The winter white or really brownish white getting you down? Me too. So here is a taste of Spring. Enjoy!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Colour Deprived? Try Tulips!
The winter white or really brownish white getting you down? Me too. So here is a taste of Spring. Enjoy!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Flying High!!
Sunday Night I went to an aerial dance recital and took a few pictures. It was the first time I have photographed the aerial dance which had its own challenges. It is very dark and the performers were from beginners to more advanced. The show its self was very entertaining.I hope you enjoy some of the images.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Movie Extravaganza- "One Hour Photo"
"One Hour Photo" is the third installment in my Movie Extravaganza. Here are my thoughts!
One Hour Photo (2002) directed by Mark Romanek stars Robin Williams as "Sy", a photo-tech at a one hour photo lab who becomes obsessed with a young suburban family. He has developed their photographs for over 10 years. He enters their lives through the images in their family photographs and becomes obsessed with the false image that is is portrayed in their photographs. When this ideal image is shattered through the discovery of an affair through the "other woman's" photographs, he is driven to punish the unfaithful lovers.
This is a very engaging, creepy film that analyzes the role photography plays in our lives and society. The film starts with a wonderful monologue about why the general public takes photos. The capturing of happy, good memories which we want to keep, cherish and rescue from fading memory or distructive fires. They are a record of our existence at a particular time on this planet. They prove we were young and vibrant and loved. We pose, preserve and project the ideal family or situation. It is this world that Sy longs to be part of.
As a photographer this film is interesting to see behind the scenes of a working one-hour lab as well as reveiling the trust that is somewhat unknowingly given to the photographer and lab tech. The premise of the movie is unsettling and disturbing. Director Mark Romanek matches and enhances the disturbing premise of the movie with the choices he makes in the style and use of his cinematography. Every choice in this movie lends to the creepy feeling. From Sy's wardrobe, clinical appartment, the bluish florescent lights of the Department store and the long, low shots of the store shelves. There is a surreal, clinical feeling throughout the movie which must be created through lighting choices that I am not sure exactly how it was created.
I loved some of the camera viewpoints chosen by the director. One example is when Sy is sitting in his car outside of the family home and the camera frames him from above through the windsheild with the rearview mirror blocking out/covering just his eyes. I thought this was very effective. I also really liked how the director used the wall of photographs to reveal to the audience that Sy had been stalking this family for years. Without having to say a word in the script he just let the photo's speak for themselves. This was clever and more effective than if it had been stated in more traditional ways.
He used this method a couple of more times through the film. After Sy was fired and he wanted his revenge on his boss, he let photography do the work for him. He took the series of photographs of the boss's daughter and let him discover it at the lab. He didn't have to say a word to communicate his displeasure. Also at the end of the movie, when Sy asks the officer to see his photographs, the audience is thinking that the images maybe of the punished lovers but instead are of simple items found in a hotel room. By showing these photographs and having Sy take such care in his placement of them on the table, we realize that Sy has a great love for photography and would not lower it by taking such pornographic images. He wanted to make the lovers suffer with shame the way he had as a child but not actually create or record such images on film. Plus he is just CRAZZZZZZZY!!!!!
I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes well acted, disturbing, visually interesting films.
One Hour Photo (2002) directed by Mark Romanek stars Robin Williams as "Sy", a photo-tech at a one hour photo lab who becomes obsessed with a young suburban family. He has developed their photographs for over 10 years. He enters their lives through the images in their family photographs and becomes obsessed with the false image that is is portrayed in their photographs. When this ideal image is shattered through the discovery of an affair through the "other woman's" photographs, he is driven to punish the unfaithful lovers.
This is a very engaging, creepy film that analyzes the role photography plays in our lives and society. The film starts with a wonderful monologue about why the general public takes photos. The capturing of happy, good memories which we want to keep, cherish and rescue from fading memory or distructive fires. They are a record of our existence at a particular time on this planet. They prove we were young and vibrant and loved. We pose, preserve and project the ideal family or situation. It is this world that Sy longs to be part of.
As a photographer this film is interesting to see behind the scenes of a working one-hour lab as well as reveiling the trust that is somewhat unknowingly given to the photographer and lab tech. The premise of the movie is unsettling and disturbing. Director Mark Romanek matches and enhances the disturbing premise of the movie with the choices he makes in the style and use of his cinematography. Every choice in this movie lends to the creepy feeling. From Sy's wardrobe, clinical appartment, the bluish florescent lights of the Department store and the long, low shots of the store shelves. There is a surreal, clinical feeling throughout the movie which must be created through lighting choices that I am not sure exactly how it was created.
