Trip to UNH Art Museum: Andy Upton Photographs

During one of our class periods, our class was instructed to visit the UNH Art Museum to view some of the graduating student's final projects.  While I was there, I noticed many projects that were incredibly visually appealing.  Some of the projects were paintings, some were drawings, some were sculptures, and some were photographs.  For the purpose of this class period, we were specifically asked to reflect on one of the graduating student's final photographic projects.

Andy Upton's work seemed to speak to me the most.  His simplistic compositions were captivating, relaxing, and eerie all at the same time.  He seemed to use natural light as his main light source.  It didn't appear that any artificial light was used.  His images were also taken in fairly low-lit conditions.  Because of the clarity of his work, I'd assume the he utilized some stabilization mechanism to compensate for the light conditions.  With this being said, although I found that his work was very well produced, I felt that with the use of some additional techniques, his work could have been more profound.  If artificial lighting strategies were utilized, I felt that his work could've featured a more abstract and appealing look.  I also felt that his frames could have been more impressive if the compositions of his photographs were more exciting.  Each photograph seemed to include a composition that lacked exciting subject material.  If more exciting compositions were chosen, and artificial lighting was used, I feel that Andy's work may have been more impressive.

Mary Ellen Mark: Artist Review

Mary Ellen Mark is an American Photographer that has made her mark in the history of photography through her work in photojournalism, portraiture, and advertising photography.  A large number of her collections have been published and exhibited in galleries around the world.  Mary has received a selection of awards for her efforts.  Mark is unique in the world of photography for her desire to establish strong relationships with her subjects.  Throughout her entire career, Mary has consistently documented social issues such as homelessness, loneliness, drug addiction, and prostitution.  Mary Ellen Mark has primarily shot her photos in black and white.

Below is a link to one of Mary's works

Mary Ellen Mark Photograph

Elliot Erwitt: Artist Review

Elliot Erwitt is known by many in the photography world as an advertising and documentary photographer.  He is specifically known for his candid black and white shots of ridiculous situations that occurred during the progression of normal activities.  He is thought to have mastered the art of Henri Cartier- Bresson's, "decisive moment."  Erwitt studied photography and filmmaking at Los Angeles City College and The New School for Social Research.  Throughout Erwitt's life, he has captured many iconic photographs.  Since the 1970's, Elliot has also focused a large portion of his time into Filmmaking.  Throughout his years, Erwitt has produced many iconic photographs and films.

Click the link below for a sample Elliot Erwitt image

Elliot Erwitt Pepsi Sign

Michael George: Artist Review

Michael George is a freelance photographer and adventurer that was brought to this earth in the year of 1988.  He spent most of his childhood in Fort Meyers, Florida, where he grew up near the ocean, "snowbirds," and as he puts it, "probably your grandma."  George is now currently located in Brooklyn, NY, where he claims to have maintained his child-like optimism.  Michael enjoys photographing people and declares to use his camera as a vessel for telling his subject's stories.  Michael George has published numerous works that have been presented in a variety of publications.  His work has also most recently caught the attention of National Geographic.  Michael's collection of images known as "Walking the Way," which documented his journey through France and Spain, was published in a recent National Geographic issue.

To learn more about Michael George, or view his photographic projects click the link below

Michael George

Dan Carr: Artist Review

Dan Carr is another one of my favorite photographers.  Although Dan originally earned his degree in Aerospace Engineering, the UK born man moved to Vancouver BC., to expand his potential as a professional.  Without formal photography training, Dan used his technical skills to become a Telus Pro Photographer Showdown Finalist in 2008.  He is now one of the most notable photographers in the Ski Industry.  Dan is currently a senior photographer for the Canadian Ski Magazine, "Skier." His work has also been featured in numerous other notable magazines around the world.  His current clientele consists of some of the most reputable ski resorts, ski companies, and athletes on this planet.

Sample Dan Carr Shot

To check out Dan's life click the link below

Dan Carr Photography

Abe Kislevitz: Artist Review

Abe Kislevitz is one of my favorite artists.  Kislevtiz considers himself as a media creator, a technology geek, and an outdoor enthusiast.  He currently works in media production at the POV camera company known as GoPro.  Abe permanently resides in San Fransisco, but he spends much of his time traveling around the world skiing, surfing, or participating in many other types of outdoor activities.  Whenever he participates in these activities, he captures the most integral moments through either photographs or edited video content.  Abe works hard to produce stunning depictions of his life's endeavors.  I sincerely appreciate Kislevitz' efforts because he also offers step-by-step tutorials on how to capture and edit content in a similar fashion to his own.


