portraiture.

This is my papa. I'm trying to portray a sense of despair or sorrow, even though that's the opposite of his personality. It's tough to create a portrait without using the face. I think this one did an okay job with that, and it was the class favorite. I do realize that it's edited so that the skin tone of his hands look like a corpse, but I wanted to tint it so that the feeling of sorrow and despair come from the photo. I love the focus in this, it just delights me. And the light is lovely. But I do have other favorites.

Here is yet another of my pa. This is just hilarious to me. He is a diet coke addict, just like some middle aged mothers are, so this photo just portrays his perfectly. (not really. that would be kinda sad) Even his expression though is so Dad. I love the focus in this as well. The light is pleasing until that distracting blown out shirt. Sigh. Sorry. I like how there is no unnecessary information, just his facial expression and his baby bottle. Maybe a little bit more hair would improve it a bit. But I still love this photo.

Here is my darling sister Kara. Doesn't she make you sick? She drives me nuts with jealousy. She is my best model. Although this wasn't an image that everyone liked, I just had to post it because it portrays Kara. Always happy and positive and smiling. The greatest example to me. Ah she is DARLING. love this girl.

Here is one that people liked. They thought the others were cliche, while I thought they were just good portraits. I like her eye contact and her position in the frame-there is no useless information. But anyway, my classmates liked this one. I like it as well, just maybe not as much. This portrays Kara very well; it shows her innocence and sweetness and a little bit of her shy side. She is ridiculously adorable isn't she.. I know it. Love my seeester. Wish her knee wasn't blown out. I want her beauty marks.

One more of this girl. I don't love this one, but I don't hate it. And Mr. Meyers likes it. so. I just have a hard time accepting portraits without eye contact. Slade brought me up with that mindset, and it's tough to change. This one is okay, but I wish I either got closer on her face, cutting out unnecessary info, or got further away so I wouldn't cut off her hair or the top of her head. But the light and focus isn't bad, and her expression is simply content, and hard not to like. More of Kara coming I guarantee. [she is a stunning model]

I know this is cliche, this isn't for the assignment. It's supposed to be cliche- this is Kim's missionary picture! I had to throw it in here so you can all see how gorgeous she is. I MISS HER. She's been gone 15 weeks exactly, serving the Freiburg, Germany:) Sister Rasmussen is the greatest and I want her home, but I'm so happy she is where she is. follow the blog I made for her of her emails: sisterkimberlyrasmussen.blogspot.com {beware, she writes novels}

Here comes the crowd pleaser.

Now. I don't love this. Topher {my broha} loves it, and wanted it as his album cover. I just think it's so cliche, and it's terrible technically. It's actually alright as I look at it more, I like his out of focus eye contact. But. The background is completely blown out, and it looks like I photoshopped his right ear. {I certainly did nothing of the sort} but I must admit it's pleasing to look at.

I had to put this up. I feel it's very under appreciated. No one liked it very much, but I just think the composition is brilliant! That sounds cocky. But I am very fond of this composition. Both eyes are at the exact same level, while toph is in focus not looking and the boy is not in focus, with perfect eye contact. I just love it. Underrated.

another class favorite. I like this too, although it doesn't really make sense. This is in front of the coolest house in the world. I'd show you some of it, but I'm not allowed to post them on the internet. That's how cool it is. But there are spotlights lining the wall and we were just playing around with shadows and slow shutter speeds, when I took this with a flash, regularly. I love how it turned out. The grass and the green window are great because they're a perfect border. and Toaster's body position is just delightful! Isn't that cool to look at? My classmates love it-- I think it's better than alright.

Last one of my family.. for now. Sorry. that was the famdamily session. Although I missed my mama. She hates having her picture taken. shame. Anyway, I like this photo. That, in my mind, is a portrait. Not too much useless info, but not so close I suffocate. His expression is priceless; a sense of purpose. And contentment, and determination. The light was kinda harsh, but it looks pretty good! Like this image.

Okay there's the family, but there is much more to come! not only more portraits, but ctiyscapes and interiors and landscape.. wahoooo stay tuned!

I'm back!

Hellooo there.
Although we don't use this blog anymore for photo, I'm still going to upload my best shots onto here. Then when I want to show off my work to someone, all I need is a computer. So. Although I haven't posted since last year, here comes my summer work.

