Mark Laita

This guy takes the cake. I LOVE his stuff. Mark Laita has been a professional photographer for 20 years and has worked with many major companies and definitely has the portfolio to prove it. Not to mention his site rocks... you have to see it…. http://www.marklaita.com/

In his portfolio he divides his commissioned work from his uncommissioned work, and in the uncommissioned section you can really see his artistic style. Everything is elegant and dreamlike, and sometimes even looks fake. I was drawn to the nature section and the ephemera section which I sampled for you here. The nature photographs have such a soothing mood to them with the warm tones and monochromatic theme within each photograph. The photographs all have a very defined focal point which is created by the framing and the wonderful background choices. I just love his pictures!

Rock Art

I went through my old notes and realized I never shared all my thoughts on the Rock Art presentation by Steve Freers.

First of all, I have to acknowledge the quality of his presentation. It's obviously hard to keep the attention of 20 something students for more than 15 minutes, but Steve really caught my attention with the frequent use of images. I was also impressed with his videos towards the end. Great Job Steve!

The content of the presentation inspired me more than I expected. The thoughts and connections that run deep with in the rock art and its history are so complex. So I found myself really consumed with thoughts of the spirituality and ritual of the people that made these markings.

One of the lessons I think we can take from examining rock art is to value our human experiences. Life is truly an experience and we should stop to recognize that instead of feeling like it's an obligation sometimes. Steve explained that many painting are layered on top of previous paintings and they do not appear to have artistic intent. By this we can deduct that the painting were most likely a ritual or spiritual experience and not about painting something outstanding. It was about the process, not the result.

Another aspect to learn from is how these people lived their lives. They had four major transitions in their life; birth, puberty, marriage, and death. It has been concluded that puberty was strongly emphasized in their culture and documented on many of these rocks. I thought it was wonderful to learn that many adolescence joined together to experience this major change in their lives. Comparing this to our society is shameful. Our 13 year old girls tear each other down and do not support their fellow adolescence as they should through changes. We can tell that this Native community was centered on caring because their lives were short and the Rock art ceremonies were their time to connect with their spirituality and each other and value the time they had together. We all can take a lesson from that and learn to value our time spent with others more.

I experimented a little with enhancing the native marking on Indian Rock and it's astonishing how almost the whole rock turns red. I cropped out a few marking to show you...

Leaves of Wonder

These photographs are by Bryan Corey. I happened to find the picture of the black and yellow leaves on Google and I was mesmerized. I felt like there was a story behind these leaves. Are they grey because there was a fire? Did the real site look like that or is it photoshopped? Where was it taken? My mind just kept running through these questions. But when I stop and looked it critically as an art piece I find it has wonder composition. The two yellow leaves are perfectly places and facing the right direction to lead the viewers eye through the photograph. The colors on these two leaves and the small one on the lower right keep the piece interesting, but do not overpower the rest of the image. The viewers eye can still examine the details of the grey leaves after grazing the yellow ones. It's beautiful and so are his other photographs. I encourage you to check them out.


This is Bryan Corey' Web Site is http://photography.mrpunkin.com but you can his gallery a little better on this photoblog: http://photos.vfxy.com/photoblogs/3964.

Amazing Flowers by John Corney

Looking at these flowers makes me want to skip work tomorrow and take pictures of flowers all day!! All of his floral photographs have such vibrance and energy. The details of the objects are so clear it feels like you can touch it. The flowers are nicely defined as the central focus by edited background colors. The Red and Yellow Flower above is featured twice in his gallery once with the nature colors in the background and then edited with them changed as you see here. I think it is really unconventional and rather nice to see the difference in a gallery because it is hard to know what is altered in photography. I like to see how it effects the over composition as well.

Check out the gallery of flowers: http://www.photographybyjohncorney.com/galleries/flowers/

Rolf Hicker Photography

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes"



This statement was said by Marcel Proust and is Rolf Hicker's motto. I think this is a beautiful and extremely true statement that is wonderful to live by. Just being in this class and expanding my photography has changed the way I see things. I notice more intricate details and begin framing things with my eyes as if it were a lens. I feel like everything should be photographed now. I've always carried my point-and-shoot camera with me at all times, but now I actually use it everyday because I notice more thing that I was to document. I have new eyes!

This photographer definitively has a good eye. He has so many different categories of photographs, but I really loved his architecture photos because I'm really drawn to that subject matter. I loved how he framed this building in Spain with the multiple arches. They lead you to the end of what seems like a tunnel and guide you where to look.

Look at more photographs at: http://www.hickerphoto.com/

dose of Deviant Art

So I had to browse deviantArt for some awesome amature photography. For anyone who doesn't know deviantArt is a social network for people interest in art. They can post their work, comment on others, and share techniques. So as I'm looking at a page full of beautiful photography; still life, nature, sky, and a lot of miscellaneous, I chose the one photograph that is not traditionally "pretty". At first I couldn't ever tell have it was but once I looked closer I saw the photographer in the destroyed building and thought about how interesting it would be to photograph that rundown building. It changes your mind to the what is pleasing to the eye and what details to notice. I think this photograph has more personality and interest than the other photos of pretty girls and skylines.

Here's the link to the photo and profile:

My Book is Done!!!

Unspoken Truths

A Collection of Nat...

By Jessica Lee

Book Preview

I can't explain how excited I am about my book! I sent the link to all my friends and I actually got calls from people I haven't talked to in month telling me how impressed they were. I felt so validated in all the hard work I put in. Here's a little sneak peak into "Unspoken Truths"

This is the Into:


Have you ever wondered what a historical building or beautiful flower might say to you, given the chance? I believe they would tell the tale of eternity. The story of our connectedness and livelihood; reminisce of beauty, friendship, and adventures in their midst. This is the essence I sought to capture with the photography in this book. Please keep an open heart and mind as you explore the pages. Imagine yourself in the mortar of the buildings or the greenery of the plant life. If you are a native Californian as I am, I’m sure you will feel right at home. Breathe in the rich history and ancestry of the architecture. Give thanks for the hard work on dry soil that has cultivated so many lovely varieties of native plant life. Notice also as you gaze at the pictures, the evolving life.