A Day In The Life....

I decided to document this chipmunk who resides in our back yard. This is a picture of his home from in between the slats of our porch. He lives under our shed in the hole on the left. This is where he gets most of his food and this is a close up of him digging in!!! Right out of our bird feeder. Clever little guy isn't he??

Before he eats he sits and looks out for any predators or possible photograghers taking pictures of him, but for a while on this day he didn't notice me.

I caught a great shot of him in action as he ran up his favorite resting place up to his food source.

This is where he goes to straight out of his home in the hole when he makes it across our deck. He perches himself up on the fence and waits to run up to the feeder.

This is a wider shot to see all of the fence the post and the feeder from a farther distance. A day in the life a a chipmunk may seem easy, but its a pensive one at best for him and a patient one for a photographer trying to get a glimpse of him doing all he does!

Photoshopped German Girl

This is the pre photoshop photo it isn't as bright and she is wearing what she did in the original.After photoshop it was brighter and I changed the color of her shirt just for fun! Why not pink??

More..by, James Nachtwey

East Germany 1990- pollution from a coke factory






Nicaragua 1984- Contra mortally wounded in jungle warfare

Afghanistan 1996- land mine victims learned to walk on prosthetic
legs at ICRC clinic

Resources, resources, resources

This article I found in EBSCO Host, in the Helmke Library.


THE UNFORGETTABLES. By: Goldberg, Vicki. American Photo, Jul/Aug2004, Vol. 15 Issue 4, p53-101, 3p, 1c, 1bw; (AN 13669030)



http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

This is a website completely dedicate to James Nachtwey's Photography and has a lot of background and historical information on his work as an artist and on his achievements as well. The name of the site is called WITNESS, which I think is a very appropriate title for a photographer like Nachtwey.

http://www.festivalofthephotograph.org/2008/nachtwey.html

This site is called LOOK 3 James Nachtwey Events. This is not your typical gallery style site. The set up is really cool. Bright and vibrant it caught my attention. It focuses on why Nachtwey wanted to become a photographer and gives background information which inhis case is really pretty interesting and has a lot to do with the type of photographer he did become.

James Nachtwey, "Photograghy's Neccessity"

Zimbabwe 2000 - a tuberculosis ward where the great majority of the patients

suffer from AIDS

Afghanistan 1986- Mujahedin praying while on an operation against the soviet army

Rwanda 1994 - survivor of a Hutu death camp

These photograph's are all very meaning full, and taken to speak for the people they are taken of. The people in these pictures are not of those who can tell the world of what is going on themselves. James Nachtwey is a storyteller, and he does not only tell the stories with happy endings or of those with smiling faces or expensives backgrounds. He tells the important stories, the ones not otherwise told. His artistic ability to do so with bad lighting and unattractive subjects is just another of his amazing qualities as an artist and photographer. He does his job with bravery, intuition and an upfront approach to his craft. I admire his work and think people should be even more aware of what goes on in our world, if dislplaying it in photography gets people to pay attention than lets take more pictures and use art to convey messages that may otherwise fall on deaf ears.



ART REVIEW; World's Cruelty and Pain, Seen in an Unblinking Lens. By: MICHAEL KIMMELMAN. New York Times (1/1/1985 to present), 3/28/2007, p1, 0p; (AN 28186192)

James Nachtwey. By: Fussman, Cal. Esquire, Oct2005, Vol. 144 Issue 4, p206-238, 7p, 2c, 2bw; (AN 18412224)

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR. By: Nachtwey, James. American Photo, Jul/Aug2004, Vol. 15 Issue 4, p41-101, 10p, 4c, 2bw; (AN 13669029)

USEFUL RESEARCH

All of these should be helpful in the powerpoint presentation, all will be helpful in the different areas that are going to be highlighted. The "Art Review" will help with the angle on the presentation that James Nachtwey helped to show the world just as it is through a camera. Obviuosly the book on the photographer himself will be insightful as to facts on his life and more intimate details that will be needed. The last piece, "Photographer of the Year," will give more information as to achievements and awards that this artist recieved, and there were many.

Is Photography Dead???

