Course Evaluation

I enjoyed taking this class and would recommend it to everyone. This class focuses on the basics of photography and is very helpful for any type of photographer that is a beginner to advanced. My two favorite assignments would have to be the Environmental Portraits and the Photo Booth Project. It was a great way to interact with other people and step out of my comfort zone. I had a great time taking photographs for these two projects and I want to continue working and improving my shots.

My least favorite project would have to be the Night Photography project only because I wanted to have some more time to work on these photographs. It was my first time creating night shots and I wish I could’ve photographed more subjects. I will continue to practice night shots and hopefully redo and upload new images.

Richard Rendaldi & Ian Ruther

Ian Ruther, based in Los Angeles, wanted to create a new way of making and seeing photographs. Ruther never enjoyed the new digital age and ways of photographs, we felt the originality and pureness of photography was lost. Ruther converted his van into his own camera in search of finding my most meaningful and inspirational part of photography. Ian Ruther is an inspiration to all and has shown us that we will become frustrated and fail once in a while but this should not stop us from reaching our goals and we should never give up.

Ian Ruther

 

Richard Rendaldi, a photographer based in New York City, created a series of photographs titled, Touching Strangers. In his photographs, Rendaldi has complete strangers touch each other in some way. He mainly has the strangers touch and pose together as if they are family. I believe this is Rendaldi’s way of showing how we are all connected and human. It is a way of showing we should care for each other and stand by each person.

Richard Rendaldi

 

 

Hops Highway Book

San Diego has always produced many breweries, but nothing compares to the latest boom of over 100 breweries over the past couple years. One of the first breweries in San Diego was The San Diego Brewing Company founded by Alonzo Horton. Back in 1896, it was the largest manufacturing enterprise in the county. During the Prohibition in 1920, alcohol was illegal and stayed this was for 13 years. A Mexican brewery, The Aztec Brewing Company, provided many Americans with a beer they could not legally buy and soon following the repeal of the Prohibition they moved the San Diego and became San Diego’s largest brewery. In 1980, 84 percent of all domestic beer sales were occupied by three brewers; Anheuser-Busch, Coors, and Miller Brewing. Following the years after the end of Prohibition, home breweries were now legal and also allowed them to work in restaurants. The first successful brewery was the Bolt Brewery located in Fallbrook in 1987 which was quickly followed by the Karl Strauss’ Brewery in 1989. The local craft beers inspired many home-brewing hobbyists and shortly after this movement, Pizza Port located in Solana Beach, Stone and Alesmith hit the ground running. San Diego is now considered a craft beer capital, and as of September 2015, San Diego is the home to more than 115 local breweries. The local breweries future in San Diego look promising, and as of February 2017 San Diego is home to 137 Craft Breweries, and more to come are on the horizon.

Hops Highway by Danielle Gibson-Stiglich | Make Your Own Book

Night Photography

This was my first attempt at night photography. I never really understood how to take night photos and I have never actually attempted to take them. I am pleased with how my photos turned out and since I have a better understand of night photography, I look forward to capturing more photos at night

Navy Guest Speakers

After the presentation presented by Ben Lewis and Arthur Marquez, I am very excited to try out night photography and other photography techniques. These two photographers have a great deal of talent and  they are an inspiration. It was incredible to see amazing underwater shots created by Arthur Marquez and I enjoyed how every single photograph told a story that was artistically thought out. Ben Lewis had a terrific video showing a short snip of the daily activity and training one has to encounter in order to become a photographer for the Navy. These two guests speakers inspired me and have made me wanting to dip my toes in underwater photography and possibly mix my photos with video to create wonderful documentaries.

Panoramas

I am very pleased with how my photograph turned out. It was difficult finding a subject for each of my photos but I eventually found the perfect spots. It was hard taking the horizontal pano since I was on uneven ground and when patching my photos together the train tracks were all connecting in the incorrect places. I do want to redo my “world” pano and try to push the photograph even further with a better subject.

