Photography Work — No comments
22
Aug 10
Here are my two favorite salt prints from the semester, both of a back view of the same model. While they have the old traditional aesthetic of the salt print, they certainly have a modern twist. They were both photographed digitally, then given a texture overlay to try to enhance the weathered look. Also, the fact that she has tattoos is the most obvious display of the modern recreation.
Besides those two details, the pose and model give the print it’s antique feel.
The salt print was the most viable printing method we used. Besides all the silver nitrate stains on my skin and clothes, this was the process that I enjoyed working in the most. It was flexible, yet exact and achieves the sharpest results.
Photography Work — No comments
11
Aug 10
Continuing this series of posts from Alt Photo, I bring you to my favorite photo from the Albumen Process. We were introduced to this process during an Artist Workshop at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Jacksonville (of which UNF has recently taken ownership). The artist that hosted this workshop was a well-known alternative process Fine Arts photographer Dan Estabrook, where he taught and guided us for three days through the 19th century process.
On the second day of the workshop, Dan also gave an inspiring lecture on his work to fellow students and faculty. We were given some great insight into his work, how to be an artist, and how to make work from within.
One excellent piece of advice he gave me during a personal meeting was how your work may not convey every specific point you wanted to your viewer, including back history, where it came from, etc. The viewer doesn’t have to know those things to have it be a successful piece, but it still has to come from there. That back story blends itself into the photo, making it’s story and history evident in it’s visual qualities.
Which brings me to this photo. Dan said those things in reference to this photograph. This was taken up in the mountains during my trip to Japan. We stayed in Hakone, in a lakeside hotel. When we woke, we were at such an elevation that we were in a literal cloud. Before our bus ride back down the mountain I looked out the window and had this. Raindrops were on the window while you can see a tree and the lake in the background. It references the physical and spiritual beauty of the place.
Disclaimer: I know that the above print is a Salt Print. But the two were nearly identical and I don’t have a scanned version of my Albumen print which is now framed.
Photography Work — No comments
07
Aug 10
I’m able to do more and more with my iPhone now that it actually has some processing power behind it. More, more to come.
This was shot and processed in-phone with the app called ProHDR. It just blends to exposures. Pretty simple. And works.
Photography Work — No comments
02
Aug 10
I had a nice long description written out for these two photos, but it seems as though this application decided to delete it. I’ll give you the short version.
I’m going to be posting a handful of photos from last semester. It’s about time I get around to doing this. The Fall semester starts in three weeks!
These are from my Alternative Photo class where we explored older photographic techniques (cyanotype, salt print, albumen print, liquid emulsion) that are obsolete in the commercial world, but because of their unpredictable nature can be desirable among artists. I consider them simply another technique to add alongside any other Photoshop technique.
"It’s Totally Saturn" is simply of a chandelier printed in the cyanotype process then turned upside down to reference a UFO, outer space, etc. It’s a simple example of how the pictorialist imagery has influenced my work.
"Pots" is of similar style. It uses simple imagery and the cyanotype processing reduces the sharpness make it a simpler photo.
Photography Work — No comments
28
Jul 10
Here’s a great look of what I get to enjoy every night – Pops cleaning the kitchen in his blue-tighties. They guy has some character. If only I could get him to wear some Superman…
Uncategorized — No comments
27
Jul 10
I have a scary kitten now.
Besides that, I love the mixed light temperatures here. Camera set to daylight, with diffused sunlight coming through the window. To add something additional the the photo, I simply turned on my desk lamp that had a tungsten bulb in it. Warm from the left, neutral from the right.
Photography Work / Travel — No comments
08
Jul 10
As any follower of my Twitter account (@PhotoDijit) would know, I took a trip to Southern California for some family action, highlighted by a couple baseball games. When we landed on Thursday, June 24th we hung around for a couple hours then went off to the Dodgers at Angels game in Anaheim.
I wanted to highlight that day by sharing one of my favorite shots from the game, showing one of my favorite Dodgers players, Andre Ethier.
We had great seats that day, sitting only one section down from the first-base dugout where the Dodgers were for the series. It was an excellent vantage point for shooting photos around first base. I brought my telephoto lens, which enabled me to get such great photos of people I only see on TV.
On a techy note, though, I had to rent a Canon 5D since my 40D was in the shop for some repairs. Switching from ASP-C sized sensor to the full-frame sensors is quite a bit of a change when shooting sports – the crop factor really is a benefit when you’re dealing with far away subjects.
Many more photos can be seen on my Flickr account.
Ideas — No comments
06
Jul 10
I’ve come upon an idea that I think I want to work on. It involves a typology, self portrait, technology, and a little bit mocking narcissism all wrapped into one image. Well, 365 images serving as one.
The plan is to photograph myself using my front-facing camera in my iPhone once everyday, wearing whatever I have on including whatever I have. Whatever. I think the more odd the better.
It’s not just a memory image, either. It may not be entirely deep and meaningful, but I can see references to the “myspace self photo,” sort of a satire of it. Also the fact that it was used with the front facing camera of an iPhone seems pretty significant, as it’s a new piece of technology.
It’s sheer size and magnitude of all those images will also be pretty powerful. If I did this for a month, thirty photos just wouldn’t cut it. I’m imaging the final print to AT LEAST 30″ in the shorter side. Ideally mural size with each photo being roughly 1.5×2″. I’ve collected about four images so far.
And here’s an example of what one of the photos can be. Of course, it will be more spontaneous as the process goes on.
Ideas — No comments
03
Jul 10
I’ve been taking a lot of panorama photos lately, largely because of the all-inclusive view; and if you can do it well, it really separates you from the amateurs.
Another addition to a purist panorama is this faux panorama style I’ve stumbled upon. I came across this app that basically takes four photos* and arranges them automatically in a couple different shapes, one of which is all four next to each other horizontally. So if you pan ever so slightly between photos you get a rough non-overlapping panorama. Pretty edgy.
*by taking photos, it really seems to just take screenshots, because the volume overlay is evident in this shot. This is a little disappointing since it doesn’t take the camera’s full resolution, and because it can show these overlays.
Travel — No comments
29
Jun 10
It’s my final night here; we fly out tomorrow morning at 10:30am.
Thus, I want to leave you with the best view I could find that overlooked most of LA. We found this place after a quick google search to find the best spots to see the HOLLYWOOD sign. I’ve included a maps screenshot for reference.
Today included a trip up to the mountains, then over to Hollywood for some Pink’s Hotdogs, Rodeo Drive to look around, Sprinkle’s Cupcakes, The Chinese Theater and Hollywood Blvd, then finally a trip to this vista that overlooks most of the city.
Just like the song goes “I Love LA,” but I do miss home.
