Photograph 1

       Beatrice Helg is a photographer from Switzerland. I like Beatrice Helg’s work because it is different. When I look at her work I find my mind quiets. I look at her work and I find myself looking at every little piece of it. My eyes wander exploring every inch of her work. I enjoy the simplicity of it. I’m at a loss for words when it comes to trying to describe her work. I like how when I look at her work I don’t feel pressure to have to understand it or define it. Her work is there just simply to be. It doesn’t need a reason or an explanation it just is. I feel drawn to it like a moth to light and I could just gaze at it for hours. 

  Bruce Gilden is a street photographer who is known for his direct approach to taking people's pictures. He uses a flash to shoot pictures of the people he passes by on the street. The subject has no warning before he snaps a picture and moves on. While I don’t like portrait photography I like his approach to it. The emotions and expressions on the subjects' faces are real and raw because they do not have time to pose for the photo. I like the range of different emotions he is able to capture in his photos as well. From surprise to anger to joy and everything in between. It is hard to capture such raw emotion in staged photos. I also like how in his images the background is blurred because it draws your attention right to the subject of the images. I also like that he doesn’t know what the image will look like till after he shoots it. I really enjoyed looking at Gilden’s photos.

     For my inspiration, I chose Tom Chambers. Chambers was raised on an Amish farm and later went on to get his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design with an emphasis in photography. His primary focus is serialism photography. I chose Chambers as my inspiration because I like how he turned ordinary scenes into dreamlike images. The fact that he was able to take something that so many people have experienced before and turn it into something that no one ever thought of before is amazing. I wanted to do something similar. I photographed scenes and objects that everyone has access to, then I turned them into something that no one has thought of. I wanted my image to be dream-like while still having a semblance of reality. I also loved the color he has in his images so I tried to incorporate an array of colors in my images as well. My images are nowhere near as flawless as his but I like that because I feel it gives them a more surreal feeling.

     Matt Black is an American Photographer whose main focus is on geography, inequality, and environments similar to that of the one he grew up in. Above are two of his photos. I chose these photos because they are visually interesting. I like the image on the left because the smoke looks 3D. I like how there is a lot of detail at the bottom and as you move up there is less detail. It gives the smoke clouds good contrast. I also like how the darkness of the smoke clouds is emphasized by its contrast to the light background. I like the image on the right because it captures the movement of the water. There are so many moving parts in this image yet he captured it perfectly so nothing was blurry. Looking at the image you can almost see the drops off water falling and the man moving further into the distance. These images are so aesthetically pleasing to look at. Matt Black is a great photographer.

     Christopher Bucklow is a photographer who uses a pinhole camera technique. He projects a silhouette onto a large piece of aluminum foil then he pokes thousands of holes in it to outline and fill in the silhouette. He then places this piece of foil over a large piece of photo paper and exposes it to sunlight. This gives the silhouette a very distinguished and different look. His images look like thousands of little lights came together to form a human-like figure. It has been debated if this can be considered photography seeing as he does not use a camera. However, he uses light and photo paper to capture moments in time is photography. I love these pictures because they are so unique and no image is the same. The spacing between the spots of light varies creating depth and a sense of randomness. I like how the colors vary due to the time of day or the amount of lighting. Each image must take so much time to produce it shows how dedicated he is to his work.

     Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer whose main focus is on portraits, mainly of celebrities. She likes to photograph celebrities in revealing ways. Above are two of her photos. The image on the left is a very popular picture because it is of John Lennon and Yoko Ono just hours before he was killed. This is a very intimate picture and shows the connection between the two. This makes you think about what was going through their heads, and it makes you wonder if somehow they knew this was the last time they would be together. The image on the right is a photo of Whoopi Goldberg in a tub of milk. This image shows how Annie Leibovitz is always ready and she is great with timing. This image was not one of the planned ones, this was an accident. While Whoopie was in the tub she was laughing and slipped. At that moment Leibovitz took the shot and this is what she got. In many of Leibovitz’s photos, you can see how timing is everything because some of the best photos ...

         Arno Minkkinen places parts of his body in almost all his landscape photos. This makes them hybrid photos, they are part self-portrait photography and part landscape photography. This is what drew me to his photos. He is able to seamlessly add himself into the environment so it looks almost natural. I chose the two images above because I love his use of reflections. In the image on the left, he uses the reflection of the tree in the water to make it look like he is holding the tree in his hand. He was close enough that he was able to capture some detail in the water yet he was far enough away that the tree fit his hand perfectly. I like the picture on the right because it shows his dedication to his work. In order to get this picture, he had to actually be in the water. He used the reflection of his hand and the pen to make it look like he was writing on the water. I like how where his arm enters the water the reflection overlaps with his arm because it...