Thursday 4th August

Today my work was critiqued by Meighan. It is interesting to watch how she looks at my images. Completely different to how I do, an eye for looking for themes and much more attention to composition and light that I do.

Feel that I am starting to unfold a body of work and will spend the next few days really trying to see my images through different eyes. See how the images are constructed by the elements and principles. Will be good practice and will help me stay grounded in the work.

Here are some examples of what I have been shooting

Wednesday 3rd August

The Principles and Elements of Design

Finally I have a guide that tells me how I can critique my images, a way to pull apart what I have done and see what works and why.

Elements Principles

Line Balance

Tone Rhythm

Texture Emphasis

Colour Contrast

Shape Movement

Structure & Form Space

Pattern

Interesting learning but I am tired today with the flu..

Also heard of Katie Grinnan

Todd Hido

This is the first photographer in this course that truly inspired me. I love what he can do with such a banal subject, homes shot at night. These are ordinary homes that have been photographed in a way to make them beautiful. I love it.

If you want to see more look at www.todd.hido.com

Some Great Photographers

Todd Hido, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Burtynsky are some great male photographers. And here are some photos from my first female photographer I really like. Mona Breede and the Russian influence.

Here is a link to some of their work

http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/18/Bill_Henson/1222/43305/

Untitled #27, 2008/2009
CL SH699 N16
archival inkjet pigment print
127 × 180cm
Edition of 5 + 2 A/Ps

Untitled #29, 2008/09
CL SH 656 N33
archival inkjet pigment print
127 × 180cm
Edition of 5 + 2 A/Ps don’t get how he did the blur with the land?

Untitled #4, 2008/2009
CL SH653 N22D
archival inkjet pigment print
127 × 180cm
Edition of 5 + 2 A/Ps Love the light rays and colour

Untitled #7, 2008/2009
CL SH653 N34C
archival inkjet pigment print
127 × 180cm
Edition of 5 + 2 A/Ps Love the light rays and colour

Untitled #10, 2008/2009
CL SH705 N8C
archival inkjet pigment print
127 × 180cm
Edition of 5 + 2 A/Ps Love the blur of the waterfall and the position he has shot it at

I have just read about the controversy around his pre-teen images. He has a darkness that I like, capturing the in-between of life. Dark does not exist without light, to become an adult from a child you must enter teenagerhood.

Tueday 2nd August

I learnt about Camera Obscura and Abelardo Morrell. It is amazing that a room can become the insde of the camera. And the images on the walls, I love the desire that he has to make something out of the ordinary, gives me hope to do the same.

Also heard about a documentary called "The Genius of Photography" whcih was on the BBC. I will see if it is online or available through the library

Genres, Landscapes, People and Things and the sub categories in these. I need to do a brain map of these and mount them on my wall, doesn't do it justice to put it in an electronic format. Here are some night photos from Auckland University

Monday – A room with a view

Today I am off to the Auckland University to take shots from the Kate Edger building. On the top floor in the quiet study space there are many views that I can look at. I start to get the difference between making and taking. What is the story I want to tell, what elements in the frame will do this. I look down on the street and see a throng of people waiting for the lights to cross the road. I want to capture busy. I wait but the angle I have is wrong and before I know it everyone has gone to class. Waiting for another hour and the light will be too flat, so I will come back for more.

I walk along the balcony on the way out to see if there are any other views that I like. I become the voyeur watching the groups of people talking in their own intimate worlds. A few see me and the feeling changes, some wave, others feel uncomfortable.

Weekend Light

I decided to shoot the grave yard in late afternoon, having become excited about what I had just read in my photography book Within the Frame. Instead of looking through the viewfinder at the image I am about to photography I look at the elements in the frame. Do they all need to be there, are they telling a story…

Wow the difference is quite amazing and showed me how much I fill in what I see because I am looking at what the am “deciding” to shoot, not a collection of elements in a frame that tell a story. Work to be done on my story telling, and I think I will start with the handbag.

Early start, on the roadside with my tripod and ready to take the shot at 6:45am. I need a 30 second exposure but at about 24 seconds a car drives past and blows it. The next is spot on and the blue is beautiful, a sereneness that is captivating. I thought early morning was only good for sunrises, but I have learnt something new.

For the rest of the day I take shots about every two hours, and get to see how the light changes. By the last shot at night I have seen the spectrum of change, how a green tinge can be seen under certain light, or blue. Light and shadow play their part to creating the photo. Tomorrow it is framing.