Beast Mode

Its all about beats mode!

Its one of the highest operating states that exist. Beast mode does not recognize excuses, it only recognizes complete commitment to see something though until the end. Beast mode is an essential tool to enable mastery and awesomeness. When in beast mode state their are not expectations only a deep motivation to be persistent and learn no matter what happens.
It could be said that beast mode is a philosophy and way of life. Beast mode does not look to others for validation and approval the motivation for this way of being goes beyond what other people think. Beast mode allows a person to get results while being wild and free in a world full of chaos and conformity. Beast mode is irrational and most people will not approve of people who engage life in this way. Looking at any majorly successful person they all implement different levels of beast mode to attain their successes. For example look at Richard Branson, Sean Carter, Obama, Vance Miller, Timothy Ferris, Mother Teresa, Charlie Sheen  and Shirin Ebadi just to name a few. All these are people who are operating under some variating degree of beast mode.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Their for all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

-George Bernard Shaw

                             

                                                     

Prince Richard

Richard Prince is an intriguing artist. He is one of the most financially successful photographers/ artists with one of his paintings selling for more then eight million dollars, and many of his photographs selling for six and seven figures. He is one of the pioneers of rephotographing pictures taken by other photographers and his exploration of the famous Marlboro man is classic example of this.

I am intrigued at how wild and free this image is without the context of a cigaret ad. Its a interesting idea to take images out of context and rebirth them to give the viewer a different impression. It is not a process that i would ever consider doing myself and i do think that it takes away much credit from the original photographer but i appreciate how unconventional this style of photography is.

I have included this image because i dislike it, i think it is bland and plain and completely dull.
The Image of this watch sold for more than $60,000 which is a joke to me. But it shows how influential and desirable Prince has become as a photographer.  I think his photography is unlike most and in many ways i believe he shares similarity to Andy Warhol (which may be an insult to Warhol) in how stylized his photography is and how strong of a character he is. 

Steve McCurry

Ever since i saw the famous image titled "Afghan Girl" which made the cover of the 1985 National Geographic i admired Steve McCurry. His portfolio is overwhelmingly vast and rich with a variety of images and style. The core of his work focusses on the human condition. These two images are from his series titled "Children of War". At the core i believe photography is about spreading knowledge and awareness, not just about pretty pictures and this series and particular these two photographs provide that awareness into the situation some children are faced with. 

In most of the world toddlers and infants are very well sheltered from what is dangerous, it is almost as though children in general are kept in a bubble of safety. Whenever guns and children are combined its startling. The expression on both of the subjects faces are peaceful and their body position suggests they would be holding a stuffed animal. A child that is warm and soft is the complete opposite of a cold steel automatic weapon. These images make me as the viewer feel incomplete, slightly disturbed and wanting to know more and i think because of that they are extremely successful.

I do not know the specifics about the camera and format that McCurry uses to shoot with but i am inspired by the depth of his images and his tenacity to capture the conditions of people around the world. 

Homeless Landscape, Albuquerque NM 2012

Homelessness has always been an issue that has made me think. It brings up many different question and ideas about the social structures that have failed in supporting certain groups of people. Its a sub-culture that people are forced into where they become more and more isolated from the rest of society the longer they are homeless. These are some pictures that represents that community with the intention of showing their humanity.

James Nachtwey

James Nachtwey is a photographer who takes his viewers to places that are inaccessible to the average person. He was born in 1948. The majority of his images as a photojournalist covers the pain, suffering, and tragedy that occurs as a result of war and poverty. His images are raw and shocking, showing human conditions that the average person is terrified of seeing. He has been decorated with a plethora of awards.

 James Nachtwey uses photography as a tool to spread awareness of whats going on outside our bubble of comfort and western security.

His use of black and white is incredibly striking. Its gives his subjects and images a timeless and frozen quality. Although all forms of photography have the potential to be beneficial to people James Nachtwey has gone above and beyond the standard of creativity and capturing an image to document the dark side of the world that we live in.

Even though so many of his photos display disturbing scenes they also have a beauty to them. He is able to compose his images with a softness that shows his compassion towards whats happening.

He is one of a select group of photojournalist that has been to the majority of conflicts around the world in the past 20 years and showed the human cost of those conflicts.

William Eggleston

William eggleston is an American photographer who has supported the advancement of using color photography as fine art. His work seems to be extremely thought through as if he was designing every frame and taking into consideration every object. His images are highly refined and the color is extremely balanced.

 This image has such a balanced feeling to it. The color is so vivid it feels like as the viewer you are their with this boy. Its sharp and crisp and has an uncomfortable feeling to it. Egglestons photography often has this uncomfortable feeling to his images.

