Shown to the Stars

1. My initial reaction to McCurry's work was awe at how vibrant each photograph is, and how vividly I could sense/feel the emotions portrayed by his subjects.  2. I would categorize McCurry's work as multicultural humanist photography, as he mainly captures people of all different backgrounds and their struggles/the culture that is retained within them even throughout conflict.  3. Henri Cartier-Bresson is also a humanist photographer, but I prefer McCurry's work more, due to his stunning use of vibrant colors, adding to his cultural themes. Bresson's work is mainly French street photography, therefore it misses out on capturing the beauty and pain of other cultures. 4. I honestly love McCurry's work, and I can't think of any changes that would make it better. However, someone else might want to try more candid photography of unsuspecting subjects, instead of making the connection with the subjects first. I think it would be less respectful and successful that w...

1 . The work is calming and a little whimsical. In my opinion, it perfectly captures the calm after the storm and the beauty in abandonment/isolation. The shots have a beautiful, dark gray aesthetic, which I enjoy a lot. 2.  Sudek's work is classified as neo-romantic, but if I had to categorize it I would say it is melancholy life photography, just based on the gray tones, solitary objects, and places relatively void of bustling city life/people, etc. 3.  Fan Ho and Josef Sudek have some similar shots in the way they capture rays of soft sunlight filtering between buildings/architectural structures, as shown below. Sudek has less work featuring this motif, but Ho often focuses on that. Overall, I prefer Fan Ho, but between the photos shown below, I enjoy Sudek's more. 4. If someone made Sudek's work today, it would more heavily focus on ruination and abandonment, really honing in on the decline of our world in terms of the current conflicts and division we face globally. 5...

1. I was both spooked and impressed by Woodman's work. The majority of her pictures feature naked women in motion or blurred and merging with their surroundings. They seem melancholy and haunted, and that vulnerability seems to reflect Woodman's own state of mind. 2. I would categorize Wood man's work as storytelling female portraiture photography, because it isn't just a basic commercial headshot. Woodman poses her models with intention, and uses props, empty space, shapes/angles, to piece together a cohesive narrative with a purpose that is open for interpretation. 3. Although it is not photography, some of Woodman's work reminds me of the short story The Yellow Wallpaper , by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It follows the story of a w oman trapped within the cult of domesticity, which is represented by the yellow wallpaper in her room that she is metaphorically trapped within. Some of Woodman's photos capture women who are literally trapped behind ripped wallpaper ...

 1. Initially, I was in awe of the wide, "zoomed out" shots that characterize much of Burtynsky's work, as well as curious as to what they were. It was often hard to discern the patterns and realize that they were actual landforms, but the focus on patterns is what makes his work so successful. It really puts into perspective how small and uniform our manmade landscape can be. 2. I would categorize Burtynsky's work as aerial landscape photography. His focus tends to be shots of a natural environment, changed by humanity in some way, but taken from a bird's eye perspective or from far away to capture all of the subject. 3. Tom Hegen is also an aerial landscape photographer. Much like Burtynsky, his purpose is to expose human impact on nature through photography, utilizing repeating patterns in landforms. I enjoy both of their works, because it brings awareness to the global impacts of humans, more specifically, industrialization, urbanization, etc. Hegen      ...

 1. Initially, I was mostly surprised and a little bit appalled by Knight's work. It is unique in a shocking way, because he is not afraid to use what I interpret as sci-fi or dystopian-like elements, whether they be prosthetics, editing, etc. 2. I would categorize Knight's photography as fashion surrealism, as he focuses on clothing/the style of his subjects, but does so in an unorthodox, often dreamlike and unnatural way. 3.  Commercial photographer David LaChapelle's work shocked me in a similar way to Knight's, as both photographers are fearless in their unorthodox depictions of subjects, often with maximalist style. The main difference I've spotted between their respective works is their backgrounds: LaChapelle draws attention to the backgrounds as well as the subjects by making them bright, unusual, or a contrast to the subject/s, while Knight solely focuses on his subjects, utilizing a plain, neutral background to make his subjects stand out. I respect their ...

1. Initially, I was very impr essed but also confused as to how Uelsmann got to the final products, as his photographs have other images layered within them. To be able to achieve this "photomontage" without Photoshop must have taken a lot of hard work and creativity, which I admire. The images themselves range from astounding to unsettling, but overall I like them. 2. I would categorize Jerry U elsmann's work as photomontage photography, typically contrasting a landscape/natural image with a human/manmade subject. 3. El Lissitzsky was a R ussian artist, designer, and photographer who, like Uelsmann, utilized the technique of creating a photomontage, resulting in fascinating layered images. However, Lissitzsky's images focus more on humans, whereas Uelsmann's do not, and if they do, the person is much smaller in the frame, largely trumped by their natural surroundings. I like both of their works, but overall I prefer Lissitzsky's due to its more intimate, per...