Blog 3 - Thistle

Initially I started taking pictures of dead thistles to represent ugly however to my surprise up close I realised their structural beauty

By zooming in close to the flower, the structure and angels of the bristles is dramatically displayed. The flower is quiet architectural in design and the tonal range whilst subtle is very elegant.

I've learnt from this exercise that even the most 'unattractive' objects can be very attractive when photographed well. I think this approach requires more creativity from the photographer and hence is more rewarding. I will use this approach when compiling my portfolio.

Unfortunately I don't know how to link from my flickr account to my blog account.

To view my photo's of Thistle, please click the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48030790@N05/

Blog 2 - So what is Fine Art Photography

I decided that I needed to find out exactly what Fine Art Photography is as I misunderstood it to be more along the lines of commercial photography.

I really believe I need to know exactly what I'm aiming for, for my efforts to be focused and effective.

Its proved to be very difficult to get an exact defintion of Fine Art Photography - I can get a variety of somewhat non-specific definitions:

• Fine art photography refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer as artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism, which provides visual support for stories, mainly in the print media, and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to sell products or services. (http://www.answers.com/topic/fine-art-photography) viewed 10th May 2010
  
• Wikipedia defines fine art photography as "a high-quality archival photographic prints of pictures that are created to fulfil the creative vision of an individual professional." The site refers to fine art photography as synonymous to art photography.
  Merriam-Webster broadly defines fine art photography as "art concerned primarily with the creation of beautiful objects". Based on this broad definition, anything can be the subject of fine art photography for as long as the subject is beautiful. But then, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. So that makes fine art photography as subjective in nature.Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/42796.aspx#ixzz0hlcfPw5o
  (http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/42796.aspx) viewed 10th May 2010/

Being a strong visual learner, I decided to help me understand the term more that I would look at some Fine Art Photography images - the pictures visually explained the above.

Some images I found very aesthetically appealing were:

1. http://www.simonlewisphotography.com/images/Galina-photo.jpg (viewed 10th May 2010)
2. http://www.steendoessing.com/UserImages/2/10175/1/7077_mediumlarger.jpg
3. http://www.scottspeck.com/cover_pic_fade.jpg
4. http://www.carlscofield.com/images/photos/fine_art/nature/006-A-BW-Bristle-Cone.jpg
5. http://leelashley.com/images/fine_art_usvi_5.jpg
6. http://www.laheadshots.net/TDK%20GRAPHICS/fine_art_photography/fine-art_photography_5.jpg
7. http://www.danmassey.co.uk/images/entrance_carnation.jpg
8. http://www.danmassey.co.uk/images/Osteospermum.jpg
9. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/images/seaoats_fine_art_photography_Auel.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/&usg=__Nt_NehuMFjcVtM73m_5okIx0mcY=&h=450&w=350&sz=64&hl=en&start=31&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=OA46PSXpFREzyM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
10. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/images/seaoats_fine_art_photography_Auel.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/&usg=__Nt_NehuMFjcVtM73m_5okIx0mcY=&h=450&w=350&sz=64&hl=en&start=31&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=OA46PSXpFREzyM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
11. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/images/seaoats_fine_art_photography_Auel.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/&usg=__Nt_NehuMFjcVtM73m_5okIx0mcY=&h=450&w=350&sz=64&hl=en&start=31&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=OA46PSXpFREzyM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
12. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/images/seaoats_fine_art_photography_Auel.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lostturtlestudio.com/&usg=__Nt_NehuMFjcVtM73m_5okIx0mcY=&h=450&w=350&sz=64&hl=en&start=31&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=OA46PSXpFREzyM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=99&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
13. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.marciatreiger.com/gallery-1/images/HO-101.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.marciatreiger.com/&usg=__k9sn3AmLty2KbhosJTpRbjFJuYQ=&h=291&w=300&sz=40&hl=en&start=34&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=Mtrk0D8JMHTYdM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
14. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.marciatreiger.com/gallery-1/images/HO-101.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.marciatreiger.com/&usg=__k9sn3AmLty2KbhosJTpRbjFJuYQ=&h=291&w=300&sz=40&hl=en&start=34&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=Mtrk0D8JMHTYdM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1
15. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/driftwood-bw-fine-art-photography-print-james-bo-insogna.jpg&imgrefurl=http://fineartamerica.com/featured/driftwood-bw-fine-art-photography-print-james-bo-insogna.html&usg=__BTghtZ7K-IkdERCtfgCZxdxHLGE=&h=358&w=600&sz=61&hl=en&start=5&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=pim3hw4djLWSBM:&tbnh=81&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwhat%2Bis%2Bfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1
16. http://www.rubinphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Fine-Art-Photographer-0003.jpg
17. http://www.michaelmironov.com/photo/1-69_500_c.jpg
18. http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.williecolephoto.com/images/fine-art-photography.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.williecolephoto.com/willie-cole-fine-arts-photography.htm&usg=__7UCsu9IsLc4jG4aWqxj1qqAWTAw=&h=500&w=667&sz=93&hl=en&start=21&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=b0rmaXdFJ6TYwM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwhat%2Bis%2Bfine%2Bart%2Bphotography%26start%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26ndsp%3D20%26tbs%3Disch:1

I think I'll organise to borrow a digital SLR and take lots of photo's of the following:

• Flowers, Leaves, Garden foliage
• Landscapes
• Usual/contridictory natural occurances (abandoned house with tree growing in the middle, cows near huge electrical tower)

Then I'll play around with the photo's in photoshop and then get a better idea of what my folio focus will be.

Now to get snappin'

Blog 1 - First Day

Wow - today I've had to create yet 'another' email account (I'm positive 4 accounts is way too many) to set up my blog account. I've also formally hooked up to Flickr instead of just browsing the photo's anonymously.

I was relieved to finally go through the Unit Guide and find out our assessments - I'd be dreading what assessments would be required. It seems pretty reasonable although I'm sure there'll be times during this semester that I'll have tiny 'freak out' moments juggling assignments. There'll be a great of deal of work involved with the first two assessments - Folio and Technical Finish however I'm sure a bit of advance planning will help.

From the introduction given, my take on this subject is that it is one of personal photography development and recording/documenting the process along the way.

I'm really keen to learn about aperture, shutter speed, ISO settings (what is this??), white balance and a range of lighting techniques. I'll be glad to receive some formal training in Photoshop instead of 'experimenting' and butchering my photo's in the process.

So far I'm pretty happy and not feeling overwhelmed with the amount of assessment tasks for this unit.

That's all for now...