Kutsuphoto

Slowly catching back up with the posts. A nice big yay for that. Ironic though, to get this week’s theme around the same time tsuyu (rainy season) starts in Japan,which just makes everything feel all mushy and kind of sad.

Well week 14′s theme was Blue. The reason blue was chosen as the theme was because we haven’t really done a color theme yet. There is a lot that is associated with colors like feelings or characteristics.

Well, here are the photos. Like last week, the third guy had to take a break to take care of some other projects and work so there are only two this week.

Interesting this week, the theme of this weeks falls back to back with Week 11′s “self-portrait.”
The theme for this week is Portrait. I haven’t received a reasoning for picking portrait but I find it interesting to have the theme self-portrait without us in it to anything that would be classified a portrait. Definitely a broad category to say the least. Once I get a reasoning for picking portrait I’ll append this paragraph with that update. Until then the three photos are:

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    13
Jordan  11
Luis        12

We are in the double digits, that’s exciting Almost three months long of doing this. Crazy.

Anyways, the 11th week theme was Self-portrait. There is a unique quality about this photo though. The guideline was that we were not allowed to be in the photo. You had to use environment or props to create an image about yourself. The theme was chosen because part of knowing and understanding your photography is knowing and understanding yourself. The lack of self in the photo was meant to make you think about what environment and composition can say in a photo because often times in a portrait, it isn’t the subject that says the most in the photo – it’s the environment they’re in. So this theme gave us a chance to kind of look into ourselves a little bit.

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    12
Jordan  9
Luis        12

I hate when I get off by a week. But none-the-less I post.

The theme for Week 10 is Up. The reason it was picked because it was thought to be an interesting idea. Up can be taken in many ways. That is of course a constant joy about the English language. Even though a single word has a definition, the definition and the use of it is still vaguely up for interpretation. More so the use though. That’s why I’m at least happy to say I like the variety of images this week. We each took a slightly different interpretation of the word Up, something that I felt like we haven’t done the past few weeks!

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    11
Jordan  7
Luis        12

Getting a little bit more back on schedule brings forth week 9. We have made it past the 2 month mark! That’s kind of exciting. After next week, I think we will have hit the half way point. Which is kind of scary when you think about it. Still have a long way to go though.

Anyways, the theme for this week as said in the title is Black and White Photography. It was specified to use digital black and white not film. Which if you looked at the schedules of last week, I think was a good decision to use digital. Hopefully in the future we can do a film theme but first I will have to see where to develop film in Japan that doesn’t take 3 weeks and I can use my plastic TLR! All anecdotes aside. This theme was picked because of it’s important photography. Kodak didn’t produce it’s Kodachrome until 1935. And it still took a while for people to switch. So we wanted to look at photos with the absence of color.

The photos for this week are:

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    11
Jordan  6
Luis        10

This post is off by a week. Much to my misfortune, coming back from China, getting sick and getting ready for sports day did not help the matter. But better late than never, here is the theme.

Week 8′s theme was Lines when asked why, the picker said, it was because lines are important. Which I can follow, especially in a geometry stand point. Over looking the fundamental reference to a spot in space, a point, a line is the next big thing. It was outlines, defines, and creates borders. So I guess I can agree with that lines are important.

Well none-the-less…. Lines!

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    11
Jordan  5
Luis        8

This week I’m a little late on posting the blog post, mainly because I’ve been chilling out in Beijing for the past 5 days. Now that I’m in Shanghai, I have a little bit better internet so I can finally post the theme and even before the upcoming week is over, thank goodness.

This week’s theme was Food which I was oh so happy to pick. The reason I picked food because coming over to China I was being reminded of how much food infiltrates a culture. I see it in Japan, now in China and when I’m in America. It’s something that we have to use (or well eat) to survive. So I was happy to see what I and my friends come up.

——-UPDATE———

Scores thus far!
Brent    10
Jordan  3
Luis        8

This week’s theme of genuine was chosen because of the challenge associated with capturing something genuine. It was separates the boys from the men. And that when it is done, it tends to be done well.

On a personal site note, this was probably the hardest theme yet for myself and even at that I don’t feel like I really captured it but I tried to capture a moment that is associated with it. Surprisingly, finding an actual genuine moment is not something you can usually plan for, it happens without really thinking about it. With that I feel like I have a lot to learn in capturing it. Given the week deadline though these are the pictures captured:

As judged by Steve Johnson of Florida.
Photo comments.

In order of rank.

1) Photo 3 I love the genuine reaction in this photo. The only issues about this photo are technical. It is underexposed, but I am so glad you used natural light instead of a color-sucking flash. This captured a moment, and that is exactly what photography is about. Might I suggest a lens with a lower aperture, 50mm f/1.4 is a personal favorite, to work in lower light.

