Black History Month: Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks was an influential photographer during the 1950's. He is primarily known for documenting the Civil Rights movement.

His images are extremely powerful. He documents the struggle of African Americans and the the struggle for equality. The images show white supremacy and the oppression of blacks. These people are human beings, yet they are treated as if they are an animal below the human race. His photographs changed peoples perspectives on what was happening during the Civil Rights-era. 

Beginning of Homage Pictures

I have a lot more work to do. My photographer takes naked pictures with no clothing or jewelry involved. I'm going to have to take my work home in order to achieve this.

Russell James vs. Peter Hurley

Russell James is a black and white photographer. His pictures are primarily of famous women... in the nude. He specializes with Victoria Secret Models and is one of their main photographers. He captures the details of the women's entire bodies and uses black and white to give for depth. His images are extremely sharp.

Peter Hurley takes pictures of men and women's faces, primarily in color. His details show a lot of details in the face, yet it seems that they light is straight forward. There is not nearly as much detail as in Russell James photographer, and everyone has their clothes on. He also has them pressed against plain backgrounds.

Russell James

• Black and White
• Details
• Shadows and Highlights
• Exclusively Women
• Various Back Grounds

Peter Hurley

• Color 
• Facial Portraits only
• Limited Shadows and Highlights
• Men and Women
• Plain Back Grounds

Dijkstra

Dijkstra works with single portraits of people. Her intent is to capture the innocence in adolescents. She makes not only the person but also the background extremely detailed in her beach pictures. She takes these awkward pictures to capture these adolescent women's bodies. She also does this with women that have just given birth. She takes these portraits against a minimal background. 

Homage Russell James

This is the beginning of my homage project. I'm going to get more models to take pictures of before the end of my series. But this a good start. 

Russell James: Nudies of Celebs

Russell James was born in 1942 in Perth. He is a highly acclaimed fashion and beauty photographer. Russell's most famous work is as the main photographer for Victorias Secret. However, his work has appeared in Vogue, Sports Illustrated, American Photo, W, Marie Claire, and GQ. Russell has appeared several times in America's Next Top Model and Australia's Next Top Model. He was one of twelve Hasselblad Masters Award in 2007. He's a resident artist of Camera Work, the worlds leading gallery for contemporary work. He also directs and films Victorias Secret commercials. Russell James (photographers): "Sexy" : A Tribute to a Decade of Sexy Swimwear, Victoria's Secret, 2005 (3 volumes).
Russell James has one of the best jobs in the world. He takes pictures of the most beautiful women from around the world. He not only takes pictures of these beautiful women but he also photographs them naked. Russell James is defined by his fine-art photography series and his works have been exhibited in leading galleries around the world. His limited editions are highly sought after by many of the world’s most prominent collectors.
Russell’s diverse photographic achievements range from exhibiting for brands such as Hermèsin association with Guggenheim, to breakthrough advertising campaigns for global brands such as Rolex, Donna Karan International, Victoria’s Secret, Evian and Revlon, to emotional portraits of many of the world’s leading celebrities, musicians and supermodels, including Scarlett Johansson, Halle Berry, Gisele Bündchen, Faith Hill, The Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Barbra Streisand, Hugh Jackman, President Bill Clinton, Sir Richard Branson, and some sixty more. He has been the subject of solo photographic exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Knokke (Belgium), Aspen, and Sydney.
Russell’s first solo photography book ‘Russell James’ (2009), with forewords by Heidi Klum and Donna Karan, is a three hundred page retrospective featuring some of Russell’s most iconic work with over 30 of the world’s most beautiful women and interesting people.   It has been released in more than seventy countries. His second book entitled ‘V2’, with forewords by Victoria’s Secret President Edward Razek and Sir Richard Branson, was released by teNeues Publications in September 2010. Russell’s third book ‘Nomad Two Worlds’ (2012), with a foreword by Hugh Jackman, is a revealing biographic journey and features a stunning collection of the photography and collaborative artworks that have emerged from his fine art project Nomad Two Worlds. His fourth book, ‘A Virgin Island’ (2013), is a stunning collection of images that captures the spirit of one of the most beautiful places on Earth, Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island, featuring breathtaking shots of unspoiled nature interspersed with tastefully erotic masterpieces that Russell was inspired to create there. His fifth book, ‘Angels’ (2014), is another exceptional tribute to feminine beauty, offering an unprecedented and personal view into James’s most intimate portrait sittings with many of the models he met over the past fifteen years of photographing for Victoria’s Secret.

Charlie Waite

Charlie Waite

Charlie Waite is firmly established as one of the world’s leading Landscape photographers. His photographic style is often considered to be unique, in that his photographs convey an almost spiritual quality of serenity and calm. Charlie's photographs are held in private and corporate collections throughout the world, and he has held numerous solo exhibitions at prestigious venues in the UK, Japan and the USA.

His images are pretty tight and I can't wait to recreate them. 

This is my first attempt at trying to recreate the style of Charlie Waite

Second Chance HDR's

For my second chance series I decided to redo the HDR project. The first time around I did the typical white girl christmas lights. And failed miserably at it. 

For the second chance I changed it up a bit and took HDR pictures of my fellow photo buddies. I really like how these turned out and the details I got from the process. I most definitely think I did better the second time around.