Nick Brandt Favorites

Reactions to 'Africa' & Nick Brandt

I fell in love with Nick Brandt's pictures. The way he answered the question about his inspiration, 

"Simply, I find myself indescribably moved every time I go to these places and see these animals in these settings.
There is something profoundly iconic, mythological even, about the animals of East and southern Africa. There is also something deeply, emotionally stirring and affecting about the plains of Africa—those vast, green rolling plains punctuated by graphically perfect acacia trees under the huge skies." (Brandt, Interview)

really affected me, and made me see the pictures the way he does; a picture of the animals' soul. 

Also, when Brandt talked about his experience with the loss of wild life in the same area over 13 years, it made me think of all the things we could do to help. 

I love this photo and everything about it. The man seems to be "one with the tusks", or he could be hiding his tears for the loss of this giant elephant.
The plain background and landscape makes the picture more real, and makes it much more dramatic.
This picture shows the rule of simplicity, as the background is very plain and accents the main focus, and the rule of thirds because the man is in the bottom left box. It also shows the rule of lines. The lines of the tusks curve up to the man crouching on the ground.



Nick Brandt

Brandt uses a Pentax 67II with two fixed lenses. He doesn't use telephoto lenses because he thinks that getting close to the animals and studying them while waiting for the right picture will give him an insight into their personality.

Brandt explains why he takes his photos saying,
 " I'm not interested in creating work that is simply documentary or filled with action and drama, which has been the norm in the photography of animals in the wild. What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of Being. In the state of Being before they no longer are. Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. (Brandt)
He also talks about Africa saying,
"This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes."(Brandt)

Captions

Will leads his entire family in the Irish jig he learned from birth at his son's wedding. 

Will got really into the dance, and like his smooth-headed family of men, 

pumped his fist in the air until long after the song was over.

The back door to the bar is a perfect meeting place for
the seniors with smaller rides.
The crew pulled up to the door and parked their rides on the curb.

John, Peter, Ella and Lee sit posing on a bench outside their home.
They imitated the 3 Wise monkeys, and John, Peter and Lee seemed to
be more photo-ready than Ella.

(See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, take no crap)

Great Black & White Photographers Part 3

These photos are not the fact same photos from before, but they are taken by Berenice Abott

(my original photographer).

When I first saw Abbott's photos, I knew immediately that I loved the way she set them up for the viewer. She took pictures of simple, every-day things and made it an art. She was amazing at her job and I love her work. 

      

{I SEE} I see the thin wires of clothes lines shaking in the breeze above my head.
{I SMELL} I smell the odor of clean sheets and clothes.
{I HEAR} I hear the buckets of dirtied water being poured onto the ground below the windows.
{I TASTE} I taste the bitter substance that cleans the dirty sheets.
{I FEEL} I feel the soft sweep of cloth as I walk through the lines of hanging fabrics. 

{I SEE} I see the people standing on the curbs, and walking past shop windows.
{I SMELL} I smell the fabric in the suit store in front of me.
{I HEAR} I hear the chatter of the pedestrians on the street corner.
{I TASTE} I taste the tainted air of the city.
{I FEEL} I feel the metal of the fire escapes, making a trail down the side of the apartment building.

*****
I think that making a poster of pictures that my photographer took would be a good way to show my photographers work to the school.
No one would really see it but it would be the easiest way to show it. 

Photo Mural Project

  Here at school, we could do some kind of 'student life' theme. But not actually around Bowie.
Bowie doesn't have a lot of creative options and we would end up with a better project if we weren't confined to the school grounds and fewer things to put on this Mural Project.
We would take photos of kids downtown, around the neighborhoods, and just doing what they usually do outside of their school life.

  I think that saying the pictures could only be taken on smartphones would be unfair. Not everyone has an iPhone or a phone with an average to good quality camera. I think it should be the students' choice to take the photos with a professional camera or their own phones.

  We could put the murals up around the courtyard and in the cafeteria.

 

Academic Shoot Reflection & Critique

  While taking the pictures for the Academic Shoot, I found it hard to find classrooms that were doing something interesting. A lot of the classrooms were taking tests, or the teacher was showing the students power points or lecturing.
  Keeping all of the technical aspects of photography in mind, the one that I thought about the most was holding the camera correctly.
In a dew of the photos I had to turn the camera a certain way to get the right angle and to make the shot an example of the rules.
  If I could do this assignment again, I would take a lot more photos, and take my time to get more of them clear, and a perfect example of each of the rules.
  I would take a few of my photos the same, and go into most of the same areas to take the pictures.
  The rule of thirds was definitely easiest to achieve this time, butI think that the rule of Lines will be the easiest to active in the next shoot.
 The rule of framing or simplicity will probably be the hardest to get.
  The rule of Lines is probably the most confusing to me. There are so many ways that you could get this picture, and achieve a picture with that rule that it is hard for me to tell if I'm really getting the correct shot to coincide with that rule.

*****

http://catherinesphotojournalismblog.blogspot.com

I thought that these photos were well-taken.
She did a good job at making most of the subjects obvious, and working with the rules.

I thought she could have made the subjects in some of the pictures clearer to the viewer.

Academic Shoot

Simplicity
I followed this rule pretty well. I could have cropped the picture better
to make the subject (the student studying) more obvious.
But other than that I thought the picture was well shot. 

Balance
I followed this rule very well. The two students studying side-by-side (the subjects)
balance each other out. Even though one shirt is much brighter than the other, it still works. 

Rule of Thirds
This picture could have been better shot, but I thought that the rule was obvious.
The subject of this picture is the teacher; Mr. Dammann, and he is very clearly
centered on the far right lines of the grid. 

Framing
This shot followed the rule of framing pretty well. The wood of the study
space frames the subject, (the student studying) very well.

Lines
This picture kind of followed the rule of leading lines.
The subjects are the students taking the test.
I could have gotten more in-line with the desks to make the line more obvious in the picture, but I don't think
I would have gotten as obvious of a subject.