A Semester in Photographs

Stephen Shore is an American photographer known for his images of landscapes, urban and nature, and objects in the US.   He became interested in photography very young, receiving a photographic darkroom kit at the age of 6!  At age 14 he presented some of his art to the curator of the Museum of Modern Art, where 3 were bought! At the age of 24 he became the second living photographer to have a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.   These are amazing feats!

Shore is known for a project in which he took several cross-country road trips and took images on the road where ever he went.  He took color images first in 35mm format then 4x5” format.  Shore went on to produce amazing images for many years and since 1982 has also been the director of the photography department at Bard College.

I absolutely love Shore’s images!  The composition of them blows my mind, it is stunning.  He can take such a bland scape or object and make it so unique in a way only he can see.  I love that about his work.  I also love his use of color in his work.  It makes them pop in a way black and white couldn’t, yet they would also look stunning in black and white!

Rolfe Horn began photographing at an early age.  In 1996, he graduated from the Brooks Institute.  In 1998, he had an exhibit displayed at Photography West Gallery in Carmel and he also became an assistant to Michael Kenna.  He is a landscape photographer and will travel long distances if needed to find new subject matter.  He prints in the darkroom.  His photographs today are a part of several private and public collections including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, in Houston.  

I really like these images because they have pretty strong contrast. I love the lines in the waterfall image.  I really love the image of the two mountain sides with the little white opening.  It reminds me of the phrase, the light at the end of the tunnel. The third image of the river again I love because of the drastic contrast.  Even though landscape photography can sometimes be hard to make one’s own I think Horn does a great job using lines and contrast to make his images separate from the rest.

Yesterday my other photography class (photo 2) was lucky enough to be able to go see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Springfield Art Museum.  I have seen many of his images but it was special to get to see the prints in person.  He is a true master of using photography at its finest.  He can capture lighting in any situation and bring out amazing details most would never notice.  There was a specific set at the exhibit that really caught my attention, they were different images of clouds.  None of the pictures below do the actual images justice, they don't capture the same tonality, contrast, emotion.  The first image I love because of the reflected lines in the water. The second image is an image of the San Francisco bay before they built the Golden Gate Bridge. He wanted to take that shot before they built it because he knew that area would change drastically! The third image I love because of two things, first the great shadow cast on the mountain, in print the difference in the shadow and actual cloud was amazing! Secondly, I love it because if you look closely you can see trees down at the bottom of the mountain, I like how he captured the scaling of trees to the mountains in this image! Great exhibit and one of the best photographers in my opinion. 

Again, from forever ago but shows selective focusing. 

So these are from forever ago, but finally getting them to tumblr. Not the best but gets the point across I think. 

Jenny is a self-taught photographer from Louisiana.  She began taking pictures as a teenager in the bayou around her house.  She takes most if not all of her images within 60 miles of her home, which is pretty incredible.  She had a 20 year career as an intensive care pediatric nurse and after her career decided to go back to photography.  Her projects tell the tales of the Louisiana land.  Her photographic goal is not to document the land but to really capture and show the viewers what makes that land unique.

I really her use of black and white photography for these images because I feel it captures more of the details in the unique spaces of Louisiana.  I feel that she is successful in capturing the uniqueness of the land vs. just documenting it.  I like her use of lines and contrast! Nice to see a self- taught photographer doing so well.