We are animals

I heard about Ryan Mcginley a few months ago in a lecture and thought his work was really interesting. I've recently found his advertising campaign for wrangler, 'We are animals' and I like how different it is. I think its interesting that in a lot of the time images like the one below he doesn't even show the wrangler product but its more of an atmosphere that he is selling.

I think the images are eye catching and different and defiantly get the wrangler name remember because they are unusual and have sense of mystery.

Nollywood

For my essay I have been researching Bollywood, Hollywood and Nollywood. I found the photographer Pieter Hugo had done a series of images on Nollywood Horror. he uses alot of superstision and local myth. I looked through the series and thought they were interesting and differnt from any other photograohy I had seen. But I don't really like them. I found alot of it not nice to view. But I think for me what I like most about photography is how it can capture beauty. But I don't find these images beautiful. Although I do think they are cleaver and show Negerian film culture.

I read an article on him, I liked this quote when talking about this photograph:

"A famous western cinematic symbol upon a body totally unhindered by western decadence, representative of an African culture that intends to be influenced by the west but not so much that it loses touch with itself"

I like the quote becasue I think it shows how Nollywood intends to have its own identity rather than become a clone of Hollywood which I think would be assumed that it would as a natural progrestion. I think people in the west can assume that western culture is the 'correct' way to be and other cultures should be striving to become like the west. But i think this photograph shows how Negeia is developing in its own way and doesnt need to try and be a copy of Hollywood in order to appear correct.

So even though I don't particularly like the images, I think they are important.

www.peiterhugo.com

I like these...

I often go on Tumblr and look at photos of things I find inspiring, interesting or just different. Here are 2 I really liked. They both have layers of different images, kind of like a double exposure. This technique adds texture and depth to the images. I like it because even not all the detail in all the layers can be seen there is just more depth to the image.

I like how it makes the photographs a bit fussy and they don't seem perfectly in focus. I think this adds to the dreaminess of the photos and creates a mystical feel. I like how images of leaves and flowers have been layed over the portraits given a kind of natural feel to them.

Recently I've been interested in double exposures and I really want to start experimenting. These photos are a good reference point for me. I would like to also use leaves and people in my images. I think this could create really interesting patterns and shapes.

Lara Jade

Me and my housemate where showing each other photos that we liked the other day and she showed me this photographer, Lara Jade.

I found her work interesting as she uses light in different ways. I saw that in a lot of her work she used light to flare in part of the image, like in the ones above. I liked this because its kind of a rule not to photograph into direct light but she has used it to her advantaged so that her images are eye catching. I think if she hadn't done this technique then her images wouldn't be as interesting and would be a bit normal and boring.

Here's a couple more of her work, I like how she uses black and white and colour. I really like the

image to the right, it looks like a double exposure which is interesting as it gives a kind of dreamlike quality to the image.

In a lot of her work there looked like there was a lot of Photoshop which I don't normally like but I think she has done in quite well and it doesn't look to over the top.

When I looked into her a bit more I found out that she is only 2 years older than me! This was inspiring as she was so young but already doing so well and her images looked great.

Here's more of her work www.larajade.co.uk

Magazine cover

I like the cover of this magazine. I like the bright bluey green and pink, its eye catching. I think its good how the pink is echoed in the star on the models face as it gives consistency and brings attention to the models.

I like how the magazine is really simple and there is hardly any writing, this means that the magazine has to rely on the bright colours and photograph rather than advertised articles.

The photograph is in reference a beauty shoot inside, but I like how the image works on its own. I don't think its really tells a story is references to anything life changing but it is an interesting image.

Tavi's blog

I read this blog where this girl, Tavi, writes about fashion. She wears really random thing and takes pictures of herself and posts them. I like how she does this because she always tries to be creative and different in her pictures. She writes about what she was trying to show in the picture and I think its interesting. I like how she tries to incorporate the environment into her pictures. She takes them with a self timer. Even though some of the images aren't amazing I like the creativity and her passion which motivates her to do it. Her framing and poses are always interesting. I think its good that shes not trying to do crazy fashion shoots but shes being individual about how she shows her fashion. So even though she loves fashion and always writes about others work she isn't trying to copy them but shes doing something completely different.

New poster!

Tim Walker has always been one of my favourite photographers. His work has always interested me and been a source of inspiration. For Christmas I was given this poster, its a photo of Lily Cole in India by Tim Walker. This is my favourite Walker images.

Colour wise the image is dominated by a kind of faded blue but the intensity of this looks amazing. I think the use of the blue wall really compliments the blue dress and having the dress layed out onto the floor draws the eye down and through the whole image. I like the contrast between old and new in the image, it makes me taken in all the detail because the dress and the setting are so different.

I love this image and will also find it inspiring and interesting. I like everything about it. I think I will also look at it as a piece of work to be inspired by.

To see more of his work heres his website www.timwalkerphotography.com

The Channels

These are a few photo's from a series that Mark Borthwick did for Pop magazine. He is well known for opening the back of his camera at unexpected moments. I like the effect this gives. I kind of surreal quality with the intense red, yellows and oranges. I think with out this light effect a lot of his picture could be a bit boring, but with the light the photographs are interesting and different.

Pop said that they wanted him to create a dream like quality and I think he has managed to do this. This is one of my favourite images. I think the leaves kind of look like feathers on a Indian headdress. I like how the light is so bright and shines through the leaves in section. I think this is ones of his best images as its really simple but very eye catching.

The photos are taken from the series the Channels from Issue 21 Autumn Winter POP.

December posts

Sally Mann

I really liked Sally Mann's work and I always thought of her work as quite a distinctive style. Because most of the work that I have seen of hers has been Immediate Family. But when looking through one of her other books I found some photographs that were differnt to what I expected. They were titled 8x10 polaroids 1983. I really like the textures she captured by having the fabric and flowers half submergered in water.

I also love the soft washed out colours of the flowers they really compliment the floaty feel to the image. With the use of water it makes the fabic have a weightless feel so it kind of drift in mid air. I think it looks dreamlike.

This works makes me want to experiment with water and fabric as well.

Anna Wolf

I found this photographer Anna Wolf the other day. I think her photographs are really beautiful. I really like how she uses natural light. It kind gives the photographs a relaxed feel. Nearly all her image have a quite a soft atmosphere to them and they are really pleasing to look at. I like how she has a variety of personal and commercial work on her site. I think you can see how her personal stuff has influenced her fashion and advertising. I especially like the use of Polaroids in her advertising.

I find her work really inspiring as this is the kind kind of photography I would like to produce myself. When I look at her images they have a really natural quality about them that's nice to look at. On a lot of her pictures I think they look like a memory. I think this is because of the light. Often its a hazy kind of golden glow or a kind of cold blue.

I think her website layout is interesting as well. Its a bit different to most photographers websites. www.annawolf.com