Final Project

I began shooting this before I even knew what my subject was. I have always loved shooting portraits, so I knew it would have something to do with that. Topher brought a cute girl home one weekend to meet the family, and it was a perfect time to capture a portraiture of somebody I had never done before! It ended up being a couple's shot, so I decided that was the theme of my final project. Most couple photography, such as weddings and engagements, are very very cliche and cheesy. That was my challenge, and I was quite pleased with the first roll. I had a hard time choosing only seven prints! I was very excited with two singles of both Topher and Amy, and three shots of them together. All together, I thought the project looked great-- and very individual, unexpected, and not cliche. Since I got success on my first try (miraculously) I had absolutely no desire to shoot any more. I was going to try another roll of Topher and Amy, but they broke up before I had the chance. :) I eventually was forced to shoot one more roll, of which I did my sister Kimberly and her friend Sam. From what I could see in negative form, this was another successful shoot. But, I loved the way my project looked as a whole. I didn't want to throw in another couple, no matter how good those were. Perhaps I'd be willing to do an entire different set of prints for this particular couple, since it worked out so well. But I am still in love with the prints I have finished. I am ecstatic about the way it turned out.

Film Assignment 7 Journal

Life and Death
This assignment turned out nicer than I originally thought it would. When I shot, I had no deeper meaning ideas of what to shoot about life, or death. I simply went to a cemetary, so my images were very literal. I thought this could be a potential issue, but my prints in fact were not disastrous. I had a couple of tombstone shots that were pleasing to look at due to natural light and sweet focus. My favorite is probably the WWII veteran, because the contrast is striking and it conveys a message deeper than any of my other photographs. I had one shot that wasn't of the cemetary, it was a dead leaf next to a newborn blossom. This was probably the deepest interpretation, but technically it was too contrasted therefore you couldn't even make out the leaf. But it is still pleasing to look at, which could ultimately be the purpose of a photograph. I was surprised at how nicely this assignment worked out, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm  sorry about the fixer stain, it's the worst worst thing that has ever happened to me

Film Assignment 6 Journal

Fish Out of Water
I LOVED this assignment. Shooting was so much fun, and I was very very pleased with the outcome. It was a little rushed, I actually ended printing all 5 prints in one session, but they did in fact turn out beautifully. I am very pleased. I might call it my best work so far. I liked my ideas; though they might've been shallow and materialistic, I felt they got the point across in the manner i wanted it to. Although I printed quickly, all of my photographs are dustless, and very contrasted; which is what I love. My peanut butter on the piano- there's something about the composition that I am in love with. I love the reflection, and the beautiful natural light, and the clear focus. Although it disgusts me and stresses me out to see an open peanut butter jar on a gorgeous grand piano, for me, a pianst, it is most definitely a fish out of water. I think I loved this assignment, because a lot of the subjects of my shots were parts of my life. I am a little vertically challenged, and I wear high heels a lot of the time to make up for the inches i'm genetically missing. But i also wear very casual sneakers a lot of the time; these shoes define me. The tennis shoes among high heels was a very strong shot in my mind. I love the focus, and the light was pretty. Even diet coke among water; my dad is a diet coke addict whereas the rest of us love water. That was good symbolization of my family, and the technical elements weren't bad. Those were my favorite images, and I am very very pleased.

Film Assignment 5 Journal

Contrast.
This assignment didn't go as smoothly as I would've wished. Shooting was tough because, since it was an overcast day, all of my light was very soft. This makes it hard to capture hard contrast. Most of my images were pretty grey to begin with, and I had trouble showing a huge difference between my high and low contrasted images. My best pair was probably the door handle. This one was a 2 1/2 filter against a 4 filter. I wish I would've done this with all three pairs, but the others are only 2 1/2 to 3 1/2. The chair handle and the hole in the fence--both images are very similar to each other. Instead of high contrast and low contrast, it mostly looks like dark and light. If I could redo this assignment, I'd do a 4 filter instead of a 3 1/2. I was trying to use the same time in both images, which is why I stuck with 3 1/2. I am not pleased, but I'll do better next time.

Film Assignment 4 Journal

Ring around test.

I found this not too have too much of a point, but it was good to continue technical assignments. They're things I need to experience and see for myself to become a true photographer. I liked the sense of bracketing, which allowed me to pick my absolute favorite filter and time. I loved the print I chose, so I didn't do this assignment grudgingly. It was a little hurried, and I've never done so many prints at once. But it was good. Unfortunately, I screwed up the border on an entire filter set since I did them all at once, and my negative could've been cleaner. But all in all, this was successful. Good experience.

