2-17-10

Margaret Bourke-White
Bread Line during the Louisville flood, Kentucky
1937

I have always loved the irony in this photo.  While in a photo class in high school, one of my teachers told me not to use irony in my photographs. To this day I'm not really sure why, because I think that it can make for a more powerful image.  From what I have studied of Bourke-White's photos, she has an incredible way of showing the truth through her eyes.  Though she worked for Life and was an FSA photographer, she knew how to take what was in front of her and display it in such a way as to not exploit the situation, but rather show as much information as was needed to get her point across.

Ansel Adams
Winter Sunrise, the Sierra Nevada,
from Lone Pine, California
1944

Since I have started my higher education in photography, I have heard a lot of my peers say that they don't like Ansel Adams.  I on the other hand have been greatly influenced by him in my early interest in photography.  I watched a documentary on him probably 10+ years ago, and I still remember watching him in the darkroom printing this image.  It was like watching a beautiful dance.  I think the thing about his work that sticks with me the most, is just to remember how important my final images are.

Jerry Uelsmann
Untitled
1969

Uelsmann's images are not just photographs, but layer upon layer of many photographs.  The way in which he prints is much more like a painting as far as imagery goes.  He creates places and meanings with each object that he includes in his photographs. 

All three of these were taken in an area that had just had the fresh snow disturbed by tire marks. Again I used my cell phone camera to capture these images.  This time I did take them into Photoshop and mess around with them just a bit to see how much manipulation they could handle.  I have mixed feelings as to how much the individual images change.  I took these in relatively the same spot with similar lighting conditions, and I feel like each one has its own unique feel to it.  I guess if I want more control I just need to use a different camera :)