Instagram...

I'm not sure what peoples thoughts/feelings are over instagram.  But whether you love it or hate it it's here and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere for awhile.  I found this article and there are some good pictures in it.  http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2012/05/why-instagram-is-the-future-of-street-photography/

Rene Burri

Rene Burri is a European photographer who's known for portraying scenes without using cliches objects or imagery.  He mainly shoots in black and white and his photos have a good sense of atmosphere, emotions, or both.  I found out he likes to use a wide angle lens because it forces him to get closer to his work.  I didn't know about him until this week, I hope you enjoy his work. 

Rene Burri

Emmet Gowin

Emmet Gowin is an excellent contemporary photographer whose work really focuses on the broad rather than the specific.

I feel a sort of inspiration from the sublime in his work, because much of it contains scenes of grandeur. Whether it is large fields, bodies of water, or even the earth itself, he has a knack for bringing a "wow" factor to the earth.

Here is his work:

http://photography-now.net/emmet_gowin/index.html

I am interested in doing more research on Lori Nix for the final project. I find her newer work, the city series, to be particularly interesting. A unique aspect of Lori Nix's work is that she constructs miniature scenes and then photographs them. I like the extra step that is put in to her photography, along with the blurred line of reality and illusion she plays with.

At this time I am still have not partnered up but look forward to collaborating with them whoever they may be.

Pairs and projects

We'll finalize project pairs on Tuesday in class this week and will make sure everyone has a partner then. I'm seeing some great ideas for research topics on the blog. One thing to keep in mind is that you will need to find scholarly sources to use to develop your projects. For a formal research paper of this scope, you will need to be able to find at least five to ten scholarly (and not web-based) sources. This will be something that you learn more about on Thursday during our library research visit. Keep an open mind about your photographer until you have a chance to do some research and evaluate those sources. I'd like to add some ideas of my own, as well. Here's a list of photographers whose careers have been well documented and might make good candidates for research papers: 

Sandy Skoglund

Nan Goldin

Robert Mapplethorpe

Andres Serrano

Tina Barney

Sally Mann

Thomas Struth

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Joan Fontcuberta

Gabriel Orozco

Uta Barth

Rineke Dijkstra

Thomas Demand

Alfredo Jaar

Wolfgang Tillmans

Corinne Day

Catherine Opie

Pierre et Gilles

Sunil Gupta

Richard Misrach

Edward Burtynsky

Joel Sternfeld

Vik Muniz

Larry Sultan

Bernard Faucon

Philip-Lorca di Corcia

Wang Jinsong

Joel-Peter Witkin

Gregory Crewdson

James Casebere

Zwelethu Mthethwa

Christian Boltanski

Thomas Ruff

Sebastiao Salgado

Toshihiro Yashiro

Martin Parr

Jeff Wall

Chen Chieh-Jen

Andreas Gursky

This week on the blog, I'd like each of you to choose one of these photographers to write about. Find one whose work appeals to you and whom you would consider working on for this project. As always, include links and images along with your own thoughts and comments. 

Let the research begin!

Richard and Judith Lang

For this project I will be pairing up with [drum roll please..] Connor O'Malia!

While searching for contemporary artists I thought of a husband and wife pair I saw in a news story a while back.  The couple works together visiting and revisiting the same 1000 yards of Kehoe Beach in California.  They spend their visits picking up other people's trash, plastic to be specific.  After collecting they take the pieces back to their studio to create works of art.  I would guess that they consider themselves to be more sculptors, however because of the nature of their work, photography is the main way to document it.  I truly love all their work.  Every time I see the beauty that can be created out of 1000 yards of beach trash, I wonder if I could create something wonderful just from walking back and forth to class.  Here's an example of a piece from the series Chromas.

http://beachplastic.com/About-One-Beach-Plastic

Partner Project!

I'm partnering with the wonderful Ryan Noll.

I've been browsing the world wide web for a while now looking at contemporary photographers and Elinor Carucci caught my eye. She's an Israeli-born photographer who now lives in NYC. Ryan and I haven't talked much about which photographer we'd like to research, but I'd definitely like to look into her work a little more.

