Weeks 3 and 4 Readings

I found all the reading this past 2 weeks to be interesting especially when it came to the nature photography magazine article, which further then explained how you are supposed to write a effective critique and the posters responsibility of posting work and being able to accept criticism whether it be good or bad. This was interesting to me because a lot of the time in my experience in the college setting people tend to be to nice rather then be critical because they don't want to hurt someones feelings.

 The Critique form was a good reading as well because I feel that I as a photographer and a learner will not be able to criticize my self so id rather someone else criticize my work and give me good feedback on what I as a photographer can do to strengthen my skills. Sometimes when reading about the image and what the photographer / artist has to say can really decide how much thought went into shooting a image... with me it is hard to write about my photography because my creative process is more commercial rather than fine art and for my to express emotion towards an image when I really dont feel anything because 90% of my photography is technical, with numbers and angels, instead of emotional. I guess in a way I dont shoot something to convey a message... I shoot it because it looks nice or I want to show someone else how nice it looks.

The reading in the chapter again I thought was similar to last weeks working with framing an image. This weeks reading has alot to do with the rule of thirds and how the overall composition of the photograph is. It also goes into detail about what kind of lens to use and what angles to shoots from to overall strengthen the shot. Shooting from above or below can significantly change the point of view with the photograph.

Artist Critique

Ansel Adams was one of the most influential nature photographers. Even 70 years later people are still trying to fill his shoes and create the photographs that he created. Ansel Adams did majorily only landscape and all his images were black and white with a like of high contrast. All the images fill the frame correct and have a good sense of blacks and silvers.  

Galen Rowell was a photojournalist who connected with his audience through his writings and his photographs. Hey influenced a lot of people through his wilderness adventures, which eventually is where a lot of his influence for his own work came from. He is one of the first photographers to use the 35 mm camera in landscape photography. All of Galens work is in color and has a beautiful contrast of very saturated colors almost making it look like the image was painted and not shot.

Eliot Porter In contrast with Ansel Adams’ big landscape style, Porter’s photos were more quiet and focused on the intimate landscape scenes that are easily overlooked. It is easy to overlook his body of work in favor of postcard views but one needs to only look at the photographers that he influenced to see that his work has left a lasting impact.  Eliots shots are closer to the subject and are more detailed unlike Ansels who’s were wide scale.

William Henry Jackson One of the early pioneers of landscape photography, Jackson’s photos were instrumental in the creation of the National Parks system beginning with Yellowstone National Park in 1872.  All of Williams photographs are black and white or sepia and like Ansel are of a wider scale showing more in the picture instead of detail.

Arthur Morris Is one of the most imitated photographers in the nature photography format; it would be hard to see any bird photography that doesn’t show Morris’ influence. He is arguably the most prolific bird photographer of all-time and runs a successful birding workshop business. All of his images are bright in color and majorities of the time are close up and show detail of the bird or birds in a beautiful landscape which controls most of the image.

Course Readings Week One And Two

The course readings were intriguing most of the first weeks reading about nature photography and writing about nature photography. Through my readings so far I have discovered that nature a lot of the time is used for adding to the overall look of the photograph. In reading further I discovered that it also is used to fill positive space and negative space. Cropping and Framing an object correctly in a photo could also add to the significant. In early times it was easier to shoot something like nature because it didn't move and cameras at the time could take up to 20 minutes per image which would require a lot of patients and a still subject. Most early photography of nature evoked a feeling in the photography, which is why they shot the photography. A lot of nature photography is shot at a distance for safety or to fit everything into the frame. Also if you are shooting wild life it was also best to stand at a safe distance for safety reasons or not to spook away what it is you are trying to capture.

The photography in nature reading explained a lot of stuff I already have encountered in art history. Most of the images I have saw before and have discussed over why they were the way they were.

The article of nature photography explained the ins and outs of how you are supposed to behave in nature and so in fact how you are supposed to view wild life and be safe around wild life. I believe the article is right because you should respect nature and preserve what you are shooting while respecting your surroundings while shooting.

I really enjoyed all of the articles and gained insight as to how nature photography is perceived and over all how the history of photography has changed from the first photograph with a pinhole camera to the digital age of graphic design and digital cameras