California State University San Marcos Blog Michael Niblett!!!

San Diego To Phoenix To Tuscon To Vegas....

2010-04-02T00:30:00.000-07:00

Work in process / progress

2010-03-25T22:31:00.000-07:00

Enjoy

Adventures @ Rincon

2010-03-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Pechanga Reservation

2010-03-15T16:39:00.000-07:00

Small Update

2010-03-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

First photo is from the self realization garden in Encinitas and the second is an HDR photo from the Pechanga reservation in Temecula. Many more photos to come from Pechanga.

Texas

2010-03-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

Went to Texas on a work assignment. I tried to go out every night to have some fun. The last night in town after having dinner and drinking a bottle of sake (first photo) I arrived at my hotel to the sound of loud live music. Following it I stumbled into a smokey hotel room (second photo) to see what was going on. They warmly welcomed me as they were finishing there set. I left after sharing some drinks with them. No idea who they were but good times had.

Sunday

2010-02-28T20:48:00.000-08:00

Used my 55-250 lens all day...Went for the "deep depth" theme. Going to upgrade glass soon. The colors aren't hitting the way I think they should.

Tierra Miguel Farm

2010-02-27T16:16:00.000-08:00

Video From Tierra Miguel

2010-02-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

http://vimeo.com/9741633

chor schorr

2010-02-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Looked at the work of chor schorr today. She is a photographer who looks beyond the photograph at things like identity in society. Her pictures of boys wrestling explores ideas of why boys wrestle despite it not being a popular sport in high schools.
Another series explored the roles of German Jews in Germany society. Her photographs gave the viewer insight how the subjects felt wearing german attire versus american attire. The expressions wearing the german attire is one of much more concern.

Painted Rock in Vista, CA

2010-02-08T19:34:00.000-08:00

Sally Mann

2010-02-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Sally's dog bone photos were probably the least strong but the way she describes how the dog chews the bone, unaware it is making art is a beautiful metaphor. I love the pictures of her kids with no worries of the politics implicated towards naked kids in photos. It seems like she is the type of person who does not care what others think of her and has found true beauty with the camera. As a person she seemed really stressed out and critical of her work.

Roni Horn

2010-02-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

After watching a documentary on Roni Horn I have several reactions and feelings about her work. Her pictures of water could have been taken by anyone but the context of how and where they are displayed make them interesting. Because they are displayed inside of a school where people do not go outside often helps bring the outside inside. The vast amount of the water pictures also create a nice flowing continuity throughout the building.
It seems like most of her work like living inside a light house for a month is her creative process because after living in the lighthouse her artistic outcome was much different than I imagined, being hundreds of pictures of the same face representing different environments. All together I thought Roni had some interesting ideas and a unique artistic process leading to some really interesting works.

Pano From Vegas...

2010-02-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

Took this panorama in Las Vegas from the top of the Rio hotel. There are three different versions of this photo but I really like the sky in this one! The longest pano at full resolution measures 33 feet long and just over 3 feet tall. I think it was about 9:30 at night when this was taken and about 40 degrees on the roof. Just after 10 PM the roof top turns into a club called Voodoo, they bring out a bunch of portable heaters and becomes a lot of fun with a great view.

Texture Assignment 2/2/2010

2010-02-02T18:23:00.000-08:00

Texture assignment

Family Christmas Photos

2009-12-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

Kayla Hurley Shoot

2009-12-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

Macro Focus

2009-12-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

Got a Tokina 100 F2.8 Macro Through Monday.

Orgin Of The Header

2009-12-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

The new Blog header originated from this picture. Taken in downtown San Diego. Lens - fixed 50mm F1.8. Reminds me of Christmas lights.

Ordover Gallery

2009-12-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

Where: Ordover Galley - Solana Beach - Cedros
This small gallery exhibited a variety of artist, Elizabeth Carmel's Tuscany series left me with the greatest impression. Her work displayed in the main room uses a unique method where her photographs look more like paintings. These dreamlike scenes give a new insight to landscapes making them more interesting to me. This type of photography truthfully has not been my favorite but she does a great job making me look at landscape in a new way.

