Photographer #4 - Barbara Bordnick

Background on photographer:
Barbara Bordnick grew up in Western Wurope and quickly rose to fame with her photo shoots for Harper's Bazaar magazine.

From her website portfolio:

Fashion - I enjoyed this 1960s- and 1970s-inspired group of images. Each photo shows Bordnick's sense of careless, beautiful style of the clothing and the models.

Portraits - These were fun to look at because each portrait is incredibly different than the others featured. Bordnick captured the essence of each person by angling and composing the photo so that the subject looks most interesting.

Nudes - I liked these photos because they showed a lot of musculoskeletal detail on various men and women. The shadows and lighting created a oily, silver gelatin finish.

Flowers - These were my favorite photos because I love bright-colored flowers! I liked how the flowers were pictured on a white background, and the flowers were featured very close-up.

Here is my favorite image:

Photographer #3 - Howard Bjornson

From Howard Bjornson's website portfolio:


STILL

Retail - These are my favorite photos that Bjornson has on his portfolio site. I really love the lighting and shadows. The bright use of colored objects, tastefully grouped, makes each image captivating and beautiful.

Fashion - I admired the creativity that Bjornson used with particular subjects, including the see-through jacket with green opaque gloves placed in each pocket.

Colorfield - These photos are remarkable because they are simple and in context. The viewer can glance over the photos quickly, and still get a sense of artistic creativity by use of sharpness and bold color.

Place - Each photo is uniquely inviting to the viewer. These interior space photographs have the innate feeling of welcoming the viewer to join the table (where a chair is pulled out), eat some fruit (a full bowl sits next to an empty bowl), or the lighting in a living/grand room describes a place to relax and be at peace (almost like a summertime appeal).


CONSUMABLE

Food as Art - I really liked the "coconut shrimp" image the best. Bjornson shows a creative way of labeling food by carefully-planned-out imagery.

Late Nite Food - The sense of greasy, intense-lit food in this section reminds me of a late nite, old vintage Hollywood diner. Bjornson effectively captured the food's appeal.


Gastronomy - I enjoyed looking at these photos that were used in advertisements, magazine layouts, and catalogs! The photos are very artistic and convey a message to the viewer that markets each item successfully.


NATURE

After the Frost - These photos were the most simple, but had strong shadows that cast an image of a cold winter, snowy day.

Weeds - These were my favorite nature photos mostly because he livened the weeds up by showcasing the brightest colored weeds, which definitely look like backyard flowers.

The Marsh - These photos remind me of movies that are filmed in woodland, marshy areas. There's definitely a sense of vulnearability and tunnel vision because the photo is so busy with sticks and trees, making it nearly impossible to escape.


One of my favorite photos from his work:

Photographer #2 - Huntington Witherill

Artist: Huntington Witherill
Medium: Photograpy

What I found interesting about Witherill:
Witherill is an outstanding black-and-white photographer. Most notable, is the fact that he studied under Ansel Adams. Witherill's unique lighting situations often reflect small similarities to Ansel Adams' landscape pieces.

My favorite piece:

Photographer #1 - Dar Spain

Artist: Dar Spain
Multimedia used: Photographs, oil and watercolor paints

Info about Dar Spain's work:
I was amazed to find out that Spain's photographs are not actually color photographs! The beautiful softness of light and dark colors intesifies the drama with each black-and-white photograph.

My favorite piece (entitled "Picnic"):

Field Trip #1 - Indian Rock

Date: February 4, 2008
Location: Indian Rock in Vista, CA
Local Indian tribe who lead the field trip talks: Luiseño Indians
Link: http://www.csusm.edu/indianrock/

Brief Description:
There were two classes that visited this sacred Indian Rock simultaneously on Monday, February 4th. During the field trip, native plant specialist Greg Rubin took us on a guided tour of the property. Rubin pointed out that the site was originally a oak woodland, featuring chapparal trees. Over the years, weeds were introduced by Eurasian settlement.

Plants located on the Indian Rock property:
- sugar bush
- lemonade berry
- greasewood (also called chamise) which is a hardwood with straight shafts
- toyon (has red berries at Christmastime)
- coastal live oak trees (these acorns were once used for flour and wewish with the Luiseño Indians)
- coyote brush (this bush is a pioneer bush, with features green tiny leaves and tall thin bare sticks)
- elderberry
- white sage (sacred plant in many tribes, used for blessings)
- California sage brush (used for modern medicine)
- royal pestamon (has glossy green leaves)
- bush mallow (colors: grey, pink, lavender)
- oak trees
- monkeyflower (red flowers)
- laurel summac (new leaves are reddish)
- batilla hot poppy (blooms are 10" across)
- bushroo (cirtus plant with small oranges)
- butelon (also called desert mallow, which has velvet leaves)
- lupines (pink flowers sting human skin)
- yucca
- soaproot
- sumac
- snapdragon
- wild cucumber (also called manroot)
- deer weed

My favorite plant (the red monkeyflower, in full bloom):



After studying the plants, the classes sat and listened to the history of the Indian Rock, and the ceremonial coming-of-age events that took place a few hundred years ago. Following that, Steve Friers, a rock art specialist from Riverside County, explained the pictographs along the southwestern side of the rock. He also described the possible dyes used in the pictographs (an iron composite), which have made the pictographs last through the centuries.