Natalia's Photography Blog

  Man Ray's photography differs greatly from last weeks blog on Lee Friedlander. Instead of trying to make the photos as busy as possible to create a more interesting composition, Ray keeps his focus of the image pretty clear and leaves a lot of negative space in the background. By doing this, the viewer focuses on the main subject instead of being distracted by other components. This blank space also allows room for the viewers' imagination instead of hints to the story behind the photo being left to be observed.  Man Ray also participated in photogram photography. Ray uses everyday objects and manipulates them in a way that resembles a scene or story, but nothing is clear enough to make out. In these, some of the outlines of the objects are not sharp, and these combined has almost a dreaminess effect. Another example of this surrealism feel is in the picture below. While I am not sure what the techniques used to create this image were, there is no doubt that Ray's use of

  Lee Friedlander is a major photographer that helped open people's minds to new ideas and new ways of executing photography. After studying many of his photos, I have noticed a few distinguishing characteristics that arise commonly: one being the effortlessness that seems to be behind the pictures. At a first glance, the photos seem almost careless, but as I look closer I can see the way Friedlander truly understands what the composition of his photo should be. He positions himself in ways that create contrast across the span of the photos, allowing for a lot of detail and more things for the viewer to observe. Even by leaving the corner of an obstacle in the view of the photo, there is a sort of comfort knowing the pictures aren't 'perfect'. These obstructions are often unnoticed until reading the picture for a few minutes.  Another theme of Friedlander's photos are self-portraits, or even including some sign of his existence in the picture. When thinking about st

 Before walking into class, I thought I had a good idea of what photography was. Previously, photography to me was a way to capture a moment. I use photography to seize an image I am seeing with my eyes so I can hold onto it to reminisce or remember. While this is true in a way, I now realize photography is so much more than just capturing a moment, but rather a multitude of things that vary depending on how it is being used.  I have always thought about photography, questioning how in the world humans figured out a way to take images our brains produce and make it look exactly the same, if not better, on something physical like paper or a screen. This is a major reason why I took this class, and I am so thankful I did because many questions I would not have found the answer to myself have been answered already. The film process has always intrigued me as well. The article "Photography Changes Everything" proposed many different ways photography can impact our lives without e