Balboa Park

2009-12-06T12:58:00.000-08:00

Expedition 2 of 2
Where: Balboa Park
Context: Ordover Gallery

Baja California - Natural History Musuem - Ordover Gallery
This exhibit showcased multiple photographers work in the Baja wildlife and landscape category. The different types of photos included wildlife such as birds fish and whales, ranging from conditions of the arid desert to the mountainous regions and the ocean. The featured artist Ralph Leek Hopkins, a National Geographic photographer had many amazing works. His photographs detail the subject with amazing clarity. He type of camera joined with a really expensive lenses must aide in these types of photographs. In contrast his photo of the cactus has little to do with an expensive camera and more to do with the creative side. I respect him exploring these two realms because it gives his photography variety.

Beloved Daughters -
Fazal Sheiks touches on some dark subjects as a photographer. His exhibit Beloved Daughters is far from the title being about the mistreatment of women in India. In his portraits none of the subjects are smiling, looking tattered in one way or another, making you wonder about the story of each person. This black and white series has text attached to each photo detailing the horible accounts of each person's life. From a photographic standpoint the portraits are really clear with the subjects eyes as the focal point. Seeing these photos and not knowing what to expect made my day less vibrant.

Balboa Park

2009-12-06T12:20:00.000-08:00

Expedition 1 of 2
Where: Balboa Park
Context: Museum of Photographic Art (MOPA)
3 Concurent exhibitions - Photograph As A Whitness, Ansel Adams, Jo Whale
Photograph As A Whitness -

This part of the exhibition displayed documentary style photos by different photographers. Highway Camp Encinitas, California by Don Bartletti left me walking away with the greatest impression. Knowing Encinitas as a picture perfect place gave contrast to a less than perfect situation. This added context to the photo, shedding light that horrible things happen everywhere.

Ansel Adams -
"A Life's Work" by Ansel Adams displayed photo works ranging from the Yosemite valley to the Japanese internment camps as well as other well known photos. I like the deep contrast created in the photographs, making the blacks seem like they void more light than they should. To achieve these deep blacks a type of process using silver, common to black and white photography is used. His photographs seem to enlighten the viewer to the beauty of nature from an outsiders perspective, almost in a documentary fashion.

Jo Whale -
"Theatre Of Insects" Whale takes insects out of nature and puts them up against a themed, man made background. This process makes your mind wander because the two do not go together. Through this process the viewers thoughts are changed of how things are viewed in the world. This can be associated to how Richard Avedon took the beekeeper photo.

Overall, the three concurrent exhibitions provided great differences between different styles of photography.

Carrie Mae Weems

2009-12-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

I feel like Richard Avedon and Carrie Mae Weems belong in the same category because they are trying to reveal something deep and emotional. Both of the artist seem to capture a moment where the subjects are not at there finest and not at there worst, something between. In this moment of be tweeness you emotions are evoked for the subject although you have no idea to the context or insight of the situation. Ultimately when you look at a photograph your expectations are based on what you have seen before. In the case of Avedon and Weems they portray something different, something I would not expect, this captures my attention. Most artist set out to capture the most beautiful landscape, portrait, or technical shot they can get these photos almost seem opposite of that.

Cindy Sherman

2009-12-05T22:00:00.000-08:00

Cindy Sherman's artistic process is really interesting and her photos investigate some deep beauty issues. A lot of work is required on her part because she does a lot of the work by herself and is the subject in her photos. Sometimes she shoots in front of a green screen and digitally inserts several copies of herself into a scene.She leaves many of her photos untitled leaving them open for interpretation, giving the viewer a chance to think more deeply about what they are looking at and what is being said, usually open for interpretation. She expresses how film has influenced her greatly, more so than art.