Elinor Carucci

Mitch Epstein

For this project, I will be partnered with Daniel Na.  I am interested in photographers who use lots of texture.  Mainly, I'm looking at Mitch Epstein's work.  His portfolio includes very saturated colors, unusual subject-composition combinations, and great lighting.

http://www.mitchepstein.net/index.html

Annie Leibovitz

For this project I will be paring with Daniel Eggert.  We have chosen Annie Leibovitz.  Although we do not have a "We met Annie Leibovitz" story....but we are going to learn all about her and what she has contributed to the world of photography to share with all of you.  Daniel actually suggested Annie after we toiled over who would be the subject for our project.  We wanted a prominent artist that we could really explore and have enough substantial information on.  Here are a few of her most well-known images. enjoy!

Lori Nix

I will be working with David Deng for this project. A contemporary photographer that I have been considering researching is Lori Nix. I find her work very interesting because instead of going out and looking for a scene to photograph she constructs miniature scenes in front of her camera. She does not digitally manipulate any of her images. All of her images have an eerie sense about them and her new newer works are becoming increasingly harder to tell that they are miniature scenes. I would definitely be interested in researching more about her, but I would also be interested in researching David's choice of Naoya Hatakeyama.

Brice Bischoff

For our group project, I will be pairing up with the one and only Emily Hvidston!

Today I looked at a handful of contemporary photographers and the work of Brice Bischoff really stood out to me and caught my interest. A lot of his work focuses on the concept of light and also space. One of his latest works is based off of collection of images from the Bronson Caves, which are some of the most notable caves used in cinema. The way he deals with color is interesting as he draped large sheets of colored paper over his body and moved around during long exposures. The link below is an interview that helps explain his process and work in more detail.
Interview

Kirk Crippens

Morgan and I chose Kirk Crippens as our photographer.  He has done a variety of series, including depictions of the recession, of pixels, and of the "hidden population" located in prisons.  he writes this about his body of work titled "Judgment Day":

Family Radio owner Harold Camping purchased over 5,500 billboards around the world proclaiming May 21st, 2011 as judgment day. In the days leading up to May 21st national media in the United States aired interviews with Camping and his followers. Some of Camping's followers stated that they had spent every last penny traveling around the country proclaiming May 21st as Judgment Day. They didn't think it mattered because the world was going to end.

I wondered why Camping would endanger his followers and provide such fodder for ridicule by claiming to know the day and hour of judgment day. The bible clearly states, "of that day and hour no one knows."

I photographed from midnight to midnight on May 21st, envisioning a world where the rapture had taken place and society was about to tip toward an apocalyptic end. I set out with no destination in mind except one, I visited Family Radio headquarters along the way.

John Cyr

For the project, I will be working with Shelby Logan.
In searching through contemporary photographers, I was particularly intrigued by John Cyr's work.  I'm not sure whether he will be sufficient for the project, but I find his work to be very unique in contemporary photography.  He photographs developer trays of famous photographers.  This acts as a documentation of both the photographer themselves, along with their work, as it was involved in the developing process.  I think that Cyr explains well that his work "references the historical significance of these objects in a minimal manner that evokes thought and introspection about what images have passed through each individual tray."

Alexa Meade

I am doing this project with Alyssa Banas.
One of our choices for the research project is a photographer named Alexa Meade. Her work is very unique and unlike anything I have seen since studying art and photography. I also think this photographer would be a great research topic because her work straddles that line between fine art and photography that we've covering throughout the class.

Her work is unique because she physically oil paints her subjects then takes them into the environment to capture them contrasting real life sharpness. Hopefully, we can find enough info on her to do this research paper.

Naoya Hatakeyama

My partner for this presentation is with Eric Conrad.
I've been doing a little research on a photographer named Naoya Hatakeyama.
I've been a fan of him for a very long time but never knew much about him other than his photographs, so we might do some research on him, or not.
But what Naoya Hatakeyama does is what I would call a action landscape photography.
He is able to capture landscape and street photography in a whole different way.
You can see more of what I am talking about in the link below.


