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Rodney Smith
A photographer that has had a strong infuence on me is named Rodney Smith. I would have to say he is my greatest inspiration! He lives near Manhattan and his style is very old school meets modern. His collection is all very artistic and skewed, a look I absolutley love. His work is hangingn on my living room walls, it serves as a great daily movtivation to redesign life.
His style, as he calls it, is surreal photography. It’s the syle I most gravitate towards, there’s such a level of creativity that takes it to another level for me. His work reflects the strange world he inhabits in his mind. He is a hypochondriac, and suffers from a great deal of fears and anxieties; and often says he feels isolated. In his blog he says “This is how I stand before you in my pictures, completely vulnerable and naked, with a terrible fear, yet a small hope that in the end, despite all my failings you could still find a way to love me simply for who I am.” (Rodney Smith, March 4, 2013). This insecurity and personality shine through his photographs in such a beautiful way.
The piece that means the most to me is the first one I ever saw of his work. None of his photos are titled, it’s know as “GPA-0201-060-11”. It is a simple shot, one that might seem silly at first glance but it was the most unique and expressive thing I had ever seen and everytime I see it again I want to go create something with my camera! It is a black and white set in the woods, and there are two men in suits sititng in chairs with boxes on their heads, and fedoras. They also have one of those silly novelty toys on, the plastic glasses attatched to a nose and mustache.
Another one almost as amazing to me is one that is black and white as well (although not all of his work is, and that isn’t all I like to focus on either) and shows a dilapidated old house leaning to one side with a well dressed man standing next to it, leaning to the same angle as the house. There are many others, however I don’t love every single one he has done. There’s just something about this style of photography that I find to be the most exciting and artistic. I enjoy taking family photographs and more “normal” photos too, but if I had to pick one style forever it would be his. In his biography is says that he has “an eye that sees the world in a way you or I will only see it if it’s in the form of one of his photographs,” but I see the world in that way everyday! I always find myself wishing I could take a picture by blinking hard enough, because it seems nobody ever see’s what I see in mundane things. I wonder if he feels the same way!
For anyone who is looking at this in the future, here is Rodney Smith’s website:
http://rodneysmith.com/And the image you mentioned is this one I think:
[attachment=0:12k7lzyp]GPA020106011 – photo by rodney smith.jpeg[/attachment:12k7lzyp]
photo by rodney smithI like that you have chosen someone who is doing some highly creative and artistic here for your inspiration. I had never seen Rodney’s image but after taking a look at them I am very very impressed. They are amazing images. They are super creative and very well done. I’ve never seen images like these!
If you ever find yourself wanting to take a picture by blinking hard enough, you should just take the photo! Bring your camera with you everywhere! If nobody sees what you see, just shoot it and share it! Rinse and repeat over and over and over!
Now that you have spent some time thinking about your inspiration and looked at some image that you like it will make it much easier for you to find your way and learn your own style!
Thanks for posting this one and I’ll see you on the next one!
🙂
Now that I think of it, a good thing for you to try would be to see if you can create something similar.
You can learn quite a bit doing that!
Wouldn’t hurt to play with this.
Thank you, I’m glad you liked his work! They just amaze me. Yes, that was the image I was talking about, I can’t point out exactly why I love it so much. I think it would be great fun to try a similar shot, I have photo’s I love that I have tried to do that with and ended up with pictures I really liked; I will give it a try!
One thing to note is the square aspect ratio. I just love the 1:1 format so you might want to experiment with that.
See you on the next one!
Feel free to ask any questions any time!
Go Go Go!!!!
Oh yes sorry.
A 1:1 aspect ratio is a square.
Take a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspect_ratio_(image)Not all cameras shoot the same aspect ratio….
Hope that helps
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