Defying Gravity

Asian self portrait photographer Natsumi Hayashi is a younger adult who one day decided to start shooting self portraits around her hometown for fun, but not just any old photography. What is unique to her is that all of her self portraits feature her “levitating” above the ground. She uses a self timer on her camera and then at the perfect time, she jumps but so perfectly that it looks like she is simply floating above the earth. It takes a lot of timing and patience to be able to shoot these kinds of photos and I love that she is not afraid to go out and shoot these awesome shots, even as unconventional as they are. Loveeee her work!

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Recreating the Past

This photographer really has an interesting idea going for herself. Irina Werning came up with a fun project and concept of going back in time through pictures in the present. By this I mean, she came up with a photo project where she recreates an old photo of someone in the present. I thought this idea was so fun and exciting, especially because many people think of old photos of more of an embarrassment than inspiration. Still, these photos came out very well done! I had a good time looking through them especially the baby to adult ones because of how different the subject looks. I love the idea and could see myself recreating a few good memories of my own once just to laugh and see how similar and different the photos look!

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Vivian Maier- Street Photographer

I love these kinds of stories. The stories where an amazing person and there talents are discovered after they have passed away. There are so many painters and writers and musicians who were undiscovered until someone found there work and recognized its greatness. This story is similar. The woman was a closet street photographer, living out her days as a nanny in Chicago. But her photography tells us a different story. Her photography tells us the person she really was, and possibly who she aspired to be. I love the focus of her work, using everyday experiences as her inspiration and everyday people as her subjects. Most of the photos that have been discovered were taken in around the 1950’s with, from what I can tell from the self-portraits, a box camera. This makes the photos even more precious because although they may seem like she just took photographs on the street without thought, the clarity and juxtaposition of each photo makes it clear that she put thought and effort into each shot. Clearly this was Vivian’s passion, and she was great at it. Unfortunately, she was not able to share her passion and art with those around her. That is, until now. Photography, specifically 35mm black and white film like these shots, is one of my personal passions and I am glad that someone discovered Maier’s work, because not only is it amazing but it also encourages me to continue to create photography as a hobby. Who knows? One day someone may discover my work as well!

Vivian Maier Photography

“Rufus… SHAKE!”

I ran into these pictures today and I thought they were so clever! This photographer, Carli Davidson, took photographs of dogs and cats in mid “shake”. I find this both amusing and interesting. Amusing because of the funny faces she was able to capture using what I presume to be a very high shutter speed but interesting because who would ever think to try and capture such a thing? When we think of famous photographers we think of very planned out and deliberate landscapes or portraits, never simple animal instincts! Although portraying real life as real as possible is the way many photographers try to shoot these days. When I found these photographs I found them very playful and imaginative and I applaud Davidson for thinking outside the box and creating such intriguing photographs!

SHAKE Photographs