Brian M. Gardner by:Kristine Sellner #7

He takes his photos with a manual camera and plans to convert to all digital soon to save on cost. What he liked about the Manual camera and slide film he was using was his ability to control the variables. He liked the long exposures which offered him depth of field and higher contrast. I so admire his image of the St. Paul collage as he used many panoramic shots over a period of time to create a collage so huge it used up an entire computer for storage. I think this is something I would like to try to create but using different methods, maybe copy & paste, incorporate photos of my children at different ages or landscapes of seasons and then change the images effects in some areas to give a collage twist. During their younger years I was into black & white photography so I would scan them in to work with them in present day digital photos. I also have negatives from my grandfather who did black & white photography which I would like to add as a generational piece. He passed away when I was one, about 43 years ago. I was left his camera when my grandmother passed away.
Brian M. Gardner’s studio is located in St. Paul and he has works at the Maple Grove Art Exhibit. His works include Minnesota Photography as well as other locations across the United States. His waterfall, lighthouse and night photography are his signature in photography. When you view his photos they are interesting, and breathtaking all in one. His works are an inspiration. They gave me many ideas for this final project.
I found the work of Lois Bravo to be very interesting. She uses photographs in Photoshop CS2 and completely changes the characteristics, color, texture, and then adds components to give a trendy, colorful spin with technology. The images resemble a primitive, surreal painting. They are created to show meaningful technology. “All that Jazz” uses motion, direction and images of a Jazz musician. The image gives you a sense of jazz music with the images being enhanced with the liquefy effects. I am inspired by her work as it shows how you can create works of art using Photoshop enhancement, color and artistic expression.
Peter Bernardy captures the perfect vegetables. They are cut, trimmed, washed, and sized to perfection. Peter Solinger captures everyday landscapes in black & white.
I also like how Josh Koll used overlapping photos to create new photos, this reminded me of the paper dolls we used to play as kids. From the ability to capture art, create art and then to manipulate them in such a way they give depth, motion or feeling to the image it is nothing short of a miracle. It was best explained that in many cases they start out with a simple image, manipulate it in Photoshop and then add to this image to create a complex idea of beauty. I also enjoyed the work of Duane Lage who looks for images which display how life was back in the day, many years ago. Photographer, Matt Porath captured a young man of faith below a crucifix among a stone wall. I look at the impressionable years, the innocence of our youth and the iron religious icon hanging above to see in a vision the power of faith. I would like to work with a bit of each, I really can’t wait to get started on our final project.