I loved some of the camera viewpoints chosen by the director. One example is when Sy is sitting in his car outside of the family home and the camera frames him from above through the windsheild with the rearview mirror blocking out/covering just his eyes. I thought this was very effective. I also really liked how the director used the wall of photographs to reveal to the audience that Sy had been stalking this family for years. Without having to say a word in the script he just let the photo's speak for themselves. This was clever and more effective than if it had been stated in more traditional ways.
He used this method a couple of more times through the film. After Sy was fired and he wanted his revenge on his boss, he let photography do the work for him. He took the series of photographs of the boss's daughter and let him discover it at the lab. He didn't have to say a word to communicate his displeasure. Also at the end of the movie, when Sy asks the officer to see his photographs, the audience is thinking that the images maybe of the punished lovers but instead are of simple items found in a hotel room. By showing these photographs and having Sy take such care in his placement of them on the table, we realize that Sy has a great love for photography and would not lower it by taking such pornographic images. He wanted to make the lovers suffer with shame the way he had as a child but not actually create or record such images on film. Plus he is just CRAZZZZZZZY!!!!!
I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes well acted, disturbing, visually interesting films.
Movie Extravaganza - "Manufactured Landscapes"
"Manufactured Landscapes" is the second movie I saw for our school Movie Extravaganza. Here are my thoughts!
Manufactured Landscapes (2006) is a feature length documentary directed by Jennifer Baichwall on the work of Edward Burtynsky who makes large scale photographs of "manufactured landscapes". Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing. He defines manufactured landscapes as dumps for scrap metal, e-waste, recycling yards for ships or even huge factories such as those found in China. His large scale photographs are exhibited to the general public at galleries. His purpose is not to pass judgement on what is happening in the world but to visually communicate to the general public the world that we human beings are creating and for each of us to decide the pros and/or cons of this new world.
I loved this documentary on many levels: seeing the photographer at work, the director's way of shooting the documentary and Edward Burtynsky's photographs. I really enjoyed seeing a photographer of this calabore at work. It was interesting to see behind the scenes of the physical/technical set up of the camera and the shot as well as the politics dealing with people to get the shots he wanted. For example, when the crew wanted to set up for a shot of (I believe) piles of coal the corporation was concerned it would look negative. The crew explained how Burtynky's photographs look beautiful and then it was ok. This was interesting since the corporate officers obviously felt some sort of enviromental guilt to be so protective over a photographic image. It just goes to show that we are aware of the power of the photographic image and how it can be manipulated. On the techincal side it was interesting to see that he used a polaroid to check the lighting and composition before taking a shot.
I also found the subject matter of his work interesting. His photographs are both beautiful and unsettling at the same time. I find something very beautiful in visual percision, uniformity, and repetition. These elements are found in many of Burtynsky's images. It is an unsettling beauty since the photographs are of waste or structured uniformity in both enviroment and conformaty in the people. There is something striking about visual uniformity however I believe strongly in individuality in society. I find this brings out a conflict within myself. There are beautiful images of old tires, freeways, scrap metal cube piles and even piles of e-waste. It is also amazing what human beings can create both positive and negative. The images of the ships show the power and ingenuity people have to create such amazing and huge entitities that are so much larger than ourselves. This is also true of the amount of waste just one individual can create. The image of the workers going through the fields of toxic e-waste material shows how small we are in comparison to the waste we create. We are drowning in our own waste.
In terms of Jennifer Baichwall's direction, I really appreciated her transitions from one scene to another. The very first shot of the manufacturing plant in China was extremely effective in setting the tone for the documentary. The choice of the height of the viewpoint of the camera combined with the long continuious shot really created the overwhelming feeling of the plant. I also felt that the way she transitioned from the live shots of the scenes to framing Burtynsky's actual images was extremely effective. Also she continually transitioned from the subject matter in front of the moving camera to what was happening behind the still camera both visually and with the audio. I thought the documentary was creatively shot as well as intellectually interesting. I would recommend this film to everyone.
Manufactured Landscapes (2006) is a feature length documentary directed by Jennifer Baichwall on the work of Edward Burtynsky who makes large scale photographs of "manufactured landscapes". Burtynsky travels the world observing changes in landscapes due to industrial work and manufacturing. He defines manufactured landscapes as dumps for scrap metal, e-waste, recycling yards for ships or even huge factories such as those found in China. His large scale photographs are exhibited to the general public at galleries. His purpose is not to pass judgement on what is happening in the world but to visually communicate to the general public the world that we human beings are creating and for each of us to decide the pros and/or cons of this new world.