Naoya Hatakeyama

David Prifti

I'm partnering with Kaylie Davis for this assignment.  I came across photographer David Prifti as I was looking into photographers to research.  I find it fascinating when contemporary photographers use old processes to photograph modern subjects and people. 

His photos are raw and provocative, and I wanted to research someone I'd never heard of before.

You can find his website here.

David Maisel

For the final project, Aubry and I have paired up. One photographer I came across in my search for contemporary photographers was David Maisel. From his website: "Daivd Maisel's large-scaled, otherworldy photographs chronicle the complex relationships between natural systems and human intervention, piecing together the fractured logic that informs them both." His photos are abstract and give the viewer a new perspective on things they may see everyday.

What really caught my eye was his "Terminal Mirage" series. He took aerial photographs of various landscapes that are so abstract that it's often hard to see that they're landscapes. Many of them look like paintings. Maisel wanted to capture the way mankind has intervened with natural landscapes, and the result is beautiful, captivating photographs presented as large-scale (30"-30" or 48"x48") prints that swallow you up and are a bit sublime.

Annie Leibovitz

For this project I will be partnering with Whitney Hamblin.  We've been researching and trying to find someone that interested us both.  We would like to learn more about Annie Leibovitz.  She seems very interesting and we would like to use her for our project.

Lacey Back

My partner is Bri Beck. I liked Bri's idea on who we should do our project on, but I still want to bring up Sander Koot and her project Back From the Future. She says "In this project I ask people to find an old portrait of themselfs, of which they have good memories. We remake that picture." It sounds very simple but I just love seeing the photos she takes, and she how people used to look and there youth. You realize what is beautiful about each person and you can really tell what makes them, them, because the essence they have still carries on into old age.

Partner Project Ideas

For the partner project I'm joining up with Christy.  I was thinking about researching Nigel Barker or a fashion photographer, but I'm not sure how Barker fit's into the historical aspect of study.  So, I found a few more artists (Thanks to Wiki).  Richard Avedon, Helmut Newton, Francesco Scavullo, and Herb Ritts.  I'm thinking Avedon or Scavullo would be good to research, however; I'm learning towards Richard Avedon more.

This is a photograph of Marilyn Monroe by Richard Avedon.

Kirk Crippens

For the presentation, I'm partnering up with Shani. After looking around, I found a pretty interesting photographer, Kirk Crippens. I like his work about the recession because they conveyed some powerful feelings of desertion, loss, and emptiness. I would like to explore his work further. Here's a link to his website.

Simon Chaput

For this assignment I will be partnering up with Claire. She introduced the work of Simon Chaput to me, and we have agreed to present on this photographer. His works from The Kogi and Death Valley are especially intriguing, and exotic in location and subject matter. Simon Chaput

Augustin Rebetez

I will be working with Lacey and (hopefully) Lauren on this project! We would love to be your group of three. While researching photographers, I came across a very interesting photographer named Augustin Rebetez. He is Swedish and includes various forms of technology in his exhibits. Even on his website, he includes the usage of GIF images within his photographs to create a unique look. His images are displayed in a very scattered way, but each image relates to another somehow, creating a very interesting viewing experience. His look is extreme and gory and I hope I can learn a lot more about him.

Simon Chaput

For our presentation I will be paired with Amanda.

One of the photographers I would like to consider covering is Simon Chaput. My favorite work of his is his black and white photography, specifically his nudes. The way he uses lighting makes the photos show contours of the body. They are really beautiful and have the most graceful lines. He has wonderful use of contrast and negative space. He also has other nice collections of black and white photos including new york city, waterfalls, and dunes.

Look at his website!

Laurent Baillet

For this project, I'm partnering with Dean.

Laurent Baillet is a French fine art photographer.  She likes that photography can represent reality and doesn't manipulate her photographs. A lot of her series have to do with time, rather showing time frozen in one photograph after another or the lapse of time in one single photograph shown by a long exposure. I find her Water Material series to be really interesting.
Check her website out!

