Photograph 1

Huangshan Mountains      Michael Kenna is an amazing black and white photographer. I can say this without a doubt because he has gotten several awards to show it. The Imogen Cunningham award in 1981, the Institute of Aesthetic Development award in 1989, the Chevalier of the order of Arts and Letters in 2000, and the honorary Master of Arts in 2003, just to name a few. I would have liked to share all of his works but there are just too many to share so I picked my top five favorites to share. The top three pictures are all from the same mountain range and the bottom two are both from Japan. Breathtaking, hypnotizing, and stunning, these are all words I would use to describe Kenna’s works. My first words I used the first time seeing these pictures were, “oh my god these are beautiful”, and my jaw literal dropped. I was so stunned and hypnotized by the beauty in his works that I just stared at them. One of my favorite part of these pictures is the lighting. Kenna often photo...

Cubism Surrealism      Man Ray’s Earliest works were paintings, where he experimented with cubism. He had been learning about art since high school. Her learned form his teachers and by going to art museums to teach himself. Over the years Man Ray learned of Surrealism and Dadaism. He then started to use these in his paintings. I found his paintings to be very colorful and bright. However, I found that they were missing that “WOW” moment and they didn’t really draw me in. I’m not saying he wasn’t a good painter, because I will never be able to paint that good, but they are missing something in them.         Man Ray then used the concept of Surrealism and Dadaism in his photography and photograms. I like his photography and photograms better then his painting because there is more aesthetically pleasing. There is also more expression in his photography. I found that there was a tone of sadness in his photography. When I look at them I am filled wit...