Motivation Monday - Eliot Porter

“You learn to see by practice. It's just like playing tennis, you get better the more you play. The more you look around at things, the more you see. The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it.”Eliot Porter (1901-1990) was most known for his colour photographs of nature. If you have ever taken a nature photograph you owe a gigantic thank you to this man.He started in black and white, teaching himself the everything that made him great. By 1930 he had mastered black and white development and though he never gave it up completely, it was in 1939 that he began focusing his energies towards colour photography.One of the many aspects which makes this artist so motivational to me is his background. He had degrees in both chemical engineering and medicine, and worked as a biochemical researcher at Harvard. He was a magnificent photographer who was able to use both sides of his brain equally as well. Some of his published books even combined his photographs with scientific information relevant to them.Some of Porter's images seem bland and dull in terms of the colour when compared to the rich saturation possible with today's technology. But he was there first, arguable, he is the original nature photographer.

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Assignment #3 - Submission Part II

AliveBeyond

Comfort
Fantasy
Go
The remaining photos submitted as part of my third assignment in my Composition and Design course at Algonquin. I used a variety of techniques for this assignment including painting with light and rear curtain synch flash.

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Assignment #3 - Submission Part I

Texture
Trails

Unique

Vertigo

Wet

The above photos were taken as part of Assignment #3 - Marketplace at Night. We were given a list of words to use as the names and I did my best to be both clever but rational with the naming convention I chose. As always, any and all constructive criticism you have on the photos is appreciated. The rest of the images will be posted tomorrow.

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Assignment #3 - The Assignment

The third assignment is much more open than the other assignments in this class have been which makes me pretty happy. We are to photograph the Ottawa Byward Marketplace at night (10 photographs to be submitted).
The class gathered Monday night in front of the Art Gallery on Sussex and we were given directions to photograph in and around the marketplace (excluding Sussex) between the hours of 7:00 and 9:30pm. Once the night was over and we had met back up at the Art Gallery for attendance, we were told that we could make a second trip to the marketplace to complete the assignment. I intend on going for my second trip either tonight or tomorrow evening, whichever night in which the clouds seem most likely to let it rain. The assignment is due on Saturday so I should be posting the submitted photos shortly thereafter.

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Motivation Monday - Apology

I forgot to post a Motivation Monday yesterday for which I am sorry. I thought I had one written already but apparently I was mistaken. I am super tired today after a late night taking photos downtown, but will try to make up for it later in the week. Worst case, next Monday is only 6 days away.

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Street Music

Street musician outside the Art Institute in Chicago, IL.

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Music in the Park

The amphitheatre in Millennium Park in Chicago, IL.

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Looking Out

Erin Armstrong-Hivale on Parliament Hill, Ottawa, ON.

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Monroe and Michigan

Monroe and Michigan, Chicago, IL.

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Ottawa Marketplace Bystander

Ottawa Marketplace shopper.

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The Bean

The Cloud Gate in Millennium Park in Chicago, IL. Also called 'The Bean'.

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Assignment #2 - Marks

Assignment number two was much better received by my instructor than the first was. I received a 9.83/12, which means I got mostly 9, 10 and a few 11s in each category. I am definitely happier with this mark than the previous one, though I am still aiming for something higher in terms of an overall mark. (Though an A- is the lowest I want to get in any of the courses in the certificate program). There weren't any comments in the marking page this time around, so I am not entirely sure why I lost marks, though I can make some assumptions based on the things he said when they were presented in class and the comments he made on the last marking page.
To make a long post a little shorter, I am happier with these marks but want higher ones of the next assignments and in the class overall - so I guess I have to get better acquainted with the instructor's marking and likes/dislikes.

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Motivation Monday - Edward Weston

"Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual." - Edward Weston.

Edward Weston (1886-1958) used lighting and angles to make everyday objects look different and interesting. He also did a great deal of work with nudes in the later years of his career. Most of Weston's work was done using an 8x10 inch view camera. He was given his first camera when he was 16 and started taking photographs. His favourite hangouts when he was young were Chicago parks and his aunt's farm and he was first exhibited in the Art Institute of Chicago in 1903. His comprehensive legacy includes the incredibly detailed Daybooks he kept regularly from the mid 1920s to 1934. These books allowed for a very intimate glimpse of his personal life, his views on photography and his methods and techniques for his work. Edward Weston is generally accepted and recognized as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th Century. One of the most inspirational aspects of Weston, to me personally, is his ability to take an every day object, like the shell in the middle of this post, and make them look so incredibly interesting and unique. Some of his 'everyday' photos take a little while to decipher and for the viewer to determine what the image actually is. I also enjoy his quote, "Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." I primarily like this quote because I feel the same about the rules of composition, they can create a well-liked photograph, but should be second nature and not something that you need to consciously think about before taking a shot.

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Parliament Hill Portriat - Erin

Erin Armstrong-Hivale.
Parliament Hill, Ottawa.