Film Assignment 3 Journal

Print toning.
Luckily, I chose a fun shot that I enjoyed looking at in different tones. It was a Campbell's soup can, and looked good in almost all of the different tones. I really liked to be able to edit the color specifically, something I had only been able to do digitally until now. My favorites were the warm-tone prints in both brown/copper and split tone selenium and sepia. They were slightly brown, and had a slight, unexaggerated, subtle antique look. I liked this a lot. The sepia was definitely my least favorite. Both warm tone and neutral just looked so unnatural. Too yellow. Combined with the selenium though, it looked quite nice. I did an extra print that I only bleached, something I experimented with while trying sepia. It looked awesome, so I'm glad sepia was required. I didn't particularly like nor dislike the neutral selenium. It looked fine, but I didn't like the purple tint. The neutral brown/copper was pretty good, but the difference between that and the reference wasn't apparent enough to be noticed. This didn't go as well for me as it might've with others, but I'd definitely like to continue experimenting with toning.

Martin Munkácsi

Martin Munkácsi said, "Think while you shoot." He is an inspiration to us all.

Munkácsi was born in Kolozsvar, Austro-Hungary in 1896. He began his career of photography in his homeland, specializing in sports as he was a newspaper writer as well. He worked hard to meticulously compose action shots, utilizing his artistic nature and technical skill. He was noticed for these sports photographs, and started working elsewhere. His major locations were Berlin, Germany, and here in the United States. In addition to sports he was interested in airplanes and flying. He loved to photograph planes  both on the ground and in the air, and loved to capture views from the airplane that the common public might never have a chance to see; except in his photographs. During WWII, his job in Germany was terminated, and he went over to New York for  a top fashion magazine. He was good at this, but still liked to escape the indoors to shoot beaches, fields, farms, and again, airports. Munkácsi was one of the first photographers to use nude photographs in a magazine; he was good at his job. Unfortunately, he didn't receive the proper credit he deserved. Universities and Museums didn't care for his work and declined his applications, so now his archives are scattered throughout the world. But this doesn't mean he didn't influence anyone. A young ambition photographer named Henri Cartier-Bresson saw the following image of Munkácsi, and it changed his way of looking through a lens.

"Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika"

He said, "For me this photograph was the spark that ignited my enthusiasm. I suddenly realized that, by capturing the moment, photography was able to achieve eternity. It is the only photograph to have influenced me. This picture has such intensity, such joie de vivre, such a sense of wonder that it continues to fascinate me to this day." Clearly, Munkácsi influenced photographers, and changed the definition of photography.

Munkácsi likes beaches:

And sports:

And fashion:

 

And umbrellas:

 

And airplanes:

I really enjoy Munkácsi's photography. The fact that he's good at so many variations of photography prove that he has skill. He is incredible with fashion and sports; two completely different genres of photo. He dared to go outside the box with nudity, daily average life and the outdoors, so it shows that is a good thing to be an individual. His work is creative and interesting and I just love it.

Film Assignment 2 Journal

Again, I think the reason I loved this assignment was because I loved my negatives. I loved the images. I loved the people in them, and I didn't mind printing them thousands of times:) The photo of Sydney worked really well in the LCD developer. The image looked slightly antique, she was sitting on stone steps in front of a brick wall with somewhat vintage clothing on, so I thought the warm-tone side effect of the LCD would work with the picture nicely. It did. The RC was pretty good, neutral fiber even better, and the warm-tone fiber exceptional. The color and subject of the image were definitely my favorite parts. The focus and dust control need improvement-but I'll work on that. Love that last photo. The photo of Kara with a banana smile was tough. Loved the image; it still makes me laugh when I look at it. Technically, this photo was shot poorly. She isn't facing the sun, and so while her face is dark the right side of her head is blown out as is the wall behind her. Portraiture is tough because the most important thing is skin tone, and then you have to manually edit the rest. Burning was a pain.. but I finally got it. It's definitely not perfect, but it's acceptable. Again, the warm-tone fiber is by far my favorite. I think that's what we have learned from this assignment; the photographs we make on that paper is worth the extra worth and expense!

Film Assignment 1 Journal

I thoroughly enjoyed shooting whatever I pleased. I had forgotten how much I loved film until I picked up the camera again. Unfortunately, for some reason one row of negatives did not develop as planned. It just so happened to be the one row that was filled with my duplicates of the other speed roll. Luckily, I had two images in approximately the same light, so I used those two to compare 100 and 400 speed film. I loved both images; the focus was nearly there, strong composition, beautiful natural window light. I loved both my cups, and the unidentified white iron decoration. My favorite print--for both images was the little one. I have fallen in love with the giant white border, and now all I need is a negative carrier that can give me a black background. The medium and big prints were tough because the focus deteriorated, and dust exacerbated. Sigh dust was a pretty big issue here. But if I can get past my OCD and look to the technical elements of the print, and the strong elements of the image, I am pretty pleased. The three different sizes match each other pretty well. I can't really tell a big difference between the two films, and if I had two of very similar images I might've been able to complete this task more accurately. However, I am happy with my work.

Boys.

California.