I loved this documentary on many levels: seeing the photographer at work, the director's way of shooting the documentary and Edward Burtynsky's photographs. I really enjoyed seeing a photographer of this calabore at work. It was interesting to see behind the scenes of the physical/technical set up of the camera and the shot as well as the politics dealing with people to get the shots he wanted. For example, when the crew wanted to set up for a shot of (I believe) piles of coal the corporation was concerned it would look negative. The crew explained how Burtynky's photographs look beautiful and then it was ok. This was interesting since the corporate officers obviously felt some sort of enviromental guilt to be so protective over a photographic image. It just goes to show that we are aware of the power of the photographic image and how it can be manipulated. On the techincal side it was interesting to see that he used a polaroid to check the lighting and composition before taking a shot.
I also found the subject matter of his work interesting. His photographs are both beautiful and unsettling at the same time. I find something very beautiful in visual percision, uniformity, and repetition. These elements are found in many of Burtynsky's images. It is an unsettling beauty since the photographs are of waste or structured uniformity in both enviroment and conformaty in the people. There is something striking about visual uniformity however I believe strongly in individuality in society. I find this brings out a conflict within myself. There are beautiful images of old tires, freeways, scrap metal cube piles and even piles of e-waste. It is also amazing what human beings can create both positive and negative. The images of the ships show the power and ingenuity people have to create such amazing and huge entitities that are so much larger than ourselves. This is also true of the amount of waste just one individual can create. The image of the workers going through the fields of toxic e-waste material shows how small we are in comparison to the waste we create. We are drowning in our own waste.
In terms of Jennifer Baichwall's direction, I really appreciated her transitions from one scene to another. The very first shot of the manufacturing plant in China was extremely effective in setting the tone for the documentary. The choice of the height of the viewpoint of the camera combined with the long continuious shot really created the overwhelming feeling of the plant. I also felt that the way she transitioned from the live shots of the scenes to framing Burtynsky's actual images was extremely effective. Also she continually transitioned from the subject matter in front of the moving camera to what was happening behind the still camera both visually and with the audio. I thought the documentary was creatively shot as well as intellectually interesting. I would recommend this film to everyone.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Movie Extravaganza
So our mission for part of this week at school was to view 3 movies that were offered for our viewing pleasure!! I chose "I am Cuba", " Manufactured Landscapes" and "One Hour Photo". My first posting will be my thoughts on "I am Cuba".
"I am Cuba"
is a Soviet/Cuban propaganda film made in 1964 to dramatize the need for the Cuban revolution. The film was directed by Mikhail Kalatozov and heavily financed by both Soviet and Cuban governments. The black and white film was rediscovered after the cold war and reissued in 1995 by Milestone with the support of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. This reissuing was not due to the film's content which in my opinion is overly dramatic and somewhat simplified but due to the incredible cinematography of the film.
"I am Cuba" features four short stories each depicting a different segment of Cuban society's struggle against a specific oppressor. The first story shows the steep contrast between the fancy hotels and nightclubs inhabited by stereotypically wealthy, arrogant Americans to the stark poverty of the underprivileged Cuban workers and prostitutes who service them. The second story follows the life of a hardworking sugar cane farmer who loses his land to a large corporation. The third story depicts the struggle of idealistic university students who are trying to overthrow the oppressive government. Finally the last story shows an innocent, peaceful farm family in the mountains being bombed out of their home and joining the rebels to victory.
As I previously mentioned the actual acting and plots are somewhat cliche, sentimental and dramatized with overly poetic voice overs and narrations. However, the black and white cinematography is beautifully poetic with long sweeping tracking shots, interesting and unusual viewpoints, as well as the use of infra red film and different lens choices. Right from the first shot of the film the viewer knows they are in for a visual feast. The film starts with a long, continuous shot above white dreamy trees (due to the use of infra red film) and ends on a cross that due to the viewpoint of the camera the viewer is not sure of it's scale until people enter the frame. Although "I am Cuba" is full of amazing shots, one of my favorites' is the continuous shot in the first story line where the camera starts at the top of a building making its way through musicians, a bikini contest down to towards a crowded swimming pool and following a women right into the pool and underwater. Another favorite continuous shot that I have no idea how they managed to create is in the third story funeral scene. Here again the camera has one continuous shot that shows a view of the street with the funeral line and the murdered student being carried up the buildings across balconies and through a cigar shop where actors unravel the flag out he window as the camera view also goes out the window and back down to the street. These are just two many amazing shots.