You can check out Abe's stunning Digital Portfolios by clicking either of the links below

Abe DSLR Portfolio

Abe GoPro Portfolio

Artist Lecture: Barbara Bosworth

As part of our collection of semester's assignments, our class was instructed to attend a UNH artist lecture.  I chose to attend the artist lecture of photographer Barbara Bosworth.  When choosing to attend this lecture, I was initially unaware of the photographer's work.  After attending the lecture, I had become introduced to a photographer's captivating life story through a large collection of images.
During her lecture, Bosworth presented a large selection of photos that were captured during her experiences on The New England Trail.  I found that this selection of photos was the most appealing part of her lecture.  They consisted of beautiful landscape compositions that were taken on a large format camera.  She placed multiple frames of compositions side by side to create stunning wide angle views of landscapes that could not otherwise be captured in a single frame.  I found that her compositions, use of natural night, and utilization of multiple frames, worked together in harmony to create beautifully captivating images.  Because I was so fascinated by her photography, I will work to utilize her techniques in my future endeavors.

Todd Hido Final Emulation Project

For the final Digital Photography Project, our class was assigned to emulate a notable photographer's style when creating our final collection of photos.  I chose to emulate the stylistic techniques of Todd Hido.  I specifically chose to reproduce the techniques that Hido utilizes when creating landscape photography.

Todd Hido was born in Kent, Ohio in the year of 1968.  He now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Hido is a notable photographer for his photographic documentation of Urban and Suburban housing across The United States of America.  Todd is also well known for his photographs of landscapes and various models.  These models have consisted of former girlfriends, and his current wife.  Many of Hido's photographs of Suburban landscapes are captured during long solitary drives.  In most cases, the main focus of his work is the quality of natural and artificial light in the American Landscape.  Todd claims that he shoots in a "fairly undirected way," but when editing negatives together, he transforms them until an image is produced that reflects the encounter that he had shared with the subject.  In the words of Todd Hido, "I shoot sort of like a documentarian, but print like a painter."  Essentially, Todd is claiming here that he captures photos with little direction, but pays strict attention to detail when printing his works.

When I was introduced to Hido by my professor, I was immediately fascinated by his work.  His manipulation of negatives to produce a unique depiction of every subject caught my eye at Hido's initial introduction.  Although I utilize a different format when capturing photos than Todd, I worked to create a project with his techniques in mind.  I set out on a long solitary drive, and snapped a large selection of landscape photos with an emphasis on the use of natural light.  All of my photos were taken with only a slight direction, featuring a sole focus on composition.  I then transformed the photos in the post production process with the use of artificial light and coloring to create images that reflected the encounter that I had with the locations that I photographed.  Overall, I feel that I emulated Todd Hido's style in a way that featured many of his techniques, while still holding on to many of my own.


Citations

Hido, Todd, and Greg Halpern. Todd Hido on Landscapes, Interiors, and the Nude. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

"Todd Hido - 41 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy." n.d. Web. 07 May 2015. <https://www.artsy.net/artist/todd-hido>.

Final Emulation Project Photos

Photo Emulation Project Contact Sheets

Star Trail Photography Tutorial

In the simplest explanation possible, I will attempt to demonstrate explicitly how you can achieve a star trail image such as this.  I will also briefly explain the reasoning for each part of the process.  This step by step process may seem fairly strict, but like any artistic project, there will always be room for creativity.

Step 1:  Choose the right environment. To achieve the most crisp and clear image, it's best to shoot in a cool and dry environment. To be honest, the reasoning for this involves some science that's pretty far over my head.  Anyways, it's also integral that you choose a night/environment that features the lowest amount of light and cloud coverage.  For this picture, I took the exposure during a "New Moon," where the moon is nearly invisible (Doesn't emit light). The weather conditions were also clear, dry, and around 22 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lastly, this exposure was taken between the hours of 10 PM and 12 AM.

Step 2: Set up Equipment. Once the destination has been chosen and the perfect night has arrived, it's time to head out and get set up.  There are a few integral components that must be added to an arsenal of camera equipment to achieve an image such as this.  In addition to a DSLR camera these additional pieces include, a sturdy tripod, wide angle lens, remote shutter, flashlight, timer, warm clothes, and at least two hours hours of your time.  The tripod will inevitably be necessary because the camera will be taking "long exposures," thus any camera shake from the photographer would ruin an image.  A wide angle lens is not entirely necessary, but I personally appreciate pictures of the sky where a large portion of the sky is featured.  The remote shutter will be used alongside the camera to automatically fire the camera's shutter continuously for an extended duration of time.  Similarly to the wide angle lens, a flashlight is not integral but can be helpful when working with equipment where little light exists.  Since the conditions will likely be cold for your shoot, definitely prepare yourself for the worst, dress warm! The last component refers to a minimum two hour window for the exposure.  I will explain later, but most photographers would agree that a two hour exposure is the minimum period of time that will yield a star trail photograph.

