James Nachtwey

James Nachtwey is an amazing war photographer who has been working for Time Magazine since 1984.


"I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated." -James Nachtwey-

The horizon line connects with the figure in the foreground in a way that creates a great flow through the picture. the negative space and repetition of form draws your eyes attention.

The yellow and the blue become shapes in themselves as they pop out of the image. The shadows almost become figures as they are to scale with the true figure.

The punctuated color of the two girl's dresses draws our attention away from the war helicopter in the background so that it is not the first thing we notice.

ParkeHarrison

So I wanted to do this blog on Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison's "Architect's Brother" after seeing it in person this weekend but then I realized that it's not exactly color photography and this is a color class. So instead I'm going to focus on "Gray Dawn" and "Counterpoint".

This isn't one of their photographs but instead an image of one of the sculptures used in their photographs. I don't know too much about their process with "Counterpoint" and "Gray Dawn" but I know that in "Architect's Brother" they would use sculpture that they created themselves in the photographs.

I think what draws me to the ParkeHarrisons the most is their use of nature based symbolism along with the fact that they create their own sculptures and (in "Architect's Brother") paint on the images. Their use of color is nice too, whether it's muted, punctuated or completely saturated.

Lens Culture Reviews

"My Brother's War"

The concept behind this work is beautiful, the idea of exploring the life of a brother/caretaker who committed suicide do to post-traumatic stress disorder is so intimate (just like buildings!). Unlike some people who shall not be named, the images beauty can stand on it's own and is only enhanced by the concept rather than completely held up by it. The quality of light in these images are simply beautiful and the way she uses refraction is extremely creative. The images where she chooses to hold up an image from her brother's army days sort of reminds me of my final for last semester. The way she lines up elements in the image to the background is flawless.

"Jennifer's Family"

The concept behind this group, once again, is beautiful. The idea behind depicting a family stricken with poverty as a happy normal family can say so much without saying anything at all. It's a new look at a family of this caliber that can almost be related to Robert Frank's,  "The Americans".

"Immortal"

With this series, as the writing says, the cultural references are overflowing. The artist pays homage to renaissance painting and the greek gods of mythology while referencing the use the over use of photoshop in the media to create an unrealistic ideal of perfection (totally my idea!). I only recently noticed that none of them have eyebrows! Which is weird but also reminiscent of the "Mona Lisa".

From Here To There: Alec Soth's America

Alec Soth decided to give out 4 assignments to all of his followers on Flickr and I thought these were the most successful from each assignment:

Assignment #1:

I felt this was the most successful because the artist creatively depicted the museum guard in a way not many people see them. It looks like it was shot with film as it has that beautiful color palette that comes from using color film. I felt like this one was best out of the ones depicted by far, the others seem amateur in comparison.

Assignment #2:

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to put up the whole photo story or just the one image so I just picked this one. I love this image because you can just tell it's right in the middle of a conversation, maybe they were talking about cigarettes. Also, the blue of her jacket matches and accentuates the blue of her eyes.

Assignment #3:

I'm not too sure who's the photographer and who's the person taking a picture of the photographer but i think the image on the right was taken by the photographer. It's such an odd image where you can't even see the person who's taking the picture from what I'm guessing is the flash. Also, the little girl on the left is sort of just floating in space, same goes for the clock above.

Assignment #4:

So this was the only picture depicted for this assignment…but whatever. I love the quote! I think it's hilarious! Only problem I have is I don't feel like she's trying to avoid the camera I feel like the photographer just shot her as she happened to be walking away.

Color Photo

Thomas Struth

I had to put this image because I just thought it was amazing! The colors make the people sitting in the church look like a part of the paintings on the wall. I don't know if it's just me seeing this or if I'm even doing this blog right (the paper was kinda confusing, Ron).

Tanyth Berkeley

I'm not absolutely sure why but I really like this image. I love the way the tree hugs her head and the muted color scheme. The image makes the model seem pretty in an odd way because you know in real life she's not the best looking person, maybe it's just the image that's really beautiful…I don't know.

Lise Sarfati

This last image is really strange. She looks like a mannequin, with her porcelain looking face and bright red lipstick. Her hair kind of looks like a wig too. The way the photographer activated the negative space   in the sky is amazing, it almost looks like the clouds are this explosion that bounces your eye around in the negative sky and brings you down to the figure.

Stephen Shore

So this week we read about Stephen Shore. You asked us to find two successful images and one unsuccessful image but I really don't like much of his work so I found a lot more unsuccessful.

This is the first image that I believe is successful. This was really the only image of his that struck me and  caused me to stop and actually look for a while. To me, the image is oddly cool and warm at the same time. I feel as though the subject is cold and this feeling is intensified by the cool tones of the blues but at the same time these blues feel almost warm and I'm guessing the season is summer just because of the pool.

This next image is the second successful image. I mostly only think it's successful because of the way the red really pops when it's next to the green (it's compliment). Other than that, I like the fact that the subject is perfectly centered in the frame giving the image an overall symmetrical look.

This is the unsuccessful image (obviously). I just don't see anything good about this image whatsoever! It's just food on a table, no beautiful lighting, no tight composition, nothing! It's even out of focus! It looks like someone made lunch for the first time ever and wanted to take a picture to post in facebook and show all their friends. It's stupid.

Color Photo Blog #2

After reading the article I looked at all the photographers given and I chose the three that I believe embody the words best. Doug Dubois, Larry Sultan and Todd Hido.

This first image is by Doug Dubois. I was immediately struck by the composition of this image. The movement from the blue object to the soap holder, down to the boy's head then up his hand and over to the flying dinosaur. Then I began to realize how mundane the subject matter was; it's just a boy playing in the bath tub! Dubois creates this beautiful image about something most people see daily and don't often appreciate.

This next image is by Larry Sultan. This scene looks like something out of a movie (in fact, I think this is on a movie). It's almost creepy, the large unidentified shadow creeping up on the woman in bed. But then you begin to focus on the quality of light shining across the couch and the scene becomes beautiful again.

This last image is by Todd Hido. Hido takes such an ordinary scene and makes it into this magical and creepy sifi image. Once you get past the oddly bright shining lights coming from the house and the blue snow you begin to realize that this is just someone's home, shot at night with a long exposure.