Flag Book Final

I also finished my flag book, it took a little while to figure out the sizing of my images and the sizing of the paper and the folds, but I think it worked out in the end. I was happy with the final product. I'm glad I decided to use 6 images on each side rather than 4. 

Portfolio Update

The Senior IB Art Show is now over, so I updated my portfolio with some images of the work I included in the show. Here are some images of the work I used in the show.

Cyanotype

Forest

New York

Postcards

Storms A Comin'

Flag Book Project Discussion

For project discussions I presented the idea of my flag book and showed the images of flowers that I took for the project. I intend on making two more variations of each print (two more light images and two more dark images). Below are some of the questions I was asked about the project.

For my flag book, I am going to glue the flower images onto the folded paper in two rows facing one direction, and then in between the two rows I will have a middle row with text on it. I will most likely use a song lyric for the text on the middle row. Following are some lyric ideas:

"We've all got both light and dark inside of us" -JK Rowling
"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" -Bob Dylan
"All I can do is be me, whoever that is." -Bob Dylan
"Kid, you'll move mountains." -Dr. Seuss

Questions:
How does the size of the image relate to the book and our ability to relate to the book (ie see the images)
What text will you use?
How might the text tie together the images?

Lowkey/Highkey Imagery

Below is some highkey and lowkey imagery that I found. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of it. I like the landscape images the most, but I didn't really find any that were lowkey or highkey that I was a huge fan of. Shooting highkey would entail shooing white subjects on a white background, and for lowkey, a dark subject with a black background. In a newer post (titled "Flag Book Project Discussions") I have included an image of some highkey and lowkey images that I shot and printed. A lot of shooting highkey and lowkey is the process after you shoot is the most important. For my images, I used photoshop to turn the backgrounds completely black or white, which is what made them more highkey and lowkey.

Photo by: http://forum.mflenses.com/olympur-35rc-is-at-home-how-to-test-it-t71238.html

Photo by: https://thephotonaturalist.com/2013/06/

Photo by: David Peterson http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/3558/using-lighting-style-to-create-mood-high-key-and-low-key-lighting/?replytocom=230578

Photo by: Michael Britung https://landscapephotographymagazine.com/2015/going-off-the-radar/

Photographer: Unknown

Flag Books

I found images of the flag books below on this: blog: http://www.herringbonebindery.com/blog/tag/tunnel-book/. I kind of like the idea of telling a story when you look at it from one angle, and then seeing a picture that supports that story. I also kind of like the black and white images, I think the most color I would have in my flag book would be white and one other color, or just black and white. Here is the link to this bookbinders webpage: http://karenhanmer.com/

Flagbook by: Karen Hanmer

Flagbook by: Karen Hanmer The cover

Flagbook by: Karen Hanmer The story

Flagbook by: Karen Hanmer The final image, collage

Henri Cartier Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who was known for "candid" photography. He was also an early user of 35 mm film. He was born in 1908 and died in 2004. 

Part of his book, The Decisive Moment, 1952

I personally like this photo because it shows how composed a candid photo can be. This photo clearly was taken quickly, as he had to capture the birds flying away, but it looks as if a lot of time and planning went into it. He talks about this candid, quick photography in his book The Decisive Moment. He discussed this with the Washington quote, saying that "There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative. Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever" (see citation).  I personally really like this element of speed in creativity. While sure, you can sit and compose a shot, I think photography has the ability to capture fleeting moments, which holds a very important place in the art world. 


Bernstein, Adam (August 5, 2004). "The Acknowledged Master of the Moment". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 26, 2016

Alfred Stieglitz

Alfred Stieglitz was a New York based photographer born in 1864. He had over a 50 year career as a photographer and was influential in photography's acceptance as an art form. He was married to Georgia O'Keeffe.

Blind Woman, 1916

This is a photo of his that I personally like. It is a photo of a street beggar who was blind. Initially what I found the photo humorous and satirical (she had a sign labeling her as blind). But then I realized that it was a photo of a beggar and that it was not taken with a humorous nature. Either way, I think this photo is interesting as it makes the viewer think about the time and the situation it was taken in.

Star Books

We have been making star books in class. I finished my first one, a relatively simple one where I used three pieces of paper for each point of the star. I really like the book with the flowers because it uses a frame to show the photo. The book on the bottom is not a star book, it is a tunnel book. I have also been researching these because I plan on making one for one of my landscapes for IB Art. I found all of these images here: https://www.pinterest.com/ramey549/starbooks-tunnel-books-and-pop-up-books/

 

Social Change Through Photography

Can a photograph invoke social change?

The photo below is taken by Sal Veder. This photo shows a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War being released and greeted by his family. This photo eventually came to symbolize the end of US involvement in the Vietnam War. To me this photo invoked change by showing the pure emotional effects war has. I also think that this photo advocates for pacifism and love, and also was a symbol to the anti-Vietnam advocates.

