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Photography adventure #9 (Fall Equinox Edition)!!

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My final artist for this week is the inventive, creative Felix Jaensch. This artist manages to rearrange Lego pieces as though they are somewhat look-alikes to animals in the wild. These sculptures are admirable in my opinion because I personally do not possess the talent to come up with ideas like his, independently, and I appreciate the genuine 3-D quality to these proportional, creature things. The gorilla even has a banana to eat! All of these creatures photographed above look perfectly identifiable even though our minds rationalize that animals appear nothing like stacks of perfectly arranged Lego pieces. I am assuming the artist custom orders the pieces in order to create these plastic masterpieces, and I imagine floods of people would love to see his portfolio all within a room at any time. As a photography student, I also appreciate that these creations were photographed in a studio with a white backdrop because I believe the viewer does not have to struggle with figuring out what to focus on. I am noting that the depth of field for some of these pictures could be better, but I understand that photo stacking may not have been within reason for the artist’s marketing. Which animal is your favorite??

For more information about Felix Jaensch and other crafty artists, please check out my source in the link to follow! 

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/09/masterfully-designed-lego-animals-by-felix-jaensch/?src=footer

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Okay, Christopher Cowan is my third photographer of choice for this week because of a spectacular image I found (attached above), described and titled: A Caiman Wearing a Crown of Butterflies. This artist was apparently traveling through the amazon to complete a study for the University of Michigan he currently resides at as a professor. According to The Colossal, the picture documented above is not too abnormal to the environment it came from because the butterflies and other creatures drink the tears of reptiles in order to get get salt, but I am still in awe regardless... The foreground of this shot is so crisp as we see this caiman just chilling out with a sly, “I’m a badass, I know!” expression as these butterflies make my mind imagine this croc as being one of natural royalty. I love that the depth of field cuts off by the water, and this candid shot is also positioned so nicely as we see into this caiman’s environment. I love that the broken bark at the top right truly helps frame this somehow candid portraiture within the amazon landscape. The butterflies are even positioned to look perfect and none of their saturated wings conflict with what the eye naturally focuses on. The only criticism I can push, even a little, is the tension happening at the bottom left of the frame, but I even find that within reason to leave the same. 

Please check out more of Mark Cowan’s and other photographer’s work in the link to follow!! <3

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/category/photography/

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My second artist of choice to write about is the simply detailed Bego Antón. This individual is a photographer from England who values and wants to protect the freedoms of both butterflies and moths. Through Antón’s pictures attached above, the photographer is trying to show the beautiful yet unhealthy relationship people often have with these delicately crafted critters. I was drawn to Bego Antón when I saw the first example with a butterfly being held up in a container, outdoors. This look is so simplistic yet I immediately figured there was such a prompting message behind the image since the the arm in the foreground extends out and up as the butterfly appears to be flying too, yet it is actually trapped within the inorganic container used by the human. My mind immediately wants to perceive both of these pictures as nice, elegant, but the morbid message beneath the surface daunts me as a viewer. This is especially so as I look at the image with the vibrant butterflies with them all flattened perfectly within the album book we assume is collected by a human. The vintage-looking color palettes within these photos also allow for us to question the purpose behind these pictures, and I personally think these pictures are just stunning, regardless of the political message that purposely says otherwise. Bego Antón as an artist impresses me because Antón has successfully communicated multiple very different messages all within compositions that the average observer may mistake as candid or as insignificant before the abnormal elements to these pictures practically scream at us through the feminine grace of these framings. 

If you want to see more of Bego Antón’s portfolio, please click on the link to follow! 

http://muybridgeshorse.com/2013/03/04/bego-anton/

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Routine Walk #8 (Part 2)!! :)

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Routine Walk #8 (Part 1)!! :)

