Dennis Dunleavy

PetaPixel's Challenge highlights dynamic black & white images

PetaPixel, a terrific photo blog, often challenges its readers to produce theme-base images. One of the most recent challenges is on the topic of B & W pictures. I think it is sort of odd to take a digital media that operates in color and transform the images into what seems to be "old-school" technology. I understand that B & W is all about the aesthetics, but something appears off in that the conversion is not natural - at least in the sense that back in the day we had little choice. Now B & W is an aesthetic decision just like High Dynamic Range photography is. 

Nevertheless, the images are well worth the time to look over. Check out the Streettogsacademy on Facebook.

 

Photoshelter re-releases new Guide to Search Engine Optimatization for Photographers

 Search Engine Optimization is an increasingly important part of photography businesses. Photoshelter  has just re-released The SEO Guide for Photographers to give a lay person’s low down on the oft-misunderstood world of search engines. This Guide is available to free.

 

 

Photography and "The Ever Attentive Eye"

Today in class we explored how some of the best photographers of the 20th century captured the world in unique and innovative ways. 

Wee looked at some work from Jay Maisel, Ernst Haas, Josef Koudelka, Martine Franck, and Henri Cartier Bresson. This a diverse group of photographers who have, in my opinion, similar strengths -- they all sought out the best conditions for making meaningful images. Bresson speaks of his "process" in terms of the rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values, while Maisel is interesting in  "how light hits things."

Ultimately, mastering photography must consider coming to terms with light and how well it is read and captured through controlling exposure. At the same time, it is impossible to exclude the emotional, psychological and even spiritual dimensions that go into making and viewing images. When asked, students typically consider the idea of "conditions" for making good photographs something that is environmental such as the scene or location and lighting. What I was more interested in was in thinking about mental dispositions or attitudes that go into deciding what, how, when, why and where we go to make images. In the tsunami that is our visual culture our senses are dull. We no longer think of the way to see things as extraordinary. If we live this way, in a world where everything and everyone has been photographed ad nauseam since birth, then we risk losing the essence of creativity -- the human imagination, then, is at risk. 

Last week, I went for a walk my some students to talk about light and how important it is to have our own way of seeing the world. It didn't really go that well. At the same time, I went about the business of believing actions speak louder than words. Here's what I saw. 

The Space between Things

Brother Emmanuel goes bowling 

The Benedictine Monks in Atchison, Kan., held their annual bowling bonanza yesterday. I think I've become invisible now. I walk around with my camera and people don't even notice me. I can get in the way and people want even ask me to move. I can look someone in the eye with the camera, but have a hard time connecting without it. Photography digs into my skin sometimes.

In class, I've been stuck on this issue of "what makes a good photograph"? 
I think there are some prerequisites for telling someone that there pictures aren't any good. We can make a checklist to state the obvious such as if the picture is in focus, exposed correctly, or that sort of thing. Then, we could look at how compelling the image is in terms of composition and content. At the same time, all of this continues to seem so subjective. 

I've been looking at the work of Jay Maisel, William Eggleston, and Richard Misrach to provide some clues as to the transcendental qualities images possess and how I've found it so frustrating to explain any of this to students. 

It is possible, I believe, for a photograph to evoke in us an emotional space that goes far beyond the realm of what we know as reality. I actually think this is the magic of photography -- a transcendency from the physical to the imaginative. Symbols help provide clues to how we respond to images, but words always lock down the meaning. 

Keys to Great Photography

I have been thinking a lot about what makes a compelling image after watching a few National Geographic videos on photography. Here are some key points:

1.    Seek Emotion, especially intimacy

2.    Seek careful and meaningful observations of the world around us.

3.    See differently. Get out of the habit of just looking at things and learn to read the light.

4.    Seeking light and shadows.

5.    Seek and observe people who live within themselves.

6.    Recognize the life within the picture.

7.    Work in-camera 

8.    Develop a practice of discipline of seeing

9.    Do not rely on software to make the picture for you. 

10.   Be patient. There is a reason they call it "still" photography.

Sense of Place

One of my assignments in my photography class is to explore the idea of "sense of place". Everyone has a place they go to for inspiration and contemplation I believe. There a lookout over the Missouri river that I return to frequently. What I look for is how people come and go from the spot or how the light changes. Here is a recent image. 

This leads me to look at the photographer's relationship with the world and how observing people help us to understand who we are more. While in Italy and Spain recentlyI made some interesting images of couples that speak to the idea of relationship as well as having a sense of place. 

The best photography recognizes the human condition as a fundamental motivation and inspiration for understanding the world that surround us. There is a decisive moment with two people reveal the truth of their relationship. It is sometimes awkward to capture this moment, but the intimacy is something we can connect with.  

Orvieto, Italy

Florence, Italy

Florence, Italy