Annie Liebovitz and the Queen !

I spent untold hours looking at the works of the great photographers of our time, trying to discover one that I would feel a real connection to, for purposes of a research assignment in photojournalism...when I came upon this video. It is an amazing glimpse into the candid experience of a professional portrait photographer, in what could be considered a high stress assignment . What I love about it is that she is so in her power as the Artist, and requests that the Queen remove her crown! Something the Queen did not take to easily, and it was fascinating for me to watch Annie, hold her ground with the Monarch!!! A bit of trivia for those of you who have not heard of Annie Liebovitz: She was the last person to photograph John Lennon with Yoko, just a little while before he was shot.

My first attempt at a Website! CAMPUS EVENT

Here is the link to my newly created website: http://home.sou.edu/~mazharym/
It was supposed to be a HOT link, but for reasons unknown to me it is not working that way...but the address will get you there.

I found myself so drawn to this Public Art installation that SOU received in October 2008.It was created by Dorbe Holden and Boucante Worldtraveller. The site received a Native American Blessing and welcoming ceremony before the stone people were placed. I have always had a strong affinity with stones, and I found my feet leading me to the campus, on several occasions at sunrise, to be with this unfolding while the world was yet quiet. A time to BE with this place as our new "Village Center" came into BEING. Dorbe and Doucante named this piece"Third Eye Theatre"...but for me it represents a new center-a place to find ones center in the business of campus life, and a place to come together with others at the center/heart of this village/school. I wish I could put captions under each of the photos, because they each really speak to me...but I guess that is not an option in this Adobe Bridge site. I look forward to seeing people visit the stone people and connect with the energy of the place. I intend to continue photo documenting it through the seasons.

Poster

At long last I have succeeded in posting this to my blog-with help from Miles. There is more I had envisioned doing to it...but I started to be intimidated by the complexity of so many layers to manage, and I explained in my earlier post about some of my mishaps... I really used this as a learning experience and tried a lot of things that may not be obvious: My two smaller granddaughters were sitting slightly one in front of the other, so when I separated them out, I used the cloning tool to complete their jackets, as well as some of their hair! I also selected out two of their jackets and completely changed its color. Did the same thing to the hat. It was fun learning to use the shadowing effect for the lettering of "SISTERS". I originally was inspired to just do something that would be fun for my grandkids to see themselves in...but along the way I have become inspired to write a book that would be educational, that would document a very rare genetic disorder that two of them have. I may conceive the beginnings of that book for our final DMF assignment.

Happy Memories/color or monochromatic?

I have been thinking a lot about black and white versus color. I have spent probably four hours this evening looking through the works of photography masters, trying to decide whom I would like to research for photojournalism class. There is such a huge difference between the two. Black and white seems much more direct-there is not the distraction of color, there is an immediacy to it, and of course elegance....and yet I think it lacks a certain warmth. After hours of looking at B&W photos,granted the majority of them depicted suffering, I was relieved to come back to my colorful blog! Agreed it is not as serious and professional looking-but I admit I prefer happy to somber. Speaking of black: I find the black background with white lettering for our DMF website very tiring on my eyes to read.... This was the long version explanation for my posting of Tipis drawn by Dot in both color and monochrome....and I have happy memories of living in Tipis.

Tipi

Watercolor by Dot. Once again it is the color that made me post it!

Rainer Maria Rilke

Since we have been studying fonts, I am including this all capitals style that my friend Dot uses. I haven't used a camera to capture written material before, but it worked in this case even though there is lots of room for improvement-especially with the lighting!

Through the Eyes of an Artist

This is a scene just up by Lithia Park,painted by a local artist whose showing I recently attended. Her name is Liz.....I will include her last name when I find that elusive piece of paper. It reminded me of some of the things we have been learning about composition: Keep it simple, Monochrome,strip it down, silhouette, noise reduction...The mist is the strongest element for me.
List of images is tree trunks, few branches, mist.