Black and White Photos

I googled some black and white images of beaches because I have found that I really like taking pictures of the outdoors and I really love beaches. Something about them, especially captured in black and white, is so soothing. Here are a few i found..

I love this picture. Your eye is first drawn to the girl in the front and then you notice the other in the foreground. Their shadows against the sand are awesome. I really feel like i'm in this picture.

I've also discovered that pictures that I am always drawn to are the ones that are vry close up. Although these are just a few rocks, I love them surrounded by sand and the different colors and textures of them. I think this is a very strong photo.

for this assignment on light and shadows, i have been analyzing light the past few days. My favorite light is when its late in the day, right before the sun begins to set. I believe its the most intense at that point. In my drawing class, i have been able to learn how much light affects objects because i am working on a black and white charcoal drawing of blocks with a spot light on them. It is amazing on how drawing each light detail and shade, the object really comes to life on paper! I believe the same thing can happen when an object is photographed correctly in the presence of shadows and light.

Comparing Two Photos

Look at this, my second post in one week! I know this is a little late, but better late than never right!
I compared the two photos by Thomas Joshua Cooper and Ansel Adams and although they are both taken of waterfalls ( i believe) each is taken in a way that you get a very different feel from both of them. In Cooper's photo, there is more of a focal point of a part of the water in comparison with Adam's who gives you the full out landscape view of the whole thing. Cooper's gives me more of a mysterious feeling as to what it is that is entwining with the water at the bottom of the photo. It just has a more eerie feeling. In Adam's photo, there is more of a calm feeling of "oh, look at the nice waterfall." It is clear what the picture is when you look at Adam's photo, but in Cooper's you don't know exactly what to make of it all. In comparing the two, you can imagine that Cooper's was a waterfall, but if you were simply to look at Cooper's photo apart from the other.. one might think that was a cloud of smoke, or mist.
Overall, I find it intriguing how taking pictures from different angles and focuses can give you such a different feeling of the same content.

So i haven't been the best at keeping up with my blogs, but from here on out i am going to make a conscious effort to blog more often.
Today's class was awesome! i loved seeing everyone's photos and how differently we all perceived the assignment and took such different photos. It was amazing how some of the groups of pictures had themes that the photographer hadn't even realized.
With my photos, i was overall pleased with how they came out. I want to try to focus on more objects other than nature and try to incorporate people in them as well.
From looking at all the photos today, I realized that the most obscure pictures were the ones that grabbed my eye and looked professional. Also, the pictures that all had a central focus were my favorite as welll, i don't necessarily like the pictures that have to much going on.
On another note, besides looking at everyone elses photos, I had so much fun developing my own! It was exciting to put my blank sheet of photo paper into the developer to see how my picture would come out! Of course, it was also a bit discouraging when it was out of focus or not the right color, but it was a fun challenge to overcome in order to fix them!
After developing my first pictures, I have a much better idea of what kind of pictures I want to try to produce and think this light assignment is going to be great to try to produce.