"I know how cars look, I know how trees look. I think photographers should show me what I can't see." -Duane Michals
courtesy of www.weheartit.com
I took my first photography class in high school during my freshman year and that class changed my life for the better. I know that sounds corny but my life would not be what it is today if I had not branched out and taken that Black&White Photo 1 class. I was 14 years old and was walking around my high school with my Canon 35 M that I was borrowing from my Dad. I was taking pictures of my friends and random windows of the school buildings. I never thought my pictures were that great, especially since I was young and a beginner but for one of the assignments half way through the semester I took a photograph of a reflection of my Mom putting on her makeup through a mirror. Everyone, including me, loved the photo. It was from then on used as a sample of the "perfect rule of thirds". After this I got my own Canon and I started to love the art of taking photos.
During my Junior and Senior year in high school I took IB (International Baccalaureate) photography where I mastered the darkroom process and absolutely fell in love with it. My IB Photo teacher, Lee Hazelgrove was my mentor and really helped me grow as a person and as a photographer. He is someone I have always looked up to and he helped shape me into the photographer I am today. My photographs consisted of old buildings, windows, wood and anything that looked like it was decaying. The way the photograph turned out in the darkroom would make me light up. I liked the way my photographs had a desolate feeling and I connected with my photographs at this point and there are no words to describe my feelings when I was working in the darkroom. That summer I traveled to Madrid, Spain where I participated in a Student Exchange Program and I took a countless amount of photographs throughout my four weeks there. I came home and developed them. For one of my IB art shows I used the process of hand coloring one section of the photograph after it was dried off from the darkroom. Each photo had a different color on it and the series is still one of my most dearest successions.
In 2007 I reached the world of James Madison University, where I entered with an Undecided major. My first semester I took a required Art History 200 course and have never felt so connected with a lecture class like I did in this one particular class. This class is what changed me from "Undecided" to declaring myself as an Art History student. I link my love for Art History is connected with my passion for photography.
The next year I was able to get into the art class, College Intro Black&White Photography, I was completely ecstatic. One of the assignments was to go out of our comfort zone and shoot people or things that we are not used to. I was not looking forward to this assignment because at this point, buildings were my forte and anything else I tried, I did not enjoy and was not as attracted to. But, this assignment gave me the confidence that I can take good photographs of more than just buildings. I did a photoshoot of one of my best friends while it was drizzling, so it still had that desolate feeling I always aimed for. The photographs turned out great and they are my favorite series of art works thus far in my life.
During my digital class in college, I learned about all different photographic processes and also learned the art of Photoshop. I love that I have now entered the world of digital photography because it gives my work more of an edge and also allows for my work to be continuously changing. I also studied abroad this past year, where I lived in Florence, Italy for 2 months and I traveled around to 7 or 8 locations in Italy, including Rome and Venice, taking a copious amount photographs of the buildings, flags, friends, tourists, water and the arbitrary objects I would see throughout my trips.
I am very inspired by other peoples photographs and also from learning about other processes of photography but the darkroom will always be my true love. I love the feeling of putting the exposed paper into the developer and flipping it over to see what I have created. The smell and feel of the air in the darkroom is what gives me inspiration to "keep on keepin on". There is a quote by Cindy Sherman, a famous American photographer that sums up my process of creating artwork, "My way of working is that I don't know what I'm trying to say until its almost done." She is such an inspiration in my life and her brilliant work of using herself as a model in her own photos gave me the idea and confidence to create of one of my latest and hands on photography portfolios. This portfolio consisted of using myself as my subject and printing my photos onto mailing labels and sticking them straight onto actual wine bottles, showing the negative effects of alcohol. I hope to continue this theme later on in life.
During my Junior and Senior year in high school I took IB (International Baccalaureate) photography where I mastered the darkroom process and absolutely fell in love with it. My IB Photo teacher, Lee Hazelgrove was my mentor and really helped me grow as a person and as a photographer. He is someone I have always looked up to and he helped shape me into the photographer I am today. My photographs consisted of old buildings, windows, wood and anything that looked like it was decaying. The way the photograph turned out in the darkroom would make me light up. I liked the way my photographs had a desolate feeling and I connected with my photographs at this point and there are no words to describe my feelings when I was working in the darkroom. That summer I traveled to Madrid, Spain where I participated in a Student Exchange Program and I took a countless amount of photographs throughout my four weeks there. I came home and developed them. For one of my IB art shows I used the process of hand coloring one section of the photograph after it was dried off from the darkroom. Each photo had a different color on it and the series is still one of my most dearest successions.
In 2007 I reached the world of James Madison University, where I entered with an Undecided major. My first semester I took a required Art History 200 course and have never felt so connected with a lecture class like I did in this one particular class. This class is what changed me from "Undecided" to declaring myself as an Art History student. I link my love for Art History is connected with my passion for photography.
The next year I was able to get into the art class, College Intro Black&White Photography, I was completely ecstatic. One of the assignments was to go out of our comfort zone and shoot people or things that we are not used to. I was not looking forward to this assignment because at this point, buildings were my forte and anything else I tried, I did not enjoy and was not as attracted to. But, this assignment gave me the confidence that I can take good photographs of more than just buildings. I did a photoshoot of one of my best friends while it was drizzling, so it still had that desolate feeling I always aimed for. The photographs turned out great and they are my favorite series of art works thus far in my life.
During my digital class in college, I learned about all different photographic processes and also learned the art of Photoshop. I love that I have now entered the world of digital photography because it gives my work more of an edge and also allows for my work to be continuously changing. I also studied abroad this past year, where I lived in Florence, Italy for 2 months and I traveled around to 7 or 8 locations in Italy, including Rome and Venice, taking a copious amount photographs of the buildings, flags, friends, tourists, water and the arbitrary objects I would see throughout my trips.
I am very inspired by other peoples photographs and also from learning about other processes of photography but the darkroom will always be my true love. I love the feeling of putting the exposed paper into the developer and flipping it over to see what I have created. The smell and feel of the air in the darkroom is what gives me inspiration to "keep on keepin on". There is a quote by Cindy Sherman, a famous American photographer that sums up my process of creating artwork, "My way of working is that I don't know what I'm trying to say until its almost done." She is such an inspiration in my life and her brilliant work of using herself as a model in her own photos gave me the idea and confidence to create of one of my latest and hands on photography portfolios. This portfolio consisted of using myself as my subject and printing my photos onto mailing labels and sticking them straight onto actual wine bottles, showing the negative effects of alcohol. I hope to continue this theme later on in life.