Didier Massard: Contemporary Photographer

I think the perfect word to describe this photo is epic. The fog, the heavy, powerful rhino, the dark sky, it all contributes to making this picture extraordinary. I think epic is something I would like to be able to describe my pictures as...

This is another one of Didier Massard's photographs. I really like the composition of this shot. It has a good balance with the vertical flowers and the horizontal stream. The stream leads the eye throughout the picture allowing each flower stem to be noticed. This in turn creates great depth in the shot.

Concept: Broken to Beautiful

The list of things available to photograph is practically endless. Subjects such as people, places, buildings and nature are usually on the top of the list. Almost everyone who has owned a camera has at some point taken a picture of a sunset. With photography, it can be difficult to be original. I realized that people always take pictures of beautiful things. Waterfalls, kittens, and flowers. All beautiful, and all somewhat easy to photograph because the subject makes up for an average composition or a slightly underexposed photo. I want to challenge myself. I want to photograph the ugly. I want to photograph objects that are broken and useless, things that people want to throw away. My vision is to take pictures of things that have lost their purpose and by manipulating the photos on the computer, I will show the subjects in a new light. I will give them a purpose, to be art, hung on a wall (hopefully) and seen by people. These objects can be anything: a broken down truck, and abandoned barn, a cracked vase or a chair that is missing a leg. My hope is for the viewer to see themselves when they look at the objects and realize that no one is broken beyond repair. Going from broken to beautiful, it's the story of my life.

While at camp last week I saw these old inner tubes behind a cabin. I want to experiment more with Photoshop, but this is an example of what my project would be like.

Tom Chambers: Contemporary Photographer

Many contemporary photographers use digital photography in order to create a certain feel or mood of the photograph. While this can be accomplished with film, there are many more options with digital. Tom Chambers takes advantage of the digital world by adding a dramatic tone to his photographs. In his series on photos entitled "Entropic Kingdom," Chambers photographs animals and people together to show
their relationship and how they co-exist. He uses the two subjects in a way that makes the viewer question if the animals are real because of the poses and interactions between the people and the animal. In this photo, Flying Big Blue, there is a woman on the shore in the distance that almost looks like she is using the bird as a kite because she has its foot by a rope. It appears as if the bird is trying to fly away but the woman is pulling it down. Chambers tried to record the tension between man and animals. He says, "This tension has escalated with man's increasing disregard for the fragility of the environment and abdication of his responsibility to care for the earth." He was able to display his thoughts in an abstract way that evokes emotion and thought. I would like to incorporate a dramatic mood into my photographs. I think it draws the eye and changes the tone of the picture. I think it has to work well with the subject and content in order to display a certain message.