Author Archives: Karina Saldana

Final Project Proposal

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Topic: Self Esteem Campaign

This campaign is inspired by the Lung Cancer Alliance

 

My target audience are people who struggle with self esteem. People who have a negative state of mind when it comes to their looks, body image, or anything pertaining to themselves. My images will include people. The tone is very happy, confident, energetic. The approach is very literal as it will be portraying very high self confidence. My models will be 3 women & 3 men of all sizes expressing the confidence that matter how you look or what size you are, you are ecstatic about life. The lightening for the this campaign will be straight forward lighting to emphasize the beauty as a whole.

Inspiration: Annie Lebowitz & Awol Erizku

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In the photograph of Demi Moore, Annie Lebowitz took a natural and simplistic approach. Lighting is minimal but strong and dramatic. Lighting most of her face and filling in other places. I feel this image brings out more of the purpose behind the shoot. She is naked / natural and that makes it feel very authentic. With the photograph of Beyonce, Awol Erizku created this shot using straight forward lighting. All the elements in the photo consists of mostly flowers all over the place. It has very captivating imagery. Although very different from the Demi Moore photo it captures a sense of nature and naturalistic vibes as well.

Inspiration: Michael Paul Smith

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Michael Paul Smith’s work is extremely compelling because his work is very intricate, every little detail matters when it comes to shooting one of his car scenes. Every little detail about his shoots is important but he mentions how the most important factors are the camera and the natural lighting because they make the photo come alive. Its important to look at these factors for him because it makes the photo look real and makes the scene look more authentic. With the correct camera to take just the right photo and just the right lighting to make the scene look more realistic which make his photos as captivating as they are.  After taking some pointers from Michael Paul Smith’s work I think considering both the camera being used and the amount of lighting being displayed would have a significant impact of the photos that I will take.

Inspiration: Richard Foster

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Richard Foster’s work is very detailed; he captures such detail in his photos with just one simple shot. After looking at his work it is quite obvious how much is put into each of his photos because he not only focuses on a particular image but he uses his background to captivate the image as a whole. He uses color of the backdrop of incorporates other features into his photos that make the image captivating overall. He uses such small detail to help make the photo that much more compelling because it adds a certain essence to it. With his still photos you can just grasp so much depth and detail which is interesting because the picture being taken is just of a simple item but depending on the angles and the lighting along with other aspects of taking the photo make the image much more appealing overall.  

Inspiration: Gregory Heisler

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Gregory Heisler is such an interesting photographer because his work changes from one concept to the next. His photos may seem the same but in their own little way they differ from one picture to the next.  One of the photos that stood out the most was listed as another photo on his site, it’s a picture taken of a diner. This photo is set at night and is taken from an overhead angle but the photo has this blurred aspect to it as if someone took the photo in passing.  The sign is so captivating because the red light shines bright, the photo almost has this old school vibe that comes across when looking at the image. It is such a beautiful photo taken without much being involved in the image overall because just the sign and the angle it was taken made the photo come out so well. He made such an impact with a simple photo any story can come across from the single image.  

Inspiration: Philip Lorca-Dicorcia

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Philip Lorca-Dicorcia’s photos are very intriguing in the sense of how he set to capture a particular message through his set up with his photos. One of his photos that stood out the most to myself on this specific collection was one that featured the young man by the name of Tim who was 27 years old at the time living in Orange County, California. In this particular photo you see this young man standing in what looks like a hotel room just staring out the open door of the room, he’s still and it can almost be felt that he is hesitant, hesitant to walk out that door and have to work as a young man in the prostitute business. He stands there with his hand against the wall, his body casting this shadow giving the idea that he wishes to stay back while he continues looking outside which almost appears to have a blurred affect to it which goes to make this impression that the world outside which he was looking at is filled with so much of the unknown.

Inspiration: Richard Avedon & Jonathan Mannion

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Richard Avedon’s portrait style is mostly black and white photographs with variations of white or grey backgrounds, to up close and out of focus shots. His portraits have a strong sense of character and message, or they are strong simply because of the influence the person in the picture possesses. A good portion of Jonathan Mannion’s black and white portrait photography is identical to Avedon’s white or grey background photography. Same concept and strong character. Looking at other photography by Mannion’s, I noticed he’s adapted a Avedon’s conceptual styling of fashion photography and added his own personal look to it, his are mostly color photographs while Avedon’s were in black and white.

Inspiration: Yousuf Karsh & Nadav Kandar

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Yousuf Karsh’s portraits are predominantly black and white. They consist of mostly just the subjects head/chest in the picture. It is clear that many of these subjects pictures were taken many years ago. Shows how the quality and impact of photographs in that era are not effected by time. All his pictures are very similar in characteristics, he has a very distinct style. My favorite portrait that I saw is of Joan Crawford 1948. Despite the era in which it was taken it doesn’t look like an old photo, it looks so elegant and timeless. The contrast of her dark hair and dark clothing is very nice against the white/grey background.

Nadav Kandar seems to have more styles than Yousuf. He is not confined to one photographic look. Although he has varying styles he does have a series very similar to Yousuf’s style called the Holocaust Survivor series. In this series he is using the same characteristics as Yousuf’s black and white portraits. The predominant use of the subjects head in the photo as well as very dark background contrasted by their face. In his Solitary portraits he also has more photos portraying this specific style but also has portraits that look similar but has use of color. Nevertheless, the colors are dull not straying too far from black and white. My favorite portrait is the Barack Obama I, 2009. It’s very up close and personal with a very high contrast in the eyes making it the focal point.

For upcoming portrait assignments I definitely want to emulate the very close and personal portraits that seem to have a strong message or feeling of some sort like the Obama portrait. A portrait photograph that convey’s an emotion.

 

Inspiration: Dawoud Bey

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After looking at some of Dawoud Bey’s portrait photographs in his classroom project I realized that photography doesn’t need to be super complex to be considered beautiful. It seems like his photographs are captivating to many individuals. The subjects in these photos are all posing differently but simple. The photos have great lighting despite the disadvantage he has in the classroom, they’re clear, and the aperture is just enough on each. He talks about how he takes these photos at a fast pace because of the environment he is taking them in. He has about 45 minutes before the class comes in. I find this to be very interesting as well as talented. He is able to take high quality photos with so much pressure involved. He mentioned that he feels his experience to make this happen comes from taking street photography. I think to be able to take great photos in a short amount of time is a good skill to have.