Andreas Gursky & Muhammed Muheisen

I'm going to start off with Andreas Gursky first.  Here is my questions....does the size of an image improve it's quality?

When I went through and looked at images that Gursky produced, the first thing I made a mental note of was the size of his prints.  Everywhere you turned all the images were massive.  Does this take on a different view for you?  Well for me YES!  If these images he produced were of what you would call a "normal" size I don't believe they would have such an impression.

Take for instance this one.....

It's another image of a stock exchange.  I think he has made a series out of world wide stock exchange.  Look at the chaos.....look at the angle.  I have noticed alot of the exchange series are angled from above.  What is he wanting us to feel?  I feel the chaos but I also feel the sense of business without the array of color.  This is mostly b&w and in my opinion monochromatic.  They are centered around this one area and if you notice the perspective is not centered on it but at an even different angle.  I choose to believe he is showing a perception and not the space.

I am drawn to the large image thing.  I especially think that his use of color and then chosen to print in such a large capacity gives off the feeling of overwhelming depth.  I had never looked at his work before this assignment and I would so definitely like to view it in person to really feel what he intended a viewer to feel.

Okay on to Muhammed Muheisen.  WARZONE

The one thing I would so love to do but with a family is out of the question.  His work shows HUGE emotion.  You get to feel like you are there first hand.  It's not the pretty images you see from day to day, it's the real things that happen around him in his own country. 

How heart-wrenching and dangerous at the same time.  I am drawn to his use of color pop in alot of his images.  Like this....

The feeling is this image is crazy.  War and smoke in the back round, children still trying to enjoy their childhood while a man on a bicycle is spreading that little bit of cheer.

The composition of his images are amazing.  As a portrait photographer myself it can be hard to have that second to think about what you are doing but he does it so flawlessly.  In the midst of war, again, this is truly amazing.

I am also drawn to his framing & artistry.  Check this out....

BEAUTIFUL!

I know you said you didn't want your opinions on things and I tried to stray from that.  I enjoyed looking at both of their images and wanted to say what I thought a viewer is or would be drawn to, speaking from my eyes.

1st critique (actually 2nd for me)

I must say that I thouroughly enjoyed the 1st critique.  I came in not knowing really what to expect other than that Chad was hard, LOL.  But all in all I felt like things were smooth.  I'm sure as the semester progresses things will get more difficult but I like that.  It challenges me in every direction.

As I said in our 2nd critique, I was deemed the "people" shooter years ago so I chose to break from that when I'm at school and fulfilling assignments.  I feel like I posess what it takes but choosing to do something outside my comfort zone only develops my skills.

I thought the class, in its' entire, spoke what they felt.  I think some were reserved but as everyone gets more comfortable I see that changing.  I took what Chad said and knew it before he even said it.  COMPOSITION will be a goal for me with images of what I'm calling everyday life and not what I do for a living.  I have my own business and have for over a year now....keeping up with that & school this semester will be a challenge, as is always but I strive for nothing but excellence.

Again I enjoyed the critique and took everything at it's value.  I can't wait to redo my contract assignment just because I know I can do better!

I'm HERE!

Started the BLOG for 208!  Plan is to get up the two researches on the 2 photographers Chad gave in class today, up tonight.

Enjoy if you plan to follow!