Peter Lik
Autumn Mist
Deer Valley, Utah

Peter Lik is a famous landscape photographer known for his exotic and vibrant use of colors along with panoramic landscape scenes. Born in Australia, Lik took a brave step and moved to the United States in 1984. Here he was introduced to the medium format panoramic camera. Completely self taught, Lik took off from there and began traveling the world to find the perfect landscapes. Some of his work includes pictures from all 50 states, shacks, forests, mountains, and rivers. I picked Peter Lik to write about because I have been to his gallery in Las Vegas, NV and fell in love with his work. Also, I watch his show on the weather channel from time to time. This particular shot is fascinating because of the yellow and orange that jump off the picture. Lik was in Utah searching for the perfect shot. He had an idea in his head of what he wanted but the weather was too pretty. So, he waited for days until a storm came over and finally got this shot in Deer Valley.

This shot is so mysterious due to the fog that hangs above the trees and seeps down in the background. The orange and yellow leaves are vibrant and cold at the same time and give the picture life from the gray/dead looking trunks of the trees. I don't believe this picture would have been as successful as it is if it was not a panoramic view. The panoramic view allows us to be involved in the scene and make us feel like we are there. What makes this picture so unique is that we could all go to this same spot, but probably not even come close to getting the same result. Lik captures such a unique angle and his style of boosting the natural colors is beyond anything I have ever seen before.

GIF Video. Shoes tying themselves forever.

Light painting. Here is my attempt to take one picture of someone who moves from one spot to the other in one exposure time.

Working with foil. I wrapped a camera up in foil and took a picture as if the camera was shooting me.

Morimura Yasumasa

Self-Portrait/After Audrey Hepburn 1

1996

Gelatin Silver Print

 

This photograph is by a Japanese artist named Morimura Yasumasa. Instead of creating his own styles and or subjects, he takes previously done art and puts his face into them. Examples are the Mona Lisa and Olympia. This photograph above is part of a series of photgraphs Yasumasa put together as self-portraits of himself, dressed up as legandary silver screen goddesses. This is obviously a depiction of Audrey Hepburn. Yasumasa explored these women in an unusual way. Everyone knows that these women are loved by others and are famous in their own way. What Yasumasa did was to see if these women could be just as sexy and flirtatious if they were men, and Japanese. By becoming these women, he became them, but also attempted to make them more exotic.

I find this series very interesting. One because of the idea behind it, but two, how much he looks like  these actresses. I had to look twice at some of these because I thought they were the real actors. His ability to dress just like these famous women, and the flirtatious attitude he gives off is spot on. I do believe he makes these women just as flirtatious and sexual as they were before because of his posture and his attention to detail. Audrey Hepburn's hair is spot on along with her makeup. Despite Japanese men usually being pretty skinny, Morimura is very feminine looking and can portray a great seductive look. It is his ability to dress the part, but also be the part in looks, and attitude that Morimura is very successful in his goal to explore famous women and portray them in a new yet similar way as before. 

Dog Documentary Part 2-Jordan Sjostrand 

This is the second part of my "Shoot a Documentary" project. I was asked to shoot the other side of part 1 so I decided to shoot what volunteers do for the dogs in the shelters. Being a volunteer, I know what we are capable of doing and it is the volunteers that walk these dogs everyday, take them to showings, and hold adoption events every Sunday. The first picture is of a dog being walked by a volunteer and just so happy to be outside of his cage. The next four pictures are from an adoption event. All the people in the photographs are volunteers. An adoption day entails driving the dogs to the event, putting "Adopt Me" harnesses on them, walking them around for everyone to see, playing with them, and just allowing them to be relaxed in order for their true colors to be shown so they have a chance at being adopted. These volunteers were at this event for 5 hours. The greatest part about these volunteers is that they are always happy and just so excited when the dogs get looked at and adopted. The dogs are just as happy even if it is to be away from the shelter for at least a day. The city tags picture represents the idea that volunteers are the ones who promote these dogs and in return, they are adopted to good homes and are given tags to ensure their safety. Although it is not a name tag, it does represent the same idea and is every dogs dream to receive one because then they are owned by someone. I printed these in color because that is what volunteers do. They bring color to the lives of these dogs. 

Dog Documentary-Jordan Sjostrand 

This is the first part of my "Shoot a Documentary" project. For this assignment I chose to take pictures of the animal shelters in which I volunteer at. Instead of just taking pictures of dogs and how sad they are, I chose to show the funds or lack of funds the city gets for the shelters and the conditions these dogs have to deal with. The lonely dog picture is meant to represent the longing for attention these dogs need because city workers do not have the time to play with them or interact with them outside of their cages. The second picture is of the building with at least 100 dogs in it. As you can tell, the hallway is empty which is normal for shelters unfortunately. Also, it is clean, but not the most inviting place to be. The third picture represents the crowding animal shelters have now forcing dogs to share a cage together. These dogs not only have to live in small cages, but they have to share them with another dog. The fourth picture is of a collar on a dog and the name tag is missing. This represents the idea that dogs in the shelters have no owners. They are owned by the city, but what does that really mean? They don't have a family to fill out a name tag with. The van is the vehicle in which dogs are brought in to the shelter on a daily basis. It is far from inviting and cramped as well. And finally, the last picture is a picture of the dog's playground. This small area, that looks like a cage itself, is an area prospective adopters can take them but they are rarely taken here. These pictures are in no way meant to criticize city workers or shelters, but is supposed to depict the lack of funds the city gets for the shelters and the lack of comfort dogs receive when they live in the shelter.