Disposable Europe

We take pictures to supplement our visual memories. Aside from sheer artistic and aesthetic merit, no one needs convincing that pictures we take remind us of people, places, and things. I’ve heard that when we take pictures, it limits and focuses our memories, but it’s easy to give that up for the joy of fondly remembering something from a snapshot. Anyone who has ever had a camera stolen knows what a terrible feeling that can be. More after the jump.

Help Me Pick My Final Critique Photos

So I’ve picked 32 pictures for final critique. It is a series on cooking and all that goes into it. However, I can only use thirteen. Check them out here and leave comments on the ones you think I should include (or here if you aren’t a flickr member). Obviously I’m not going to use multiple pictures of sausage, so keep that in mind. I made them smaller so they would upload easily, but they are in fact larger in original form.

Ansel Adams’ “Born Free and Equal”

Ansel Adams is probably the most famous American photographer. He died three years before I was born, in 1984, and is responsible for the much of the American West’s iconic imagery. There is currently an exhibit of his work and another of Annie Leibovitz at the Corcoran in downtown DC. It’s worth the ten dollars. Anyway, I was writing a paper about a particular work in the exhibit that caught my eye.

Adams took the picture while visiting Mazanar, one of the Japanese internment camps during WWII. Everyone’s heard of these, but it’s often a footnote in US history. Truly and sincerely, by order executive order of FDR, the War Relocation Authority forcefully imprisoned over a hundred-thousand Japanese-Americans (many of whom were born in the United States) between 1942 and 1944. Adams’ photographs at the camps resulted in a show at NY’s MoMA and in a book called “Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese-Americans.” Believe it or not, this book has been scanned in its entirety and hosted for all to see in the Library of Congress’ free Digital Collection.

Anyone could have taken pictures of this important place and time, but it was important that it was Adams for several reasons. His approach was stylistic, and highly educated visually, but he understood the value of letting the pictures tell the stories and trying to be objective as possible. Also, he was drawn to the way that the people reacted to the harsh atmosphere of the Sierra Nevada range. This interaction between individual and place is essential to the emotional energy of his photography. He’s not a bad writer either.

Photography Critique #2

So this photo crit was digital and everything was shot with a Nikon D80, which is a great camera. There were no requirements; it just had to be seven pictures. Here they are.

First Photography Critique

So these aren’t the best scans, but they aren’t terrible. I didn’t change anything from my prints. You can see larger versions here. It’s really worth checking out the link because a little gets cut off each frame in this format. The critique was really long and drawn out, but my portion went well as I’m a little used to crits. from graphic design. I was surprised at how much I’m drawn to strong vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines. I also focused on a lot of basic shapes like squares and circles. Let me know what you think.

This one is showing motion.

This one is stopping motion.

This is a shallow depth of field shot.

This is a deep depth of field shot.

This is a pan shot.

This is an egg shot.

My Corkboards

So this summer I got two corkboards to go above my desk. For right now, one is mainly for design stuff, and one is mainly photography. It’s all a mixture of stuff I’ve made and just stuff I like to look at. I’ve found that having this right above your head can be as inspiring as just about anything else. Periodically, as things go off and on the boards, I’ll post like this and offer highlights as I’m doing now. Click for a bigger look. In case you don’t immediately grasp the idea here, the colored text corresponds to the florescent highlighting on the picture.

Abbaye De Belloc — This remains as my favorite cheese. It’s an aged sheep’s milk cheese made by Basque monks and when it’s good, it’s really hard to beat. I don’t remember where, but I think in Philly I got this perfectly intact label. It’s elegant and simple with flat earth tones but I just really like it.

Personal Logo — I made this for Typography class and at the end of the class it was clear that it was a strong portfolio piece. I submitted it to our mini design show at the end of the semester and I think it was the only logo they showed. I think it’s a good fit for me.

Pronto Bella Postcard — This was created at my thing with Tasty Concepts in Georgetown this summer. I would say I made it but the process was truthfully collaborative, with my boss and other designers weighing in. I’m pleased with the end result. Glad people living in Mexico can see my work in their mailboxes.

GOOD Magazine Photo Booth — I’ve written about these before, but I’m still kind of shocked at how good these portraits are. I mean, there’s no photographer here, no artistic eye, and I don’t know of better pictures of me from recent years.

Polaroid — This is my favorite picture of my girlfriend and I me. There’s something about the poor lighting, cheap chemical luster and raw spontaneity of Polaroids that makes them worth about a dollar a picture, which they actually are.

Santa Barbara Snapshot — Here’s a great picture of Santa Barbara that I snapped with the Yashica camera I now use in Photo class before I knew pretty much anything about photography. It says I needed to say about this town in that instant: palm trees, cars, beach.