Sarah's Photography

Sarah's Photography

ATLA12D-XXX

March 18, 2012

Today is a special posting.  It has been six months since a wonderful young lady decided to take a chance on a nerdy graduate student who lived an hour plus away and go to dinner with him.  In that seemingly short time, we've shared a good number of adventures together, and being engaged are looking at the prospect of many more to come.  She is endlessly curious, inquisitive, delighted at experiencing new things, going new places, enriching her (and anyone with her) life.  She is a wondrous person, generous, sharp ... too many adjectives to fit on this page.  At the aquarium she was a photography fiend, snapping at everything that caught her creative eye, and produced the wonderful images that you see here today, along with many more.  I love her dearly, and every day consider myself the luckiest man alive.  Enjoy.


 

Technical notes:

Camera: Nikon D80

Lens: Nikon 50 mm f/1.4

Focal length:  50 mm

Exposure: var.  ISO 640

Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

Photographer of Note: Jason Travis

 

  

Jason Travis
"Persona"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasontravis/sets/72157603258446753/with/6982038281/

I stumbled on Jason's series "Persona" over a year ago, and I have been regularly subscribing to his feed to keep up with new entries of this personal project.  The concept is simple enough: looking in our purses, backpacks, satchels (and matchels) to see what we carry around on a daily basis.  It is both intimate (and a little voyeuristic) and very revealing, displaying those essential items to our life: from electronics (phones, ipods) to personal details (make-up, medications, books, accessories).  The series also captures on the "What's in my ____" trend of internet photography posting.  I have been known to indulge in this from time to time as well.  It's a reflection on what we bring with us everyday or on special occasions, and how those objects define who we are.

The images are set up as diptychs, which is a good juxtaposition, having the person in a relaxed, casual pose, and underneath is a neatly organized collection of their belongings.  They are unique, intimate portraits of each person and can be really revealing, whimsical, and fun.  What is in your purse?  What do you consider essential to your day?Enjoy. 

Outside Magazine: My Toughest Shot

In Outside magazine, they interviewed 15 different photographers on the topic of their "toughest shot."  The photographers had a variety of responses, and each of the images was unique and distinct.  My personal favorite was from Paolo Marchesi, who had this to say about his image of kangaroos:

I was on a beach in New South Wales, Australia, in 2008, looking for surf, when I happened on a group of kangaroos. One had babies in her pouch. I followed her for maybe 20 minutes, taking photos, getting within six feet of her when she suddenly jump-kicked me. The blow made me click the camera and I got this photo. After that, I stayed pretty far away.

 I like how his image has such a dynamic quality.  Never mind the fact that it was taken by accident, sometimes serendipity plays as much a role in photography as careful planning.  You never know where the shutter will take you.  Enjoy.

Photo of the Year - Samuel Aranda

A short post of the world of photography... Samuel Aranda's photo from Yemen won the World Press Photo of the Year.  It is a striking image, taken of a woman hugging a wounded relative within a mosque-turned-hospital.  I would say 'enjoy', but it is more haunting than enjoyable.  Still, it is a vibrant photograph, with great lighting and spontaneity.  So admire.

 

Photographer of Note: Bridget Fleming and downtownfrombehind

Bridget Fleming
"Downtown From Behind"
http://downtownfrombehind.tumblr.com

Photography takes all different shapes and forms, and one thing that is so important to defining someone is a particular project or style or aim, something that I still wrangle with and I know a lot of others do as well.  And then you stumble upon a project that is so simple, yet so imaginative and encompassing, that you have to stop and take notice.

downtownfrombehind is a photographic series that, as the name implies, captures subjects as they ride their bike through New York City from behind.  Bridget Fleming has photographed people riding on some 200+ streets, avenues and lanes in the downtown part of the metropolis.

 It is a whimsical, romantic view of the city, in my opinion, as these bikes become the departure point for a daily look at the streets of New York. The portrait models are a diverse collection of writers, architects, designers, chefs, etc. that inhabit the city and make it so colorful.  So it is a hybrid of portrait photography (although from the rear, which is unique unto itself) and street photography of the less popular avenues of New York.  Still, the imagery is interesting, intimate, and charming, and I recommend checking it out.  Enjoy.

Photographs of Phamous Photographers Holding Photographs

I saw this over at Wired Magazine,a great little collection of photographs of photographers holding photographs.  Some of these are iconic images, such as Marilyn Monroe in bed, the towers exploding on 9-11, and Ali standing over Liston.  My three favorites, however, have to be Steve McCurry's portrait of a young girl in Afghanistan in 1984, the funeral procession for a murdered silverback gorilla, and the infamous line of tanks confronting a protester in the 1989 Tienanmen Square uprising in China.  These three are beautiful, haunting pictures that resonate with me especially strongly, and to see these images in the hands of their creators puts a personal perspective on each, seeing the artists who live behind the lens.








McCurry's image of the girl has consistently been thought of as National Geographic's most recognizable and outstanding image, his portraits are wonderful creations that are as beautiful as they are honest.  

