Light

I took this picture while on a field trip with my Photo class to a museum in Downtown Denver. The picture is simple, taken of only a bench. However the way the light hits the bench is what makes the picture. The entire day my photo Professor kept calling our attentions to the way light hits certain objects and if it is harsh or soft light. So when I saw this bench on one of the levels all I could hear was "Light! Look at the light!"

The Lonely Ranger

I took a picture of this motorcycle while at a family friends house over Labor Day weekend. I took it because I love motorcycles and it reminded me of when I go out with my dad on our Harley. I also took it because of how alone it was by it self next to a broken wooden box! It shows me that you can be alone, but never truly alone; you are just independent and is not afraid to show the entire world that you are and that you don't care. To me that is what this picture represents and means to me. It is beautiful in every possible way but at the same time very simple.

Annie Leibovitz

Born on October 2, 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut, was the third child of six to a family that traveled around a lot because of her father’s military job. Annie Leibovitz first photos were taken on a base in the Philippines during the Vietnam War. Using the military base darkroom, Annie Leibovitz continued to take pictures and develop a passion for photos and art in general. She attended the San Francisco Art Institute after convincing her parents to let her live there. In 1970, Annie Leibovitz started working for the newly launched magazine, the Rolling Stone. While working in the photo department, Leibovitz was able to photograph multiple celebrities; her first was John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Her photo shoot of John Lennon was to be on the cover of the Rolling Stones, making it her first cover shoot. Through the shoot Lennon wanted Yoko Ono in the pictures and when they were taken, it had framed their relationship so perfectly and beautifully that Lennon wanted to make sure it would be on the cover of the magazine. Annie Leibovitz was the last professional photographer to take John Lennon’s picture alive, as he was shot five hours later. Leibovitz also toured with The Rolling Stones during their Tour of Americas in 1975, even though it was against most the people she knew. During that tour, Leibovitz took multiple amazing photos, but also started to try drugs, which she eventually got hooked on. After her tour, She came back to be given the position of chief photographer, a title she held for 10 years. In the 1980’s Annie Leibovitz style of bold colors and poses, landed her a job at the magazine Vanity Fair. Since then, Leibovitz has taken multiple photo shoots with celebrities and has done multiple campaigns. Annie Leibovitz has an incredibly unique and distinct photo style, and prefers taking photos for her private clients, saying that they are her greatest works because of the incredible personal connection that is made.

 My sister for her age is very innocent and loves to see the best in people, while not understanding why and how people can be so mean to each other, especially if they are "good" friends. I took these pictures of my sister because I believed that they represent my sister's personality. The top picture is of my sister mining for gold in a recreation at the Taste of Colorado. Here she is truly and genuinely enjoying the moment and goofing off trying to find little gold specks. The bottom picture I took after she bought the blue sunhat she is wearing. The light was hitting her perfectly and the hat was bringing out her blue eyes so vividly that I knew the picture would show my sisters true beauty. Not necessarily physical beauty, even though it does show that, but also her inside beauty which is shown through her eyes. 

 

I took a picture of this piano because it represented unnatural beauty and yet it still catches the eye of people and look at the piano with aw. The piano has been painted over and slashed with color to make it look better than its original state; making the piano more pleasing to the eye. I took a picture of it because it was beautiful, with a little sunlight hitting the top and the color blue just popping out.

Susan Sontag

Susan Sontag: In Plato’s Cave

Reading In Plato’s Cave by Susan Sontag I realized that for Sontag, taking a picture was the equivalent to invading someone’s privacy to the extent that she related it to sex, rape and other sexual terms which are looked down on as negative in our society. However, my perception of In Plato’s Cave is that yes, to take a photo of someone is immortalizing them as well as invading a personal and private space; however, for me it is not at all that same as getting so close to someone like you would with sex, invade their privacy like rape or a Peeping Tom. For me it is more like creating a close and personal yet spiritual connection with my subject; may it be human or an inanimate object. When I take a picture I see it as saving a moment in time that you will never be able to get back and immortalizing that moment, because that picture will live on forever and ever. This is one point in which Susan Sontag and I agree in her book in the chapter In Pluto’s Cave. Photography for me has been an outlet in my life. It helps me cope with things that are going on in my life good or bad, and by photographing something beautiful and forever immortalizing it relaxes me. Also ever since I started with photography I have been seeing the world differently. I see everything as beautiful in their own way, and I always look at objects or people and I see how I would take a photo of them and there the light would hit just right. Yes, taking a photo is forever holding that moment or person in history, but it is also a beautiful connection with that object or person. Not one there is a violent intrusion, but one of a beautiful and calming moment in life.

First Day in Denver: September 5, 2010

Now I don't have a preference of what I specifically like to capture with my camera. However, when I see something that is beautiful to me, I will capture it with my lens. This picture was taken at a labor day bbq in the mountains just outside of Denver. I love how the sun was hitting the hills, just barely highlighting some of the mountain, making it look almost fairytale-like.  What I also love is that the mountains are in the background, is usually meaning that they are less noticeable; but, in this picture the eye is drawn firstly to the highlighted mountains.