Eugene Atget [1857-1927]

Known for walking around big gardens like those of palaces and castles with a large format camera and outdated clothing. A very private man whose majority of work is available thanks to Bernice Abbott who rescued his negatives and printed quite a few of his work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJhDrGUpmFE

Marchand Abat-Jours 

A nice, straight forward and centered composition showing us how well diagonal lines work. Created but the buildings and sidewalks, these diagonal lines drag the eye into the center without force and make for a beautiful image that focuses on a man that seems to be selling lamp shade. I love the cobblestones on the ground, reminds me of Old San Juan. 

"Just got my ride pimped, whatchu think?" jk. 

Rag picker

I don't even think of this picture to be that great of a photograph but I really can't seem to discard it. He captured this man's life, almost. I can see straight into his pupils and feel a sense of weight and sweat. I like the depth of the photo, how he seems so much crisper than the background. There might be a little triangle thing going on, maybe an upside down one as well... jewish photography? get it, get it, get it? Anyways, simple geometric shapes are read by the subconscious at first glance, and depending on the element's positions, cohesiveness and fluidity make for a solid and legible composition.

This reminded me of my great grandfather who dresses like this man, well, the way his clothes fit is very similar. This man may have also be a vato. You ever know these days... not funny either? "man...." I like the fence kind of vanishing into repetition in the background. It was  nice time of the day to shoot, very cool and calm, yet energetic.

Street paver. 1899

That hat almost seems pasted on top of this image. That's their working clothes... interesting. I like being able to see some kind of progress in work methods as well as construction. Things are very different now a daze. There's kids in the background... playing in a construction site. Looks like a lot of fun if you ask me. And there's a black horse int he background, almost disappearing into the background. He looks like he's steering a boat. Rocking baggy clothing, something pop culture would later adopt through a different manner.

Robert Adams [1937-old]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljVVFKjN0Dc

He was born in New Jersey in 1937. His black&white photographs document scenes of the latter American West. Although often devoid of human subjects, or sparsely populated, Adams’s photographs capture the physical traces of human life... and it's almost monotonous voice.

River on left, ocean on right. 1990
This image caught my attention through the barrier of rocks rolling right down the middle out into the horizon between 2 bodies of water. I then read that it was actually salt water on right and river water on the left. Pretty cool, for me at least :P It's really interesting to see the water on the left very calm and cool versus the fury of salt water.

1990

This made me think of Terminator 2: Judgement Day. It's like you know they don't want to really go where they have but, there doesn't seem to be a choice. They tried explaining it to the kid once but he didn't get it; none the less, he has to come along. The light coming in from the left adds that dramatic hint of A-Bomb.The males coming out from the shadows in contrast to the female glowing in light.  The sky, empty as the space around them... very de Chirico.

1990


The intense like makes this a Stepford home, with the wife getting dinner ready. The figure pops right out, even lighter than the sky up top, which he may have burned. 

1970-74

I realllly like this, the repetition, the cut and dry angles and shadows, the white house+maybe dark red tops... desserted and interesting. The large difference between the floor and sky...

1970

Ansel Adams [1902-1984]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFs03oAx9ME

Ansel Adams, a native to San Francisco, decided to be a photographer instead of music around the 1920's. Being a devoted environmentalist, a lot of his work steered towards nature although his urban or architectural photography is well recognized and highly influential.

Science Lecture Hall - St. Francis Church

The balance, exquisite compositions and wide peripheral landscapes are still copied and attributed to Adams to this day. The one on the left makes me think of The Jetsons for its early 70's pad vibe with the widened architecture and the one on the right made me think of Sand People... :|

El Capitan Sunrise
A magnificent boulder, rock, mountain, "nature's steel" whatever you want to call it; among trees that are not even half it's height. The cast shadow of sun going to sleep going from dark to light from upper right to center really intrigued me. So many different tonal values within gray... I'm really enjoying the pine tree silhouettes. 

Roots - L.A. Freeway
These two images here are perfect representations of what I wish more minds would ingest. We are nature, another animal; yet, we strive to be mechanical like the machine. Perfection lies within the imperfections of nature it self, for it will always overcome the synthetic, or cease. In the turn of the 19th century, the influence of nature was imperative because they understood that it is a perfect example of ever flowing creation and substantial design. I simply thought that the resemblance between these two very different components was both ironic and beautiful in their linear attributes like shadow and texture as well as how similar they are even though they are completely different... If you squint your eyes, they almost look like the same subject.

Dogwood Blossoms
I just found this to be very simple, soft and well contrasted photograph. The composition is very nice, making they eye move freely without getting stuck on one particular item. Great balance of tone and surface as well as readability and aesthetics. It's like: "Yep, they're beautiful flowers." 

Mariposa Grove

I've had a thing for giant trees since I first realized that my body grows - somewhere around the age of 4. There is something in their majestic height and firm roots that gave me the assurance that no matter how much I grew up, I would always be a kid at heart. Like there was still something bigger than me. In this photograph, I like the harsh shadows exhibiting the texture on the trunks, the zigzagging movement between the trees make my eye dig in, kind of trying to figure out what's beyond this or deeper into the forest. I find that the scale being represented by the small figures in contrast to the trees to be very amusing and to hold a lot more in context.