The gorilla funeral is so sad, not only as it is a reminder of how few of these animals are left in the world (and highlighting the plight they face against poachers and land encroachment), but it shows how much empathy these animals can inspire in others, and how closely related we are.  

The tanks in Tienanmen Square need no real introduction, it is one of the most famous images of individuals standing up for their rights against oppression and demanding rights, even at the sacrifice of their own lives.

Enjoy the entire gallery at Wired.  

To GPS, or not to GPS?

Kevin McNeal asks an important question on his blog on PhotoCascadia: do photographers have an obligation to disclose (or not to disclose) locations where photographs are taken?  He takes the line that no, exact coordinates need not be provided, for two reasons: 1) These out-of-the-way locations, their exotic nature and obscureness, helps maintain the value of such images, in a very competitive nature photography marketplace, and as such they are assets to be protected; and 2) there is a need to protect such places against hordes of snap-happy folks who could trample delicate ecosystems.

I wanted to share this with the general audience, for I generally agree.  Not that I am a professional photographer (indeed, I do not make any income from my images as of yet), so the financial argument doesn't resonate with me as much as my desire to protect these landscapes.  I would not intentionally try to hide a general location of an image, and those that are posted here on A Wandering Lens do have a Google location posted with them to give viewers an approximate idea of where I was in the world when the shutter clicked.

While it is not to hide these places, for obviously I want to share them with others, but exposing some of these landscapes to potential masses could be very damaging.  I am a fervent believer in leave no trace backcountry exploration, but recognize that merely my passing through an area changes things: my boots might squash plants or insects, animals move based on my presence, I compact the ground as I walk.  And multiply that by hundreds, or thousands, in areas that are not accustomed to such traffic (this is different than the trails of Yosemite or Yellowstone, that are graded for such high-intensity use), and there is a chance for long-standing damage.

But even beyond that, the photographs that I post, and the ones that I have seen throughout the years, are meant to be inspirational.  Maybe I cannot get to the same exact location that I see in a Galen Rowell print, or on McNeal's blog.  But their images inspire me to get out there, explore on my own, and perhaps try to find something different and new.  I still feel that discovering that unique place, that great angle, that perfect time of day, on your own translates into a greater sense of achievement and personal creation, and that is what drives so much of my photography: it is the exploration of new places as much as it is the images I create.  So, I hope you follow by reading, enjoying, reacting, and then exploring on your own to find new places to share with others.  Good shooting.

RIP: Eve Arnold

Eve Arnold has died.  A photojournalist with Magnum since 1951 (actually, she was the first female admitted to the collective), she shot images throughout the world, with an eye for females, poverty, politics, and birth.  She created an immense collection of images, including formal and informal portraits of Marilyn Monroe.  Some of her work can be seen here at Magnum, and more on her life, as always, can be found here at Wikipedia.  She was 99 years old.

Photographer of Note: slinkachu

slinkachu
"Little People - a tiny street art project"
http://little-people.blogspot.com/

slinkachu is an artist based in London, UK, who specializes in creating street art installations of a diminutive nature.  His photographs of his scenes are always triptychs, showing the art itself, and then its magnitude in relation to the scene around.  It is a fantastic art form, and the photographs demonstrate the differences between the scenes and the 'real' world.  The juxtaposition is creative and his use of found materials (shoelaces, bottle caps, insects, etc.) and a seemingly endless supply of small figures and props makes me think back to a TV show of the 1990s, Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, who had a female mouse engineer, Gadget, who similarly inventions out of found materials.  The show also had small protagonists in a large world, which helps the comparison a little bit. 

  However, slinkachu's creations are not all for kids, as some deal with current topics like mosque zoning approval and smoking.  Quite a few also seem to be about loneliness, which makes sense for small figures in a full-scale world.  The diversity of scenes that slinkachu creates, coupled with his great photography emphasizing the scene and its relation to the street around, makes each installation unique and fantastical.  Enjoy.

Photographer of Note: Natsumi Hayashi

Natsumi Hayashi
"Yowayowa Camera Woman"
http://yowayowacamera.com/

I've been thinking of ways of exploring and expanding my photography.  One way is, of course, to travel and shoot more, which is how I'll be trying to post some more on the 'wandering' aspects to my travel and shooting.  The other is about looking and admiring other photographers, drawing inspiration and energy from their endeavors in the photographic arts.  And so, to kick that off, I present the first photographer of note, Natsumi Hayashi.

Natsumi is a photographer in Japan that levitates.  She sets up her camera in various scenes to make it appear as if she were floating above the scene.  Her scenes are well-chosen, always unique, and so it's as much a slice of her daily life (on the train, in a restaurant, walking down the street) as it is about her ability to levitate.  One of the fantastic parts is that the images appear very natural.  While she has to jump to make the photograph, she rarely if ever looks like she just jumped.  It appears as if she is quite literally hovering above the scene, a couple inches or a foot above the pedestrian ground.

Her images are a streak of whimsy in photography, delightful scenes from life and the thought of escape as well as the beautiful execution of each photograph.  I've been following her for just under a year or so, and each creation has been a delight.  Float on!