Final Critique

Strengths
Overall I think my last critique went really well. The last couple weeks of school I had been trying to step out of the box and take pictures that I never would have taken pictures of at the beginning of the school year. I would have just walked right past them because in my mind they weren't "photogenic". Those few photographs that I had printed out that were "out of the box" compared to my normal style were by far my strongest images and the critique helped me realize I need to start exploring photo opportunities like those more often.

Weaknesses
I still feel like I need to continue working on stepping out of the box and pushing my boundries more. I don't want to just have six very strong images, I want all of them to be strong. I also want to continue to work on my lighting. It's something I need to watch out for. In some pictures it will look fabulous but in other pictures it needs work. Hopefully I can work on that over the break. Other than that I think I'm improving which is good. I wouldn't be in school if I already knew everything!

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.

William Klein & Elliott Erwitt

Looking through William Klein's photographs I enjoyed a lot of his worked. I wished some of them hadn't been blurry, however it does gives them character. What I enjoyed about his photographed is how he captured people in their natural elements, as if they didn't being noticed they were being photographed. He has a really unusual approach to taking pictures and I also think that's what helps gab my attention. He takes pictures of stuff I would have never thought of taking pictures of and turns them into extraordinary master pieces. Out of all the photographs I've seen done by him, I would have to say my favorite is the one in front of the candy store even though it's had a little bit of editing done to it. I love how it's a child looking so innocent who is supposedly in front of a candy store but there is almost nothing but cigarette adds behind him. Then the person who is cut off from the waist up on the left just adds that little extra photogenic touch.

I liked Elliott Erwitt's photographs a bit better than I liked William Klein's. With Elliott's photographs they honestly just make me laugh because a bunch of them are really cute and creative photographs. He has very good angles and a sense of balance. He also has a very interesting way of taking the photographs. He doesn't take them at the regular eye level, straight on. In one picture he had a couple kissing in a car but he captured them kissing through the side-view mirror. He is just so creative. My favorite photograph I saw though was the one below. It just really makes me laugh and it was such a cute idea. It shows the relationship you get between you and your dog. There is a great amount of balance and composition. You can there must be a story behind this.

Assignment #2

When I printed my six pictures for out second assignment, I thought this one of my neighbor Katy was the strongest. Out of all her pictures this is only one of three where she didn't smile and that had to do with what makes me think it's so powerful. In the rest of her pictures she smiling extremely big and it seems like you can see nothing but teeth. Even though that's who she is, it didn't fit best for this assignment. I also was quite fond of it because of how the grass brought out the green in her eyes. On top of that her shirt is also a shade of green. So, we have three shades of green, good composition and a very striking facial expression from her which I felt made it the strongest.

The class however felt this picture of Kevin was the strongest. Everyone commented on how the way he was standing looked posed but he still looked comfortable with his hands in his pockets. They also liked the little smirk on his face. There were comments made about the lighting on his face where it was slightly brighter on one side so you could tell the sun was setting which made for great lighting. And lastly they said the background worked very well with his outfit. I have to agree with the class, I debated between this one and the one of Katy on which one I felt was the strongest. I love them both!



Who I Am

I am...
one of the boys
a hockey fan
a loving person
unique
crazy
a music lover
funny
tall
a photographer
creative
a dreamer
intelligent
a dancer
honest
a fan of The Used
thoughtful
a perfectionist
shy
quiet yet loud
a textaholic
wild
a zebra print lover
friendly
big hearted
a hard worker
spontaneous
a fighter
I am like unlike anyone else you've ever met.