Advertising I Final

This is my final series for ad 1. I chose to photograph a series based on mathematical culture. Things that are known to them as their "tools of the trade".

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The New Cover

The High Price of Being a Gay Couple

This was thankfully my last editorial assignment this quarter. These past two weeks have been difficult, not really sure why. I chose to do something referencing American art. The cover was inspired by the American Gothic painting. The inside cover does not reference anything directly, but is more of a statement about status in American culture. I photographed Frank and Conor in a somewhat nice looking kitchen, with them looking sad and distracted.

Depth and Purity

I love photographing in nature, I get to move at my own pace. I brought some lights to Highland Park and photographed Alex.
This was the cover of an editorial assignment. The article was "Depth and Purity: Communing with Thoreau at the Pond". I wanted to communicate the idea of an intimate moment, something that deeply touches people. I photographed Alex at Highland Park. I think I'm going to reshoot this at Mendon Ponds.

The Traveler

these two images are done for my advertising photo 1 course.


For the on location assignment I chose to photograph under the concept of traveling. The people standing are traveling, just as light does. I used a Phase One camera body with a P25 digital back. I used Profoto lighting as well for both the indoor and outdoor scene. For the indoors scene I had Christy being the owner of a map collection. Overall I think the photograph is successful, her clothing is convincing, as well as the serious look on her face. The lighting is fairly simple but goes well with the theme of the photograph. It is more believable than the outdoors image. The outdoors image has a little more dramatic lighting. I chose to make it look staged to further emphasise his importance being there. Both of the subjects are metaphors for light, for they both travel. Indoors light does not travel much, but instead bounces within the room. I think the lighting conveys a feel of homelyness keeping the viewer on the subject and the details about the scene. The outdoors scene's dramatic look goes in hand with light traveling more distance easier. I chose to light him this way because if the light were similar to that of the indoors photograph, it would be rather boring. There is no interesting subtle detail in the scene, so dramatic lighting helps make up for it.

The Sky came down upon us converging with the Earth in a Day.

Dusk before Mountains.
Mornings before Mountains.

City Scapes

This series was done about a month ago when I was still working in the studio at school. I've recently been given an 8x10 view camera from the photographer I'm working for, and I wanted to test it out. I decided upon an optical illusion, something that can only be done with a view camera. The process of coming up with an idea to be an illusion was quite difficult. I didn't want to just make some lines or shapes, I wanted something more thematic. I chose a city scape, the idea of people falling off buildings has been something I wanted to work on, but until recent had no legit way of doing it. To make the buildings I drew what my city would look like on a piece of transparency paper, and then projected it through the back of my camera. The subject could stand anywhere in the scene, which would make it look like they are floating somewhat in mid air. I used slide film and scanned it in. Then in photoshop I combined some of the scenes together. Ialso have obviously added some clouds and rendered the buildings some colours. This was done to further enhance the illusion, as well as create this surreal city scene. The whole process took about two months, from idea to finished image. Even though it took so long to finally finish these images, I couldn't be happier. The first time using an 8x10, in the studio, doing an optical illusion, and I actually got somewhat promising results.

Old Monday

I made this picture on a Monday off from work. My third Monday to be exact. Its a picture of paper and glass using window light on my porch. Its just some shapes. It kept me busy for a few hours.

Etherial Ellinson

Took this picture while I was walking Maya with Christy at Ellinson.

Portraiture

The last few weeks without an internet connection has been rough. Being able to only use it when I was on campus was difficult.

This next series is a study of projections we use when asked to have two different states of mind. One, a smile and laugh. The emotion of happiness, having the time of our life. Some people, when asked to project this in front of a camera, take it seriously. They thought of something that made them happy. Other people were asked just to smile, no emotion tied to the action.
The other four are solemn, and the are the exact opposite of the first four. And as with the first four, some were asked to look seriously, others were asked to think of something serious.

Mantel Project

I finished my mantel piece project. I'm moving into a new apartment in a few weeks, which got me into studying different mantel pieces. After looking at some for about two weeks, I dove in
and made some of my own. Its a contemporary outlook on what we project themselves as when they know what the intention of the photograph is. Many people try to act serious if you tell them to do so, but putting the idea that it will be displayed somewhere, like perhaps above a fireplace, the person will begin to project themselves differently. While I was photographing my subjects, I talked about things about them they would want to project, if they wearing any jewelry, or how pretty their hair looked. I also included myself, because I had a need to project myself about my mantel as well.

Shopping Carts

During the months of May, June and July, I drove around stores and shopping malls that once were good businesses, now struggling in the current economic condition. Shopping Carts is a study on business and the economy, using the shopping cart as a symbol for how poorly these businesses are doing. Once very profitable stores near the Jersey Shore, these shops have now started to close early and forget the tourists. The reason for these being shot at night is to help create this eerie mood. Most of these stores would still be open till 10PM or even 11PM. now, at 9PM, they are closed and abandoned.

Looking Up (3)

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately on perceived notions about ourselves. This summer has lent me a lot of time to think, so this is the product of thinking too much.


When a person wakes up in the morning, what do they think? What do they see that influences what they think? I realized that by looking up, we can achieve emotions other than a positive outlook. Looking up, either an outlook on life in which you are "looking up" to what comes next in life. Something good. But what if, perhaps, looking up was taken literally, and not to influence just an emotion of happiness, but a full range of emotions. We can be in many situations in life, by just looking up, our environment can influence our emotions. So I've decided to study this, using a camera as my medium to document it.

subliminal (2)

I saw this tree the day after watching Pineapple Express.

First (1)

I've decided to start an online blog. Part of this blog will be my thoughts on photography, and projects that come to mind. The other part of this blog will be photographs that try to communicate my thoughts and my experiences.

What will become of this?