Portraits and Self Portraits

 

           I think a photograph is good as long as it makes its viewer feel some kind of emotion. A picture is just a snapshot of something in any moment of time, but a photograph should convey feelings and thought and even a story. A good photo should also follow the rules of photography and be given thought before being taken.

          I would like to take my portraits outdoors.

Ethics in Fashion Photography

1. Her eyes were brought down, made bigger, and her face was made thinner.

2. It is ethically acceptable to change a person's appearance. People like things to look good.

3. Yes, for instance if they changed somebody's skin color for whatever reason.

4. It is okay to make minor changes to improve appearance. After all, it is advertising. However the changes shouldn't be drastic.

5. Fashion photography is all about making the model appear as attractive as possible, and photojournalism is about documenting reality as it happens.

6. Fashion photography portrays a fantastical and glamorous version of reality, where photojournalism should portray reality as it is as much as possible. Because of this, fashion photographs are often manipulated to make models more attractive, whereas photographs in a newspaper shouldn't ever be manipulated.

Photo Manipulation and Ethics

A. Photographs in the Middle East are being manipulated to improve composition and to be made more appealing. Whether or not the manipulations are ethical is in question.

B. I think the manipulations are unethical because photography wasn't always digital. Just because there is a way to improve a picture or even change it completely doesn't mean you should do it. Photography is meant to be done with a camera.

 

          I think this photo is the most unethical because it completely changes the point that the previous photos convey. 

          I think this photo is the least unethical because it was only manipulated so it could fit properly on the magazine cover.

National Geographic warm up

          This is my favorite photo because I think the landscape is really beautiful. I like how the ice is blue in some areas. I think it's also cool how the glacier stops and the meadow begins.

          I would like to take a picture of a park near my house. I think I could find at least one interesting thing to photograph.

Abandoned Theme Parks

1. Tell me which amusement park featured in the two articles that you would like to visit and take your camera along and what about that park made you want to go there. Write at least a paragraph.

I would like to go to Takakanonuma Greenland in Hobara, Japan. I think the landscape around the park is interesting and would make for good photographs. The worn down rides and surrounding flora contrast nicely.


2. Post one photo from that park. You may use the photos from the link, or you can google an entirely new photo. I would prefer to see a photo of the park in disrepair and not a photo of it when it was still operating.

 3. Think of at least FIVE other unusual places you think would be of interest to photographers. List them.



 A junkyard, a marijuana field, Mars, a dog's ear, the twilight zone.

4. Use google or another search engine to research ONE of your five places and see if anyone has already started documenting that place. If you find that someone has already started - post at least one photo of their work.

5. Write a paragraph about why you think that it would be fun to document that location. Tell me what interests you about that place and what kind of photos you could expect to take there.

I think a junkyard would be interesting to photograph because there's a whole variety of things to see in one. You could take photos of individual objects or piles of shit. I think you could also write a good story about your work since there are many objects of interest in a junkyard. They're all over the world as well so you would always be able to photograph something new.

6. Tell me what it would take for you to go and take photos at your location. What would you need as far as equipment goes, travel plans, expenses you might encounter and what laws you would have to take into consideration to take photos at your spot.

All I would need is a car, a camera and a tripod. I would like to experiment with tilt-shift so I would need some different lenses. Since most junkyard owners don't let anybody in, I would either have to request permission or just jump their fences.

American Soldier

What is the most powerful image from the slideshows? Why?

I think one of the most powerful photos is the one where the clerk throws Ian's things in his face. It shows that you are nothing in the army until you work extremely hard to become somebody.

What sequence of photographs is the most powerful? Why?

 I think the 'Life in Iraq' sequence is the most powerful because it gives a glimpse of what some soldiers do everyday.


How do the images work together to tell a story?

They are in chronological order. They tell a story with imagery and emotions from the time Ian signs up to the time he comes home.

For the photos in which Ian is the main subject of the photos, in what tense are the verbs usually written?

The verbs are written in present tense.

How do the captions enhance the photographs?

They give you the information the the photo cannot. They help tell the story that the photograph presents.