Jim Brandenburg Video

The video of this artist was perhaps the most appealing to me.  The idea of the project to take only one photograph per day for ninety days sounds like an immense challenge, that the photographer as able to complete exquisitely.  The discussion of the waterfall photograph that his wife actually used a flashlight to create light was a good lesson.  The actual capturing of a photograph is not always most important, but being able to "create" a picture is an artistic quality.  The Lake Superior Beach photograph especially caught my attention because it's simplicity and calmness is captured, with the focal of a rock that makes a fantastic picture.  It is mind-boggling that he was able to only take one photo a day, and every picture was unique, created it's own emotion, and was beautiful.  He discusses the mystery of the project that he could have taken fifty rolls of film to get one picture, but was able to create magnificent photos from just one shot a day.  The level of confidence he had to have to actually do this project is crazy.  How do you know that your one shot is going to be what you went for?  The explanations of how the chose which photograph to take each day were spoken creatively.  The symbiotic relationship between the raven and the wolf was crucial for the photographer to get a photo of the wolf.  Without the raven, the wolf wouldn't be visible and he wouldn't have gotten the photograph.  The benefits of each other was an interesting concept because it showed his understanding of the nature he was photographing.  Overall, Jim Brandenburg's project was amazing to me and I enjoyed learning how he came to decide which photo he would take each day.  Not only do the mistakes turn out to be beautiful sometimes, but taking one photograph a day makes that photograph that much better and special.  

Richard Misrach

After looking at the photos by Richard Misrach, I decided that the Desert Cantos were most interesting.  I like how the wide frame view of the scenic desert presented a wide range of colors and a distant view.  Many have the horizon in the center that gave a view of both the ground and the sky.  His photography style is similar to how I take scenic pictures, with the horizon line and the distant shots.  My favorite photo is the one with the ticket booth in Egypt with a pyramid in on the horizon line.  The focal point to the right of the booth contrasts well with the far shot of the pyramid.  Overall, his photography grabbed my attention and I enjoyed it.  

Sally Mann

I was expecting something different when we discussed the artist, but was surprised with how amazing her photographs were.  The emphasis on light was particularly interesting.  The images of her kids were beautiful pictures that shouldn't have been criticized.  Sally Mann's photography is unique in a way because it deals with her immediate family, yet the pictures are not just everyday images.  They incorporate light, angles, backgrounds, etc. and turn out to be amazing shots.  I liked her explanation of the children photos because it makes you realize she took them because that is the life she knew, and that it wasn't for a "pornographic" interest as many people criticized her for.  The shadow and lighting are illustrated in the picture I posted, and I really liked this photograph.

Collier Schorr

I found this artist's work to be particularly different and interesting.  The concept of masculinity captured into pictures is complex, especially when this photographer does it.  Taking photos of a boy posing in very feminine poses helps get at the idea that males need to feel masculine.  The boy who was in the photos made it known that he was acting, but her best photos came from when he let the concept of masculinity go and even did some "feminine" poses.  Collier Schorr's body of work wasn't really my favorite because her concept was a bit hard to grasp.  Her view on masculinity is different from the social perspective that is typically emotion-less.

Roni Horn - Photographer

The clip of Roni Horn was different from the other clips we've seen, because she had a very different story of her photography.  She has a true connection  with the focus of her pictures whether it be water, a friend, or her niece.  Roni sees something in water that many other people don't see and it is enough to make her life's work about it.   I liked how she talked about the dark water being a psychological darkness because it was a good metaphor about her piece.  The part that showed her images all throughout a university was particularly interesting.  Not only does she put effort into her photography, but the layout was important as well.  Bringing nature into the university seemed to be beneficial as a few of the students stated.  I also liked how she said that each person would have a different emotion or reaction to the set-up of the pictures because they experience them differently.  A person may not walk a certain hall until a new semester or a new year and it would take them a while to learn that path and see the other photographs.  There was a 'flow of people' and a 'flow of water' as they explained which was true from what I could see in the clip.  The other images I found interesting was the swimming pool locker rooms.  Roni took a place that many would not think is a good place to make a work of art and turned it into an emotional piece.  The peep holes produce the feeling of voyeurism and the wall to wall tile surroundings brought on the idea of a chess player.  Her deep connection to her work is clearly illustrated in her work.  

Stefan Sagmeister - Typographer

Stefan's bold way of expressing how excitement is needed in brochures, articles, etc... caught my attention.  The image of the man's body with the typography that looks like someone drew into the skin was fascinating!  I hadn't thought of typography as artistic talent because I hadn't really thought about the expressiveness that can come from it.  Emotion was definitely brought out for me when I saw his work and I valued his artistic methods.  It was interesting to see that he did most by hand, because he was the last generation to be taught that way before technology.  

David Carson Continued Thoughts

I liked how he spoke about mess-ups working towards your advantage sometimes.  Experimenting and playing with it might lead you to do something out-of-the-box, but it lets you create something different.  I learned some ideas about taking anything you can from one image, such as the corner, and blowing it up to create more images or layering them onto the original until you make a more creative image.  The way he took the headline of about noise and used that concept to make the typography "noisy" was a good idea.  David has a good way of utilizing what he has, whether it be the postage stamp of the envelope or the writing style of someone else, and making art from it.  Another part of this clip I enjoyed was the altitude and attitude article.  He used repetition to establish the 'attitude' and the article in the shape of a steep snowboarding hill to illustrate 'altitude.'  David's creative methods of utilizing emotion from typography is inspiring.