Empire

Midtown

Path

Scraper

Island

Residential

Summit

Alley

Cities represent the next frontier of living, and as of right now, approximately 55% of the world’s population is believed to be living in urban areas or in cities, and that number is projected to rise to almost 70% by the year 2050. There’s only so much land to expand outward to, and in order to accommodate the growing population we decided that the only direction left was to go up. And for this particular project I wanted to document the intersection/relationship between man and land in the context of the city-scape.

References:

https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html

Anthony Danielle https://www.instagram.com/takinyerphoto/

Jomayra Texeira https://www.instagram.com/visualmemories_/

In Teju Cole’s article Take a Photo Here he discusses that as a result of tourism and social media, many of the photos that have/are taken at famous sites such as The Statue of Liberty and The Roman Forum have been rendered as being unoriginal.  In many cases these sites are set up in such a way that it guides the tourist onto a specific path and to a specific point of view and as a result of this, it creates for washed up and bland images that over time become overly photographed. Teju Cole explains this theory with a simple search on instagram of a particular Roman site in Italy and he explains that both parties should be at fault , the organizers and the photographers/tourists. In an attempt to be original, one becomes unaware that the view in which they’re photographing from and what they’re photographing exactly are not original. In addition, many of the photos that are taken and posted onto social media are/were taken on a mobile phone which again skews the uniqueness and originality

Teju Cole “Take a Photo Here”: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/magazine/take-a-photo-here.html

Macular degeneration is a type of chronic, progressive disease that gradually destroys sharp central vision. It occurs due to a deterioration of the macula, a tiny spot in the central portion of your retina that is comprised of millions of light-sensing cells that all together help to produce your central vision. Over time, as you age these photoreceptors become thin, worn, or damaged and thus can cause objects in front of you to appear blurry or lack detail. Macular degeneration does not affect your peripheral vision.

  Struggle and tired

Alone on the road

Relaxation and worry

Question of judgement and purpose

Self:

Cleanse

f/1.8, 1/125s, iso 200

Distractions

f/5.6, 1/100s, iso 1600

Hope

f/1.8, 1/125s, iso 500

Close:

Busy

f/5.6, 1/13s, iso 3200

Conversation

f/1.8, 1/250s, iso 400

Curiosity

f/1.8, 1/30s, iso 200

Unknown:

Focus

f/3.5, 1/250s, iso 600

Pair

f/1.8, 1/125s, iso 3200

Portraits Reflection: It was definitely a journey when taking portraits where I had to pay an immense amount of attention to a photo’s color, angle, point of view, and light in order to exhibit a certain emotion or feeling. Personally I found out after going through all the pictures I had took for this project as well as pictures I have taken in general, that I tend to take more abstract/landscape pictures as opposed to portraits in general, so the transition from that to portraits was interesting and certainly felt difficult, initially. And in addition, for this particular project I felt that to add another level of difficulty I decided instead of photographing my face directly, I felt that it would be fun experimenting with things that indirectly represent me instead.

Nahee by Michael:

Amy by Michael:

Duane Michals

Known for his works with series, multiple exposures, and texts, Duane Michals made strides in the field of photography in the 1960s which was heavily dominated by photojournalism. Like the image below, Michals tends to create an image based off a series of images mashed up together in a frame by frame format, and it’s through his hand written text that adds another level of dimension and intimacy to the photos themselves. Likewise, this is illustrated quite well with the image below where each frame tells a different emotion though the mirror’s alteration of the model’s face. We aren’t necessarily presented with the model’s face head-on, but what we see are reflections that are warped and distorted.

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Woodman was known for her black and white portraits during her career as a photographer. Many of her works revolved around symbolic motifs such as birds, skulls, and mirrors. In this particular picture below, we can see a level of surrealism, especially with how out of focus and blurred out the subject is. In a way it resembles that of a spirit/ghost, capturing something that sort of exists there and doesn’t, and framing it in a way that it occupies a gray area in terms of existence.

Part 1: Camera Study Images

1: Correct Exposure f/6.3, 1/400s, iso 1,600

2: Overexposure f/5 1/125 iso 3200

3: Underexposed f/5 1/500s iso 100

4: Highest ISO Setting

5: Lowest ISO Setting f/5, 1/500s, iso 100

6: Correct white balance f/7.1, 1/320s, iso 125

7: Incorrect white balance f/5.6, 1/125s, iso 100

8: Incorrect white balance f/5.6, 1/125s, iso 100

9: Shallow depth of field f/5, 1/80s, iso 100

10: Deep depth of field f/5.6, 1/500s, iso 200

11: Stopping (Freezing) of rapid motion f/5.6, 1/1000s, iso 3200

12: Blurring of rapid motion f/1.8, 1/125s, iso 3200

13: Standard angle of view f5.6, 1/200s, iso 800

14: Alternative angle of view f/5.6, 1/200s, iso 800

Part 2: Cohesive series of images:

Disorder and Order: f/5.6, 1/125s, iso 300 and f/7, 1/200s, iso 500

Pricks and Wings: f/5, 1/200s, iso 300 and f/5, 1/125s, iso 200

Weathered and Grimed: f/5, 1/500s, iso 200

Early Morning: 6 am

Mid Morning: 9 am

Noon: 12 pm

Early afternoon: 2 pm

Mid afternoon: 4 pm

Early evening: 7 pm

Evening: 11 pm

Born on November 30^th, 1912, Gordon Parks was an American writer, film director, musician, and photographer who went on to become one of the most well-known “image makers of the postwar years” (The New York Times).  Following his mother’s death at age 14 Parks left to live with his relatives for a short time before going off on his own into the world, taking all sorts of jobs that came his way. It wasn’t until age 25 when Parks first developed his interest in photography, when he saw images of migrant workers in a magazine, which prompted him to purchase his first camera. In 1940 Parks and his wife moved to Chicago which was where he began to take an interest documenting the low-income black neighborhoods that were in Chicago’s South Side.  It was with the camera that Parks was able to use it as a “weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera” (Parks). In 1941, Parks was able to win a photography fellowship with the FSA (Farm Security Administration which would eventually lead him working at Life magazine as a photographer and writer for over two decades documenting subjects related to racism, poverty, celebrities, and politicians.  In addition, Parks also served as a documentarian, capturing activism and humanitarianism of the mid-twentieth century. Until his death in 2006, Park’s career as a photographer was molded in a way that challenged stereotypes and category. It was through this method was he able to self-express his messages to his audience.

References:

http://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/artist/biography

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/arts/design/gordon-parks-a-master-of-the-camera-dies-at-93.html

https://www.biography.com/people/gordon-parks-37379