Abelardo Morell: Childhood

Because I very much enjoyed Mr. Morell's work, I decided to pick two photographs from his bigger compilation called "Childhood."

The first photo, one of the toy horse on wheels, I especially like because Mr. Morell gets on the child's eye level and takes the shot. I can imagine myself as a 3 year old looking up at this toy horse that I idealize and will ride on pretending it is a real horse. I also really appreciate the depth of field he chose. The fact that only the toy horse is in focus really emphasizes the kid aspect of the photo, as well as, it gives it a certain mood that screams FUN! The hallway, additionally, reminds me of my childhood playtime scene.

The second photo I find extremely interesting because of how it is constructed. I'm am assuming that the primary shape of the house is the shadow of the actual house casted onto the ground and the windows and doors and such are drawn in by either chalk or some other method. The simplicity of the drawings brings the viewer back to simpler times. The children lounging on the front lawn recreate those lazy summer/spring days when you had not a care in the world...

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection by Mr. Morell because as someone of 20 years of age I am in that in between stage of kid to full-fledged adult and the thought of transitioning into an adult makes me fear that I will never have the opportunity to be a kid again. However, these photographs remind me of my childhood and the fact that I can always be a kid again if I want to.

Robert and Shana ParkHarrison: The Crossing

The ParkHarrison team has many photos that are centered around death, the afterlife, dying, etc. This photo I pick particularly because the use of tires for "the crossing" is unique and well played. Also, I am not quite fond of the bold visuals of death and dying, and therefore, this picture was the one that stood out to me for a blogpost.

Here it looks like the photographers are trying to tell the audience that in crossing over to the other side one must jump through many obstacles. It is as if the man is slowly fading into the horizon created by these tires. I'm not quite sure if he is happy or sadisticly skipping off into his afterlife.

It still puzzles me how the photographers managed to get this perfect horizon of tires set up on a blank sky background. I wonder if there was a special angle or camera used to get this depth perception. Regardless, the picture provides the viewer an original remake of the traditional "sunset."

Philip-Lorca diCorcia: Street Work

This photograph by Philip-Lorca diCorcia intrigued me because Mr. diCorcia captures New Yorkers hard at street work. But what I like most about this photo is the caricature effect the photographer was able to capture. It sheds light on the day-to-day life in NY because there is so much character concentrated in one city.

Technically, Mr. diCorcia used the appropriate time of day to capture both the highlights on the pedestrians' faces, as well as, some more detailed shadows in their figure as well on the shadow they casted on the ground. This snapshot beautifully captures a moment in NY. While you see the pedestrians in the left side of the photograph, the eye is zoomed towards the two people handing out flyers towards the right side.

Overall, my hats off to Mr. diCorcia and his fantastic work.

Christopher Thomas- Union Square

Normally, I would not choose a photo with such little contrast to write about, however, this photo reminds me of the North Pole and the inner child in me said, "I must pick this photograph."

First, to comment on the lack of contrast. Personally, I appreciate a good balance of darks and highlights in a photograph. This range brings life to the photo and makes it interesting. Nonetheless, Mr. Thomas has captured mainly highlights in this snapshot of Union Square, NYC and I believe that it works extremely well.

The black and white film is great when capturing mainly highlights, when used correctly, because it offers a gradient that a normal digital camera cannot capture (even when set to black and white mode). The circle in the middle with the snow on top suggests the aura of Santa's workshop, however his elves are nowhere to be found. It ties to his theme "New York Sleeps" very well and it shows a peaceful side of this busy city (whether you are thinking of NYC or the North Pole).

Furthermore, I believe that Mr. Thomas captured the mystical essence of this scene, however there still is a touch of the Big Apple considering the tall buildings bordering the photo.

Hiroshi Sugimoto: Dini's surface

Hiroshi Sugimoto's piece Dini's surface takes conceptual photography to a whole new level. He captures this piece in such outstanding light that both composition, form and shadows are highlighted to the highest extent. I'm assuming that he took a light (whether it is strobe or not I am not sure) and had it shine on the bottom-right side of the sculpture at the right angle so that the shadows on the first curvature was captured but the highlight on the crown (top) of the sculpture are also clearly evident.

This piece really attracts the eye not only because it's technicalities are amazing, but because the piece is very interesting to look at. I would imagine this would be very fun to paint and/or draw with charcoal as it really emphasizes the fundamentals of visual perception. Many kudos to Mr. Sugimoto for his work.