Photography
Like anyone, I am a product of my environment. The places I’ve seen, grown up, and experienced have all defined what I think about and what I want to capture. During the pandemic I turned to art, as a way to express myself and my thoughts. Having an interest in photography I had the time to research and discover the photographs and photographer that spoke to me. So, I then picked up a camera. My images are depictions of my surroundings, experiments, what my eye is drawn to, and the emotions I wish to convey. As my life progresses and my experiences become broader, my images will become refined and obtain a style unique to me.
Downtown Seattle, 2021 35mm B&W negative. While practicing street photography in Downtown Seattle I captured this image. I was drawn to how the small figure in the bottom right juxtaposes the symmetry of the building. Taken in a disadvantaged part of Seattle, my mind jumped to what I was researching in my Humanities class. Reaganomics had raised the rate of income inequality within the US. The dark windows of the corporate building give off a sinister character, where the figure is small and powerless compared to the size of the building.
Washington State Fair, 2021. While walking through the stables at the Washington State Fair, I was drawn to the luminosity and the range of values, especially on the bunting flags. My inspiration came from how renaissance painters paid attention to the details of the shadows and values of their subjects' robes. When printing this image I used filters 0 and 5 to obtain rich shadows and highlights.
Goodbye at the Pond, 2020. Taken at a memorial of a boy who died of drug overdose in my community. The flower pedals drift away from the viewer toward the cattail at the waters edge. I edited the image in Photoshop to make the colors more emotionally intense.
Chaotic Color, 2021. Taken with long exposure I aimed to highlight these wild daisy's at night using one flashlight and a blue and red transparency. By shinning the light in select parts of the image I illuminated the flowers in two different parts. Since I took this photo with a RAW file, I came back to correct highlights and level the intensity of each color.
Portland Oregon, 2021. This image is the start of a life-long project I wish to work on. That being, taking photos of hands which shows the identity and character of a person. In this case, I took a photograph of my fathers hands.
Discover X, 2021. I was drawn to the framing of the image. The X of the paths directs the eye to the tuff of grass. This was an experiment to see how leading lines and geometry in an image can curate and direct the way a viewer see's and relates to an image.
Downtown Seattle, 2021. Unlike New York or other major cities, Seattle is built on hills. Here you can see the depth of the city skyline from street level. This photograph captures this. I also like how skyline frames the plane in the air.
Mount Rainier National Park, 2021. Taken when backpacking, this image displays fog hugging the tops of trees. Living with fog is a central aspect of growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Whether it be fog peeling off the ridges of the cascades, or resting in the foot hills during fall mornings, fog will always remind of my home.
Marin County, California, 2021. Taken at the Battery Cavallo, I took this photo mainly because the Golden Gate Bridge is a U.S. National Monument and is a symbol of innovation in American culture.
Capitol Hill, Seattle, 2021. I took this shot of this reflection in a bar window while walking near my school. I like how the viewer understands the whole setting because they both see what is in front of and behind the camera.
Digital Collage, 2020. During the first part of quarantine, when I didn't know the technical skills of photography, I made more than a hundred digital collages. I made this piece by composing and manipulating several images. The blue background is a picture of a tree bark. Then I took a picture of a star I made, made a transparent background, and tiled them across the image. The inspiration of this piece was the cover of my copy of On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
Kirkland Washington, 2021. Practicing long exposure, I took this picture using sparklers. I made the beam wrap back to the camera so the viewer gets the feeling their being surrounded by golden arcs.
Mount Rainier National Park, 2021. Nursery logs, freestone rivers, and fog peeling off steep ridges are all pivotal features of the Pacific Northwest's landscape.
Still Life, 2020. I made a still life of what I thought to be the "key ingredients" in life. Mirror for self-reflection, salt for taste and flavor, a candle for life which will eventually go out, a box to store your thoughts in, and stamps to be connected with people. I made multiple edits of this image to practice color correcting. In this version I prioritized the color green, and made the rest black and white, making the salt container stand out.
Digital Collage, 2021. This composition is comprised of three images. One of the side of a highway in Massachusetts, an image of cracked concrete, a manipulated sunset, and a star. For each layer I changed the opacity so the composition is cohesive and looked as one. I choose a red color at the top to juxtapose the hazy black and white look of the rest of the image.
Digital Collage, 2021. This digital collage is comprised of three images. The first is the foreground, which was taken during winter in eastern Washington. The second is the tree line. I took a picture of one tree, made it black and white, and cut out the background. From here I proceeded to stretch and manipulate the image so there were multiple trees. The overall mood of the image is somber because of the blue and gray tones. Like one of the previous digital collages, I juxtaposed this by overlaying a warm red sunset.
Hands Project, 2021. The objective of my hands project is to show an identity through hands and the contents of someones pockets. I choose to make this image dark, to convey an uneasy feeling. The objects are lined up orderly, with one hand turned over and resting on a black top coat. My inspiration was Patrick Bateman from the movie and book American Psycho.
The Dump, 2021. Using 35mm black & white film, I took this picture because I liked the beam of light cast through the gate. This was one of the first prints I made. I paid close attention to what information was shown. Using the 0 and 5 filters for shadows and highlights I managed to show both the bold dark information in the foreground, and the hazy light information in the background.
The Hanging Chairs, 2021. Taken at the Washington State Fair, I practiced repetition of form through the chairs, the chains they're connected to and the pattern on the ground.