Ruben Pagan - Aline Smithson - 2018 Dark Nights Exhibition, Part 1 & 2

Although each of these images was submitted by different photographers, most of them had similar technical choices that I found important. I very much appreciate the use of ambient lights and no usage of set up lights brought into these environments. Keeping the scenes natural, for me, is the best way to do it. Capturing the world and lights as they are in their respective environments makes these images more immersive. That is because it allows us to focus on the setting and the world inside of the image and it allows one to possibly even forget about the photographer due to the fact that their is no visible manipulation from their part.

I believe that some of the artists' conceptual intentions was to actually just capture the eerie world of the night-life. We often forget that night time can be just as active as day-time, but just in different ways. Sure, many different things may occur between the two. For example, at night more of people's actions become more confined to individual activities or smaller groups of people. Where as in the day-time, we interact more with people outside of our circles simply while we go about our daily business. Night and day differ in some ways yet in others they are fairly similar. I think that these images do a good job at showing similarities and differences between the world of night and day.

I know I chose A LOT of photos from this exhibition put together by Aline Smithson, but I couldn't choose a small amount. These images are absolutely beautiful to me due to the fact that I love night shots/long exposures at night. The way that night shots depend specifically on sources of light for them to function is always intriguing to me. Light already dictates everything we see with our own eyes, and even in day-time shots of course, but there's something about night shots that just makes them feel even more dictated by light. Night photos also convey a strong sense of mood and being able to place yourself in the shoes of the subject/photographer more easily than most other styles in my eyes.

Dominique Teufen - Nicole Plummer Post 8

Dominique Teufen

            While browsing through a photo website, I came across Dominique and I thought they were drawings at first! Why, I asked myself, would there be drawings on a photography website? Dominique was originally a trained sculptor and moved into the photo realm. After traveling the world she decided to reimagine the images and landscapes she saw. Amazingly, “the imposing mountain range turns out to be a trivial thin silk paper piece, the idyllic beach a thin plastic bag and the impressive glacier as a mere queuing of cotton balls.”  This was absolutely mind blowing to me. Every image was completely hand made then photographed through a copier. These two aspects were the most fascinating to me by far.

            Besides being absolutely gorgeous photographs, I’m not sure that there is much of a conceptual intention.  Sequentially, I began to feel the potential for a couple concepts. There could have been intentions to convey that our hands are what shape our environment, or that, we are easily tricked by our eyes into believing something is real when in reality is a fraud.

            Personally, I cannot seem to get past how much time and effort just one of these photos must have taken. I’m also blown away by the realism that she conveys despite how flat all of her materials are. I was not necessarily emotionally impacted in any way, but I am definitely inspired to try everything. Prior to finding Dominique I would have never thought her method would produce such stunning images, yet there they are standing tall.

Denver Edmonds - James Barnor *post 8*

1)  Technical decision and why I'm compelled/moved by said tech decisions?
I appreciate how the images do not have dramatic lighting. This allows the subjects to look more natural within their settings. I also appreciate the color scheme in the color photos, the colors provide an aesthetically pleasing element. Lastly, I appreciate how most of the subjects are women. i feel as though this connects to the settings as well because each image has a delicate feeling.  

2)  What I believe the artist's intentions and concept are?
I feel as though Barnor is subtlety conveying the beauty of women in their movements and the settings. The women are posing in a manor that looks natural and causes their natural beauty to stand out. I feel as though Barnor just wanted to change the way the black women are portrayed in the media. This is shown by the poses, the direction of their eyes, and the soft colors. 

3)  How do I personally respond to the intentions and concepts?
I enjoy the fact that the women are the main focus of the photo. The interesting parts of the images are when there is action in the background, but I cannot take my eyes off the women. In most of the images, the women loo directly into the camera, which adds mystery and beauty. They also represent an era of time. 

4) Why I chose this artist?
I chose this artist because I enjoy the appreciation of black women within this photo. Especially considering the women are from Africa, this causes me to feel a connection between the history of black people and beauty. This photo caused me to appreciate time, place, and people. When it comes to black artists, I enjoy the elements they include to honor black people. Camera were designed for lighter skin, so it is pleasant to see dark, black women being photographed.  

Amber Carpenter - Tina Barney - Post 8

1. Which of the artist's many technical choices are of interest to you and why?

Tina Barney's use of depth of field and color as a main part of her photographs very much interests me. A lot of the color use is non saturated and very flat but not dull, the tones are well thought out in their use and presentation. I also like that even though these photos seem very candid a lot of them are actually posed by Tina, which I think is a funny detail in itself. 

2. What do you believe are the artist's conceptual work and/or thematic intentions?

The artist has a very thought out concept and theme going across her work, its capturing this sort of upper class wealth in such a way its not necessarily a showing off of it but a sort of fly on the wall into these people lives that most people probably wouldn't be able to see or imagine if you didn't live or grow up in this type of environment. She has a color theme of pastels and soft tones going on with very subtle contrast in a lot of her photos as well. 

3. How do you personally respond to these choices and intents?

These artistic choices and themes really speak to me and draw my eye into the photographs. They're very pleasing to look at just based on the content in them and the colors being translated through the film. I believe a lot of her work was shot with 4x5 film which also draws you in as such a hard medium to achieve and perfect she has these stunning photographs to show for it with the utmost quality and craft behind them.

Tina Barney

Brezaja Hutcheson - Workflow Demo

Sydni Stearns- Workflow Demo Screenshots

Schuyler VanSyckle - Workflow Demo Screenshots

Schuyler VanSyckle - Jon Sams - Post 8

Photography By Jon Sams

( https://www.jonsams.com/ )

1. Which of the artists many technical choices are of interest to you?

Jon Sams' use of color in the first and third pictures is what interest me the most about those images. In the first image the red in the background ties nicely with the red in her lipstick and her dark hair and the black and white dress she is wearing adds a nice contrast to the red. In the third image the use of multiple colors really helps your eye to bounce around and move throughout the image. In all three of these images the way he positions the models helps to fill up the frame in a unique way. This also helps with drawing the viewers eye around the whole image. 

2. What do you believe are the artists conceptual and/or thematic intentions?

Jon is a portrait/fashion photographer so I believe his intentions were to capture the uniqueness of the face and body in each of these photographs. Each photo has the body distorted in a different way which I enjoy seeing. I like how he stretches and distorts the bodies of his models to learn and photograph the bodies limits. 

3. How do you personally respond to the choices and intentions? 

I personally love his work because all of his photographs are unique and different in their own ways. Lately I have been drawn and obsessed with portrait photography and I have just started getting into fashion photography, so Jon is someone who I have been admiring and he's the person I've been getting inspiration from. His use of color and the way he positions his models is something that I want to incorporate into my photography.