A Different View

I've always loved nature. It is what ultimately got me into photography. I started to draw what I saw, but I didn't always have enough time. Therefore I started bringing a camera around with me so I could share the sights I believed to be incredible with people who didn't take the time to stop and smell the roses. I guess that is why I generally used to consider landscape photography to be of the natural world. However, I now consider that to be a sub-category of the overall sense of the word. I believe landscape photography to be any photo taken to show an environment. Though I may not be drawn to urban landscape photographs quite as much as I am to natural landscape photographs, I have respect for them, the people who capture them, and their place in our world. Some are really quite beautiful.


The top image was taken on Carpentaria State Beach. I love to play with backlighting, and I'm sure you will see that in later posts. The second image was taken from the shore of the South Fork of the American River. I apologize if the quality isn't very good. I had trouble scanning it. It was taken on a disposable (probably water proof) camera so I only have the one print. I wish I could say that I had total control over the shot and planned it perfectly, but hey, some of the greatest inventions were accidents! This shot was actually taken for a completely different reason (of which I will not share because it kills the magic) and I didn't realize what I had shot until I got the prints back.

All in the timing

Waiting on the wind to blow the flag just enough be illuminated by the setting sun. Shot with the 5d at a f5.6 was a spur of the moment shot wasn't planning on shooting but couldn't pass it up

Sally Mann, Teachers and My Bohemian Life

These last two pictures were taken by me last summer while in Paris, my home away from home where I live my bohemian life.

As an added bonus, these two photographs are of teachers. The one on the right is Mr. Born, my very first photo teacher in 1972, and the one on the left I am including my high school photography teachers' picture, Mr. Born (from 1972). The picture on the left is COC's very own, Dr. Robert (Bob) Tolar, math professor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSWFdcmzTDM

I get very emotional when I look at these incredible images by Sally Mann, my all time favorite contemporary photographer. My first COC photography teacher, showed my 160 class a collection of Sally Mann's pictures and I have ever since been inspired and captivated by her work. Her subjects used to be her children, which back in the day, created an enormous amount of controversy. Critics considered her work as teetering child pornography, while others knew her work as genius photography.

Mann's uncanny style of combining portraiture, documentary and landscape photography allows us, the viewers, to participate as voyeurs without feeling sick or dirty about ourselves, only comfortable in enjoying her art, her family and her home life.

This photo is literally one of the first photos I've ever taken with my new found knowledge of photography from Photo 160, and unfortunately its the only one I've taken that resembles landscape. I'm excited to play with what defines landscape and push it to its absolute limit.
-tavia

Old LA Zoo

These 2 photos were taken at the Old LA Zoo. This zoo was created in 1912 with only 15 animals. They closed it 1966 when the new zoo was built to accommodate more animals. I was shooting there for a class project. I began shooting through the eyes of the animals that once lived there. The top photo I shot from inside the cage. This is a view that the animal would have seen looking out. The bottom photo is a picture of the entire cage. I like the way it is surrounded by the landscape.