Jeremy Cowart

 Jeremy Cowart is mostly a fashion photographer by day, but I like to think he is a voice for the silent in the night as well.  While he has photographed many famous people for magazines, websites, album covers, etc.  He has a passion for photographing people for a purpose.  I believe that's a good quality to have.  I mean, what's good about just taking someone's photograph if at the end of the day, it hasn't helped them or made them better?  His Haiti series is really inspiring.  He took a trip down there to take free photographs of the people to help them tell their story after the devastation a couple years ago. 

 http://jeremycowart.com/portfolio/

This week...pair up!

Hi all,
I think this was the best week on the blog yet! You are posting about some of my favorite photographers (remind me to tell you my "I met Annie Liebovitz" story...I cannot overhype it enough.) and some that are new to me. It seems that these weeks where you can post anything you want work best, so we'll try to stick with that program for most of the semester. But this week we have some real work to do first.

As you know, you will be pairing up to give presentations on contemporary photographers at the end of the semester. You will also be writing research papers about them and we'll get started on that research next week. So, this means that it is time to pick your partner! You can talk about this before/after class this week, on the blog, over email, in the hallways...whatever. But you need to pick your partner by next Sunday. (We may end up with one group of 3 or one person going it alone, depending on your preference...TBD.) Once you pick your partner, I want each of you to write a new post in which you announce your partnership and suggest a contemporary photographer that you might want to research. Obviously, ultimately no two groups can present on the same person. And I'd like to see each student posting about a photographer that you haven't yet written about on the blog. We'll worry about choosing the specific photographer later. For now, let's just throw out some ideas. Remember, in order for both members of the team to get blog credit this week you each must write an independent post.

Any questions? Just ask.

See you Tuesday!

Oh, and here are some photos about pairs...both by Diane Arbus.

Koen Demuynck

I was googling a bunch of things about photography and came across a bunch of things that I found very interesting. I came across the name Koen Demuynck. I looked at his website and his work and I found them to be really interesting. This is his website that shows a lot of his work.

Doug Rickard

Doug Rickard is one of my favorite contemporary photographers. He was featured in MOMA's New Photography 2011 exhibition. The former history and sociology major created a wonderful series called A New American Picture which focuses on poverty and racial equality in the United States. Instead of traveling around to take his photos, he uses Google Earth Street View. He composes his images inside the program then takes digital photographs of them. His methods are slightly controversial because it raises the question as to wether or not he is the actual photographer. Either way, I find his work fascinating. I am including a link to his website so that you can check his work out if you have a chance.

http://www.dougrickard.com/

Hiroshi Sugimoto

 I encourage everyone to check out Hiroshi Sugimoto. He has a wonderful and wide variety of works. Some of the images that really stuck out to me were the photos that he took of animals in their habitats. I'd have to think that for many of those photos, he would have had to been in the right place at the right time.

Because we had been talking about truth in photos and the artist's ability to hire actors for more theatrical photography, Sugimoto is relevant. IN some of his colletions here are portraits of famous people that were accomplished by hiring people to fill those roles.

Check out some of his photos!


http://photography-now.net/hiroshi_sugimoto/index.html

Movie Stills

The career of still photography has always interested me.  To be on the set of a movie just to take photos sounds amazing.  I looked into it, and this is the best (and only hit) I could find on the subject.

Beware:  It's Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_still

Peter Gasser

Peter Gasser is a Swiss born photographer, born in 1947. He has amasses a great variety of work, but he mainly focuses on photography's relationship to humans and nature.

He has won a variety of awards in Europe and in America for his collections. I encourage everyone to check out his website! The photos of African tribes really stick out to me!

http://petergasser.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=61&Itemid=223

Spy photography

I find the history of spy photography very interesting. I think spy photography is what lead to today's paparazzi. Back in the day, some photographers would try their best to snap a photograph of a famous person without their permission, but due to the size of the camera, and the exposure time it was almost impossible.

