more nudes, pre-editing

These are from another photoshoot I did for my art project.  I'm still working on doing creative editing, and hopefully will post some of the final images soon.

Photo on your own, home in WV

For my "photograph on your own" assignment, I took pictures at home in West Virginia.  I've taken a lot of photos around my house, so I challenged myself to try not to get the same pictures I always take in the area. I stayed close to my house, but wandered a little around our valley at sunset.  The Colts Feet seeds were along the road, above my driveway, and I loved how the sun behind them made the fluff and the grass glow.  I also really like the baby ferns, and I think I might submit that photo for our student showcase.
  The last two images were on our neighbor's land.  The first is a beaver dam.  It was huge, and apparently very strong.  I went upstream from the dam, but I couldn't find their lodge.  I did have fun researching beavers though, and learned some cool facts about the big rodents.  Apparently, other than humans, beavers are the only animal that really changes their landscape.  They are also really good for the ecosystem, despite clearing patched of trees.  Also, the female beaver is often larger than the male which is really unusual for mammals.  They can get up to 55 lbs!
  I took the last photo not far from the beaver dam.  It is an area which was strip mined.  The line of rock are limestone, which were put there to neutralize acid mine drainage.
  I really enjoyed this assignment, and I'm happy to say I got unique photos of a place I'm very familiar with, and which I've photographed many times before.

Planet Earth, behind the scenes

Watching the behind the scenes/making of Planet Earth was very interesting for me. I immediately thought of how it related to what I was learning in my world geography class, about how nature and society are often connected and impact each other through technology. I thought this was a prime example, because society was educated and brought information about nature, through technology. I thought it was especially interesting that these videographers captured scenes that even scientists had not been able to observe.

I enjoyed hearing the personal accounts from the people making Planet Earth, and I would have liked to hear even more from them. The process was very interesting, and I wish more about the process, failures, experience, personal perspective, etc., had been included in the behind the scenes sections. However, hearing about how they got the footage of the snow leopard was really cool.

They also did not address how they researched the places they went to film, especially those which had not been visited before. In the documenting of places on earth that man has not destroyed, I wonder how much of a footprint these filmmakers left behind. Seeing and hearing about the danger the crew had to go through to get some of the shots was exciting. I know I probably could not put myself in life-or-death situations to obtain some footage, but I thought it was really interesting to see how other people did.

I also thought it was really interesting how hands-on the filming was. I expected it to be more computerized. For the shots zooming over landscapes, I thought the camera must have been either in or attached to an airplane. Seeing that they were hand-held in a hot-air-balloon was interesting and pleasantly surprising. However, I would have liked to hear and see more about the equipment they used for the making of Planet Earth.

Speaking light review

Stephen Chalmers' Speaking Light presentation at Point Park University was very interesting in several ways, although I was not completely impressed with his actual photographs. The strongest message I took away from his lecture, and examining his project, was how much context in art matters. For his series “Unmarked,” Chalmers photograph places in nature where murders dumped their victims' bodies. There is no visible mark on these landscapes, so without knowing what this project was about, they would just look like unconnected, pretty nature photos. But the history of these places adds so much more to the art.

His technique was also interesting. I thought how he used a shallow depth of field, to have only the area where the body actually was in focus, was a cool visual element. There were several images in this set that I found very visually interesting and aesthetically pleasing, but most of them looked more like snapshots to me.

I think most great pictures, or photo projects tell a story. Chalmers' “Unknown” is a prime example of that. I think because his photos are not always very interesting, the stories are what make his project intriguing. It makes me wonder where else bodies are or were, and whether we walk over them frequently while hiking. It makes me wonder what dark histories surround us both in cities and nature.

nudes, pre-editing

I took these photos yesterday in the studio, for my current art project.  I'm working on doing creative and fun editing on them, but here are a few of the original pictures, which I think are really beautiful.

