Ben Heine

"BEN HEINE (born June 12, 1983 in Abidjan, Ivory coast) is a Belgian multidisciplinary visual artist. He is best known for his original series "Pencil Vs Camera", "Digital Circlism" and "Flesh and Acrylic". "

www.benheine.com

In other words, he mixes drawing and photography, like this:

I'm not combining my  hand sketches with photography, but I am combining my childrens artwork, sketched painted and collaged pieces, with my photography. Ben has some good ideas to get my creative wheels spinning.

Ben Heine has some other interesting projects- check out his website (above).

Caras Lonut- Photo Mechanic

Photo Mechanic? That's a job title I never heard of but sounds pretty interesting!

Caras Lonut is a professional photographer and photo mechanic and her work is creative, edgy and inspiring:

http://www.carasdesign.com

I'm working on my semester project, combining my childrens artwork with an image of them and I have a few pieces I'm stumped with creatively. Caras Lonut has some great ideas to get me thinking!
She also offers tutorials, which I may have to invest in a few to help me along...

She manipulates multiple images to create a dream-like scene like this one: 

Humans of New York

I found this guys name, Brandon Stanton, mentioned in a post somewhere and since I needed another artist to blog about I looked him up. I just spent HOURS looking at his HONY (Humans of New York) project and blog.

http://www.humansofnewyork.com

Its pretty freaking awesome! He walks around the city and talks to people, takes their picture, posts it with some caption and made a book. He's been on the front page of the TIMES, interviewed by ABC, yadda yadda. And he deserves some attention. His work is really fun, creative and I love the captions. The images themselves tell a story, but I think the captions have their own impact. Some are hilarious, some are political statements, some are sad, some are peoples regrets and advice. And his "Today in micro fashion..." images are adorable! I love it!

Here's a poem and image sample from his website/blog about HONY:

Jerry Tovo

They May Have Been Heroes- A Nations call to honor the dishonored

By Jerry Tovo

http://www.theymayhavebeenheroes.com

Last year my family visited the St Louis History Museum (which is awesome so go if you can) and there was a special photography exhibit by Jerry Tovo. He spent a year traveling the US to photograph and document the stories of homeless and impoverished veterans. I was astounded by his images and how they made me feel. My husband is a USMC veteran and we've been blessed beyond our expectations since his discharge. Another family member is also a USMC veteran, however,  he has struggled like so many other veterans. He had to seek a new career and struggles with depression. Life has been rough and after 14 years he still can't get all the benefits he is entitled to. So Tovo's images hit home you could say.

Military life is a sacrifice and not for the faint at heart. And those willing to make that sacrifice shouldn't have to struggle so much in and out of active duty. There are organizations out there trying to support our veterans and they need our help. I appreciate Tovo's images because I think they will help Americans feel compassion and a sense of duty to help the men and women who sacrificed for each of us.

The images themselves are exceptional and remind me of the work by a past classmate, Jon Slade. The contrast is high and the facial features detailed. Its not a glamour shot, but an honest look into how harsh life can be. Check out the website and DO something about helping our nations Heroes.

The Ron Haviv don'ts of a website

Ron Haviv is a photojournalist who captures conflict, violent and non-violent, to record injustices and people in the events they describe (the bio on his site is much better). You can check him out yourself:
http://www.ronhaviv.com/#s=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&p=0&a=0&at=0

His pictures are compelling but his site isn't friendly. It causes me conflict to look at...I'm in the process of creating a website and its not my forte. I want it to look good, make a good impression, and not piss someone off when they try to navigate it. I want to come across as friendly, not self-important and God's gift to photography (which is my impression of Haviv after viewing his website). This is one of my goals for the semester.

What do you think of his website? What are aspects you like? What would you change?

Selfie #14

Every Monday I volunteer at my church's storehouse (food pantry). I help patrons fill orders, fill truck orders that are going out, stock shelves, clean, etc. 

Selfie #13

Skyping with my husband..

Selfie #12

Today was a little bit busy and I didn't take a selfie of me, but something reminded me of a recent experience, which I have a selfie of:

It was taken shortly after Halloween, when I temporarily dyed my hair red for my costume. Temporarily meant it was should have washed out in "4-6 washes". It didn't. It took months. I went through a lot of emotions.

But as frustrating as that was, I have to say the color looked pretty good on me!

Selfie #11

My name is April Stout. I'm married and have 4 children, ages 8-13. I am a photographer and a student.  And I'm a Mormon.

Of all the places I go and things I can do, going to the Temple is my favorite and the most important. I'm so glad I could go today!

Selfie #10

I finally got to the doctor and the diagnosis is...

just a sprain. I'm so glad its not broken or torn! The brace I was wearing was helpful the first couple of days but my doctor said it's what is making me walk with a limp, not my injury, and that is making my foot more sore and the muscles tight. Its off and I can walk fine, but it still hurts using stairs.

Richard Tuschman

I searched for photographs inspired by paintings and found this site:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/11/25/richard_tuschman_edward_hopper_recreations_are_inspired_by_the_painter_s.html

Richard Tuschman created photographs, inspired by Edward Hopper's paintings, by making a diorama large enough for his cat to fit in then taking photos of his models with a grey background and photoshopping them into the diorama. This is why the furniture has a "dollhouse" feel to it. 

The images are dreamy and the light is beautiful, the way it falls across the room or the subject. Tuschman says “The general mood in my work is more somber, and the lighting is less harsh than in Hopper’s.”

I sought out this kind of work because I am contemplating a similar project for this semester. I don't want to copy the paintings, but use them as inspiration for a more realistic/modern day version. With this on my mind the following from the above referenced article stuck out to me:
"Although the first image he created (Hotel by Railroad, 2012) set out to replicate a Hopper painting, the more he worked on the series, the less he wanted to create duplicates. “The more I did them, Hopper became more of an inspiration rather than something to copy,” he said."

I also want a project that will challenge me and require some thought and intentional planning. It will be difficult to get the required 20 images, but as Richard Tuschman says, “If it doesn’t take me a long time, it’s really not worthwhile.” 

Selfie #9

Today was a rough day so this is all your getting:

I haven't seen a doctor for my foot injury because of school and the bad weather and I'm uncomfortable and miserable. So I treated myself to a Dr Pepper and a bag of cinnamon bears. I look terrible but I feel slightly better.

Selfie #8

Today I had to trudge down the long snowy walkway to the FAB on my crutches, carrying my heavy camera bag. It wasn't pretty. And 2 hours later I had to trudge my back back because campus was closed due to the weather. Have you ever driven home a small compact car with a broken uncasted right foot in the snow?

If I could balance myself better I would have gotten more of the background in view...

Selfie #7

Yes, I know I missed yesterday. In fact, todays selfie is me realizing I forgot, after a long painful day (I hurt my ankle pretty bad but still volunteered at the food pantry for 5 hours and I've been working on my computer for an assignment for church for 3 hours which aggravates my tailbone injury):

Selfie #5

Once a week we try to have Family Movie Night. Tonights movie is "Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2".