Digital Photography

 Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer who is best known for her intimate, engaging, and dramatic portraits of celebrities. More than that, she is a creative designer, talented eye, and an icon in the field she is in. She is considered a living legend and has truly lived up to this title. An inspiration to so many, Annie Leibovitz has definitely played a role in how I see photography and skills embodied when capturing the pieces and images wanted.  In 1970, Leibovitz started working for Rolling Stone and in 1973, at the age of 23, she became the first woman to be named chief photographer of Rolling Stone and she did that for the next 10 years. From her time at Rolling Stone, she recognizes her images of Mick Jagger as one of her favorites. Something that she is well known for is taking a photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono hours before his death in December of 1980.  From Rolling Stone, Leibovitz moved on to Vanity fair where she continued to master her skills an...

 Carrie Mae Weems is an American artists best known for her work in the world of photography. She is best known for her project,  The Kitchen Table Series . Carrie Mae Weems has made works addressing racism, sexism, politics, and more. She tends to focus on relationships, class, cultural identities, and systems that effect every day lives in and outside the community.  With The Kitchen Table Series , Weems took the perspective of relationships with different people at this one kitchen table. In this series we see how Weems is warm and loving to her partner, being a mother to her daughter, and how she is when alone. Also in the series, we see a shift in temperature within relationships. As the events go on, we see the atmosphere get colder as she navigates relationships. She even looks at the camera at various moments insinuating that this is about her especially because the other characters did not do the same. It is as if we are seeing her point of view but from a narrat...

 In this reading, what I immediately found interesting was the different point of views when it comes to photography. Specifically, what really had me thinking and going back on was the difference between analog and digital photography. In the reading, analog photography was in a sense, described as a tease. Analog photography in essence makes you keep going because it is the unknown. You don't know for sure if the image you took is the right image or even the best image. You keep shooting until your film runs out and when you get to the dark room, as your images are developing, it's like holding your breath. Once the development is done, you are able to breathe again and see the product of your image. With digital photography, everything is right there on your screen. You are able to delete, switch angles, manipulate lighting and more; all because of the easy access. Digital photography was described as "discrete". It is only a part of what the whole is. Especially w...

 Matthew Brandt is an iconic photographer who uses 19th century photography, specifically film photography as his source when creating his amazing images. In class, I learned that many of his post-production is done on a large scale and he also does something unique by incorporating materials found in the environment he took his image at to distort the photo but to give it its final look.  In an art piece named  Vatnajökull, Brandt was able to capture images of the largest ice cap in Iceland. From his images, Brandt used chromogenic printing which is image containing 3 layers of gelatin. The layers also contain organic dyes such as cyan, magenta, and yellow. Brandt added heat and fire to the images before he separated them into 3 layers and then compressed them onto an image. From this process, the outcome is a 3-D image giving the sense of being there to actually experience it. This image specifically really blew me away. There is a holographic feel to the piece, as if i...

Steve McCurry is a contemporary photographer who has made his name known for the work he has done in the field. McCurry has touched all 7 continents and have produced images that are both captivating and mesmerizing. McCurry has been making art for more than 50 years and his skills over time hasn't fallen short of successful. McCurry was born in Philly but has been to so many countries capturing the beauty and essence of every culture, tradition, person, smile, and home he has come across.  McCurry has played a role in shedding light on the brutality and violence caused during the Russian Invasion. During this time, he was being smuggled through different countries like India and Pakistan. He was able to document the struggles and fight people of the country were going through. He was able to voice out the pain and hurt felt by these people when there was no hope.  An image I gravitated towards by Steve McCurry is the image taken below in Antartica. The reason why I gravitated...