Five Photographers That I Like

Freeman Patterson:  http://www.freemanpatterson.com/giclee_prints.htm

Andre Gallant: http://andregallant.com/?pageID=976628

Eddie Soloway: http://www.eddiesoloway.com/see/galleries/

Lia Rothstein: http://liarothstein.com/

Fong Qi Wei:    http://fqwimages.com/

EMULATING TWO PHOTOGRAPHERS

 

My assignment was to emulate a photographer and write a research paper about he/she that included why I liked the photographer's work and how I was going to push the emulation further than just copying the style.  Obsessive student that I am I chose two photographers: James Balog and Brenda Tharp.  Balog is a photojournalist and Tharp is a Fine Art Photographer.

  
James Balog is best known for his work on “The Extreme Ice Survey.”  He started this project in 2007 to bring awareness to the plight of a planet being transformed through climate change.  In this innovative series, he uses 25 time-lapse cameras--powered by the sun --to photograph the ongoing retreat of glaciers and ice sheets around the world. 

Although I love the abstract qualities of his photos of the glaciers, his body of work on ancient trees is my favorite. In this series he was determined to photograph the oldest and largest trees of North America before their disappearance.  

Brenda Tharp has been a photographer for more than 25 years and has followed a more traditional path to producing photos than James Balog. Tharp’s interest lies in the beauty of nature for its own sake rather than as a means to teach scientific truths or express values. 

When looking at the photography of both Balog and Tharp I am drawn most to their use of high contrast, simplicity of subject, and abstract composition. Always striving for simplicity, high contrast and abstraction in my emulation of their work, I went further by using color where it was not expected, rotated photos, used photo montage, created some super high contrast photographs and used filters in Photoshop. 

Here are my results:

 

 

Color assignment using dyes

Harmony of Greens

Monochromatic Greens using multiple values of the same color

Cool Blues

Cool colors--shades of blue and purple

Warm colors shades of orange

Different values (light to dark of the same color)

Experimenting with Triptychs

I love the tree triptychs produced by environmental photographer James Balog: Changing Forests: http://www.jamesbalog.com/portfolios/changing-forests/
He is probably best known for his 2007--present work documenting the disappearance of the ice fields. His other environmental work is just as captivating.
Here are my photographs of 2 trees done as triptychs, with the maple tree duplicated to produce a black & white version of the same photograph.

An extra triptych-this one of a clivia montage:

Portrait assignment

I usually don't do portrait work and was not looking  forward to this assignment.  However, since I was selective about who and where I photographed, it ended up being a fun project.  I also learned a lot, and got to play with a new lens.

Jamaica Kincaid 3/2013

Jamaica Kincaid 3/2013

Close-up portrait in B&W

Esther

Esther

Stephanie and Dex

Stephanie and Dex

Sam

Sam

Karen at the piano

Karen

 

Bonus portrait: Pat stuck in a "spruce trap"

Reflections

Stream Reflection 1

River reflection

Stream reflection 2

Window reflection 1

Window reflection 2

 

 

 

Window reflection 3

Candles in a mirror

Reflections on a book