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For this week, I am starting off my research with the skilled Adam Batchelor. This man is an artist who is very well-known for drawings that have plain white backgrounds with perspective drawings of animals and  their presence in the currently human-dominated environment. These finely crafted pieces of artwork are intended to for the viewer to think about what is acceptable and what is not within the modern context of the world as we know it. I picked Batchelor because of drawing that has a bear claw that we assume dug past a leftover tootsie roll wrapper, litter. The attached image above looks like it is from the perspective from the bear as it recalls all of the cigarettes, banana peels, and other inorganic things it found within the path of its daily walk.  I appreciate that parts of a pine tree are within this because it signified to me as the viewer that this is a drawing that is intended to expand a conversation about our depreciating natural landmarks. I love that this somewhat looks like a mental photograph from the bear because I see a small light orb on the right limb of the bear, and the simulation of light across its fur. All of the hatching is so clean, and I feel this artwork is so successful with its oily look. I think this drawing works successfully as propaganda even though I do not see big words captioning this, and I believe that is clever because animals do not get a verbal say as to what if fair for them. This drawing alone reminds me to be a little more conscientious of my eco footprint I personally feel animals in general deserve a high quality of life, and I hope this large drawing speaks to people who may not feel the same independently.

There are a bountiful amount of drawings to look at if you have an interest to see more how Adam Batchelor is sparking a conversation about the unneeded suffering of animals through human ignorance. I highly recommend taking a look at the link to follow if you appreciate the real, fine art behind Adam Batchelor’s drawing from this post!

 http://muybridgeshorse.com/2015/06/04/adam-batchelor/

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My final photographer for this week is Karen Glaser. This artist is well-known for photographs in her portfolio that show underwater ecosystems. Appropriately, Glaser has technology that allows her to get vey beautiful, candid shots of sea creatures from below or above water. From what I have seen, these images are taken from very isolated areas, and the attention is right on what she wants us to see from the ecosystem. I feel the two images attached above this post contrast each other almost entirely, besides creatures and water both being involved. White Tips and Jacks is taken in grayscale and all we can see are the abundant amount of fins from the sharks swimming around in the contrast-free water. At second glance, I do notice quite a few bubbles at the bottom of the frame that cloud our sight of some of the sharks, and that’s probably because of their rigid behavior at the time the photo was taken. I like that the two halves of the frame suggest calmness and chaos all within the composition. As for Turtle Hop at Catfish Sink, I think this image is very beautiful with the various hues it has, but I feel this looks somewhat muddy with the shadows hiding the detail of the subject of the shot. I feel the negative spaces holds our attention more, and that may be to communicate poor conditioning from that area. Even though I personally could figure out the basic dynamics of these pictures before reading my source, I also felt her photographs abstracted her basic truths she told, and I am glad that I was right about this artist (woot!). These photos don’t hold the strongest connection for me personally, but I was fascinated enough to want to learn more about why Glaser works as she does since I love nature and animal photography.

Anyway, If you want to see more aquatic work from this Ai Kansas City alumni (BFA) photographer, please click the link to follow!! 

http://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/glaser_karen.phpwhite

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My second photographer for this week is the fascinating Kelli Connell. This woman is an artist who uses a single model to photograph human interaction through stitched-together images of just the one person. Kelli Connell bases these photographs off of what she has experienced in life and these pictures portray that communication. Attached above are two images: The Valley and Sunset. First off, the editing of these pictures are fantastic. I personally thought people who looked similar were used before I read that these shots were purely through manipulation. I am thoroughly impressed that The Valley is framed so nicely with both versions of the women as one holds the other’s scalp as she looks down at her other self’s neck. The lighting and positioning all looks incredibly believable, and it is very apparent that mystery, trust, and sexuality are all kind of shown in these shot where the photograph expresses questioning within the romantic encounter. Sunset seems meeker to me since the model with the red shirt just softly has her hand on the leg of her other self while they both watch what I imagine as a very lovely sunset or some sort of event at a possible date. Again, being able to stich these shots together with all the technological aspects working is something that I highly admire through this conceptual photographer. Her photos also seem to always have a very realistic color balance, and I think it is nice to see what look like just purely genuine moments. Overall, perfection at first glance, I think. I do notice after examination that these shots may be too perfectly sharp in some areas, like with the green shirt model’s body compared to the vehicle, but I am not upset.

