Photography Class: Part II

I can’t believe it’s here already, the end of my summer semester. The end of the summer semester also means that it’s almost the end of summer. While I’m glad that summer’s almost over, I really hate the hot weather, I’m kind of sad that my photography class is over. It’s kinda crazy how much I enjoyed taking that class. Since my last post, I’ve made the decision to change my certificate from Video Techniques and Applications to Visual Communication. I just sort of lost interest in doing the video editing thing and have realized that I’ve become really passionate about photography. So I have two more semesters left where I will be building my portfolio through independent study courses online. It’s pretty exciting. 

Something else that’s happening in my life that’s also exciting but a little bit terrifying, is that I’ve made the decision to move to Birmingham, Alabama. Although I never imagined that I would willingly want to move to Alabama, I must say that love makes us do crazy things sometimes. The plan right now is for me to move into my boyfriend’s current studio apartment after he moves into a 2 bedroom apartment which is just one street over. Now all that’s left to do is find a job before I move. Job searching sucks. Like that’s any surprise to anyone. It’s even more difficult trying to do it from another state. But I know that everything will eventually work out, it always does. 

Now, back to photography. I’ve had two more photography assignments since my last post. The first, Project 6, was focusing on taking still life photographs. Of the four required photos, at least one had to be abstract, one had to be representational, at least one black and white, and at least one in color. The one I chose to do in B&W, I actually did in B&W and color, but I also posted the same photo all B&W. 

Project 7, the final project, was to emulate a famous photographer and write a 500 word paper on the photographer. When I was looking up photographers, I was immediately drawn to Imogen Cunningham. I have no idea why. Her photography is very simplistic, being most known for her up-close, sharp focus photos of plants. Oh yeah, and nudes. Looking through archives of her work, I just kept falling more and more in love with her style. I’ve always liked taking up-close photos myself, focusing on the minute details of a subject. And that’s Cunningham’s style. But the way she sets up her shots, with great detail to lighting and shadow, is absolutely captivating. In doing research on her for my paper, it became more and more clear to me that she was the perfect photographer for me to choose to emulate. Early in her career, Cunningham published a paper urging women to become photographers, not to try to out do men, but to try to make a way for themselves. That’s a pretty awesome statement to have made in the early 20th century. Being a young woman working in mostly male dominated fields, this really resonated with me. Imogen Cunningham, a female photographer with a career spanning over 7 decades, is certainly someone to be looked up to. The assignment was to post 4 photos emulating our chosen photographer, but I have several more that I took that I’m going to post here, along with Cunningham’s original photos that I emulated. 

Project 6: Still Lifes 

Gnomes in B&W and color

Gnomes in B&W

Happy Gnome

Sunflower

Abstract. Can you tell what it is?

Project 7: Imogen Cunningham

These first four photos (9 total, including Cunningham's) are what I submitted for my project, the rest are additional photos I shot, just in case. 

Banks, Haley

A Man Ray Version of Man Ray, 1960, Cunningham

Ghost Plant, Haley

Ghost Plant, 1920s, Cunningham

Emily's side, Haley

Side, 1929, Cunningham

Portrait of Emily, Haley
(AKA Anna Paquin's twin) 

Lyle Tuttle, Tattoo Artist, Cunningham

 Here are some more Cunningham-inspired photos!

Magnolia, Haley

Magnolia Blossom, Cunningham

Magnolia Seed Pod, Haley

Tower of Jewels, Cunningham

Water tower at the SLOSS furnaces, Birmingham, AL, Haley

Shredded Wheat Water Tower, Cunningham

Ok, these photos of the water towers kind of has a creepy/awesome story behind it. When I was scrolling through Cunningham's archives of photos, I found this one of the Shredded Wheat Water Tower, and my jaw dropped, not because it's an amazing photo, but because I had taken a photo almost identical to it about a month earlier, just a couple of days after I had gotten my camera. This photo I had taken, and another one that was eerily similar to another of Cunningham's (that I'm not going to post, because I didn't really like it), was a huge signifier for me that I chose the right photographer to emulate. 

Leaves, Haley

Tobacco, Cunningham

Self Portrait, Haley

Self Portrait, Cunningham

Self Portrait with Tom, Haley

Self Portrait with Bill Hammer, Cunningham

Self Portrait with Camera, Cunningham
One of my favorites.

