SOME RANDOM DUDE

As you may have noticed, I have been shooting almost entirely in black and white for my weekly photographs recently. At some point, I felt as if color in my photos were just getting in the way and adding unnecessary complexity to the final piece. I thought it would be a good idea to take a look back and show some of my favorite black and white photos I have taken in the last year.

Looking back a year ago, it really amazes me at how much the style of my photos have changed - I think a lot of that can be attributed to the move to only shooting in black and white. Unfortunately, many of my absolutely favorite photos I have shot in the past year are not in this collection as I am saving them for a special project. Nonetheless, I particularly enjoy each of these photos - each for a unique reason.

As always, I would love to hear your feedback.

(more…)365 days, black and white, bw, composition, no color, past year, photo, Photography, photos year

I spend a lot of time trying to take photography that is interesting aesthetically - however, the most powerful photos rarely ever are what most would deem artistic. This rule is definitely the case with this year’s Photo of the Year which was taken in Lebanon during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. This photo shows the unbelievable scene of a young, hip group driving through a demolished scene in their convertible. They do not quite enjoy what they see either. The dichotomy of the characters, the setting and the context are priceless - hence the fact that it is Photo of the Year for 2006.

This really begs the question of how much photography is about a perfectly composed scene with vibrant colors and an engaging perspective compared to a compelling scene that speaks for itself. With each passing day, I am greatly leaning towards the latter. Visually interesting photos can pique a person’s interest, but a compelling and powerful scene captured on film can define or encapsulate a generation. In recent months, I have seen myself less interested in the details of composition and much more interested in searching for a captivating scene and then doing my best to capture it in its fullest. I have yet to succeed in this endeavor, but I am trying.

What are your thoughts? Is it all about the composition of a scene, the scene itself or a little of both?

del.icio.us link2006, art, composition, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, npr, photo of the year, Photography scene

After a couple months off due to the holidays (and my extremely abstract assignment which was impossible to actually execute on) we got back to basics with what may be the most common, yet most difficult theme to shoot - the landscape. There are some great photos in here, a couple folks took on a more natural type of landscape while others went the more urban route. This was an especially interesting photo assignment to me since I normally do not shoot with the landscape scene in mind. I really did learn a lot from the experience.

Enjoy the photos - I am already looking forward to next week.

(more…)assignment, composition, interesting photography assignments, landscapes, nature, Photography, photos urban

This weekend I stumbled upon an article by Ken Rockwell on how to take photographs that surprised me greatly. While I agreed with the basic premise, a few subtopics seemed to be based on oversimplified generalizations. The one that irked me the most was the idea of manual photography being useless “old timer” photography. If you have read any of my photography articles then you probably already knew that.
(more…)automatic camera, composition, ken rockwell, manual camera, old timer, opinion Photography