If you like Kelli Connell’s art so far, please check out more of the vibrant, fascinating work from this skilled photographer in the link to follow!! 

http://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/connell_kelli.php

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Appropriate to the world of Tumblr, I decided to research and write about a photographer who has an interest with technology and how human interaction intertwine within this world. However, this artist has a stance that I doubt will receive much love from millennials or anyone whom likes to binge-scroll through this website. My first photographer for this week is Evan Baden, and I found him from a portrait I noticed in a series called: The Illuminati. These photos are collectively of young people that were taken from 2006 until 2007 (two examples attached above). Baden, through the generation gap he has from these people, captured the use of technology in public, post-2000, in ways that portray problematic tendencies from youth who have lived their whole lives in a world where the internet has always been there for them. Though these people do not look sick or isolated, Baden captured private moments where these kids are checking or playing with their devices when they are environments where other things are going on, essentially to show that millennials have a subconscious dependence to screens. As for the image of Lila above with her Nintendo DS, I like how softly the light hits her face as she has her concentration locked on her game. I think this picture is fair and is probably accurately represents how American kids, even now, play electronic games in the evening or whenever, really. My frustration lies with the image of Alice checking her iphone by a pool: she looks mindless with her phone, in my opinion, as I see her glossy-looking eyes and her slightly open mouth as she reads her screen. Maybe Alice may have needed to check in with a family member or do something that required her attention for a reason beyond this photographer’s benefit to his conspiracy theory project. I find this portrait successful for Baden’s vision, but I feel he used his candid nature to get what he wanted from a person who may multitask more than he is portraying. Powerful, nonetheless. In turn, I feel Evan Baden uses slightly dramatic shadows and highlights to get this project across more quickly to the viewer, but I will credit that I got the message before I read an artist statement about the series. Interestingly enough, he has his MFA from Columbia college as of 2014, and I think his efforts have greatly helped him to create other memorable projects, like The Taradiddle High School Yearbook Project that can be found in the link at the end of this post. Evan Baden’s work was appreciated by the editors of TIME Magazine, and I think that reference in itself makes the photographer worth giving another look.

If you want to learn more or see other portraits from Evan Baden, please click on the link to follow! :)

http://www.mocp.org/collection/mpp/baden_evan.php

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Photography Adventure #7 (Part 2)!!

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Photography Adventure #7 (Part 1)!!

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Photography Adventure #6!

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My final photographer of choice for this week is Eva Fazzari. She, now famously, created a project statement that is called: Freeway. If I am being honest, I chose the image attached above from Fazzari  because I thought the old dog looked very adorable, and I figured learning more about this puppy paparazzi-like scene could be fun. To my delight, I have learned that this whole project was a journey of 3,000 miles that the photographer took to document rescue dogs between Alabama and Maine. These dogs suffered from all kinds of abuse, but they thankfully found adoptive homes through the work of kind people. There were about 20 dog drop-off areas that Fazzari documented, and her efforts won her an Editor’s Choice award, according to Visit Center’s website. The picture I have chosen to observe closely now makes me so happy because I personally am an animal person, and my heart is filled with joy to see that this tired and wise dog is traveling across the frame to people who love him. I like that the snout of the dog is just passing the red line across the ground because I feel this signifies the animal’s new life of happiness as a rescue dog. I am sad to see how worn out this dog looks as it walks with his rescuer, but I am more content to see a person photographing the dog in the scene with his phone because of how exciting this day is in a world full of negativity. I am glad that this image has a great depth of field with power lines that give this scene more space within the context of this beautiful, good day. The giddy and nervous energy of this photo will stay with me for a while because I relate to this image because of the rescue pets I have had the privilege of knowing in my life so far. I think this project was such a good idea through the candid portraiture because this series seems so real rather than what is often staged to get an award.

The rest of the photos of the series are so sweet, and I highly recommend browsing through the link to follow!

http://evafazzari.com/freeway

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My third photographer of interest for this week is Werner Mansholt. I am very fascinated with a photograph of a man standing on a bar (attached above), nearly connected to a street light that is near waves of water brushing into the scene of the image I found. I knew I wanted to write about this artist when I learned the series I found is titled: “Not Unusual.” Werner Mansholt himself is a German artist who works as a traveling street photographer who documents what may be strange to the common viewer, but what is usually normal to the subject(s) being photographed. My guess that the man in this nearly monochromatic image is working to fix this light, but I find it amusing because he looks like he is walking across water with a little bit of sass to him even though this is likely a very natural scene despite how unusual this composition may be to the common observer. I appreciate that Mansholt has the lamp post in the center of the frame because the man himself is making the symmetrical shot stand out with him taking away the balance of the scene. I like the sunny day and the soft clouds across this cool and airy picture. I wish this photo gave more context clues about what city this man resides in (Crete, Greece), but the mystery is also entertaining since this moment comes across as atypical to anyone who does not have his job. I am glad that this composition is not too busy because a direct story can be told from this shot and its title alone. Impressively, Werner Mansholt makes split second decisions for photographs like this with his works of street photography that can be found in his book Street Photography, Two Thousand and Fifteen.