But in 1865, that was no longer an issue when a very small and compact camera was released for spy photography. They called it a sliding box camera, ans the size was 1 inch by 1 2/3 inch. They were the first subminiature spy camera that was developed in France, and they work exactly like the big bulky and heavy Daguerreotype cameras.

As time goes on, there were more and more spy cameras hitting the market, and by the 1920's, they were in a from of a pocket watch.

Find full detail on the link below!

http://www.pimall.com/nais/nl/spyphotography.html

The Brownie and Its Companions

I was searching through my attic yesterday and found a Kodak Brownie Holiday Flash camera so I decided to look up the Brownies and photographs that have been taken with the various Brownie cameras.  Here is one page I found displaying photos taken by Brownie photographers.   This website talks about the different Brownie cameras, and the one I have.  I can't believe it was only $4.25!  Although I don't believe the price has gone up much since then.  I'm still trying to find photographs taken, around 1900 to 1930, with the first few Brownie cameras.

Pocket Watch Camera

I was especially fascinated in class with the pocket watch cameras.  I did a little research, and I discovered the camera shown in the powerpoint is a Lancaster Pocket Watch camera (a ladies' model), produced in 1886.  This particular model was patented in 1886 and made until 1890.  It was difficult to use, and sold poorly.  There are only four original known in existence.

An improved version was made in 1890, which was sold until until the early 1940s.  It had an attachable viewfinder and used 5/8 x 7/8 inch film with 20 exposures per roll which could be enlarged to 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch prints.

And of course, there are these watches' modern equivalents: high-definition, digital cameras in sleek pocket watches with included USB cord.

Maxine Helfman

I found this photographer on the blog "Lenscratch" by Aline Smithson. If you go to her site and look in the fine art section of her portfolio, you can find some interesting photographs that resemble the revolutionary war, boys in dresses, and such. http://www.maxinehelfman.com/index.php

Arthur Boswell

The Photo above is from a lifetime collection (1880-1966) of early Victorian photographs taken by Arthur Boswell. The series is called "Illuminated Worlds," and documents Boswells travels around the world including the African plains, Norwegian fjords and Italian cities.  Little is known about Boswell or his subjects; regardless, I find them captivating.  The cropping paired with the almost mystical scenery gives the photo a sense of surrealism that modern photographers are always trying to achieve.  Additionally, the framing of this photograph gives the sensation that you are peaking in on a different world entirely, stunning!

Larry Clark

Since I didn't post last week, I'm sharing 2 photographers. My second photographer is Larry Clark. His black and white photos of teenagers made me curious as to why he was taking these pictures. The more I researched Larry Clark, the more I liked him. Apparently, according to the "reliable" wikipedia, Larry Clark's mother was a child portrait photographer in the mid 1900's. By 13, he joined his families business....... then starting shooting all kinds of amphetamines with his friends and brought his camera along for his trips. This is what he got.

http://www.luhringaugustine.com/artists/larry-clark/


Also interesting fact #2: Larry Clark directed the movies Another Day in Paradise and Bully.

Loretta Lux

For my open-ended post, I chose to share a photographer named Loretta Lux. I find her work extremely eerie but for some reason I can't stop looking at it. She takes photos of children (and some animals) and digitally manipulates the settings and environment the children and animals appear in. And then she digitally manipulates only one part of the subjects. It is almost so subtle you don't notice it but personally, I believe this manipulation makes her work so interesting. Can you figure out what part of the subjects is manipulated? (if you are in Jacinda Russel's Digital Imaging class... you already know.)

http://www.lorettalux.de/

Annie Leibovitz is woman behind some of the most well known portraits, especially of celebrities of the 20th and 21st century. She has worked with Rolling Stone since 1970, and Vanity Fair more recently. There is an exhibition at the Wexner Center (Ohio State University Art Museum) currently of Leibovitz's photographs now through the end of the year. The show is comprised of three components, one is the Master Set which is 156 photographs she personally selected as the "definitive edition of her work." I would love to get the chance to see some of the iconic images of pop culture she created all displayed as a whole collection.