2) Photo 2 Love the depth of field in this shot. The bubbles give a great sense of foreground and background without distracting the eyes from your subject. This is something that is very hard to do. I ranked it second because of the theme. This picture does show how genuinely happy or bubbly (no pun intended) the person is, but I feel like this was a posed situation. If this was in a park with the sunlight shining through the bubbles it would be a more genuine moment. A very close number two.

3) Photo 1 This is a fantastic portrait that is very well lit. You show a perfect amount of contrast with your light on your subject, and his expression is very genuine. I would have liked the surrounding to better reflect who this person is. The whole reason why we take our subjects out of the studio for environmental portraits is to let the environment help tell the story. Maybe this would have helped express why this person is so genuine if you would have done this.

Hope this helps. Let me know if I can do anything else for you.

- Steve

——UPDATE——–
Brent 10
Jordan 1
Luis 7

Five weeks down… some more to go, maybe like 18 more to go.

The theme this weekend was Camera Phone Photography, more specifically the photo had to be taken with a camera phone! The reason Brent chose this theme was because people complain about the gear. As photographers we are judged on what gear we are shooting with. Is it Canon or Nikon. Do we have L or N glass or are we shooting with a Tamaron, or Sigma. People use the basis of gear to judge you on your overall skill and the visual quality of the image. I don’t know how many people I have heard say something like, “you must have a really expensive camera” because they liked my pictures, or “The only way I could get a good is if I buy a 1D [or something compliment].” But what if the idea of “higher-end” gear is stripped away… Then no one can have any excuses. Hence the idea of using the camera on your phone.

I’m happy to say that this week the photos will be judged by Shawn Rocco, a News & Observer (Raleigh-Charlotte Newspaper) photographer and published cellphone photographer. About a year ago, he came to N.C. State to talk to us about the importance of the best camera is the one you have with you. Don’t let the idea of not having an SLR get you down from not capturing a moment.
Please got visit Shawn’s site and check out his photography and cellular obscura work.  

Here are the submissions for this week. Fell free to leave your thoughts as Brent Jordan and I are trying to approve our photographer while having some fun.

 —-UPDATE—–

Thanks for asking me to judge. Photo 1 is first, 2 is second, 3 is third. Why? Photo 1 is the cleanest of the compositions. The frame feels balanced, not awkward.

Photo 2 has much better light and subject matter (and not because it’s a girl in a bathing suit) and an “almost” moment, but it needs a different crop or a different composition. If the photographer moved so the girl was on the left it would feel more balanced. Or if they moved so there was nothing but water (or forest or mountains) behind her, that would have helped too. Moving a few feet in either direction would have moved this to first place.

I like the angle of Photo 3. I applaud the photographer for using an “extreme” angle by getting above the subject matter. But this needs something more to it. The composition feels okay, but it needs a better moment, or something more graphic to elevate it to a higher placing in the competition.

So, I like the idea, but (after seeing your work in the other categories) I’ll be honest, these don’t hold up. I hate to say that, but I can see the talent (of ideas and execution) in the previous themes and these aren’t on the same level.

And it’s not the technical quality. It’s the composition and/or subject matter that detracts from these photos. Because of those distractions, you’ve almost proven the point you were trying to dismiss with this theme.

A camera phone is still a camera. It’s still a tool to deliver your vision. And they’re all so good today in terms of quality and shutter delay, that for moments like the ones you’ve shown here, they’d be competitive against expensive SLRs.

Plus… because the content is all so different, it makes it harder to compare and contrast for judging purposes.

I say this was a practice run. Do it again. Pick a sub-theme, let’s say “blue”, or the idea of “heat”, whatever. Push it a little like you did in the prior contests, and shoot something that will make people question whether it was shot with a camera phone or a “professional” camera.

I look forward to seeing those results!

best,

Shawn

 Brent   9
Jordan 1
Luis      5

This week’s theme is Proverb Illustration. Thought it could be something fun, something interesting, and something to get our minds thinking a little bit more. More importantly to really make an effort on conveying a photo with a very clear message. Now that message isn’t our own, but still aiming for a message that can be received by everyone. For this reason I chose proverbs, a phrase that also doesn’t say exactly what it means.

This week’s photos were judged by Matt Stamey, a Gainesville Sun photographer in Florida. You can visit him on Google+ .

Can you guess what the proverb is? leave a comment with your guess!
Below are the submissions for this week:

 

——UPDATE——

Total Points so far!

Brent      7
Jordan   1
Luis         4