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Reflecting on the Hill

Christine Sweeton.
Parliament Hill.

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Assignment #2 - Submission - Additional Shots

Christine Sweeton on Parliament Hill. Telephoto, vertical shot.

Erin Armstrong-Hivale on Parliament Hill. Wide angle, vertical shot.

Stranger on Parliament Hill. Telephoto, vertical shot.

Stranger in the Ottawa Marketplace. Wide angle, vertical shot.
The above four photos were the additional ones I submitted as part of my Street Photography Assignment in my Composition and Design course, offered at Algonquin College. I felt that these shots were the better composition of those submitted as part of my actual assignment (the marked part at least). I also felt like these were, for the most part, better images.

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Assignment #2 - Submission - Strangers

The above photo was taken in the Ottawa Marketplace. It is a wide angle, vertical shot.

The above photo was also taken in the Ottawa Marketplace. It is a wide angle horizontal shot.

The above photo was taken outside the Art Institute of Chicago. It is a telephoto, vertical shot.

The above photo was taken on Parliament Hill. It is a telephoto, horizontal shot.

The four above photos were taken of strangers in and around Ottawa, ON and Chicago, IL. They were submitted as part of my Street Photography Assignment as part of the Composition and Design course offered at Algonquin College.

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Assignment #2 - Submission - Friend

Telephoto, vertical shot.Wide angle, horizontal shot.Wide angle, vertical shot.Telephoto, horizontal shot.
The above four photos of Erin Armstrong were used for my Street Photography Assignment in the Composition and Design course offered through Algonquin College.

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Assignment #2 - The Assignment

The second assignment for my Composition course at Algonquin College was all about Street Photography. We had to take at least 8 photos for the assignment adhering to the following criteria:

• 1 photo of a friend, telephoto zoom, horizontal
• 1 photo of a friend, wide angle, horizontal
• 1 photo of a friend, telephoto, vertical
• 1 photo of a friend, wide angle, vertical
• 1 photo of a stranger, telephoto zoom, horizontal
• 1 photo of a stranger, wide angle, horizontal
• 1 photo of a stranger, telephoto, vertical
• 1 photo of a stranger, wide angle, vertical

We can always submit a few extra photos that we think fit the criteria of the assignment. I had decided not to do this for the first assignment, but sent in four extra photos for this one as I felt the composition of some of my submitted photos were better in a slightly different way that did not necessarily capture the subject in the best way possible.
As it is a great deal of photos, I will be publishing them here as separate posts over the next couple of days. Let me know what you think of them as they go up.

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Assignment #1 - Marks

I ended up getting 8.33/12 on my first assignment - a B. I am not very happy with this mark, but knew a low mark was heading my way. I stated when I posted the photos here on this blog, and when we were critiquing them in class, that the rural photos were mediocre at best and below my normal standards. I did, however, think that my urban shots were quite good, even when compared to the work of the other students in the class and I was quite happy with how they had turned out. Anyway, this is my final mark for this assignment, and hopefully I will be able to adapt to my instructor's style of marking and learn what he likes and dislikes and will therefore be able to get better marks as the class progresses. Fingers crossed.

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Motivation Monday - Hellfirediva

Deviantart (DA) is a wonderful place full of absolutely amazing artists. I have been on the site for over two years now and pretty much since the beginning, have been watching one artist in particular, Hellfirediva. Her work is primarily animal and nature based, though she has several photos that do not fall in these categories. She has the most breathtaking images, like Bolero which I think is my favourite of her pieces (I apologize for not putting images here. I did not ask for permission and as she states on her DA page, she does not want anything reproduced without her written permission and I believe in adhering to these requests). Her actual name is Kristina Kotarski and she lives in Ohio, though is originally from Germany. I enjoy every aspect of her art from the image itself to the titles she gives them - the titles for my works are bland and uninspiring, while hers are poetic and match the image perfectly, which is something I really want to work on. I think the reason I find her work so motivational is because mine is along the same lines - or rather, the images I want to capture (those that are in my head) are the basic versions of her images. She has honed her skills and found her niche and has therefore found a very strong, and well deserved, following on DA.

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Institute Planters

Some of the planters that ran atop the railing around the Art Institute. Some of the plant within them looked like cabbage to me, but I don't know that much about plants.

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The Headless March

This was my original night shot for my assignment, but the day shot left a lot to be desired and I chose not to use it. They are very creepy and yet intriguing though. I am not sure what they are called, or who they were designed by, but the headless creepy guys (as we called them) were one of the first things I photographed while in Chicago.

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Millennium Park at Night

Another sculpture from Millennium Park at night. During the day, this was a white sculpture but at night it turned into this beautiful red colour.

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City Lights

I wrapped the Gorillapod around a railing and did my best to take a shot of the traffic. These were my favourite shots and I think they are pretty good for some of my first attempts at long exposure, traffic shots.

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