Letters To A Young Artist: Self-Esteem

I have always been my biggest critique of everything I do or create. I would always try to create work that got positive feedback because it was well created but I knew it wasn’t original. Most of my family never had that “art” gene so whatever I created was always highly supported by my family. I knew I was creative and had the ability to push my work but I felt that I was always holding myself back. I would make excuses and say “I don’t have enough experience” or “I could never create something like that.” I compared a lot of my projects to other people and once someone had a better project, I would automatically lose my self-esteem.

Finally, when I reached college and began to study more of the arts, I began to realize how many talented artists had to push themselves and realize the ability they were given. In a sculpture class, I was taking at Palomar College, one of my professors truly helped me build my self-esteem. My professor knew I had the talent but saw I wasn’t using my full potential. He inspired me and would always give small advice that would give me another way of looking at something which would open a whole new set of doors for me. I finally started to value my work and though I still am the biggest critique to myself, I am able to use this now to push myself and continue to find new techniques and inspiration. Just like Anna Deavere Smith said in Letters to a Young Artist in her chapter Self-Esteem, “It’s about your worth. Your self-worth.” And I finally am starting to see my self-worth which has made me happier and more confident with my work.

 

Photo Booth Project

Encinitas is an eclectic town that is full of history and vast creativity. Though it is a popular destination for many tourists and the streets are always packed, Encinitas has a way of making a busy location seem like the small, old surf town it once was. Growing up in Encinitas has given me the ability to be surrounded by art and the idea of expressing one’s self. Since the beach life is more laid back, Encinitas offers quite a few interesting characters. I decided to focus on these expressive people and take my photo booth project to Swami’s Beach in Encinitas.

While searching around Encinitas for the perfect location to set up my shoot, I noticed the locally famous Swami’s drum and ‘self-realization” circle was setting up camp. I set up my backdrop next to the group and hoped to get a few volunteers. At first, it was challenging to motivate people to get their photo taken and a few were afraid to have their face photographed as some stated, “you probably work for the cops.” It took a lot of persuading but finally more people were comfortable with the idea and I was able to get some great shots.

I wanted to photograph a subject that was close to me so I decided to keep my subject in the heart of Encinitas. I had a wonderful time meeting everyone I photographed and they all were very helpful. I believe these photographs successfully portray the amazing and creative people that live in and represent Encinitas.

 

Museum of Photographic Arts

While visiting MOPA in Balboa Park, CA, I was able to view many interesting exhibits that caught my eye. The four exhibits that were featured at MOPA were the Seeing is Believing?, Ansel Adams: What Majestic Word, Prix Pictet: Disorder, and India and the Picturesque. Though all of these exhibits were very well done, two stood out the most. The Prix Pictet: Disorder focused on social and environmental issues and many of the artists showcased powerful images, also, India and the Picturesque is a collection of images of India in the 19^th century.

The Prix Pictet: Disorder exhibit brings attention to a vast range of concerns from mass production and consumption to the effects of war and natural disasters. One photographer who made an impact on me was Pieter Hugo and his series Permanent Error. In this series, Hugo photographed the people and land of a massive dump full of worn out technology in Ghana. The mountains created by old computers and hard drives are inhibited by local villagers and livestock. Seeing these images was very impactful and almost made me emotional because when reading about such living conditions it is hard to believe but when looking at a photograph of the actual location and conditions it puts everything into perspective.

I found the photographs featured in the India and the Picturesque exhibit beautiful and pleasing to the eye. This series of images were photographed by Samuel Bourne, John Edward Sache, Indian photographer Nathulall, and much more. These images captured the history and life in India during 1860- 1880 and every image was brought to life.

Overall I enjoyed my visit to MOPA and had a wonderful time viewing the exhibits. Many of the photos I viewed were very powerful and sent a strong message that stuck with me. I very much look forward to my next visit to the Museum of Photographic Arts.

Bukima, Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo, July 2007

Pieter Hugo, Yakubu Al Hasan, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 2009

Discovery Lake

I had some difficulty working on this project and getting the exact shots I wanted but I was pleasantly surprised with how some of my photographs turned out. I would have liked to work with some more filters because the lighting was very harsh but I believe under the circumstances I had, I enjoyed how my selected photos turned out.