Emily, Haley

Daisy, Haley

Photography Class: Part I

This week, I thought I’d give you a look at what I’ve been doing in my photography class. The class is emphasizing digital photography, and actually takes place completely online. The main thing that I’m not a big fan of about this class being online is that there’s no actual instruction taking place. The teacher just tells us what the assignments are but doesn’t really tell us how or give us many pointers. So basically everything I’ve done I either learned from a short tutorial from my uncle, or taught myself. One thing I do like is that I know a couple of my classmates in “real life”, so that’s cool. 

In this post, I’m going to post all the photos I’ve submitted for the first 5 weeks of the class, which is one project per week. I still have two more projects left for the semester and I’ll post those photos after the semester is over. 

Project 1: The Rule of Thirds

Bonaire, GA

James, Bonaire, GA

Waldo, Birmingham, AL

Project 2: Lines

Painting at the ArtPark, Albany, GA

Sasser, GA

Warner Robins, GA

Project 3: Roadside Architecture and Signs

Alabama Theatre sign, Birmingham, AL

The light tunnel in Birmingham, AL

First State Bank building in Dawson, GA

Project 4: Street photography

KJ, Albany, GA

Little girl, Albany, GA

Fisherman, Albany, GA

Jason, Albany, GA

Project 5: Portraits

My boyfriend, Seth, in the light tunnel in Birmingham, AL

Seth, Birmingham, AL

My brother, Matthew, on the side of I-75 near Warner Robins, GA

Geremy working in the ArtPark, Albany, GA

My dad, Banks, Albany, GA

Same girl from project 4, Albany, GA

So far, I've gotten As on all of my projects (well, project 5 is yet to be graded, but I feel pretty good about it). I hope you've enjoyed them!

Revamp

I would like to welcome you to the new and revamped version of Chronicles of a Hopeless Wanderer. A lot has happened and changed in the past 4 months since my last post. In January, I started taking some art classes at Darton State College to start on a certificate program. I met a new dude and we’ve started dating, and entered into new territory for both of us: the long distance relationship. It kinda sucks to only get to see each other in person once, MAYBE twice a month, but Skype, Facebook messenger, texting, and phone calls have been very helpful. But this revamp is not about my new relationship, it’s about the discovering of some hidden talents that I wasn’t sure I actually had.

My whole life, up until the last couple of months, I always thought of music as being my “thing”. You know, everyone has their “thing”, their talent, that one thing that they’re good at. I thought music was mine. And I guess it still is. But while I was in college (the first time around), double majoring in music and theatre, there wasn’t much time to explore anything else. Being in the fine arts, I’ve obviously always had an appreciation for the arts, and visual art. But I’ve never really had the time or (money for) materials to do much art myself. This past spring semester, I took 3 art classes: ceramics, design, and computer art. I did take a ceramics class my first time through college, so I already knew what I was doing a little bit. But I was amazed at how much I really enjoyed the classes I was taking, and that I wasn’t half bad at it either. I ended up winning first place in the student art show in the ceramics/3D arts category. I was completely blown away by that. This summer I’m taking an independent study in ceramics, and digital photography online. I’m about halfway through the summer semester, and I’m really enjoying these classes too. Especially photography.

I’ve always enjoyed photography as a hobby. In high school, in the days before the iPhone even existed, I was always the one who had a digital camera to document whatever silly or crazy thing was going on. But I was never super serious about it. As I’ve gotten older, and obtained an iPhone, I would take photos and think a little more about setting up the photo: finding a focal point, using good lighting, etc… The creation and implementation of Instagram into our daily lives has made a lot of people into amateur photographers. Fortunately because of my photography class, I was required to get a real camera, you know, something that doesn’t have a lower case “i” in front of it. So now I have a “legit” camera and have been taking photos of anything and everything, trying to learn what settings are best for whatever environment I’m shooting in. I love it. I feel like I’ve taken some really awesome photos already. 

So, this is the point of this revamp. This blog will now be a place where I can showcase my work. I’ll be posting photos that I’ve taken that I really like, photos from my photography class assignments, photos of my ceramic pieces that I’ve completed or am working on, and graphic design work that I’ve done. This is mainly a creative outlet for me, but it’s also sort of a professional portfolio, if anyone would like to hire me to create something for them or buy any pieces. 

I hope to be posting a lot more often with this new concept, probably weekly. I hope you enjoy! If you see anything you like and might want to purchase or want to commission something, please contact me at mlhaley225@gmail.com.

Below is just a taste of what's to come!

Some of my pieces from the student art show

My brother

The B&W version

Walking catfish.

My new dude.

Flyer for new dude's percussion group.

Flyer for my work place. 

Brochure for my work place.

Because I could

Phil!