Inspiration
Looking at the Blurb website, I realized that a lot of the photo albums were about special events that only have meaning for specific people. However, after a closer look, I realized that some very talented professional and amateur photographers published some beautiful collections on the site.
The first piece that made an impression on me was Visual Journal 1 by Dan Ham. I loved both his style and his concept. I truly felt like I was seeing snapshots in the life of someone else, half a world away. I loved Dan’s use of strong contrast, bright and sometimes unexpected color, and the perspective of his photographs. The piece when taken as a whole is emotive. The images of the Asian man going about his day are so removed from my own culture that I find it fascinating, but the actions are so familiar I am at the same time comfortable with the images. I feel like I know the artist more intimately after seeing these photographs in his ‘journal’.
The next artist, Jeff Keesee, also made an impression on me. I liked Laguna Beach 2007 so much that I researched his other books and found 2006 - A Year in Pictures. The things that really struck me about Jeff’s work is his attention to the negative space surrounding his objects, the interesting angles at which he takes some of his images, and the vibrant color in many of them, which in some images serves to unite subjects otherwise unrelated (for example the candles and the flowering tree). Jeff also plays with the viewer by using the macro mode – he often takes small items and photographs them so they spill outside the frame of the image, as if they were enormous. I was also impressed by Jeff’s layout abilities. I thoroughly enjoyed his use of multiple photos on a page, especially in the image of the 9 tiles of objects that were all circular and of a similar hue. It helps create a cohesiveness that makes the piece feel solid and unwavering in it’s visual aesthetic.
Photography Album by Neringa Normantaite made an impression with her use of multiple images on the same page as well as her use of perspective and depth of field. Her images also create an emotive response from the viewer. The train tracks on this page are my favorite. I love the recession of the tracks into the mist, as though the viewer is being led on a journey that ends in mystery. Additionally, I like that each of her pages seem to tell a story about their subject. The artist’s use of repetition helps create a cohesive look over the entire project.
David Noah’s Lunchbox reminds me of exactly that. Looking through the images, you never know what to expect next. I enjoyed the spontaneity and discovery this collection afforded. In these particular images, I was drawn to the anonymity of the main figures and the play of the bright colors next to the neutral colors of the backgrounds. In the image of the little girl and the pigeons, I loved the parallel between the gray background and the black and gray pigeons behind the girl, and the little girl’s colored dress and the brown and white speckled pigeon in front of her. The effortlessness of the girl is so real, I keep coming back to the image time and again.
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