The Photographic Critique Two

When I first see this photograph I think of Theme Parks long gone, such great tourist destinations as Astro World in Texas or Cypress Gardens in Florida, all the fun things that those places used to offer that cannot be found anywhere else; it really is a sad reminder of better days gone by. The photograph is of a roller coaster named the Jet Star that fell into the ocean after Superstorm Sandy devastated Seaside Heights, New Jersey in 2012; the image was captured by Mel Evans in 2013 shortly before the structure was removed from the ocean. The backdrop of the rising sun is quite nice and provide a unique perspective upon this symbol of disaster, the surf breaking on the beach also provides a sense of motion to the photograph; the main focal point is obviously the coaster itself however all of these surrounding elements add to the image. I like the emotional response of loss or tragedy that this image provokes, it is quite an effective reminder of what transpired here; on the other hand I do not like the little tiny cloud in front of the sun, it detracts a small amount from the entire image, however that is just nitpicking.

The Photographic Critique One

When I first laid eyes upon this photo my first reaction was to think of how cute that this polar ear was with his paw outstretched at that angle, almost as if he was waving at the camera. The photo was taken in Svalbard Norway by a photographer named Colin Mackenzie. There are two main elements I noticed in this image one is the polar bear waving in a friendly manner, the other more subtle element is the landscape; if you look around you can clearly discern that the landscape is clearly eroding and being destroyed, this may be caused by us causing me to feel guilt for humanities role in the destruction of this animal's natural habitat. I like the subtle message that the photograph carries with it, I however do not like the different water coloring it feels like something is wrong. I like the photograph as a whole and I feel can be quite powerful when presented in the correct manner.

Gottfried Helnwein Image Response 2

This picture appears to be a young girl who has been through some sort of trauma and is stricken since the event. There is what appears to be a crew of people either installing or performing maintenance on this work of art, one member is rappelling down the face of the image. The image appears to be situated on the banks of a river in an abandoned industrial zone of a large metropolitan city, this river is most likely a major transport artery for the city meaning that potentially thousands of commuters (potential audience) could see this image every day. The sheer size of this image is quite immense, measuring I would estimate it ranges at several square kilometers, an unprecedented scale for anything other than a large advertisement or billboard. The logistics of mounting this image to the building face had to be quite intriguing, I would guess that the image was broken up into numerous of smaller rectangles, each one being mounted independently of the others in the correct positioning to form the larger image.

 

 

Gottfried Helnwein Image Response 1

This image appears to be an image composite of a man scaling down a surface (such as a cliff wall) and an image of an individual's face. It is possible that the image is not a composite and that this is just a billboard or painted upon a building face. It also appears that the face is quite pale, perhaps to symbolize tragedy of some sort.

Something From Nothing

Please grade this fully, not just for completion.

Original:

After Editing:

Reflection

Please grade this for completion.

Forced Perspective

Please grade this assignment fully.

Before Editing

After Editing: (All I did was remove the supporting clamp from the penny)

My Phobia: Chronophobia

Please grade this assignment for completion.

The History of Photography Q&A

Q1. Who is Louis Daguerre and why is he so special?  How did he become independently wealthy?

A1. Louis Daguerre is known as the father of photography, he created the first camera and negotiated a contract to sell the rights to his invention to the country of France vast sums of money.

Q2. What types of photos did people take when photography was first invented?  What were some of the difficulties they had to endure?

A2.  Many early photographs were portraits and the subject(s) had to sit in a seat(s) with neck braces that prevented them from moving so the picture would not develop a blur.

Q3. Name three different types of early photographs. What did they look like?  Why were they called what they were called?

A3. I. Daguerreotype, this method of photography got its name for its French create Louis Daguerre.

 II. Ambrotype, this particular photograph does not have a unique name, however its creator James Cutting changed his middle name to Ambrose to more closely associate himself with it.

 

III. Tintype, this method of photography received its name from the fact test in the development process this type of photograph is placed on a metal surface rather than a glass or paper surface.

 

Q4. What is a Kodak Brownie.  How did it work?  What made it so popular?  Can you buy one today?

A4. The Kodak Brownie was a small inexpensive camera developed by Eastman Kodak in the late nineteenth century, this camera had two fixed lenses on either side of a film roll that would burn the image upon the film. The camera was popular due to its low price point and is still available today.

Q5. Who were the Dadaists?  What was their photographic work like? Why are they considered "important" in the history of photography?

A5.The Dadaists were followers of the Dada movement which was basically a protest against the events that lead up to World War One, the artists that made up this movement became non-artists and produced non-art due to their belief that art and everything else in the world have no meaning anyway. Their photographic work often times displayed shock art or mild obscenities and humorous images. This is considered to have been the first photographic protest and would later receive some credit for  the creation of the satirical branch of photography.

Photo Manipulation

Do you agree with the idea that "a (journalistic) photographer should protect the truth and represent it as accurately as possible"? Is there any room for expression or creative license in journalistic photography?

The art of journalistic photography is a complex one, in order to understand it one must understand the goal of professional journalism, which is to inform the public. Now I personally would like a world in which the news media was not deceptive and/or censored however I am a realist, I see that the media is clearly manipulated to support certain viewpoints. The very act of taking a photograph captures one moment of time within a defined space upon a visual record, there is no complete photographic account if you will, there will always be something beyond the lens that is not being pictured yet almost certainly relevant. The idea that taking a photograph and editing it are two separate actions is absurd, there will always be outside, undocumented elements that are not present within the composition. The only method to ensure a photograph maintains its integrity is to be completely and utterly honest about any alterations that are made to the image after the fact, and also to annotate (or in some other way record) the entities outside of the frame that are relevant. A more direct answer to the question at hand however is yes, of course there is space for a photographer to utilize creative freedom in their photography, with regard to the intent of use for the photograph. However journalistic photography is different from most types of photography, this type of photography is by every definition intended to inform people of the truth, unaltered, unedited, no matter how salty or sweet it may be, that is the objective.

Composition Rules

1. Pattern

2. Leaving space

3. Pattern

4. Color

5. Background

6. Rule of odds

Back To School

This image was also lost to my class computer being re-imaged.

Animalia-Photo Compositing

This project was lost due to the files being deleted during the re-imaging of my class computer, measures have been undertaken to ensure this does not occur again.

Inside Me

Is it art?

The answer to the question of "Is X art?" has been a defining point for societies across the span of millennia. The concept of art in more recent times (the late 20th century and on) has seen the array of topics considered to be art explode, why is this though? The answer is that in the later half of the 20th century the general consensus on what art was evolved to any form of self expression, no matter how ordinary or extraordinary a piece of work was it was all considered art. That list of people whose opinion that any form of self expression is considered art can also be extended to include my name, however with one abridgment, the addition of the phrase "within reason" at the end there.