This is a picture by Dorothea Lange, I think it is an excellent representation of the poor and broken in the depression era. I liked all of the different features in this photograph. The ad signs make for a great background at this make shift looking gas station. The people (most likely with no jobs at the time) all hanging around on the porch, the building that could be in much better shape. All of this contributes to what is being said in this picture, in the story telling of what is going on is fabulous. All of it is laid out so artisticly in one snapshot of what she is trying to base all of her work on. Its also just very entertaining to look at.







I thought this picture by Cindy Sherman was great! It was very stereotypical in one sense but at the same time combated everything that the mid twentieth-century house wife was labeled. She looks strong and confident. She also appears to be a no nonsense kind of sexy woman even in an apron and house shoes. She is in a common dress and a less than common setting but still seems to radiate glamour and self assurance. Almost as if a she is a spokes woman for all the down trodden to stand up for them selves and not feel bad about their roles as simple people.

I think that photography is more alive and on the move than ever. Just because something changes it doesn't mean it is dead. We do have more technology now, but it just gives photographers a chance to display images in a more real way, in the way the images looked and actually felt when they took them. Feelings and moods, heat and cold almost jump off the page if a photographer so chooses. Photographs look more real now than ever and also more creative and artistic choices and challenges as well. So if art changes does that mean its previos form is dead? I think not, has rock n' roll died

Robin on a Fence

I cannot get onto my flicker account at all now and I don't know why. I also cannot get my pictures to download or upload from my camera to anywhere else. Frustrating. The picture on the cloudy day turned out the best for sure. All of the colors came out in the picture. There were greens, grays and reds in it I had never noticed before. The worst I would say was the picture taken at 5p.m. The sun was glaring into the camera. I didn't go anywhere exciting but I did see the first robin of the season on an old wooden fence, that is why I chose the picture that I did. To bad it isn;'t here to look at....for the moment!

Photoshop Assignment #1

Photos by James Nachtwey

Photo of the South Tower falling on 9/11/01

" I Have been witness and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated." -james nachtwey

Imprint of man killed by Serbs.

I chose the photographer James Nachtwey because I respect that he has so much respect for the world and the issues he has documented. I feel I has a sense of duty that he feels as a photographer to let the world know what is going on in order that we never let it happen again. Somewhat like he is a good will and peace corp and a photographer trying to unite nations all with his work behind the lens. I appreciate his pictures and his dedication to his craft.
James Nachtwey grew up in Massachusetts and graduated from Dartmouth college, where he studied Art History and Political Science from 1966-1970. He has worked all over the world, from huge cities, to tiny towns in every region taking pictures of war, famine and civil injustice. Nachtwey has been a contract photographer with Time magazine since 1984 and has won numeous outstanding awards, achievements and medals, so many in fact it is hard to keep count. I think he is a fabulous photographer and civil rights activist in his own right.

Can Photoshop Help???

I am not quite sure what to do with this picture, but it is one of my favorite pictures that I have been able to take all semester. Not being a photographer of any kind, I am sure that there are plenty of things that photoshop can do to enhance the pictures I have taken, especially if I like them already.

This picture is of my brother at a base ball game. I like how clear he is in it, but am hoping maybe to take away the bad backgroud and maybe make it solid or make it blurred a bit more so that he is the only thing in the picture with no other distractions, for example the small lights and few rows of seats in the distance.

I really like this picture but think it may need some definition and some contrast. I also might need to do some cropping?? I think the colors could be bolder and maybe the main subjects could be zoomed in on. I think this will be an interesting picture to work on.

Interpreting Editorial Cartoons

This is one picture I found after looking through many that I acually connected with on a personal level and really could identify with. I like and understand sports and I liked the humor in this cartoon.

The symbolism in it I think would be the trash and gutter like water (including cans and fishbones) coming out of his mouth and surrounding him.

The exaggeration is the oil drum or barrel of a mouth the artist has put in place of where a normal sized mouth once was. This is done to make his mouth look extra big and like it is spewing this gutter water.

The labeling is the sign that says "toxic waste" . That is a pretty obvious lable of what is around him and coming from his mouth as well.

The words toxic waste help to point out the analogy, which is what Rivers is saying. The cartoon's point is that what is coming out of his mouth or that what he is saying is equivalent to toxic waste, trash or garbage. Basically calling him on his trash talking behavior.

