Architecture

so let me start off saying that i tried my best to take artistic pictures. i was absent during the week this was assigned so i missed some things but i read my book. :)

Location 1: local park. I don't know for sure if play structures count as architecture but i was trying to think outside the box. Since someone has to build it and it has lots of shapes/lines, i thought that this play structure would be good. It didn't turn out as i planned...

Location 2: Buri Buri Elementary School. I decided to take a detail shot of the school building. I seen a little mural on the side of it and thought it would make for a good picture. Obviously schools are off limits after school hours and on the weekend so there is a fence there. i think the fence adds something to the picture. hmm but i dont know.

 

Location 3: My house. So i got lazy on this last one and decided to use my house as the subject. first i did the big picture. the outside of my house is boring so i included my palm tree and the front entrance. For the interior of my house, i took a picture of part of my kitchen. And finally the detail pic, i used my fence because i didn't think the stucko material of my house would make for an interesting picture.

interior

big3

detail3

Landscape Photographers #2:Heidi Kirkpatrick

-Heidi was born in 1959 in the city of Springfield, Ohio.
-Based in Portland Oregon
-Kirkpatrick’s work is included in collections at The Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), the Springfield Museum of Art and The OHSU Corporate Collection.
-She develops her own images by using silver gelatin printing and a variety of processes
here's an few examples of how they look:

-Heidi photographs using a Holga but is able to make art with what she has.

>>here is what an image from a Holga camera looks like

-In 2004 she started teaching photography at Northwest Academy which is a high school

-Her work often depicts a view of the world experienced by women

Landscape Photographer Bios #1: Ansel Adams

Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California. While on the trip with his family, his father gave him his first camera, a Kodak brownie box camera. He used this camera to take his first photographs. His first trip to the Yosemite valley sparked an interest in him so he returned a year later, by himself, with a tripod and some better cameras. After that, he learned basic techniques while working for a photographer in SF. In his twenties, Adams' life philosophy was inspired by Edward Carpenter's Towards Democracy, a literary work which talked about the pursuit of beauty in life and art. He then decided that from then on, his art was to reveal that beauty to others and to inspire them to the same calling.

Ansel Adams' first photos were published in 1921 and a year later Best Studios started to sell them. Adams used different lenses for certain effects but mainly went for a more realistic approach meaning he relied on sharp focus, contrast, exposure, and "darkroom craftsmanship". 1927 he made a contract for his first portfolio, Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras, which contained the famous image called Monolith, the face of half dome.

For this image, Adams used a Korona view camera, glass plates, and a dark red filter. The red filter helped make the sky appear darker.  He said "I had been able to realize a desired image: not the way the subject appeared in reality but how it felt to me and how it must appear in the finished print". This is what most of his artwork looks like, black&white landscapes with tonal contrast. These types of  images is what he is famous for. Adams did try to broaden his subject matter to include still life and close-up photos, and to achieve higher quality by "visualizing" each image before taking it. He  used small apertures and long exposures in natural light to create sharp details with a wide range of focus. An example of this would be Rose and Driftwood (1933).

During the 1930s , he was inspired by the increasing desecration of Yosemite Valley by commercial development. He created a limited-edition book in 1938, Sierra Nevada: The John Muir Trail, as part of the Sierra Club's efforts to secure the designation of  Sequoia and Kings Canyon as national parks. This book and his testimony before Congress played a vital role in the success of the effort, and Congress designated the area as a National Park in 1940.

-President Jimmy Carter commissioned him to take the first ever picture portrait of a president.

- he died April 22, 1984 

Ch. 9 Landscapes

Landmarks in Landscape Photography
-Carleton E.Watkins(1829-1916)
>>>wanted to capture grandeur of American West. Opened own gallery in San Francisco in 1858 and after began photographing in Yosemite Valley. His huge photographs were among the first to be made as art.

-Ansel Adams(1902-1984)
>>>also inspired by Yosemite. His photography always tried to capture the experience of being in the wilderness.

Photographing the Landscape
     Thinking artistically:

-Composition is one of the most important aspects of landscape photography and viewpoint is the most important part of composition
-explore all variations when setting up a shot
-value is important....images with wide range of tones are more dramatic & those with smaller range are "quieter"...decide what mood you want your photo to have
-try to achieve balance between unity and variety because it creates art that is interesting to look at without being chaotic and disturbing

     Camera Settings:
-stop down a lens as far as it will go(it depends on which lens you have)
-smaller fstop means longer shutter speeds (tripod is necessary for clear images)

      Light:
-many professional landscape photographers shoot mostly just after sunrise and right before sunset
>>it's because sun is low so shapes and textures are emphasized by side lighting
>>and color of light is warm gold

-in grand landscape photos, direct lighting creates highlights and shadows to make the landscape appear 3D
-for closer shots, direct light gives no detail. Most photographers shoot these on overcast days.

     Film:
-detail-oriented images like landscape photos need to record as much info as possible.
>>use 100 ISO to capture all the details
-black and white showcases value, line, shape, texture, and pattern
    Lenses:
-as a general rule, landscape photographers prefer to use wide-angle lenses that capture more of the scene.

-for concentrating on details or areas in the distance, some photographers use telephoto lenses
-macro lenses are also useful for getting really close up images...use them for capturing details and small objects when you get very close to them.
   Filters:
-using a yellow filter will help bring out the clouds.

-to duplicate the Ansel Adams look of deep black skies with stark white clouds, use a red filter

     Camera Support:
-TRIPODS are useful to get a sharp, clean image
-can't do this type of photography without one{according to the book}

The Grand Landscape:
- the grand landscape is the "big view" for pictures of the great outdoors--wide open expanses that showcase the majesty of the natural world.

-grand landscapes always include a large expanse of the scene, and wide-angle lenses will give you the wider view that you need.
Landscape Details and Close-ups
-Parks are good source for detail-oriented photos
-Fall's vivid foliage or the vibrant flowers of spring will add color to your photos of landscape details

 -Light meters are designed to create an exposure that makes medium or middle gray out of the scene being metered
>>with lighter values, open the f-stop or slow down shutter speed for longer exposure
>>for darker values, close the f-stop or choose faster shutter speed for shorter exposure

Abstracted Elements in the Landscape
-abstracted elements are images composed of lines, shapes, values, and textures
-a good way to turn an ordinary scene into an abstract image is to get really close to the subject and photograph a small part of it
-look for interesting shapes and forms

ch 8 notes

-vertical&horizontal lines help divide images into diff sections
-observe space surrounding objects/buildings
-pattern=the repetition of any of the elements of art
-make image as sharp as possible to see the smallest details
-smaller f stop=greater depth of field=more scene in focus
-value helps determine shapes of objects
-contrast=diff or range of values
---mostly darker values(low key print)
---mostly lighter values(high key print)
-use value to emphasize certain parts of an image
-differences in tonal values also accentuate texture..makes surface look touchable
-commercial--> usually in color for magazines/brochures
-artistic-->usually use black&white
-incandescent: household light bulbs. make things look more orange
-quartz: modern spotlights. make things look more yellow
-flourescent: make things look greener
-wide angle lenses are very useful b/c cant get back far enough to get the entire scene you want w/normal lenses
-use filters to make the lighting appear different and to make images stand out
-Big View: wide angle
-Perspective distortion: strong converging lines in a building, where the sides angle inward toward each other instead of looking parallel as they are in reality
-try capturing the shadows cast by objects-->pay attention to lines, shapes, and values
-Detail shot features individual architectural elements of a building's interior/exterior
-wide angle lenses for entire rooms
-normal lenses or shot telephotos will work well for detail shots