It's All Greek to Me!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Project 10: Sense of Place - Disintegration (The Aesthetic Value of the Fallen Apart)

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Project 9: Greek Mythology - Hephaestus

ISO: 100, S: 500, F/4.5 ISO: 100, S: 80, F/5

ISO: 400, S: 2000, F/5 ISO: 6400, S: 2, F/4

ISO: 100, S: 500, F/4.5 ISO: 400, S: 100, F/4

ISO: 400, S: 200, F/4 ISO: 400, S: 100, F/4

This is the story of Hephaestus the God of fire, metal work, and crafts. Hephaestus’s story begins with his mother Hera throwing him off Mt. Olympus because of his deformed foot. He falls for 9 days until he falls into the ocean and is pulled out by Eurynome and Thetis. To seek revenge for throwing him away Hephaestus crafted a throne to trap Hera. Zeus summoned Hephaestus to Mt. Olympus to free his mother, but he refused. Therefore, Dionysus the God of Wine was sent by Zeus to make Hephaestus’s drunk and bring him to Mt. Olympus in order to release Hera from the throne. When Hephaestus’s frees Hera from the throne he then becomes an Olympian God and is awarded Aphrodite’s hand in marriage. To modernize this story I represented baby Hephaestus being thrown away literally in the garbage. I then showed his deformed foot while also showing him next to a motorcycle with a tool kit, to demonstrate he is the God of metalwork. Next I have him forging the cursed necklace for Hera verses a throne. He is shown with a hammer and fire around him to show that he is also the God of crafts and fire. Then Hera is shown wearing the cursed necklace with Dionysus making Hephaestus drunk in order to release Hera. Lastly, Hephaestus is reward Aphrodite’s hand wearing an Iron Man t-shirt to again represent metalwork. Peterson talks about the best light which is in the early morning or late-afternoon. Almost all of my shoots were done in the late afternoon to achieve the best lighting. The cave shoot was done at night because I wanted Hephaestus to only be lit by the candles surrounding him which is front lighting. I also played with the white balance settings by using tungsten, cloudy, and shade to end with the story seeming warmer and happier verses the high contrast black and white from the beginning.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Project 8: The Stolen Moments of Life (Street Photography)

ISO: 200, S: 400, F/9

"Leap of Faith"

ISO: 200, S: 400, F/9

"The Curiosity of Three Generations "

ISO: 800, S: 500, F/5.6

"Stolen Second in Time"

ISO: 400, S: 1,250, F/4.5

"An Instant Memory"

ISO: 200, S: 200, F/4

"Reading the World Around Him"

ISO: 800, S: 40, F/4.5

"A Candle Lit for the Loved"

ISO: 400, S: 4000, F/4.5

"A Pause In Life"

ISO: 400, S: 4000, F/4.5

"Waiting for the Right Moment"

Project 7 - Stranger Shoot (Doin' the Creep)

ISO: 200, S: 80, F/4

This is Stefanos he is from the Czech Republic and moved to Santorini 15 years ago with his family. He graduated with a graphic design degree but could not find work on Santorini for that field. He went to his other passion which is making drinks. When he was younger he would over drink by getting drunk at least 3 times a day for 109 days out of the year. He is now past that dark time in his life and has not had a full drink since 2007. Today his focus is on making people innovative drinks and enjoying conversation. When I saw him he just seemed deep in thought and I was curious to get to know his story. I was having a difficult time getting the right exposure on him because he was standing in an outdoor bar at noon. I had to do many shots but he was patient to get the correct exposure by adjusting the shutter speed to let in more light and Stefanos was still enough for me to have a lower shutter speed. The ISO was set to 200 which I felt was as low as it would go for this shot and my lens was set to 70mm. I wanted to create a storytelling apertures how Peterson describes it with the foreground subject, middle-ground subject, and background subject. The foreground subject was a mixed drink in front because I felt it was important to show a drink of his own creation to set the stage but it is blurred because it is not the most important part in the scene. The middle-ground subject is Stefanos because he is the main character in the story and everything around him needs his influence, which is why he is in focus. The background subject is the bar behind him which shows his daily atmosphere to complete his story, but it is again not the most important part of the shot so that is why it is blurred. This is why I created some depth of field for the storytelling purpose, because it was more powerful to me to describe Stefano’s passion for his work.

ISO: 200, S: 400, F/4

ISO: 200, S: 160, F/4

ISO: 400, S: 1600, F/4

ISO: 400, S: 80, F/4

Monday, May 19, 2014

Project 6: The Lovely Mariah

ISO: 800, S: 640, F/5.6

This girl is awesome! Mariah has a wonderful infectious bubbly personality. She loves everything about life and appreciates the present moment. She is all about having a good time. This was my favorite picture because it enraptures Mariah's crazy fun character. I used her legs to frame the photo because her pants were so colorful. It was such a joy taking photos of her because there was always a smile and a sense of adventure to try something new!

ISO: 800, S: 1000, F/5.6

ISO: 800, S: 640, F/5.6

ISO: 800, S: 400, F/5.6

ISO: 800, S: 1250, F/5.6

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Project 5: Nibblet's Grand Santorini Adventure!

ISO: 400, S: 800, F/11

Our very own Nibblet is taking BREW to heart and is setting out for Santorini, Greece. His travel companion Wes helps him arrive to the blissful island. Nibblet first has to enjoy a local favorite gyros with a lemon Fanta by the pool side. After a good night’s rest Nibblet decides to hit the beach and in the rays and goes swimming with Stephanie. Nibblet is feeling extra thirsty and had to grab some more lemon Fanta before the afternoon nap. Off in the distances Nibblet sees some locals jumping of the cliff and decides to try is out. While climbing up the cliff Nibblet stops to enjoy a local church and the sights. Nibblet is scared at first but does it! Nibblet then goes back to the beach and stares off at the cliff with pride for what was accomplished.

ISO: 200, S: 2000, F/8

ISO: 200, S: 640, F/8

ISO: 200, S: 200, F/8

ISO: 400, S: 1000, F/11

ISO: 200, S: 200, F/16

ISO: 200, S: 500, F/8

Project 4: Song Lyrics - "A Lesson Never Learned"

ISO: 400, S: 20, F/5

"This is not my true face"

“A Lesson Never Learned” – Asking Alexandra

Asking Alexandra is a British metalcore band which is my favorite metal genre. The reason why I choose this song is because this is when the band was struggling through drug addiction. The song feels so real, raw, and screams with passion from their challenges. With my photos I want to capture their hopelessness and misery. I wanted to use a lot of depth of field in my photos to make certain body parts like ears, eyes, and knees stand out the most with sharpness, because that’s what the lyrics focus on. I choose the monochrome setting with the contrast at the highest setting to give the sense of darkness, despair, and struggle. For all the photos my white balance was set to tungsten because it gives a blueish tint to everything so I felt that it would make my pictures a little darker.