Margaret Bourke-White

Margaret Bourke-White was born in Bronx, NY in 1904, the daughter of a naturalist and a homemaker. In 1926 she attended Cornell University and emerged from there as a strong woman destined to pioneer and reinvent what it meant to be a professional photographer. Bourke-White specialized in documenting the rise of industry in both the US and was the first photographer to document industry in Soviet Russia after the revolution. In addition many her photographs sent a very political and sometimes satirical message to the public.  She went on to have an incredibly successful career at LIFE(run by the same publishing company as TIME magazine) magazine, including having her photo of the enormous chain of dams in the Colombia River be the first ever photograph to be on LIFE's cover. Margaret Bourke-White died of Parkinson's Disease in 1971.

Margaret Bourke-White, Steel Liners, 1936, Gelatin Silver print

What I find very appealing about this image and all of Bourke-White's industry photography, is the organic looking beauty found in completely unnatural man-made things. Personally, I am drawn to images that show natural beauty and the industrial revolution is one of the most unnatural things that our country has gone through. In this image, Bourke-White manages to capture my favored aesthetic of natural beauty in something deeply unnatural. On the more technical side of things, I love the composition of the image, the use of lines and shape as well as the very pleasing range of colors.

Fine Food Art?

After researching and experimenting with both fine art and commercial food photography, I have developed a collection of artwork for both categories. You can find a link to my "food blog" that has my commercial photos here and their are examples of my fine art food photography below.

For this image I decided to try and take the idea of fine art food photography in it's more traditional sense. Photography a piece of food not necessarily to show it's "foodiness" but to capture it in an original and more abstract way. This is a head of broccoli.

For this image I tried to take the idea of fine art food photography in a more comedic direction. I took a banana and using a this knife, poked a replication of Edvard Munch's The Scream into a banana. I took what is considered "fine art" by the majority of the public and literally put it onto a food. 

Jazz Posters

This February we(the photography class) are partnering with the graphic design class to create a poster for the 2016 Portland Jazz Festival. For my images, I am hoping to steer clear of pictures of instruments because I think they are far too over done. I hope to capture the idea and feeling of "jazz" through images of people and some nature/landscape images. Here are some jazz posters that inspire me for this project. Some of them do include instruments but I like the overall feel they give which is why I chose to include them in this. 

2012 Gaume Jazz Festival

Claire Danes record cover

New Orleans Jazz festival 2013

Fickle Foods

Check out our food blog here!
Completed!!

Commercial vs. Fine Art Food Photography

Fine Art Food:
Fine art food photography is about showing the beauty and highlighting the interesting things in(usually), one piece of food. For instance, the roots of beets, veins in cabbage, lines on a carrot, etc. Fine art food photography is less about making the food appear appetizing per say, but more about making a piece of food look beautiful.

Fred Michel

Commercial Food Photography:

While fine art food photography is meant to show the beauty in a single piece of food by looking at its details, commercial food photography is about taking a whole dish, and making it look appealing and appetizing, making the audience want to eat it. Commercial images can and should still be beautiful but it's less about honing in on the fine little details and more about about the overall presentation of a dish. 

"Jen"
http://www.tartineandapronstrings.com/