Another Striking quality about his work is how many of his images feel like they came right out of a motion picture. His Images all have that much desired quality of making the viewer want to know more and in fact leads our imaginations to guess and make up our own stories about what is going on.

This is one of my favorite of his photographs. I love the subtleties of the sky  and the overall softness of the Images.

Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore is an American Photographer that was born in 1947. He is renowned for his work with color. He is best known for his documentation of America by road. Many of his photographs show a stark and shocking america because of the often times simple oddness of the images he uses. 

Shore begin taking pictures with a 35mm camera when he was 9 years old. Shore was the second living photographer to has a show in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art he was 24 years old. The quality of color in his works is striking and has a surreal feel. He also frames his photographs in a way that is not common. His perspective is very unique. Here are a few pictures of his that stand out to me.

Interstate carnage

I saw this coming back from SF. I always like seeing things burning but its kind of fucked up because some people probably died.

The heat was scalding even from like 50 yards away, it hurt my face to tke this picture with the window rolled down.

Accidents are always interesting because as a photographer its largely chance when you happen upon them and then its challenging to be able to capture them.

Edward Burtynsky- Is one of the more famous canadian photographers. He was born in 1955 in ontario and is Ukrainian in heritage. Through his photography he captures the connection between industry and nature. Most of his photographs are large in scale and have a message that is open ended yet at the same time very present. He shows what most people in western culture don't see yet contribute to, both success  and affluence of material things and the the bio products of creating these things. He main uses large format 4x5 camera to capture his images.

"AMARC #5, Davis-Monthan AFB, Tuscon Arizona, USA, 2006"

"Oil Spill #5"

His images are spacious, empty, and have an extra terrestrial quality to them.  He shows us what we have created and yet never seen- the bi-product of consumption. Even though many of his photographs show environmental disasters they bring out a certian melancholy beauty. 

Colors and contrast are always very noticeable in his images weather they are subtle or bold they are present and very precise.

Jerry Uelsmann was born in 1934. He begin doing photography at age 14. He Is known for his surreal and abstract photographs. He mainly works with film creating photo montages which he was one of the innovators in this form of photography. He likes to combine nature and human elements together in one image. He has been creating photography for the past fifty years.

His work is like a weaving of the human and nature and through images neither seems opposing one another they seem to blend and organic even when they image is strange.

His work is almost solely black and white. So of his images give the feeling of entering another world maybe as though taking images from dreams. Although his photographs are black and white they neither seem to be futuristic or old fashion they instead have a timeless quality to them.

Uelsmann uses the female body a lot and seems that he is expressing the link between nature and feminine and the beauty that exist in the natural world as well as in the female body.

Ford Rapitor Shoot

This was a photoshoot of Baja trucks for their A new model of baja truck. 

 I have always loved auto racing so i was really exited to take these pictures

 The lighting was challenging because it was so bright so most of the pictures were very over exposed!

Photo critique (8-29-12) In class

Subway by Bruce Davidson

Bruce Davidson was born in 1933 and has been doing photography since he was a young child. He is known for photography during many civil rights movements and primarily has taken photos in New York City.  He was drafted into the army and spent a significant amount of time in Paris. 

Lighting creates balance and symmetry

More modern displaying a similarity of clothing and lighting where as older photographs show a distinct difference between this photo in terms of racial inequality. Because of these similarities, the appear to be of equal status. Their clothes are the same, their figures are shaped the same, and their facial expressions are the same. They are almost a mirror reflection of each other. In Davidsons previous photography, there is a gap between races which makes the viewer more aware of the time period. In this photography, the time period is blurred because of the equality of the men. 

This photograph was from his series taken in 1980 of the New York subway.  This image shows the the gritty and raw lives of new yorkers. The series shows a variety of races, classes, genders, and ages.  

The "Please keep hands off the door" in the background is ironic because the viewer can clearly see the men leaning up against the doors and there is also visible graffiti. This can also be a metaphor for the way these men might not always be accepted in other places or situations. The subway car can represent two things. It can be considered a space of tranquility and equality since everyone uses the subway. However it can also be seen as a cage that they are trapped in. 

I feel like it captures the entire time period of the 1980's in one photograph. With their tight, sleeveless, "guardian angel" shirts, the trucker hat, fro, mustache, boxed glasses, and studded belt. The technology of the subway cart also proves this photograph was taken in the 80's. 

Hueco Tanks

Climbing trip-Hueco Tanks.

Lighting was Bad so i Had to Use a reflector but other then that lighting was all natural.

I am a fan of action photography especially when its extreme sports and incorporates nature!