Graduation!

Congratulations!

Congratulations, everyone. This blog is done for the year! Thanks for a great semester.

And don't worry, interwebs, HoP will be back in 2013.

Over and out....

Soldier

Soldier is a compelling series done by photographer Suzanne Opton. She photographed soldiers who had returned from Iraq or Afghanistan and who were scheduled to return after more training back in the US. The pose of these photographs is so intimate and unlike anything we've seen in class, which really drew me to them. She had each soldier rest their head on the side of a table facing her 4x5 camera. The eyes of these soldiers tell everything, yet nothing at the same time. Some are hopeful, while others look weary and anxious. In a time when it seems people have distanced themselves from the reality of war, I think these photos can help us to understand what these brave soldiers have gone through for us and what they face in the future.

Sally Mann vs Lewis Hine

After seeing the presentation of Sally Mann in class the other day, it led me to see a connection between her work and that of Lewis Hine. Their work is very different in many ways, but it also has some connections. The biggest thing that caught my attention in Sally Mann's work was the image of the young girl with the cigarette. You can tell that she is a very young girl, but her stance and the way she is looking at the camera gives a feel that she is a grown adult and very mature. I also got this feeling and sense of maturity in the Lewis Hine photographs of the child factory workers. These young boys also have cigarettes in their mouths as children. Interesting how the work is completely different but you can also get the same feeling from both works.

Know Where You Stand

Hey all,

Thought this was super interesting and wanted to share!
These images are very powerful and really get you thinking about all of the places you've stood where something important happened.  Check it out!

http://sethtaras.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/history-channel-brand-campaign/

Cranbrook Students

These are what some of the graduate students at Cranbrook are up to these days. Check out this amazing technique! Here is the photography department website.

The MPG

The MPG or Mobile Photo Group was established in 2011. It's an international collective of mobile photographers dedicated to promoting their work and presenting mobile photography as an important and evolving form of photography. I think their struggle of promoting their work as an evolving form of photography is going to be similar to when cameras were first introduced and the struggle those photographers had making people believe it was fine art. 

I really liked their website, they have twelve different photographers, my favorite being Benedicte Guillon. On her personal page she is quoted saying, "Iphoneography is about interactivity and community, the rest is photography". I really liked this and it goes along with another MPG photographer who said that he wouldn't be able to get the personal shots of the city with any other camera.  

Here are some of my favorite photos from Benedicte Guillon.