Ohiopyle

Each nature photography trip I take with my class becomes more challenging.  I always try to get creative images which both illustrate my cohesive theme (lines in nature) and have a sense of place.  But I feel like my images have started to get repetitive, so I've been trying to keep a fresh outlook. 

  Despite the struggle to keep my images looking unique, I liked a lot of the pictures I got on this trip.  We arrived at sunrise, so having a different quality of light was helpful.  I think a few of these pictures will be good additions to my final portfolio.

A Walk in the Woods

 For the nature photography class I'm currently taking, our instructor assigned us Bill Bryson's book, A Walk in the Woods, to read and review.  Below is my reaction to and thoughts about this book.

In the opening of Bill Bryson's book, A walk in the Woods, he describes a desire to hike the Appalachian Trail because it would provide healthy exercise, interesting, a way to reacquaint himself with the beauty of nature in the United States, would teach him to survive in nature, and would make him more manly. He also wrote about wanting to experience the great Appalachian Mountains before climate change totally alters them. With the exception of wanting to be more masculine, these are all motives I completely understand. We have been spoiled by technology. While I really like having a cell phone, sleeping in a warm soft bed, plumbing, and all the other conveniences we have, I think people are losing respect and awareness for nature and the planet on which we live. I wish I could take an adventure like Bill Bryson went on, to gain the sense of independence and to be more aware of, better understand, and be more in touch with nature. Additionally, I grew up in the hills of West Virginia and spent many summers of my youth camping, so I have a love of hiking trails and of being out in the wilderness. 

 

Overall I enjoyed reading A Walk in the Woods, both for the overall content and tongue-in-cheek tone, but there were a few parts which I did not like. Perhaps I am being overly sensitive, nitpicking, or such, but I was offended by sentiments such as, “The woods were full of peril... loony hillbillies destabilized by gross quantities of impure corn liquor and generations of profoundly unbiblical sex...,” Usually I do not mind when people make jokes and poke fun at my (and other states), but something about statements like that which Bryson included rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it is because I am from an Appalachian state, and some of the people who live in my area back home could be lumped into a category like that, but I did not find that particularly witty or amusing. However, there were other sections of the text which were probably politically incorrect, some rude, etc., which I did find amusing.

Bryson's narrative of preparing for his trip, from shopping for equipment and laying in his new tent in his basement to meeting with Katz and getting on their plane, was interesting and entertaining. His account of the first day of the trip was also interesting. I enjoyed the sections about the history and specifics of the trail, because although I knew it existed, I did not know how it started, who started it, or many of the details. Bryson did a nice job of blending informational sections with his personal account and thoughts. 

Throughout A Walk in the Woods, I enjoyed the dialog very much. Bryson was entertaining in his recounting of events and personal interactions during his adventure. He wrote about the characters they encountered well. The other hikers and people Bryson and Katz met along the way had color and were entertaining, as were his few brief accounts of the wildlife they crossed paths with. Their hiking woes, how they trudged along through wind, snow, rain, and shine, were fun to read about as well. The towns they stopped at and town folk they met were always adventures in and of themselves, as well. 

Overall I found Bryson's A Walk in the Woods an impressive and inspiring book about nature, the Appalachian Trail, and a new close-up perspective of the American wilderness. Walking the AT (even skipping parts, as Bryson and Katz did) takes stamina, bravery, and a lot of motivation. It made me want to pack a backpack and my camera and head out for a long adventure. His account of camping, hiking, and being so involved in nature made me miss being home in the mountains and miss camping and exploring in the woods. At the same time, however, it made me also realize how much I appreciate the comforts of city life, and how undergoing a trip like that would probably be too daunting for me to start out on. 

As I was reading this book, I kept thinking what wonderful photography opportunities there were. Bryson did a fantastic job describing everything he saw and experienced, but I think images resulting from such a trip would be fun to take and interesting to look at. The different towns, the fellow hikers (such as the boy scout troops, Mary Ellen, etc.), the beautiful views they came across, and other sites would all probably make for a great photography series of book in and of themselves.