Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Hugo by Martin Scorsese






Georges Méliès director of the silent film A Trip to the Moon, comes to life again in Martin Scorsese film Hugo. An incredible film about a young boy who looses his father. After the death of his father he holds on to the last project him and his father worked on together. He fixes a beautiful broken automatron and with its reactivation brings forth a lost career and love of a simple toy maker. Huigo brings the world of paris to life and shows you a very interesting point in the history of film.

Michael Muller Photography

I really love Michael Muller's photography. He has a very distinctive and unique style to portraiture that I find really interesting. We have been learning a lot about lighting lately in class and I think he's a great example of a photographer who uses many different lighting styles. The lighting is a lot about what makes his work great, in my opinion. He also has a really great way of capturing his subjects. Most of his portraits are very fun and unique. We are used to seeing all of these celebrities very posed and in a certain way; here however, they appear to be relaxed and look like they're having a good time.

Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt is one of my favorite painters. The way he portrays the female body is beautiful. Also he uses a lot of different patterns in his paintings which can almost be distracting but ends up adding something different to the paintings. I noticed that the three paintings I picked out, all the women have their eyes closed and look at peace, whether it is in solitude, with a loved one or with a child. I noticed that the three paintings I picked out, all the women have their eyes closed and look at peace, whether it is in solitude, with a loved one or with a child. I would love to have these types of feelings come out through my photography.

You have a beautiful face


During November 1970, forty people were photographed at the instant exactly after the photographer said, “You have a beautiful face.” By Douglas Heubler.

Douglas Heaubler is known to be a conceptual artist. He started off as a painter, moved to sculptures, and also included documentary photography in mixed media work such as the one above. In 1971, he began "Variable Piece #70 (In Process) Global," in this project he wanted "to photographically document the existence of everyone alive." The example I showed of his work is an interesting take on documentary photography. I love seeing the reactions of peoples face along with some gesture going on, it tells a lot about the person. Alone, these photographs may not have much significance but when put together as a set, it because one beautiful piece.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Math and Photography






This is a photographer that graduated from RIT! Her name is Nikki Graziano. My academic advisor actually told me about her because she Majored in Photograph and Minored in Math, which is what I plan to do. Then she ended up popping up on tumblr a few days ago which inspired me to make this most.
People don't always appreciate math for what it is because of how difficult it can be.
Nikki said, “I wanted to create something that could communicate how awesome math is, to everyone." Math is really all around you and you never really notice. Photography has many uses and this is one of them. It expresses math in a way that non-math lovers can appreciate. I think this set is quite beautiful. I would love to be able to combine my love for math and photography into one piece.
You can look at more of her stuff here: Nikkigraziano.com

Stephen Shore- Samantha




















I recently ordered the book Small World by Stephen Shore, and he approaches photography in a different way then I do. For me a photograph has have a subject in it, or if it's a landscape, it has to have a focus but Stephen's photos are sparse with a landscape and journalistic feel.  He took a road trip across the U.S in the 1970s and photographed random things like cityscapes, storefronts, homes and motels. Their saturated color adds to the affect of the American Dream, or the failing American Dream. His style is similar to Peter Cranser's Coney Island, which is another book I bought. It seems to be a style that I'm becoming interested in.

Week 7, Part II









I like to think Dupstep is our generation’s heavy metal. Dupstep is a magical combination of techno stimulants, house, loads of beats, basses, and superficially soulful dance music. Sonny Moore, the 24-year-old genius behind Skrillex, has been pleasantly shocking the music industry since day one. His high-impact and addicting beats have got America hooked. His fantastic melodic buzz of electro is only amplified by the beautiful photography in his debut music videos. One of my favorites, Ruffneck (Full Flex), pokes fun at the endless-recycle of holiday music we’re used to. Instead of glorifying the holidays, like big corporations love to do, Skrillex shows the dark side of our lovable mall Santas. Basically, Santa takes too many pills, is horrified by his job, gets the shit kicked out of him, and kicks some ass as well. To put it simply, of course. Regardless of content, the video is shot with eerie focus and unsettling compositions to go with the unsettling bass. As upbeat as the song may be, the photography really brings a dimension of intense mood. I recommend watching it, not only because it’s hilarious, but because the tricks they pull with the camera are fantastic. They are constantly panning in and out, over and down, pulling you in and out of the story and demented mind set Santa is feeling. The song’s pretty sweet as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t2TzJOyops

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Tangled-Kara






Tangled is one of my favorite movies. I love the storyline, humor, and how beautifully rendered it is. I really like working with natural light, and throughout this entire movie the scenes are all natural light. I love how closely the artists payed attention to the detailing of things like shadows, and small places where you wouldn't think there should be detailing. They really make the scenes come to life by adding such detail, and really paying attention to how the lighting plays off the characters and surroundings.

Cupcake Wars-Kara






One show that I am absolutely obsessed with is called Cupcake Wars. What I really like about cupcake wars is how the bakers have to be extremely creative with ingredients, as well as with presentation. This can relate to our studio assignments because for the still life one we will really need to pay attention to how presentation makes or breaks the photo. Especially for people who may want to work with food advertising in the future. Every time I watch Cupcake Wars I find some sort of inspiration-whether it be from the topic they are using, or from the decorations of the cupcakes. Here are some photos from the show

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Week 7, Part I






Mariel Clayton is an extremely strange “doll photographer” with a subversive sense of humor. The usually glamorous Barbie dolls are set in elaborately dark environments. Whether in a murder, suicide, violently sexual or just creepy scene, the dolls definitely give me the willies. The irony of the flawless dolls with extreme imperfections is as humorous as it is unnerving. In a way, I’m reminded of the film American Psycho, and how one can go through life, smiling and seemingly perfect, only to be a f*cked up murderer. Regardless, I appreciate Clayton’s attention to details in his work. You can tell he spends a lot of time carefully laying out a scene. 

Romain Laurent

I am always drawn to photographers that have a sense of humor. Romain Laurent is a french photographer who mostly does advertisements. I like a lot of his personal work because of the humor and quirkiness he brings to each of his series. I also thought I should post about him because he did some photos of throwing/breaking things and it brought me back to keith's series of destroying/throwing objects!