Richard Avedon

2009-12-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

If I had to give Richard Avedon a category it would probably be a Surrealist photographer based on his photograph of Ronald Fischer "Beekeeper". I try to see things in a way that no one has ever has, based on light angle etc, when taking a photograph. Avedon takes this idea to a whole new level combining two seemingly ordinary things, bees and people in an everything but ordinary circumstance, creating an uneasy reaction in the viewer. All of Avedon's other photos are interesting, capturing a moment that seems unscripted and candid, far from the expectation of what a perfect portrait should be. This makes the people in his photos seem more real with faults like the rest of us.

Rick Smolan

2009-12-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

I appreciate that Rick Smolan does not glorify his work as a photographer and willfully expresses his shortcomings, he seems like a simple down to earth person.
I agree with the idea that creative people work the best under pressure. Some of my best work has come under deadlines, having to make a decision is half the battle. When you have time to make choices you tend to over think the situation ultimately shying away from your gut instinct.
I love Smolan's photographs having recently looked at Obama's time capsule Link exemplifying how vibrant and interesting his photographs are.

Blurb Photobook

2009-12-05T20:33:00.000-08:00

Received by blurb photo book and am pleased with many pictures, I want to rip two out completely so I guess that's not too bad. The experience of seeing them in a book versus on a computer screen is much better. The quality of the prints is great, choosing the premium paper and the full cover print makes the experience even better. The clarity of the photos is better than I have seen from Snapfish, Ritz or Costco. I have learned a lot in the creation of this book, mostly what looks good in a book and what doesn't! The experience has been great and I plan to print another.

Here's a link to the book if you you want a preview.

Blurb Photobook Link

Flickr

2009-12-05T20:13:00.000-08:00

Link To Flickr Slideshow

Vernacular Fashion Series

2009-11-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

Revisited Bridge (Urban Landscape Series)

2009-11-30T17:34:00.000-08:00

used a better camera this time

An-My Le

2009-11-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

An-My Le's process in taking photos limits her ability. She uses long exposures and a really old camera. This lets her think about the shot, in this limitation she gets the opportunity to do something different. Most people look at a scene and just start taking photos. At several points in the documentary I wish she had brought a DSLR with her to capture more of it.

Food Series

2009-11-16T19:47:00.000-08:00

Walkway

2009-11-16T19:40:00.001-08:00

Chris Mayne

2009-10-27T13:29:00.005-07:00

Chris Mayne, avian photographer came to our class to talk about his photos and his equipment. When he was discussing the different birds he captured, the conditions of the shoot were described. I found this interesting because the photo doesn't give you this information. Each photo he displayed seemed to have a back story about the location, weather, lighting and such.
Another thing that I found interesting was some of the techniques that he used to capture hummingbirds. In his backyard he sets up a feeder and hangs a green shower curtain in the background. With his lens in telephoto it gives the illusion of foliage. This surprised me because I would never think a photographer of this caliber would use a shower curtian.
Another surprising thing was the small amount of post production he spends on his photos. Many questions in the class concerned this process, post capture to final print, how much time he spends in photoshop etc. His process seemed quick and dirty, including what he described as "not falling in love with any of his photos." His photoshop editing process also seemed quick and dirty, making only small adjustments to his photos.
This talk was informative and inspirational, making me want to go out and take some photos after the session. The "level" of photography that Chris produces seems more atainable, putting a process with the work.

Quiz On Infrared (after then before)

2009-10-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

The Bridge

2009-10-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

The camera went to work with me and took pictures. I've been wanting to take a picture off this bridge for about a year. The area is dangerous so I had little time to decide how to take the shot. I will probably go back in daylight and try some other angles. I like the line/focal point of the traffic but get lost in the buildings.

Quiz Color Bleaching (before and after)

2009-10-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

Landscape Series

2009-09-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

Urban Landscape Series

2009-09-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Portrait Series

2009-09-24T18:47:00.001-07:00

Portrait Series

2009-09-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

This evening, started editing some of my images.