If you want to learn more about Werner Mansholt or his book, please click the link to follow!

http://lenscratch.com/2016/05/werner-mansholt-not-unusual/

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My second artist for this week is the brave Jen Davis. She caught my with a personal self-portrait project that I wanted to learn more about as the viewer. “Looking and Looking” is a series that documents Davis and a person named Amy Enkins, and the photographs often document the struggles of female body image, and what seems to cross into some of the aspects of their sexualities as normal people. Jen Davis decided to have self-portraits of herself made because she struggles with loving herself because she has a full-figure that makes her see herself as overweight and not idealistic for romantic situations, and her photos created controversy, according to Flak Photo at least. Today, I am going to devout my attention to one photograph of the series attached above that shows her at a beach, all with people who have toned body types. This piece is carefully titled: Pressure Point. I find this image successful because I feel this looks very candid with the main subject, Jen Davis, looking beyond the frame as these hot young bodies live freely with skin showing at the sandy, bright beach. The portrait shows Davis with an expression that does not come across to me as very content, and I notice she is wearing a brown top with shorts instead of showing more skin. I do not think I can say this shot screams insecurity to me, but I definitely understand that her thoughts are literally surrounded with who she sees as skinny people, and I hope this portrait suggests that she has the confidence to be out in the world even though she sees herself as different because of her proportion of adipose tissue to her. I think this project was partially made to help this artist rationalize that it is perfectly okay to be insecure while also trying to gain confidence through the beauty of her work. I appreciate that Davis is framed between the negative spaces of all the other static characters because I feel this helps her dominate the scene as the important person in this shot. I like that this photo clearly appears to be near a resort, at a beach as it has generic buildings and organic sand through the great depth of field because I was allowed to question the people rather than every precise thing about this shot. I find it interesting to see the body language of the person tanning compared to Davis because I think Davis was expressing that she is hiding with her sunglasses and clothes unlike the fit woman who seems to be calmly reading her book on the same nice day. The woman in the background seems only bothered by her water bottle, and the guy is just drying off from the water of the ocean. This image makes me as the viewer want to sit with Jen to make her feel better even though she is sharing the space with the woman beside her, and I feel that may be why this picture is an iconic work of Jen Davis’.

If you want learn more or to see more from this powerful series, please click through the pictures in the link to follow!

http://flakphoto.com/content/self-portraits-jen-davis-hannah-frieser#photo-2

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Even though this is the first photographer on Feature Shoot’s website, I cannot resist talking about Tyler Shield’s work. I am so fascinated with the image attached above of a woman letting her red lipstick-stained cigarette burn the old camera that is held for us to see. I was not sure why a cigarette was being used to harm this camera, but I knew there would be a message along the lines of propaganda before I read the description. This photographer is so angry that news outlets cheap-out by using photographs from non-technical photographers who use cell phone devices that happen to document real life stuff. I paused for a moment before writing more because I feel that Shields is really right because I have personally have seen very low-resolution, square images pop up when journalists talk about what happened at particular times. However, I am understanding of why this happens, to an extent because involving the average eye probably gives the media more fan support than if they just rely on the skilled photographers in this world. With my bias as a photography student, I feel trained photographers should have their work shown despite the conflict of payment being the likely cause of neglect from news outlets. As for the composition of what I see, I like the intense light that is directed to the beautiful woman and the light that is projecting up to emphasize her neck and jawline. I appreciate that the hand has a more red color balance with the flames nearby, but this did annoy me at first. I find it powerful that the woman is watching her cigarette kill photography, really. Or perhaps photography is already dying and the public is lighting up from the basic framework that is shown on websites like Instagram? I questioned if the hand represents the media enabling the destruction of photography, or if the woman stand for them or the general population. My conclusion is the hand is of a real photographer, and the woman is the average person ruining their work through her uneducated effort to light up the scene with her cigarette. Overall, I am very impressed with this clearly planned out shot even if I am still a little inconclusive as the observer.

If you feel like overanalyzing, I highly recommend looking at more of these insightful photographs and artists in the link to follow!

http://www.featureshoot.com/