Imogen Cunningham Exhibit

This past Saturday, I went to the Oceanside Museum of Art to see the Imogen Cunningham exhibit.  Ironically I have been in this area many times before to browse in shops and have a nice walk, but I had never actually visited the museum before.  I brought along my iPhone to document it.  The exhibit itself had soft green and white walls with numerous photos of botanicals, as well as a self portrait.  Every photo was black and white.

Each botanical photo was a close up of a flower, leaf, or other part of a plant.  Most of her photos pictured the flower as a whole, but several showed extreme close ups of just one part of the flower.  Her use of contrast and framing is striking and made the photos quite eye-catching despite the every day subject matter.  Some of her photos even made the plants look like something else entirely; for example, Colletia Cruciata 7 almost looked like a multitude of airplanes at first glance.

The walls also bore plaques describing parts of Imogen’s life as relating to photography.  One described her photography group, Group f/64.  The group did not last long, but it emphasized crisp focus throughout the photo during a time when soft focus was popular.  Considering Imogen’s photos on display were all completely clear and focused, this makes sense.  Another plaque mentions Imogen ordering a special Chinese seal to identify her work by.  A third plaque sits with a small display of photos and talks about Ansel Adams and Karl Blossfeldt, two of Imogen’s contemporaries.  These photos belong to these two people, not Imogen.

The end of the exhibit has three old cameras of the same type that Imogen used.  There is a recording of an interview with the photography from when she was in her old age.  It was a bit of a sad note to end on, but I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit.  I think that it is interesting that she focused on the structure of plants and flowers, rather than the color.  This style lent itself to more dramatic photos, even with a still object.

Final Prints

Photographer Feature 3

Note: This third feature is to make up for missing one of the field trips.

http://zhangjingna.com/

Zhang Jingna is another photographer I found on an artist website.  Her photography is distinctly romantic and portrays the models in a very feminine way.  She is originally from Beijing, but she moved to Singapore while still a child.   She originally went to school for fashion design, but she found that photography was her true passion and left school.  She was only 20 when she shot her first major campaign and is the youngest recipient of the Fellowship in the Master Photographers Association in the UK.  She now lives in Los Angeles and works professionally.

 

Her photography and her story really speak to me.  She left school to pursue what she really was passionate about, and she was successful at it at such a young age.  It is truly inspirational.  Her work is just gorgeous makes her models looks sensuous but strong, even angelic.  Some of her photos seem to be straight out of a romantic-era painting.  Her fashion photography is just as ethereal, but her advertising work is a little stronger, while still being feminine.

Zhang Jingna often edits her photos with low color contrast to enhance the delicate feel, although some still feature bold colors.  She also uses black and white effectively.  In all her photos, the models’ beauty and the beauty of her clothes or sometimes environment all serve to enhance that.  The backgrounds are often out of focus to give the photo a softer feel.

Proof Sheet

Photographer Feature 2

http://www.hakanphotography.com/

Akif Hakan Celebi is a photographer I found on an artist site years ago, going simple by Hakan.  Hakan focuses mostly on fashion photography and artistic nudes.  What caught my eye about his work was the way he is able to perfectly capture a distinct mood with every photo.  These photos are more artistic in nature, and they tend to be very beautiful.

Hakan travels around the world and contacts models to shoot, both for professional and personal works, but he originally comes from Turkey.  His editing is exceptional, and he desaturates, saturates, or split-tones a photo to get the perfect mood.  His framing is often unconventional, but it is always with a purpose.  Most of his models are female, but there a few males.

I particularly enjoy his fashion photography.  Even though some of the outfits are ludicrous, the way he photographs them makes them all look beautiful and fun to wear.  He can even make them seem perfectly in place at a busy walkway, as if he is transforming the model and her clothes into a beautiful statue in the middle of a street.

His approach also makes the models look flawless.  Their skin has no pores and they look like dolls.  His work makes it look like you are looking into a fantasy world!

Photographer Feature 1

http://www.clayenos.com/
Clay Enos is a portrait photographer.  I first found out about his work while researching costume design on the Watchmen movie, as he was the official photographer the film.   I liked it so much that I bought portrait book.  These portraits were all in black and white with lots of contrast, showing every pore and wrinkle on the actors.  He was able to capture his subjects in a very natural way that did not feel at all posed.

In addition to the photos for the Watchmen film, he also shot for the production of Suckerpunch.  Clay has photographed celebrities such as Kid Rock and Avril Lavigne.  He also shoots spontaneous portraits on the streets of New York and in the city nightlife.  He calls himself spontaneous and edgy, and he says that he “refuses to be pigeonholed into any one category of photography.”  He is currently travelling to shoot a series on food production that sans for Las Vegas to South America.

A look at the rest of his work shows many portraits with an honest, open feel.  They are both in black and white and color, and they give a frank view of the subject.  Things like freckles are not edited out but brought out to give each photo a unique, personal feel.  He also has photos from his travels of both people and locations, beautiful and rundown.  Even the presentation of the locations from a field to a poor city to a classroom feel like blunt, accurate portrayals with skewing of perspective or glamorization.

Luiseno Landscapes

This past Monday, we went to a reception in the CSUSM library.  It was an event held to celebrate the publication of Luiseno Landscapes, a book featuring photos of Native American areas from last year's class.  There was a brief speech of thanks and a prayer, and then the books were distributed to various participants and supporters of the project.  Afterward, everyone had some delicious food and talked amongst themselves.

Portraits

We did another portrait shoot.  The models were all great to work with!

Prickly pear cactus trip

We had a trip out past Valley Center for our most recent trip.  Salsa and salad was prepared from harvested foods, including cactus, and given to students with a side of tortilla chips.  We learned that only the new shoes should be eaten.  Unfortunately the facility lighting was poor, so the best photos came from portraits and plants photographed outside, rather than the food inside.  There was a really unusual flowering plant there, which made for a great photo! (last photo)

Ray Tafoya

Robert Freeman

Edwina Freeman

Rosa Ramirez

Minnie Tafoya

Julie Holder

Agave Roast

This time our class went to photograph an agave roast.  We all stood around a pile of fresh dirt and a dead campfire, and a native woman waved around sacred sage.  A man then began to lecture on the agave and its history and uses.  When he was finished, he and a few students grabbed some shovels and unearthed the roast agave under the campfire remains.

While the man took to cutting the agave up for the night's dinner, women were preparing salads, tortillas, and rabbit stew.  Students did various tasks, from collecting native grasses to photographing the area and people around them.  Once the food was prepared, everyone gathered around a grabbed a plate of the fresh harvest.

 

Mel Vernon

Juana Mijel

 

 Joely Proudfit