Nora Drew - Week 11

This photo is by Lauren Withrow and called "Watercolor Dreams V." I have always admired fashion photography because of the extravagant set ups and acute sense of color that is consistent throughout type of photography. I like this print especially mostly because of the use of warm allied colors with a cool gradient filling the negative space on the right. I like how the red band and well as the tree trunk lead you into the frame, directly into the model's eyes. The green compliment of the trees behind the red band is a subtle but great component to the color pallet of this photo. The model's pale skin tone echos the chipped bark on the tree trunk as well as the tan gradient added to the right side of the photo.

Samantha Tadelman - Week 11

I know that we often say, "Oh, I could see something like that on flickr." But, I found this photographer and almost all of his photographs make me say, "Wow!" The photographer is Skarpi(Skarphéðinn Þráinsson) and the name of this photograph is Moonlight Sonata. He took this photo during sunset in West Iceland. Not many are lucky enough to be able to travel to such places, and he happens to be a mechanical engineer there, he isn't even a photographer! The reason why this photograph is so breath-taking is because of the sky, in my opinion. The gradient of the sky and the smoothness of the water must come from him using a long exposure. It would have been a beautiful photograph without the mountain in it, but that shape makes it even more complex. The bottom of the mountain draws your eye up to the top of the frame. The lines of snow on the mountain just emphasize that and create great form. I hope to one day be able to travel to places like this and take such vast photographs.

Jessica Leep-week 11

After looking through some of Stephen Shore's photos, I feel that he often looks at things that people make that are basically just ugly. The colors in this image really work for that theme. We can tell that the person who decorated weighed the color relationships. The yellow of the couch brings out the colors in the trophies. The paneling is allied to the couch and the carpeting. But although these colors have a logical relationship, they're disgusting together. The decorator also had a theme in mind when choosing objects for the room. A wilderness theme is evoked through the mural and the trophies on the opposite wall. This wilderness theme is obviously very contrived though and comes off as cheap.
Even though the scene itself evokes a kind of disgust, it photographs in an interesting way and calls the viewer to wonder about the person who put all of these elements together.

Jenny Reece- Week 10

I found this photo while randomly searching through Google images. I really like that the color on here isn't "correct" or properly balanced. I really like the yellowish green shift that is has. I'm a big fan of the use of analogous colors in photos. I also find it pretty interesting that the horizon line is way at the bottom and tilted but the girl in the photo looks perfectly straight and aligned how she should be. It kind of looks like she's running on a tilted world or maybe a falling world and she looks pretty carefree. I also like the way she's holding the sheet in the air with her fingers. The sheet is flowing perfectly. I think if it was blowing any other way it wouldnt work as well. It looks like the sheet might be trying to intersect with the tilted horizon line. One thing the distracts me in this photo is the random dark corners in the upper left and slightly on the lower left. I think it would look a little better if all four corners were dark rather than just the two on the left. This photo looks pretty vintage, which is why it caught my eye.

Heather Peterson Week 10

This photograph was taken by Javier Vallhonrat, a present day fashion photographer. In many of his photographs, he uses analogous colors that are soft and muted. Here, he uses a strong sense of complementary colors to shine a strong focus on the shirt. The under lighting creates a dramatic affect to the already dramatic detail of her expression. The lighting highlights the subject, and pushes it towards the viewer also highlighting the importance of the fabric and how it fits. There is also a hidden repetition within the complementary color scheme. The faded texture of the walls help the complement the smooth fabric of the shirt.

Melena Nicholson - Week 10

This is a photograph by Zena Holloway. It is a nude woman floating underwater. She poses horizontally with her knees bent in front of her chest. Her head appears from behind her knees, but her arms block the viewer from seeing most of her face. Her elbow and knees point to her red lips. My eyes follow the lines of her legs to her lips and up to the surface of the water and around her reflections, and back down to the bottom of the pool wall. The picture is mostly blue, the woman is very pale except for a few warm pink tones on her body. She looks very calm and natural under water. Her skin is very smooth and light and contrasts with her dark red lips.

This picture is fantasy like. Her legs look oddly large in proportion to her head because of the angle she is in. I like the framing of her lips. Her knees and arms form a window the viewer has to look through to see her mouth, which is the focal point of the image. I love the reflections above her too. They add energy and movement to the water, and make interesting forms of colors. I like the framing of the photo as well, how her toes and hair are cut off from view. If they were included i think the lines they formed would have made the photo too busy. The simplicity of the subject's form is really beautiful.

Tricia VanGessel - Week 10

This image is from Curtis Mann's work, Everything After, which is showing in Chicago right now. This particular image is called "Soldier". With all of the photographs in this series, he used a special technique including varnish and bleach. He varnished the areas of the print he wanted to protect and bleached the rest of it. Strategic areas have been removed to leave us with a wholly different image than the one he took. And these areas are not just white areas on the print, because the bleach leaves some color behind, it gives the image a much weirder look. In the case of this photo, the soldier looks like he may be on fire or like he's exploded from the inside. Either way, it looks like he is exuding a ridiculous amount of light from his head. Because the bits that have been left behind are so much darker the the bright white, they leave us with the necessary pieces of information to see his face and the important parts of his uniform. The white star against the navy blue patch really pops agains all of the abstract whites and yellow. The more I look at it, the more realistic form it takes on. Everyone should go see his work at the Kavi Gupta gallery before December 4th! It's looks fantastic from the site and I plan on going soon!