Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Arlene Shechet







So this was my favorite artist from the MCA i just thought i would toss a bunch of her work up because i loved it and for whatever reason the color schemes reminded me of winter, and i thought it might be kind of cool!
I was really interested in Arlene because the method she used to create this series of work. She uses a cast cotton pulp and pigmented linen pulp. i could nto find any information on how exctly she made these, but my guess is that the pulp was wet, and the pigmented linen pulp was used almost like water color. I think this because if you look closey at the work, the color has bled into the white background, much like water color. So i believe it was either wet when she put the color on or she put it on first and then got it wet. Any ideas? Sorry if the picture quality is harsh, it took them all myself!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

just a comparison...




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I thought this might be kind of cool especially because the leaves are turning right about now and winter is just around the corner...Can you tell which one is a photograph and which one is an oil painting?? It is really hard to tell by looking at both of them out of context. Both artists do a wonderful job capturing the colors of the autumn leaves, both make you almost feel a chill in the air because the scene is just so perfect it feels like you're there.
Alrighty.....the photograph is the image to the right, and the image to the left is an oil painting! I love both of these images and I think that both artists did an amazing job capturing autumn in both of these works!
Image to the right: "Last Beams" By Elmira Petrova, Oil on canvas http://www.paintingsofrussia.com/demo.php?num=9660

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Julian Beever-awesome!







Julian Beever- The Sidewalk Chalk Guy













Beever was an English chalk artist, based in Belgium, who is famous for his 3D drawings done on the streets. This type of art is known as trompe l'oeil, which means "trick the eye" in French. His drawings appear normal from the side, but from certain angles they appear 3D.

I am aware that Julian is not a photographer, but the photos that he takes with his works, I found to be amazing. Almost as amazing as the process in which he creates them.
He also does acrylic paintings, mural paintings, collages, and a few others. Check out his work, its awesome!
His home site:
On Wikipedia:

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Margaret Bourke-White- who was she, and what did she do for photography?



















Margaret Bourke-White
Margaret Bourke White was born June 14th, 1904 in the Bronx, NY. Her father was an inventor as well as an engineer. He believed in educational equality, and opportunity for everyone. He was also somewhat of a camera enthusiast. He introduced Margaret to photography at a young age. Her mother was very kind and nurturing, and also attended school until she passed away.

Margaret attended many schools and universities all over the country, studying herpetology, which is the study of reptiles. During her schooling, she attended many prestigious universities such as Columbia University in New York, the University of Michigan, Purdue University in Indiana, Western Reserve University in Ohio, and eventually graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 1927. She was obviously well educated, and a very intelligent woman.

Photojournalism was still a very new idea in 1929, and she became the first female to be hired as one. She was hired by Fortune magazine in 1929. In 1930 she was the first Western woman allowed into the Soviet Union. She was hired as the first female photojournalist for Life Magazine in 1935, shortly after it was created. November 23, 1935, one of her photographs adorned the cover of the first magazine's first publication.

During WWII she became the first female war correspondent allowed in war zones, and the first to enter and document the death camps. She later put these photos into a book titled You Have Seen Their Faces, which is one of six books she published about her international travels and experiences.
Margaret Bourke-White died in Connecticut in August of 1971. She will always be remembered as the leader of the female photojournalist. She opened the doors for woman in so many different ways, and influenced many people with her photographs and the statements that they made.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

First photograph

First Photograph Ever Taken (1825) by Nicephore Niepce

This photograph is actually a 17th century Flemish engraving. It was taken using the heliopraphy process which consisted of using a layer of bitumen on glass of metal, which hardened in relation to exposure of light. The excess is then washed off with oil of lavender, and only the hardened image remains, leaving your photograph.
Photograph by Joseph Nicephore Niepce (1826)
This photo was taken in 1826 by Nicephore Niepce. It is considered the first photograph taken of a scene from nature. It was taken from the window of Le Gras. As you can see, the quality is poor. But you can almost make out the shapes of pillars and the sides of buildings on both sides. This photograph took 8 hours to fully develop.



Monday, September 14, 2009

Timeline of photography main events

Important Dates and Events in Photography History
5th-4th centuries B.C.
Chinese and Greek philosophers described thebasic principles of optics and the camera
1664-1666
Isaac Newton discovers that white light is composed of different colors
1794
First Panorama opens the forerunner of the movie house invented by Robert Barker
1814
Joseph Niepce achieves first photopgraphic image with camera obscura-however,the image required 8 hours of light exposure and later faded
1837
Louis Daquerre's first daquerreotype-the first image that was fixed and did not fade and needed under thirty minutes of exposure time
1840
First American patent issued in photography to Alexander Wolcott for his camera
1841
William Henry Talbot patents the Calotype process-first negative-positive process making possible the first multiple copies
1843
First advertisement with a photograph made in Philadelphia
1859
First panoramic camera patented- the Sutton
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George Eastman invents flexible, paper based photographic film
1900
First mass-marketed camera-the Brownie
1913/1914
First 35mm camera developed
1935
Eastman Kodak markets Kodachrome film
1948
Edwin Land markets the Polaroid camera
1960
EG&G develops extreme underwater camera for U.S. Navy
1963
Polaroid introduces instant color film
1968
Photograph of the earth taken from the moon

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Photography-brief overview of Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams (February 20,1902-April 22,1982)
Ansel Adams used timing and location to make him one of the single most recognizable photographers by name. His sweeping views of the stunning Western United States won the appreciation of the vast majority of Americans.
Ansel was born February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California. When he was only 12 years old his father withdrew him from school. His parents were in their 50's by this time, and Ansel was being harassed about it at school. His father tought him basic arithmatic and English, as well as Piano and art.
In 1916 the Adams family took a trip to Yosemite National Park, during which Ansel was given a Kodak Brownie, his first camera. Shortly after that, in 1919, Ansel joined the Sierra Club. The Club was responsible for publishing some of his first works in a club newsletter.
In 1932 Ansel joined a group of photographers who called themselves f/64. They were dedicated to keeping photography looking like photography, not glossing over bits and pieces.
Some of the other photographers in the group were Willard Van Dyke, Jon Paul Edwards, Edward Welton, Henry Swift and Imogen Cunningham.
Adams was well known for his photos of the Sierra Nevadas and Yosemite. Working with Dorothea Lange, Adams created many image sets for Time Magazine and several others. He was also recognized for his coverage of the Japenese interment camps during WWII.