Gursky and Muheisen

Andreas Gursky:

Gursky is a german photographer who is known for his large detailed photographs. Photography had always been in Gursky's life since his parents were involved in commercial photography. He also attended multiple schools studying photography. Gursky has a very distinct style of photography. From looking at selection of his work I noticed that he often uses the same composition for his photographs. He shoots his subject straight in front of him and usually very symmetrical. He often uses repetition in his images. In most instances, when he shoots the subject straight on it allows the audience to see the full extent of how the subject repeats itself. Such as his photos of buildings. In most of his images of people, he shoots from a slightly higher angle but still uses repetition to his advantage. By having a higher angle the audience can see better the mass of people. Gursky's images also always have incredible detail and color. He definitely uses color strategically instead of using it just because his camera automatically shoots in color. Overall I have taken a lot from looking at Gurskys photographs. I'm paying more attention to color and detail.  

Muhammed Muheisen:

Muheisen is a photographer for the Associated Press based in Jerusalem. He is known for his moving photographs of middle eastern conflict and won many awards with these photographs. Muheisen composes his photos with color in mind and also conquers difficult lighting situations. He also finds a way to photograph sensitive subjects while also informing about the effects of war. I love that he shoots the every day life of his subjects. From children playing to parents grieving over wounded loved ones to celebrations to street vendors trying to make a living. I'm very inspired that he is able to use colors so effectively while in the field while also battling some difficult lighting. He uses a lot of monochromatic color schemes, but when color is present in his photos its usually very vibrant and contrasting with the background. He also uses a low f-stop so he can shoot in very low light. Overall, he work has inspired me to pay more attention to colors when I shoot and also not to be afraid to shoot in difficult lighting, Ill never be able to shoot in it if I don't ever try.

Andreas Gursky and Muhammed Muheisen have different shooting styles. Gursky has a rigid and calculated style while Muheisen's style is more spontaneous. Both, though, use colors to their advantage and have excellent composition. 

1st Critique

Our first critique was over our paint chip project.
The project itself made me realize that color is a lot more complicated than I originally thought it was. I found myself rejecting certain shades of colors because they didn't really "feel" like the Bahamas to me. I think I made this project a lot harder than it had to be but I learned a lot in the process.
While I was shooting, I learned a lot of about lighting. I had to shoot the blue snow cone twice because I waited too late in the day and by the time I found a place to shoot it, the sun had already mostly set. So I have two sets of snow cone pictures. One with artificial light from a park and one that I took during the day. I compared the two in Lightroom and fell in love with natural lighting all over again. Although I don't think you really enjoyed my too literal "Bahama Blue" interpretation, the photo was worthwhile in the sense that I learned from having to reshoot the photo.
During critique I learned why you don't exactly enjoy photos of animals and children which was brought up because of my photo of a cat. I liked it because I shot it while there was golden light and the black cat contrasted with the background. But your comments made me think of how it lacked conceptually, it was still just a picture of a cat.
I think my other photos were more successful because they were not as literal of an interpretation of the paint chip names.
Overall though I was very happy with critiques :}