Burst of Joy, Sal Veder 

I personally believe that a single photograph can invoke social change. I think that many people can get very inspired by one very controversial image and it causes action. In class we talked about W. Eugene Smith. He was a photojournalist who emphasized ethics in his work. This photo in particular was to demonstrate the effects of mercury poisoning.

Tokomo in Her Bath, W. Eugene Smith

Snapshot

My definition of snapshot aesthetic are photographs that hold a lot of meaning to anyone connected to the people in the snapshot, while at the same time not always the most composed photographs. Here are some old family photos and snapshots I found. 

My Dad's family vacation, 1964

My brothers, Gran, and me on a hike

My Dad and his sisters and parents

Exploring with my brothers

Pyramid with my cousins

Self Portraits

These images are by David Hockney, most of them are from his book Cameraworks. I really like the idea of using lots of smaller photos to make one large portrait or image. 

David Hockney, photo from his book "Cameraworks"

David Hockney, photo from his book "Cameraworks"

David Hockney Images, Photos from "Cameraworks"

Food Photography

Here is the link to Emma and my food blog: http://zkortenhof.wix.com/cookingwithangst

Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White was an American photographer, she was a documentary photographer who was born in 1904 and died in 1971, she died of Parkinson's disease. She was the first female American war photo journalist. She was also the first photographer ever to be permitted to take photos of Soviet industry. I particularly like her work because of the pivotal time period she came from, and the influence that had. 

Here is another image by Margaret Bourke-White. I really like how this image is taken from above and how all of the people in the image are uniform and look like little tiny dots. 

Hats in the Garment District Margaret Bourke-White, New York, 1930

Jazz Final Image

Here are my final images for the jazz project.

Portland Jazz Festival

The following are posters/album covers/images I've found that I like and are inspiration for the jazz festival posters that we will be making. I found that I like the black and white posters and also things with Mt. Hood in the background. I also found one image of the stereotypical Portland hipster on it with a completely yellow filter and I thought it could be cool if the hipster had a trumpet or something. 

Beaver & Mt. Hood, Portland Oregon
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Beaver-Mt-Hood-Portland-Oregon-Posters_i3147308_.htm

Vinyl Jazz Funk Poster
http://www.zazzle.com/vinyl_jazz_funk_poster-228773447926282887

. 

All That You Can't Leave Behind, U2, Album Cover, 2000

http://blog.estately.com/2012/09/northwest-hipster-showdown-seattle-vs-portland/

"Portland Jazz Festival", Jimmy Mack, 2015

Fine Art Food Photography

I found a lot of fine art photography that I thought was really cool.

Here are the links to the blogs of these photographers:
www.finedininglovers.com
www.dulcetcreativeblog.com
www.christianseelphotography.com

Fine Art vs Editorial Food Photography

The picture to the left is an editorial food photograph and the photograph underneath is a fine art photograph. The editorial photo is taken from above in order to display to food more clearly, while the fine art photograph is not taken in a way that is meant to display exactly what the food is. It is also set on a dark background, and the food is staged as a planet, which makes it more of a fine art photograph.

Citations:

    Davies, Dominic. Fat Duck. 2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <https://www.finedininglovers.com/photo/food-photography/davies-photography/dominic-davies-photos/>.

Michelle. Tartine Bakery Chocolate Truffles. 2013. Hummingbird High. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. <http://www.hummingbirdhigh.com/p/about.html>.

Time/Step Out

I found this video made by a guy called Andrew Studer. He made the film when he was 17. The time lapses in the film inspired me and made me want to make a compilation of time lapse videos. I am thinking that for one of my next projects I might try it out. It would work well with my thesis of exploring and wandering. Not only that but the concept of time is also fascinating, it comes to play with exploring and not letting time get in the way of going out and doing interesting things. 

"Time", Andrew Studer, 4:02 min, Film

He made a second film called "Step Out" that I really enjoyed as well. The idea of getting out of school, the house, your bed, and going and seeing something awesome is a concept I really like. So often we let school and homework get the better of us and we use it as an excuse to not go and "Step Out."  This again relates nicely to my thesis.

"Step Out", Andrew Studer, 3:36 min, Film

Digital Transfers

For the next part of the postcard project we are doing digital transfers. The pictures I plan on using are landscapes I took in the Indian Heaven Wilderness. 

Sense of Place

My idea of a sense of place is a place that you feel connected to, or a part of in some way. For example, when I'm backpacking and you are far enough in the wilderness that you can't hear sounds like highways and other human noises, I feel a sense of place. I spent a lot of the summer traveling, and I found while sightseeing it was very hard to have a sense of place, but when I stopped and interacted with locals, and lived with families from that place, it was a lot easier to feel a connection to the culture and to the place itself. Here are some pictures I took while backpacking, they represent my feeling of sense of place.