Step 3: Set Exposure. From most of the reading I have done, many photographers seem to have varying opinions in regards to setting the camera's exposure settings properly before taking the photos necessary for achieving a star trail image.  With this being said, there is a general consensus that these opinions all lead to. The first action that should be taken when setting the camera's exposure is to set the camera's dial to manual mode or "M," mode.  This will allow for complete control of all of the exposure settings manually.  The next action that should be taken is to set the camera's shutter release setting to "Continuous/Remote Control." Every DSLR will have a slightly different setting, but this setting in combination with the Remote Shutter Release cable will give the camera the ability to fire its shutter continuously at a fixed rate automatically for a specific duration of time.  After this process is completed, you must then set the ISO, Focal Length, Aperture, and Shutter Speed.  ISO of course refers to how sensitive the camera is to available light.  In theory, since you will be shooting this project with very little light, one would think that a high ISO setting must be used.  But a high ISO setting comes at the cost of a "noisy" or grainy image.  It must also be understood that every camera performs differently at specific ISO settings, therefore it's best to learn how your camera performs before setting the ISO. With this being said, for this image I set the camera's ISO setting to 1600.  The focal length refers to a calculation of the optical distance from the point where light rays converge to create a sharp image of the subject to the digital sensor at the focal plane of the camera.  As I have mentioned previously, I feel that the most compelling star trail photography images are created with the use of a wide-angle lens.  Wide-angle lenses typically feature focal lengths that range anywhere from 14mm-35mm.  Although, this image was actually taken with an ultra-wide angle lens, because this lens features a focal length range of 10mm-22mm.  As far as specifically setting the focal length, it's entirely up to you, but for this picture, I set the focal length to 10mm.  The camera must also be set to manual focus, with the focus ring set to infinity.  These two settings are necessary because most cameras will be unable to fire their shutter without a certain amount of available light with the auto-focus setting turned on.  The aperture refers to a hole within the camera lens that serves as a passageway for light travel into the body of the camera.  If an aperture is large, more light will hit the camera's sensor.  Aperture also controls the "Depth of Field," which refers to the portion of a composition that appears to be in focus.  If the aperture setting is small, such as F/11, the Depth of Field is considered large, where more of the composition will be in focus.  On the flip side, if the aperture setting is large, such as F/2.0, the Depth of Field is considered small, where only a portion of the composition will be in focus.  For the purpose of this photo, since I desired that a large portion of the image be in focus, in a low light setting, I set the aperture to F/5.6.  The last of the exposure settings that stand as integral to achieve a photograph such as this refers to setting the camera's shutter speed.  Shutter speed simply refers to the time interval between the camera's opening and closing of its shutter.  Different star effects can be achieved with the utilization of variable camera shutter speeds, but for the purpose of this shoot, I chose a shutter speed of 30 seconds.

Step 4. Start shooting! I will apologize for the lengthiness of the previous step, but I feel that a step-by-step process in combination with an accompanying explanation paves the way for a valuable learning experience.  Moving forward, once all of the camera exposure settings are dialed in, it's time to document the stars.  As I have mentioned previously, the camera's shutter should be set to "Continuous/Remote Shutter." Position the camera to capture a desired composition, hold down the shutter release cable trigger, lock it into place, and let the camera do the rest of the work! Ultimately, if you follow all of the previous steps, you will have set the camera to take continuous pictures at a 30 second long exposure continuously, every 30 seconds, for two hours.  After this two hour period is complete, around 170 images will have been taken depicting the same stars at varying locations in the night sky.

Step 5. Edit the Images. Like any photographic process, there are numerous ways in which the batch of photos can be edited to create one conglomerate star trail image.  But since I appreciate simplicity and strategies that require a low-budget, I utilized the wonderful batch editing program known as Adobe Lightroom, ($9.99/month) in combination with StarStax.  StarStax is a free program that serves as a fast multi-platform image stacking and blending software, which gives the user the ability to combine a series of photos into a single image while using various in-program blending modes.  With this being said, once the selection of images are appropriately edited in Adobe Lightroom to a desirable level, the group can then be loaded into the StarStax program to be blended into one conglomerate image.  Before completing this shot, I found a great video tutorial on YouTube that explains how to utilize the program StarStax to produce a stunning Star Trail photography image.  The link to this video can be found here. StarStax Tutorial Video (Fast forward to 9:32 to arrive at the tutorial for the StarStax program.)

I hope that this step by step process will be helpful in achieving an image similar to the one that I captured myself.  Of course, I am still an amateur photographer, so any of the information that I have provided should strictly be utilized as guidance.  Additionally, in photography, some rules are meant to be broken! So get out there and start experimenting, good luck with the shoots!

Favorite Portraits

Portrait Project Contact Sheets

Favorite In-class portrait

In Class Portrait Assignment

Class Amalgamation

Urban Photography Contact Sheets

First Photoshop Adventure

I have very little experience with Adobe Photoshop so this transformation expresses this explicitly.  With that being said, I filled each shape with a new color from the original photo.  I also made the top figure appear to be eating a smaller version of itself.

Here is the original photo.

Abstracting the Egg Contact Sheets

Still Life Contact Sheets

Assignment #1 Part C

 Who am I?
I feel as if this picture depicts me in a nutshell pretty well.

 Child Picture..the only one I could find.

    Character trait: I'm pretty weird

 New places inspire me.

  I love photographing action sports. 

   Photography can tell an entire story.

  

 If I was not a photographer, I'd love to ski professionally.


I'd just on the trampoline at my family's house if I could first thing in the morning.

 

 Favorite picture is of the wooden fence..love the shot.  Selfies are cliche and life is meant to be enjoyed.

Order Chaos Light Final Shots

Order Chaos Light Contact Sheets