The irony to this cartoon is that his name with the replacing of one letter, the "S", can be changed from Philip Rivers, to Philip's River. Another ironic this is that he was such a horrible bad mouther and his team, the Chargers lost to the Patriots in playoffs.

I actually got to see his mouth in action for myself at the playoff game between the Colts and the Chargers!!! It was pretty bad, he's very mouthy!

The Rule Of Three

This picture illustrates the rule of three by breaking down the picture into thirds. The woman taking up the middle third of this picture. Above her is the radiator and some open space and below her is the color in the picture. Her green socks and red jacket seem to give the room some life and are the bottom third of this photo. I liked the colors and that it looked kind of retro and not too posed for, her skin is also beautiful.

This black and white picture shows the rule of three in a few different ways. First the three square cut outs pull your eyes to the right and cause some tension and movement. Second the stone walls are off to the side and seem to be on the long side of the B and C proportioned line which also applies to the rule of three. The way this picture has so many different textures is why I liked it.

I loved both of these pictures so much I couldn't pick just one and had to include them both. It seems to me (and I could deffinitley be wrong) that each of these pictures has diagaonal angles and depicts the rule of thirds that way. They are cut from corner to corner by their main subjects, both of whom are extrememly beautiful. I liked the simplicity of the showgirl on the bottom and the always overdone luxury of the former Mrs. Jagger on the top.

When I saw and learned about the nine square grid, it helped me understand the rule of three in a different and better way. When I saw this picture that grid jumped right out at me. This picture is a bit obvious, I know but I am not such a fan of technical pictures but I happened to like this one. It reminded me of something my brother would have built when we were young. Not to mention it is a really great picture, of whatever it is.

This was the first picture that I could easily see the rule of thirds jump right out at me. The long table takes up two thirds of the line at the bottom and then the woman the last third. Or the tree taking up two thirds and the woman and table one third. My family is all from Italy and this picture reminds me of life in all ways. Its simple, beautiful and seems you could sit there forever, if that glass is a glass of wine of course!

Can sex sell anything??

As most car companies do, this is volvo using sex to help to sell its cars. This ad is a little different than most though. The quote that goes with it is, "We are just as excited as you." Maybe they think their cars are for men only? I just thought this use of "sex" to sell a car was a funny one.

This ad is one that is used in Germany to sell vacuums! If you look closely you can see the product in the left corner and a little cord connected from the vacuum that is binding this man's hands. I guess she is going to lure him to her using suction instead of seduction. This is one product that I would never have guessed could have been seen in a sexual way but someone found a way to put it in a light that is, although I am not sure how much the vacuum is really being put on display.

Super Bowl Sales..

I thought the Super Bowl ads were really deflated this year. I think they have been getting more and more boring and less creative for the past few years. Maybe it is because the games have been more hyped up than ever, but to me the innovation and thought that used to go into theses commercials just isn't there whether it has to do with sex to sell a product or not.

This year in particular I really didn't think there were many advertisments that were using sex to sell their products or that were trying to use the human form much at all. Unless you count a very small baby with a photoshoped mouth!! There was one Victoria's Secret commercial with an almost naked woman with a close to perfect (if not perfect, or what american women have been trained to think and believe is perfect) body. The ad was for the store in general and for Valentine's Day, apperently the clevege worked because I remember the commercial and so did my husband!

Most of the ads that did run were for beer and usually they do use good looking people. This year it seemed to be horses and a donkey or mule. There were also some energy water ads that used althetes that people want to emulate, but not in a bad way. Super Bowl commercials were unsuprisingly mild to me this year.

Super Bowl Ads

I thought that this article about a commercial that PepsiCo was going to run during this years Super Bowl game was particularly original and creative. They got the idea from a joke in the deaf community. They have decided to go completely against the flow and have a 60 second commercial that is silent!
The idea being people that can hear (most of us) will be used to hearing to much noise from the game and its other commercials that when they hear nothing it will grab their attention. Maybe they will think something is wrong with the T.V. or that they hit the mute button. I this is such a new idea and that all advertisers have tried so much that anything new will be a refreshing ad to watch and (not) hear.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=5913110

Photoshop, good or bad??

