Aimee Reider & Graig Abel

Everyone knows that when I graduate from college I want to be a photographer for the Dallas Stars for a few years and then move on to studio photography. That's why I look up to these two photographers the most. They're doing exactly what I want to do and they're making incredible photographs. It was almost impossible to pick out just a few pictures of theirs to put on here because I like them all!

Aimee Reider

Aimee got her inspiration to be a photographer from her great grandfather and has been taken photographs for the past 8 years. She has spent 6 of those 8 years working in professional studios including Picture People, Sears Photography and Picture Me Portraits. Since leaving Picture People in 2009 Aimee has become a freelance photographer known as Casual Image Photography. When I start on my studio photography I can only hope that my photographs will be as creative and talented as Aimee's.

Graig Abel

I've looked and looked but can't find any background information on Graig but he is hands down my favorite hockey photographer. He has been the official Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Marlies photographer since 1977 and is a representative for Getty Images. His action shots are so good you can tell it's not something just anyone can do. You need to have true talent to make photographs that turn out as outstanding and powerful as these.

Slideshow

All together I felt like my slideshow was very strong in the end. There were a few things I wish I could have fixed here and there, but I know I'm being picky and hard on myself.

Strengths:
I think I had a very wide selection of different views and different things you find in a cemetery. They just weren't all photographs of tombstones and crosses. I layed down to get different angels and tried a bunch of new things which I feel turned out very successful in the end. It made me feel good that I got such a strong reaction out of the class. I also think the music made the slideshow even stronger. I don't think there was a song that could have fit better with all of my photographs. Overall, I'm very proud of my final product and I'm very excited to show my family.

Weaknesses:
I wish some of the photographs had a darker background and wasn't so bright and sunny. I know that's how it was all week when I was taking the pictures, but that's something that bugged me. I can alsways go back and take more pictures when it's cloudy and rainy outside though. I also wish my slideshow was put together a bit more. I wish I had spent a little extra time putting an additional slide in their with my name and maybe changing the background to something more than just black. (I was happy with mine until I saw what everyone else did with theirs) However, that's also something I can also go back in and fix later.

Self Assignment

It took me a long time to figure out what exactly I wanted to take pictures of for this assignment. I had a few ideas but none I felt very strongly about and none that made me actually want to go out and take photographs. It wasn't until a couple days ago I stumbled upon a very large cemetery on accident that I knew what I was going to do for this assignment.

Objectives: From the beginning I've wanted to take on a project that either disturbs me (in a way to face my fear), or that I feel strongly about. I few things went through my mind like taking photographs of broken glass. For some odd reason it's one of my phobias but I couldn't seem to find enough broken glass. I also thought about taking pictures of litter because I hate when people litter. I happened to be taking a photo of someone's beer bottle in a cemetery when the thought came to me, why not do this assignment in a cemetery? Cemeteries have always freaked me out but I know if I can manage to stay in one for a few hours, I should be able to come out with some amazing photographs. I plan to get photos of everything that you would see in a cemetery and what exactly makes them so eerie.

Method: I'm going to be taking photos mainly in a very large cemetery I found by accident in Commerce, this way I'll be able to come back to it whenever I want to. I plan to take photographs at different times of the say as well, not just all in the middle of the day or something. That way I will have a mixture of sunsets, sunrises and the middle of the say. Judging on how my photos come out I'm also planning on turning some of them into black and white. It's something we haven't done in this class yet so it's going to be a bit of a challenge to make sure I get it perfect on the first.

Influences/Inspirations: When I first decided to take photographs of a cemetery I looked online a little to see if I could get an idea or two on something creative. It wasn't long before I came across the photographer John Thomas Grant. He has taken a great amount of cemetery photographs and they are all so elegant and beautiful. He shows that you can take something exceedingly eerie and turn it into a masterpiece. He became my inspiration for this project instantly. These are two of my favorite photographs of his taken in a cemetery and this is what is driving me to make my photos just as amazing as his.

Grant's photographs are inspiring me to play around with statues and crosses I find in cemeteries . So far I have found lots of angel statues but not many crosses. However I'm planning on shooting some more and going to even more cemeteries to find more interesting things. So far though, these are two of my favorite statue photographs that I've taken.