The camera is also used to visually communicate the emotional state of the actors and or Cuban people. For example in the first story when Marie the cruxiface wearing prostitute is being passed from one American to another in a frenzied state. The camera is also being flung around in a dizzying way at a waist/shoulder height view point. They could have just shot further back and shown the girl being tossed around but instead the camera movement lets the viewer feel the confused state Maria is in. Another example of this technique is used during the second story with Peidro the sugar cane farmer. After he finds out that he is losing his crop and his home, Peidro takes his machete and furiously cuts the sugar cane before burning it. The director chose to show the sugar cane being cut from the machettes viewpoint. The camera is shoved right into the action thus the viewer feels the blunt, quick strokes of as the machete tears through the cane.
Director Mikhail Kalatozov and his cinematographers have created an amazing, visually rich film. I have only named a few of the most fantastic shots but the whole film is full of interesting sequences, framing and viewpoints that help to tell the emotional story behind the film. I would recommend anyone who is interested in photography or cinematography to see "I am Cuba" however I will warn you that is it a bit long!
"I am Cuba"
is a Soviet/Cuban propaganda film made in 1964 to dramatize the need for the Cuban revolution. The film was directed by Mikhail Kalatozov and heavily financed by both Soviet and Cuban governments. The black and white film was rediscovered after the cold war and reissued in 1995 by Milestone with the support of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. This reissuing was not due to the film's content which in my opinion is overly dramatic and somewhat simplified but due to the incredible cinematography of the film.
"I am Cuba" features four short stories each depicting a different segment of Cuban society's struggle against a specific oppressor. The first story shows the steep contrast between the fancy hotels and nightclubs inhabited by stereotypically wealthy, arrogant Americans to the stark poverty of the underprivileged Cuban workers and prostitutes who service them. The second story follows the life of a hardworking sugar cane farmer who loses his land to a large corporation. The third story depicts the struggle of idealistic university students who are trying to overthrow the oppressive government. Finally the last story shows an innocent, peaceful farm family in the mountains being bombed out of their home and joining the rebels to victory.
As I previously mentioned the actual acting and plots are somewhat cliche, sentimental and dramatized with overly poetic voice overs and narrations. However, the black and white cinematography is beautifully poetic with long sweeping tracking shots, interesting and unusual viewpoints, as well as the use of infra red film and different lens choices. Right from the first shot of the film the viewer knows they are in for a visual feast. The film starts with a long, continuous shot above white dreamy trees (due to the use of infra red film) and ends on a cross that due to the viewpoint of the camera the viewer is not sure of it's scale until people enter the frame. Although "I am Cuba" is full of amazing shots, one of my favorites' is the continuous shot in the first story line where the camera starts at the top of a building making its way through musicians, a bikini contest down to towards a crowded swimming pool and following a women right into the pool and underwater. Another favorite continuous shot that I have no idea how they managed to create is in the third story funeral scene. Here again the camera has one continuous shot that shows a view of the street with the funeral line and the murdered student being carried up the buildings across balconies and through a cigar shop where actors unravel the flag out he window as the camera view also goes out the window and back down to the street. These are just two many amazing shots.
The camera is also used to visually communicate the emotional state of the actors and or Cuban people. For example in the first story when Marie the cruxiface wearing prostitute is being passed from one American to another in a frenzied state. The camera is also being flung around in a dizzying way at a waist/shoulder height view point. They could have just shot further back and shown the girl being tossed around but instead the camera movement lets the viewer feel the confused state Maria is in. Another example of this technique is used during the second story with Peidro the sugar cane farmer. After he finds out that he is losing his crop and his home, Peidro takes his machete and furiously cuts the sugar cane before burning it. The director chose to show the sugar cane being cut from the machettes viewpoint. The camera is shoved right into the action thus the viewer feels the blunt, quick strokes of as the machete tears through the cane.
Director Mikhail Kalatozov and his cinematographers have created an amazing, visually rich film. I have only named a few of the most fantastic shots but the whole film is full of interesting sequences, framing and viewpoints that help to tell the emotional story behind the film. I would recommend anyone who is interested in photography or cinematography to see "I am Cuba" however I will warn you that is it a bit long!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
More from the First Steps Show!
For some reason blogger doesn't allow me to upload more than 2 images at a time so hopefully these new images will import!
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