Jan von Holleben

Lately I've been feeling like I'm taking my work a little too seriously and it has been causing some strong resentment between my work and myself. Jan von Holleben's work looks like so much fun to create! I think it's time to loosen up a little bit and remind myself that it's ok not to make serious work.

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Patrick Jacobs

Loving the work of Patrick Jacobs. They are so ethereal and remind me very strongly of Alice and Wonderland. I feel like I'm peaking through into another world.

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Aerial Views

I've always had a thing for areal views - these are a few of my shots using my miniature boat. It's fun to pretend sometimes that we are that small. Every puddle and pebble would be so huge and fantastic.

Timothy H. O'Sullivan

During my visit to The Art Institute of Chicago this weekend, I viewed an exhibit of photographs by Timothy H. O'Sullivan. He was the official photographer for the U.S. government survey expeditions through out the "wild west." In a number of photographs from this expedition, he has these amazing landscapes of untouched greatness and upon taking a closer look, you can see a teeny tiny little figure of a man.
These images resonated with me, to some degree I am trying to show the great expanse of nature using miniature figures and macro photography while he truly was showing the extremity and overwhelming scale of the natural world.

Sources: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3.

What Goes Up

This video is right up the ally of what we were talking about in class yesterday. As artists, we have all of this technology within our reach, but it is our responsibility to learn how to use it to our advantage. I'd say this is a pretty good example.

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Mark Mawson

These images by Mark Mawson are absolutely insane...I want to stare at them for hours. Check him out.

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Digital Broccoli

Digital Broccoli from Amy Schweizer on Vimeo.

In my digital culture class we had a dose of "digital broccoli" last week where we were introduced to the basics of animation. I'd say that we got some cheese with our broccoli. This is my attempt, it is an image I made and then cut into strips, playing with the movement of the photograph. Not sure where this would be going, but it was pretty fun! Please do not be too harsh...the video quality is quite lacking :(

Sneak Peak

I've realized that I have not shared much (if any) of my work from this semester. It has been a bit of a struggle to find my feet and really get the inspirational juices flowing but I'm getting pretty excited about this group of images on which I am working. I'm channeling David Levinthal a little here, using small figures and shooting with macro. I'm still in the process of finding a strong concept of what these images mean, but I'm getting there.

33 Ways

I'd say we could all benefit from referring to this list from time to time. I know I will. I also think Ric would love 33.

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Rainwaters' Beardfolio

If you've been around me for more than 10 minutes, you will realize my love of facial hair. These portraits by Matt Rainwaters not only have some absolutely amazing beards, but the images are spectacular. There is a soft place in my heart for portrait photography.

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Chris Bryan

PHANTOM WATER EDIT from Chris Bryan on Vimeo.

How soothing is this video? I just can't stay away from water.

Critique #2

Corrie Witt

Bill O'Donnell 

Here are a few of the artists I am referencing this week. I am trying harder and harder to really articulate myself and my work - it's definitely a work in progress. I'm interested in the fantasy of these images. In my work I am trying to create a fantasy of my own.

Blogosphere

Our assignment for class today is to come up with a list of blogs within three categories:

1. Research, Artists and Company Blogs (authors writing about my intended area of study)
   Keepin' Up With the Grovers
   Sara Naim
   Christopher Boffoli
   The Blog of Ben Sasso
   Feature Shoot
   From Me To You
   Pacing the Panic Room
   Closet Visit
   Rainwaters
   LightBox
2. Image/Art driven Blogs
   A CUP OF JO
   Smith & Ratliff
   Cupcakes and Cashmere
   Tidy Tipsy
   Oh Happy Day
   Notcot (this is just filled with random awesome inspiration)
3. Writing driven Blogs
   A CUP OF JO (I know...I'm repeating)
   Six Sentences

Lissy Elle

Another great find - Lissy Elle's photography has such a great narrative. It feels like you're in a fantasy world.

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3D Adventures

We were introduced to the amazing world of 3D in our digital culture class today. I used sculptris and created what you might call a seascape. We were encouraged to come up with something that we could potentially use for our project(s) during out time here. Sticking with my theme of water, I feel like this could be a useful model when trying to build an underwater landscape to photograph, similar to the work of Kim Keever.

Anna Wolf

Anna Wolf's photography is great. I've always had a thing for natural photography, but I love her way of shooting people. Check her out...what a wide variety of images.

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Rune Guneriussen

Loving these images by Rune Guneriussen. I like his play on landscape photography.

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QR Code

For my digital culture class, we were required to create a QR Code and then come up with an example of one being used in a creative way. I'd say that the above image is a pretty creative method. The code I created, using this generator, is a link to this blog...so I don't think it's necessary to put it up here since you're already viewing this blog as we speak. There's a whole big scary world of technology out there just waiting for you to get your hands on.

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First Critique

My first critique is this thursday. I'm having some mixed emotions about it...I think I'm just ready for it to happen so I can move on to the next one. Here are a few things I've been considering.

Petra Wunderlich

Fujiko Nakaya

Thomas Doyle

All of these artists seem to have an eye for creating "contained" environments. When I look at these, I feel like what I'm seeing is somewhat otherworldly, the images take me to this frozen place. I'm drawn to works that have an ethereal feel to them, I'm trying to emulate that in my own work.

Endless Scrimp

In our digital culture class we created this game on gamesalad.com. It's pretty fantastic. Check it out! Be envious of our AWESOME game!

Kim Keever

Kim Keever's work using underwater landscapes is just amazing. They feel at once artificial and startlingly realistic. The first image to me feels so erie. I love the image of his studio...I'm in the process of trying to make mine look more like an artist space and less like an office.

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Getting Situated

This is quite the operation, the housing is HUGE and totally throws off your buoyancy. I'm starting to get the hang of it though.  

I started shooting in the pool this weekend. My unlucky subjects were my father, some rubber toys and a teacup. I am using my trusty old Canon AE1 35mm film camera and an underwater housing with a slave flash. After some considerable research, I have settled on using 400 speed color film. Obviously there is nothing artistic about these images, we just went down to do some bracketing and figure out how far the flash would reach (about 8 feet). I have only shot underwater once before, so this has been a fun, somewhat challenging experience. I'm getting more and more excited about getting down there and really shooting with a model and some other objects. Can't wait!

Barbara Cole

I'm finding such joy and inspiration in searching for underwater photographers. These images are by Barbara Cole. I love the ethereal feel of these photographs. They almost look like paintings.

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Lauren Greenfield

Really enjoying Lauren Greenfield's work. She seems to challenge the viewer to confront the uncomfortable or more socially taboo situations. Her work titled "Thin" is a photo study on women struggling with eating disorders. Very emotional.

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