Chronicles of a Hopeless Wanderer: 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.