Film First

 For my final project, I decided to use a DIY camera obscura that is about 2 by 3ft tall. With this camera, I was able to produce images on photo paper that mimic what a negative would look like or even a proof sheet. With that Vera Lutter became someone important in what it is I was trying to accomplish as a final project.  Vera Lutter is a German artist who is based out of New York City. Lutter is best known for her work with the camera obscura as she produces architectural and industrial images of different sites all around the world. Her subject matters include urban centers, industrial landscapes, works of art, art spaces, historical monuments, and even areas of transit. Along with the camera obscura, Lutter has also worked with digital photography, sound installations and video projections.  To create her camera obscura, Lutter turned her apartment into a giant camera by covering all the walls and creating a pin hole in for one light source to enter in. With that sh...

Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer who is best known for her intimate, engaging, and dramatic portraits of celebrities. More than that, she is a creative designer, talented eye, and an icon in the field she is in. She is considered a living legend and has truly lived up to this title. An inspiration to so many, Annie Leibovitz has definitely played a role in how I see photography and skills embodied when capturing the pieces and images wanted.  In 1970, Leibovitz started working for Rolling Stone and in 1973, at the age of 23, she became the first woman to be named chief photographer of Rolling Stone and she did that for the next 10 years. From her time at Rolling Stone, she recognizes her images of Mick Jagger as one of her favorites. Something that she is well known for is taking a photograph of John Lennon and Yoko Ono hours before his death in December of 1980. From Rolling Stone, Leibovitz moved on to Vanity fair where she continued to master her skills and then found...

 Ted Kuykendall was an American photographer from New Mexico. He started his work under fellow artist and sculptor Luis Jimenez as well as photographer Richard Schaeffer and picked up the love for photography. He attended the University of New Mexico graduating with a photography degree and had since been producing art. He has made an impact within the industry by being featured in 25 group exhibitions and 12 solo exhibitions. His work can be found in places such as the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and the Museums of Fine Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Houston Texas.  To get to where he was in photography, Kuykendall learned a little about film photography and during a time when he was learning to develop, fix, and print he ran into a problem with his photos turning brown and fading from not having enough fix. This is what led to the aesthetic nature of Kuykendall's work in the future. To develop his what is his aesthetic and signature, Kuykendall would take dream-like ph...

Anne McDonald is an American photographer based in Brooklyn, New York. McDonald started her artistry at the age of 15 by making portraits of herself up until she was 30. With her self-portraits she would build up installations and perform privately in front of a camera. Many of her installations were made in abandoned places and personally I think this speaks to her creativity. Art can be placed anywhere and being that these places were abandoned, I believe it adds to the meaning of the works she's produced over time and shows that although these places don't fit the aesthetic of what we think art is, it adds to the meaning of what her self-portraits stand for. With images she produced over time, McDonald was able to publish a book of it in 2004. Many of her images were produced using a Diana camera. Staying within analog photography, she expanded her horizon and started experimenting with chemicals and photo paper. With the work she's made over the years, she's been a ...

 Richard Avedon is an American photographer best known for his works with Vogue, Elle, and Harper's Bazaar. His work deals with capturing movement in a still image. He takes a lot of these pictures in fashion, theater, and dance. These are places and events that requires movement. The motion of the body, the clothes, the environment is what makes these pieces what it is and Avedon being able to capture each moment in a single shot is amazing.  Avedon started his career in the 1940s as an advertising photographer. Through networking with Lillian Bassman, he was endorsed and started working at Harper's and later on became chief photographer. Avedon said "My photographs don't go below the surface. I have great faith in surfaces. A good one is full of clues." This quote alone to me encompasses the work produced by Avedon and how we also perceive these works. Photos in general are meant to capture the exact moment from when the aperture opens to when it closes. Photos ...

 Hiroshi Sugimoto is a Japanese photographer and architect , born in 1948 in Tokyo, Japan, and spends his time between New York City and Tokyo. Sugimoto started his craft in the 70s and sense made a huge name for himself within the industry and beyond.  Sugimoto describes his work as an expression of "time exposed". I think he says this because photography captures a moment in time, and once it is gone, all that remains is that image. All that we see left behind is a trace of time that we once had. To me, this is a great way to view the medium of photography. We capture the moments that we tend to forget or would like to be reminded of. We capture moments that provoked emotion and response yet induces memories of a moment that was forgotten and has now been brought into the forefront of our mind. Specifically for Sugimoto, many of his famous works has to do with exposure and having the camera sitting for a while to capture every detail within the time it is set up for. Images...