couldn't have a huge, long distance lens because he finds it important to take the animal's portraits up close. His reasoning is that,"You wouldn't take a portrait of a human being from a hundred feet away and expect to capture their soul; you'd move in close."
Brandt's reason for taking these photos is so that he can capture the beauty of wildlife that is here right now, because it isn't always going to be this way. He aims to take the essence of African wildlife as it is right now and keep it in his camera; untarnished. People need to see how beautiful animals are, and how many of them are being killed each and every day for money. By taking these photos, he hopes people realize this.



"There is something profoundly iconic, mythological even, about the animals of East and southern Africa. There is also something deeply, emotionally stirring and affecting about the plains of Africa—those vast, green rolling plains punctuated by graphically perfect acacia trees under the huge skies."

- Nick Brandt

Captions

Patty Walton is currently hosting a gameday party at
her home in Arizona, unaware that one of the M&Ms she fell
asleep eating is stuck to her ear lobe! Patty's granddaughter
 informed her of the chocolate on her ear right after this photo
was taken.

                                           

Reggie Benson is channeling his inner bulldog at 3 in the afternoon
while he naps outside of the Walgreens on the corner. Benson woke up a
 good 5 hours after this photograph was taken, surprised by his dentures
slipping from his mouth.

The Queen of England is contemplating life at the mall,
unaware that the universe is trying to contact her and tell
her to get a grip on things. When she left her resting spot,
she looked up and saw the sign. Witnesses say she started
crying and left.

Academic Shoot and Reflection

Balance

I think I could have taken a better photo as an example of balance.
This photo is slightly balanced and slightly unbalanced because the
people on each side make the photo symmetrical but the chair in front
of the boy is a big eyesore. The boy is the subject of this photo, but
attention is drawn away from him by the chair a little bit. When someone
looks at this photo I think that they know right off the bat that he is the
subject. To make this photograph better I could have spent more time
finding a creative way to balance this photo out.

Framing

I feel that I took a  pretty nice photograph for framing. The subject
of this photo is supposed to be the girl sitting down. When i look
at this photo my eyes are immediately drawn to her and the letter G
right next to her. I don't see why anybody's attention would be drawn to
anything else in the photograph. To make this photo better I could have
lightened the photo or focused on the girl so that she would be the center
of attention.

Rule of Thirds

For the rule of thirds, I believe I did a fairly good job. The subject
of this picture is the only person in it, the girl with the purple hair.
I believe that anybody that looks at the photo can see that. It is
clear who the subject is. To follow the rule of thirds better, I could
have zoomed out a little bit to make her head and hair fit more
into the bottom-right corner. 

Simplicity

I think I could have done a better job for simplicity. There are a lot
of distractions in this photo, for example, the ruler. If I had the chance
to retake this photograph I would have taken it from an angle that
showed less distractions. Despite this, I feel it obvious who the subject
is. It is the girl in the brown sweater.

Lines

I feel that I did pretty well on this subject. The subject of the picture
is the girl sitting down in the center of the photo. I can see that people
could not easily see that she is the subject because she is so small. To
make this photo better I could have found a way to incorporate more
leading lines so that the subject was more obvious.

During this shoot, I had a tough time finding a photo opportunity for framing. It took a little bit of searching, but I finally found something photo-worthy!!
I have always been a person who pays attention to focusing the camera, so during the shoot I basically had my hand on the lens at all times. I hate blurry photos, I love seeing the little details.

If I could do this shoot again, I would have set aside more time to take a photo for balance because I had the toughest time on that one.

One thing I wouldn't change about my photo selection is the photograph of the girl with the purple hair. I really love that photograph.

When I go out with the next set of prompts, I think that it will be easiest to take I photo that goes by the rule of thirds.

The rule I think will be hardest to capture is framing.

I am pretty clear on all of these rules!

http://kaitlynsphotojournalisblog.blogspot.com/

I liked Kaitlyn's photographs for lines and framing. Both of them are very simple and unique, and I liked that she chose to post them in black and white. One of my favorite types of photography is B&W!

For next time, I would suggest that she pay more attention to what the rule of thirds is.