Lesson 2 by Annette

[Annette]

When I was younger, I remember my dad always had a camera or his 8mm movie camera. I used to love it when he would pop out the huge flash bulb, and it would be all hot and bubbly. When we had movie night, it was always fun to run the movies in reverse and watch the people reverse eat, ( yucky but funny ) My dad started my interest in pictures. When he passed away I got all of the slides and movies.

When I started to notice pictures I have always been drawn to the 1940’s black and white movie star photos.
I love the way the shadows play off their features, the cigarette smoke that never gets in their eyes.

While I was trying to choose one photographer, it became clear to me that I have many photographers that inspire me. Karl Blossfeldt’s magnified images of plant life are amazing. The photo call Monkshood looks like a person in a kimono stretching. His photo of Nuremberg in 1945 makes me sad. Margaret Bourke-White, her photograph of Cocktails on Gorky St. Moscow, shows the happy elite people as opposed to the photograph of Dr. Kurt Lisso and family after taking poison to avoid being taken prisoner or having to surrender to the allies. This photo looks staged to me, like some old movie still. Lillian Bassman and John Rawlings both haute fashion photographers for Harpers Bazaar and Vogue magazine from the 40’s to the 60’s are also the kind of photographs that appeal to me. Lastly, Frank Powdny’s photograph of the actress Peggy Cummings is one of my favorites. This is the kind of photograph that I want to achieve. I’ve tried to get this look in photo shop but the black and white don’t look the same. Sepia tones just don’t do it eaither. Hopefully this class will help me be on my way.
Can’t wait for the next assignment.
Annette 😎

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Hi Annette

I’m glad you’ve taken a moment to explore what inspires you in your work. You have a remarkably clear understanding of what inspires you. You know how you started to take interest in photography and what styles you like.

Here are some of the photos you mentioned in your assingment:

[attachment=2:2fydyr5p]Karl-Blossfeldt-plants.jpg[/attachment:2fydyr5p]

[attachment=1:2fydyr5p]Karl-Blossfeldt-monkshood.jpg[/attachment:2fydyr5p]

[attachment=0:2fydyr5p]peggy.jpg[/attachment:2fydyr5p]
I can help you achieve that soft look (above)

The idea behind this assignment is to get you to think about why you want to improve your photos and to get you to think about your inspiration.

If you want to focus on vintage looking black and white photographs that’s great!!!

I will help you get there.

You’ve done well on this assignment and I’m happy to be helping your through the course.

See you on assignment 3!

Also, don’t forget you can add your name and or website to your ‘signature’ on this forum. Just click here and you can edit your signature. You can also edit your ‘avatar’ so you can add a picture of yourself or anything you want really!

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