The large image of Condi is the original the smaller one below it has been "retouched" by someone on photoshop, so that she is supposed to look possesed. It isn't very good in my opinion but it is relevant and definintely something that would be done today. It really is cruel and has a very mean intent. But that is what the misuse of ethics can lead to when you use photoshop for the wrong reasons.

The other pictures below hve been photoshoped for artistic purposes.

These are photos taken by Scott Kelby who sticks to his claims that he is a strict ameteur and has no "stake" in selling his photos. Therefore he says he has absolutely no "photoshop ethics" nor does he need them. Kelby says that, "whatever makes the picture look good hanging on the wall is cool." He is the editor and publisher of Photoshop User Magazine, Layers Magazine (the how to magazine for everything Adobe) and the President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP)

Photoshop in Political Campaigns

I think the real issues in this case is not whether or not the candidate is good looking or not. Who knows maybe most people in politics do this and only he was caught. I am sure this is not the only forum that things like this happens. In fact I know a friend of the family who does something similar yearly on the family christmas cards. Its not that hard to believe, really its no more false than plastic surgery. I think the differnce here is a moral one. If someone is trying to earn votes or the trust of people and they think that looks may play a role in that, then it is a seperate issue. A moral issue and to me it reflects on the character of that person, badly. No, he wouldn't get my vote.

Pinhole Image

This is a pinhole image I found online.

It instantly caught my eye. I guess I am not sure what a pinhole picture is supposed to look like especially if it is in color, but I am guessing this photographer is an experienced one!! I liked it because it looks magical almost like a dream. I can't even think of a possible place this picture could have been taken. The colors are so bright and vivid and the raspberry just pops right out where it feels like its right at home in the middle of a white castle with clouds inside of it.

What Can Be Learned From Pinhole Photography?

The image above is a pinhole photograph taken using color paper. From pinhole photography, an unexprienced photographer like me can learn a lot about the art in a more simplistic way. A way that gives more insight than from using the standard digital camera I use now.I can learn about wide angles, focal lengths and exposure times. All of these I do not know about yet but will be able to see in a step-by-step process with a pinhole camera. It is also a new kind of art and maybe a new hobby

Lewis wickes Hine, the photographer

I chose Lewis Wickes Hine who took this picture as well as the "Breaker Boys," photo 1911. Here you see the picture of a young boy shining the shoes of a man. The work that Hine did, eventually passed child labor laws and changed lives of American families. The reason I choose him was because it was his photographs that interested me most. I thought they had a great deal of importance to our country in there time and for all time. Even in the history of photography his pictures are referred to as ground-breaking. I had a lot of appreciation for

Lewis Wickes Hines' work.

Chapter One: History of Photography

The title of Chapter One is much simpler than what the reading turns out to be. Although it is something that is worth finding out more about. I think that since photography is a part of everyday life and that since anyone (these days) can have access to a camera, knowing a bit about its origin is relevant. It's similar to knowing some history of the television or telephone.
Each of the pictures displayed in the reading, from the different types of cameras, "The Broom," for example, Made by the camera obscura. And "Pyramids of Dahshoor, Egypt," to show the pioneering of travel photography kept my attention. Without these images the history of these views could not simply be imagined, and keep the reading interesting.
To me the most entertaining part of Chapter One, was how photography has led to groung-breaking legislation. The fact that pictures could make and change laws is amazing. In our country that is not an easy thing to do, but to use a picture to improve living conditions and help the young citizens in the United State, truly does prove, that a picture is worth a thousand words.

blog post 1

I liked this picture right when I saw it because of the amount of creativity it had. It was not only a good picture but an original and artistic idea. In the beginning the picture was supposed to be of the steeple itself, as it turned out the shadow it cast proved to be a picture with many more angles and the mystery of the shadow. The bright blue sky gives it a rich color and is a defining backdrop for the edges of the buildings. Also the texture in the bricks seem to pop a bit more. The simplicity of the few colors and easy angles really make the focal point the shadow of the steeple. A picture of a shadow framed just right.

Henri Cartier Bresson

this is a test image