My Inspirations

[Steve]

My Inspirations

I would be hard-pressed to pick just one artist that has impacted me. I am attracted to all kinds of photography and art. Many works that impress me, I am ashamed to say, I don’t even know the artist’s name. In the past, my appreciation for art has mainly been visual. Recently, I have become interested in the technical, informational and emotional sides of art.

I love the outdoors and nature, in general. I tend to like a photographer’s work that presents the beauty of the world around us with the camera through his or her own eye. The first artist that impressed me was Ansel Adams. His work was instantly recognizable to me because of his unique style of very sharp and tone-rich photographs. That he was able to achieve these beautiful results without the benefit of the technologies available to us today speaks volumes of his talent. I have always tried to use the available natural light to mimic his work, but I come up well short of my goal. One of my favorite works of his is “Aspens”. I like the simplicity of the subject and I love the way he used light and positioning to achieve the effect of this photograph. Unfortunately, rather than have this work inspire me, I think I was held back by the belief that I don’t have the talent to try to do such work. However, through success in my chosen profession I have come to believe that with study, practice and perseverance anyone can achieve their goals.

Kennan Ward is another favorite artist of mine. In a way, by virtue of his color photography, his work for me is an inverse example of Ansel Adams’ work. Ward’s work is diverse, as well. He not only does landscapes, but he does all kinds of wildlife images, and works that illustrate examples of man’s effect on nature. Ward uses many different perspectives to present his photographs. This is a technique I would like to develop in my photography. One of my favorites of Kennan Ward is “Jenny Lake”. I really like the reflection he captured in this photograph and the rocks first above and then below the surface of the water. I think this view effectively draws one into the picture.

I have been taking pictures since I was six years old. At that age, I was fascinated by the fact that I could freeze a moment in time. Later, my fascination was in the technology of the camera, itself. Only recently have I become interested in photography as an art. Most of the pictures I have taken would probably be classified by a professional photographer as “snapshots” and this would most likely be accurate. However, occasionally I come away with what I believe is a pretty good photo, but I am not sure what I did to make it so. I expect to improve my knowledge and skills by taking this course and practicing the concepts that I learn. By doing so, I hope that someday I could consider myself to be a good photographer.

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[Duncan Rawlinson]

The great part of this assignment is that it allows other photographers to do follow up research on photographers that artistic minded people (like yourself) find interesting. You’ll notice photographers ranging from nature photographers to others who focus on urban decay. I really like the range of photographers emerging from this assignment.

I also really liked the phrase you used: “tone rich”. What a great way to describe tonal range.

I look forward to seeing you next assignment in the community.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[Author]

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