Another b&w photographer that I like is Rocky Schenck

I brought in another book, but didn't get a chance to pass around.  This book was a gift to me. The photographs are dream-like and I get lost in them.

Photo book, Nick Brandt photographer

I'm crazy about animals so it is no surprise that I would love the photographs by Nick Brandt.  They are taken in Africa.  They have a romantic, Out of Africa--feel to them.  He, Nick Brandt, now has a website for rescuing animals and education in Africa regarding animals.  I brought book in but it was never passed around because we were busy in class.

superimposed (two bird photographs)

Two kinds of light (daylight & lamp)

Something loud (soon to be loud)

Shape cut out of it

scene from a movie (Godzilla)

Scene from a book

Something you would otherwise forget

Reject

Photograph of printed image

Photograph in chosen setting

Nothing

Looking through hole

Favorite object--well one of mine (charm bracelet from travels)

shape cut out

Arty

Ambivalence

Could be an advertisement (for pearls)

The remaining photos from assignment #2 - 30 works

So behind on things

Due to a severe injury in the family, I have become stretched really thin.  My dog, a rescue basset named Sassy, was playing last week and injured her spine.  On Wed. she was moving very slowly.  Thursday, she began to lose strength in her back legs.  Fri (after Thurs injections), paralyzed.  Fri., to a veterinary neurologist in OC.  Sat., back surgery for large acute rupture disc. Sun., spent part of day in the veterinary hospital's critical care unit visiting her.  I'll get caught up.
Thanks, Anita

Forgot to mention last week's book

Last week I brought Cindy Sherman to class.  Though nobody saw her!!!  Only me and my backpack.  She is such an entertaining photographer.  Sometimes when you can't find a model, you are it.  Sort of, a stretch, like a quarter back when he has to run because there is no receiver.  I don't know if Sherman's inspiration was herself, or became herself out of desperation.  Anyway, it doesn't matter.  Great ideas, and images.

I'm posting a photograph by a photographer that was recently discovered.  She was never known during her life.  It is a fascinating story about Vivian Maier.

Visit to CMP, Thurs. Nov. 3

Anita Six

Nov. 8 2011

Photo 131

Visit to CMP, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011

                A black and white photo from a past decade hangs in the exhibition along with 141 other photographs taken by 43 photographers.  The exhibition is Seismic Shift: Lewis Baltz, Joe Deal and California Landscape Photography, 1944-1984.  This exhibition is part of a larger arts project which incorporates over 60 cultural institutions across Southern California.  The purpose is to celebrate the birth of the L.A. art scene.  This celebration began this past October and will continue to April 2012.

                The landscape photography at the California Museum of Photography, CMP, starts in the 1940s and moves through four decades to the 1980s.  It begins with the Zone System master, Ansel Adams, and ends with two New Topographics photographers, Lewis Baltz and Joe Deal.  What is represented in this exhibition are not just the few  beautifully  printed black and white landscapes of the early photographers, but photographs which focus on the altered landscape by man’s big ugly footprint.

                It is difficult to say which photograph is my favorite; however, since I must choose only one I would have to say it is Rondal Partridge’s, Pave it and Paint it Green, Yosemite Park, mid 1960s.  The transition from glorious landscape to the Partridge image of Half Dome along with a parking lot full of cars depicts the collision of nature and man. A scene that is repeated over and over in Seismic Shift.

                Pave it and Paint it Green, is a horizontal black and white print.  The bottom third of the photograph is crammed, and weighted down, with cars parked in zigzag parking spaces.  The photograph is taken from a higher vantage point with the tops of the cars closest to the camera clearly visible.  As the viewer’s eyes move up to the middle of the scene, there are pine trees which separate the bottom from the top.  The pine trees separate the cars from the top third of the photograph which has Half Dome in the distance.  Clearly, the automobile is the focal point along with a wee bit of sarcasm.

                Partridge has taken a photo of one of the most seen images in nature photography—Half Dome.  This is a place that many tourists like to escape to, and coupled it with a modern day convenience which is the antithesis of nature.

                

Fri., Nov. 4

Book this week, I brought in Phillip Lorca diCorcia.
Reading was about Robert Cumming.
Thurs., class was to the CMP for Seismic Shift and After Shock.

Books that I have brought to class and notes

Hi Brandon.

1) Arnold Newman
2) Imogen Cunningham
3)'Barbie loves L.A.'by Greg LaVoi. This is a photo book similar to blurb's photo books.
4) Hiroshi Sugimoto (I love his photographs) and another book but I cannot remember the name.  I've been unsuccessful in tracing my reserve history at the Rivera library, I'll have to tell you later because I cannot find where to go to see my account.

I have short notes from the two first readings on R'web/iLearn/Student tools/blogs--Stephen Shore and Douglas Huebler.  I can show you the hard copies in class. In case you have seen them.

There was an assignment, that we were to do in lab on 10/14/11, I was unable to get it off do to some technical difficulties and major frustration with Picasa.

3 favorite photos from 200,000,000.

And the winner is Kmart toy aisle.

Runner up is the Red Beam

Third place is Clothesline

 (images are not in order)

#1
#1 Kmart image.  This image is successful in that it is technically good.  The composition is in rule-of-thirds, the indoor florescent lighting has been adjusted for a more normal look.  The strong graphic composition pulls the eyes to the center.  The color yellow repeats on the back wall which also pulls the eyes through the shelves to the back, to the wall.

#3

#3 Clothesline.  The blue sky with clouds and pastel clothespins, along with diagonal composition create a pleasing composition.  The nostalgic quality adds to the appeal of the image, that is, at least to me. The shallow depth-of-field, foreground clothespins have a slight blur, helps enhance the image.  Not sure how, it just does.

#2

#2 Red beam.  This image, also, has a strong graphic composition.  Again the rule-of-thirds is active here.  The neutral tone is bombarded by the strong red beam (not photoshop enhanced).  It is sort of modern, sort of abstract.