Here is a link to the exhibition page on the Wexner's website. http://www.wexarts.org/ex/index.php?eventid=6355


Here is a video of some of the photographs that will be displayed <iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/48402394?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="400" height="300" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

Impressive

How old do you think this kid is? I wonder if he pursued the police officer's ol' lady on this holiday? There are so many funny narratives I continue to imagine as I look at this photo. I just had to share!

Tumbler post

Hilarious Lies

While I was stumbling around on Stumble Upon, I found this hilarious series of photos. I am love with how anything can be made into humor, including photography. I love how by using depth of field, you can trick the eye into seeing something that's not really true. That's where I love the whole truth vs. untrue sense of photography. Sometimes the lies are what make us think and even laugh hysterically. I hope these photos make you laugh like they did for me.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/23pGzz/:1kW@Xaerm:DXP3yow1/curiosidadesnanet.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/efeitos-realistas/

Ben Heine

Ben Heine is a Belgium illustrator, painter and political cartoonist. He is also a passionate conceptual photographer (his words).

What originally drew me to his photography was the vibrant colors and interesting compositions he would often employ (the photo in my intro post was from him).

See his stuff here

His more recent stuff seems to be this really strange blend of digital/traditional art merged with photography that creates a really interesting visual feel.

See his conceptual photography here

He also has a series called "Pencil vs Camera" here

((Daniel Na))

Netflix Recommendation: Visual Acousitics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman

Netflix Recommendation: 

Visual Acousitics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman

Julius Shulman is a master architectural photographer. Shulman's unique eye for spotting talent was utilized through his taste taste-maker identity to change the image of the typical post WWII family's home. This loyalty to his love, modernism of architecture, lead him to retirement at the arrival of post-modernism. His perspective on the transition was described as "post modernism is to architecture as female impersonation is to femininity.” 

Modern architecture was in a very optimistic period that believe they could change the world. They believed life could be enhanced through good design. Julius Scuhman became successful because his work proclaimed the most valued philosophy of the designers of the era. In photograph form, Scuhman's voice was heard saying modern architecture is equally as vital as water is to the earth.

--> His work emphasizes the lines of the structure, but uses the landscape as an asset to frame the building as the focal point. Julius Schuman's collection, 70 years of international architectural photography, is in the collection of  J. Paul Getty.

Kaufmann House, 1947

Segel House, 1979

Case Study House 22, 1960

 

Too funny not to share

I happened upon this Tumblr and I just had to share.  Made me laugh :)

My Daguerreotype Boyfriend

Alec Soth

Alec Soth is this amazing contemporary photographer that I have been introduced to through my senior photography class. His career amazes me. He has a wonderful talent for taking portraits of people wherever he travels.

His latest work is this movie. It sounds so interesting to me! You MUST watch the trailer and the teaser (the teaser mostly just because it cracks me up).  The movie is called Somewhere to Disappear.

Motion Photography

For my blog post, I was wanting to learn more about Eadweard Muybridge's motion photography that we briefly covered in class. I found this link to his website which shows quite a lot of his freeze-frame type photography. The photo I included above is from his Human Figure in Motion collection. In this collection, he photographed men, women, and children running, jumping, or carrying out any type of athletic activity. He began photographing figures in motion when he was hired by a railroad baron named Leland Stanford in 1872 to use photography to prove that there was a moment in a horse's gallop when all four hooves were off the ground at once.

Justin Quinnell

This pocketwatch camera was only briefly mentioned in class today but it reminded me of the work of photographer Justin Quinnell.  On the note of hidden cameras, Justin Quinnell takes pinhole photographs from his mouth.

Kind of strange, but definitely interesting, and hidden!
You can visit his main webpage here.
His gallery of mouth images here.
And view his book on this series here.

From Photographic Specimens to Photos of Space.

