Week 3: Forum Responses

Coming up this week in JN134: 

I will take a portrait of someone.  The subject matter is still awash to me, so I may end up straying from my initial thoughts, however I think it would be interesting to ask Jim Whittemore to allow me to take his portrait. We met through Corvallis Experiments in Noise, a collective of musicians who take an abstract approach to music through compositions of funky timbres and theories that intersect hacking circuits, making instruments from objects commonly known as other functioning items, etc. 

Jim Whittemore is more than just a member of a collective, he has had many years of experience in building chip software and wave forms for synthesizer companies.  He has also toured the United States as a sound engineer.  He has a garage, full of equipment and hosts Corvallis Synth DIY at his home. His props naturally correspond to the music and builds within his environment.  I know I could easily ask him on Facebook, since he is a professional acquaintance.

It is clear that I need to think about this more, since I only have one idea.  There are many titles and careers to consider, as well as things that make someone an individual. That being said, I think that as I contact people on Facebook, in the hallways, or walking around, someone might be willing to send me in the right direction, or surprise me with their own story.


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Self- Critique  Best/Worst

From blog post "March For Science: Corvallis, Oregon"

When it comes to self- evaluating I really ask myself some key things: What is happening?  Do you see context and does it hold your attention? Does it reflect the true moment within these constructs?  Technically speaking, is it in focus, balanced, unified as a composition?  And no matter my own response:  Was there anything unrealized or different I could have done to make it better?

I would say that the photograph above falls into the best photograph that I have taken so far, given the previous context. 

One can understand what is happening immediately while looking at the picture, and the expression on the woman's face is very stern.  We know that she is serious and given the giant sign she bares, it is a protest or community activity that is coming together to make a point.  If the sign were in another language it would still register as such an event.  It reflects the truth in the moment, and it is in focus, balanced and unified.  However, I do think that if I had been able to follow her and see if her expression changed, or had been able to find her and ask her name, that the context would have been supportive as captions, etc.  I also cropped the photograph.  It is not the first way that I looked at the photograph while taking it.  If I had been standing differently, or crouching, would this photograph even be something that I would have posted or would I have seen something else, entirely?

This level of being able to capture an image, would make the photograph's quality more key and possibly resonate differently/deeper for the viewer.

My worst photograph that has been posted on this blog would be from my first blog post, from the American Red Cross blood drive.  It does hold context.  There is a laughing expression and a shared moment with the patient.  Also her chair borders the frame well, however, it does not resonate with me at all.  It seems rushed, the axis of the plane is tilted at an odd angle, and there is room next to the patients feet, but the back of her seat is cropped out of frame. (No editing this time, just the RAW file)  The ceiling above and negative space makes the moment seem bleak and stale in contrast to the overall tonality of The American Red Cross Blood Drive. 

Criticism is something that continues to happen.  Hopefully, I can learn to build some of these learning experiences into something that happens naturally during the action of taking the photograph, rather than during the editing labs.