Although this post may be a little too modern for this class thus far, I feel these images truly show the progression of photography and man. This is the Photo of the Day archive for NASA. It is really fun to browse through them and I have spent many hours in this archive. Hope you enjoy.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd_archive.html

Landscapes by Michael Kenna

I found this artist by accident on Stumble upon when I was clearly procrastinating.  What else is Stumbleupon good for besides killing time? Nothing really, except finding awesome stuff by accident!

Michael Kenna was born in 1953 in Widnes Lancashire, England
His photographs are mainly of landscapes and usually focus on unusual compositions and naturally occurring repetition and visual rhythm.  A lot of his photographs are exposed for up to 10 hours.  He uses a Hasselbald medium format and a Holga Camera, which is why most of his photos are square compositions.  This link is from his Silent World collection.


Anyways, here is the link to his photographs.
http://trinixy.ru/michael_kenna.html

You can find more of his work here: http://www.michaelkenna.net/index2.php

ENJOY!

Amy Stein Photography

Hello!
I would like to share with everyone a photographer I discovered a couple years ago in a photography class. Her name is Amy Stein, and in her biography it states that "Her work explores our evolving isolation from community, culture and the environment." I like all of her projects, but I enjoy her works under the title Domesticated specifically. In these photographs, I think she is commenting on how disjointed our society has become from nature - like they're two separate worlds - and when nature forces it's way back into our society, we are unsure of how to deal, and sometimes neither are the animals affected our lifestyles. You can look at these photographs as well as others here.

Photos by Steven Perlmutter

Here's another one, completely different.  I'm a huge fan of landscape photography and I really enjoy the beauty of nature and the environment around it.  These photos are by Steven Perlmutter.  I'm a big fan of his rural gallery.  I personally feel that people from the Midwest and similar areas appreciate photos like these on a whole other level because it's in the moments of solitary, in the morning crisp air and the dew on the grass is a tangible vibe that can be felt from these images.  Feelings that a person from the city or another country may not be able to appreciate.  http://perlmutterphotography.smugmug.com/Portfolio/Rural-Scenes

Mike Stimpson

I found these photos online by a photographer named Mike Stimpson.  Some may find them childish and what not, but I find them humorously clever.  Mike is a British photographer who has been published in national papers in the UK, seen on BBC television, and featured in magazines all over the world.  He says he takes them because for them, their fun!  Which is a good reason to take any photos, enjoy :)

http://www.mikestimpson.com/photography/page_bio.html

Stereos, and Lange, and Weimaraners, OH MY!

Great posts this week, people! I can't wait to see how many of you make your own stereographs using that how-to guide. And I must confess a couple of things. First: I, too, am very interested in Dorothea Lange and Migrant Mother. In fact, I wrote about that photograph in my dissertation in a chapter on images of heroic women from the 1930s and 1940s. Second: I used to think that William Wegman's Weimaraner photos were just insufferable. I admit, I didn't really "get them" and I didn't initially take the time to research them and give them a fighting chance to become visually or historically interesting to me. I did exactly what I beg students not to do...I became frustrated and made a snap judgment. (Really in retrospect I see that I was acting more like a curmudgeonly art critic than a thoughtful and open minded art history teacher...) Since my initial dismissal, I've come to delight in Wegman's dogs and even to include his photographic work in this class. (We'll talk about their merits and significance later in the semester.) I think that the way this class (and the history of photo in general) zigzags from portraiture to landscape to documenting wars to nudes to produce (yes, we will see some photographs of peppers...and other veggies and fruits) to a couple kissing to dogs to fashion models to red ceilings and so on makes this medium infinitely intriguing.

In that spirit of openness and zigzagging...let's continue on the blog this week to post whatever you find that relates to the history of photo and intrigues you. I'd be especially interested to read posts about your scrapbook progress and/or posts about contemporary photographers that you follow. In the next week or so you will need to begin to choose partners for your contemporary photographer research projects. So perhaps here on the blog you can post some ideas about which photographers you might like to research. You can talk to each other about that here online, in class, and elsewhere. I'll let you choose your own partners for this project and we'll talk more about that in the next week or two.

Keep blogging!
Lara