The School of Photography winds down our FA17 semester at AAU with a shout to our students, past, present and future.
Alumni Spotlight: Scott Borrero
An alumnus of AAU and the recent winner of Nigel Barker's Top Photographer show, Scott is a proven commercial photographer. While executing campaigns across the world, Scott has developed a well known digital personality and has amassed almost 400,000 followers on Instagram.
His photographic technique and surrealistic vision, creating wonder and purposeful distractions, make Scott's images so impactful.
Scott's passion is large scale commercial, environmental portraiture and branded content campaigns.
Scott has worked behind and in front of the camera with major brands, including Nike, AT&T, Jeep, Toyota, SLS Hotels, Finland/Jordan Tourism and more.
Modern Stereo Photography
by Shannon Polugar, MFA Student
A modern stereograph photo by Ignacio Torres, taken with a standard DSLR camera, is actually four photographs in one
Late last month I found myself upstairs in the back of a large antique store, where a dozen or so metal filing cabinets stood containing photographs of all but the earliest of photographic types, along with baskets of photos covering the tops of the cabinets. I, however, was drawn to one particular type of photograph: the stereographs.
For a lover of old photographs, it is easy to spend half a day in a room like this, at an antique mall in Monterey, California. The stereoscope or ‘viewer’ hangs from the ceiling above the filing cabinets
I have long been fascinated by this type of photography. In the closet of my grandfather’s office were stereograph slides that he had taken of their time in Ecuador in the 1960s, along with the Grand Canyon a handful of years later. I could spend hours putting the slides into the viewer, amazed at how surreal the three-dimensional photos appeared. Whether it was these or the over 100-year-old stereograph cards I was sliding into a wood and glass viewfinder in the antique store, they all felt like I was not just viewing a moment in time, but stepping into that moment.
One photographer though has found a way to create that same stereoscopic, three-dimensional view, with the modern digital camera, and without a stereo lens. Ignacio Torres, a photographer based out of New York City but who has done extensive work in Mexico as well, created his “Stellar” series with this view in mind.
The elements of space and time within the photographs are heightened in Torres’s photographs, making one feel ‘in’ the moment rather than just viewing it flatly.
Torres describes that his intention in this series was to heighten the element of space and time, which he does by taking four individual photographs in very quick succession, and then placing those photographs together in an animated GIF to create the three-dimensional effect.
The same is done with old stereograph photos online, though it is only two images in this case. Torres’s work, adding the two additional frames, creates a much smoother look. His series also plays up the whimsical, using Photoshop in post-production to highlight the stardust (confetti), to “serve as a visual metaphor to the spatial link we share with the stars.”
While older stereographs can be viewed digitally through a similar process, they don’t appear as smooth as Torres’s work
However, unlike the two frame stereographs that can be slid into a viewfinder, Torres’s work can only exist in the digital world. The images cannot be printed and still viewed as he intended. To be viewed on a gallery wall they would need to be in a digital frame. So while the visual effect is similar, there is a disconnect with Torres’s modern stereographs with the old ones.
And I did leave the antique store a bit poorer monetarily and a bit richer in history, a handful of stereographs from 1905-1915 neatly wrapped in a paper bag, but also having these modern stereographs portably within reach, only a URL away on my phone.
http://www.1883magazine.com/arts/arts/ignacio-torres
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/page/stellar-project-images-photographer-ignacio-torres-14474643
Plastic Bags float like jellyfish beneath a surfer.
The Making of Weston Fuller's Plastic Surf
"I’ve been blessed as a photographer to experience some amazing places, but I hate when the beauty of a location is tainted with trash," says MFA alumnus Weston Fuller.
This summer, Fuller teamed up with Surfrider Foundation to create PLASTIC SURF, a series of conceptual composites that highlight the proliferation of single use plastics in our ocean waters.
Ultimately, Fuller wants us to take responsibility for the products we consume by recycling and properly disposing of trash.
Pictured below are the plastic items Fuller found on the beaches in Southern California.
Says Fuller, "I wish I could say that it took me awhile to find and collect the items pictured above, but it didn’t. The number one most found items were bottles or bottle caps. Cups, straws and bags came in a close second."
More of PLASTIC SURF and Weston Fuller's work can be seen at https://www.westonfuller.com/
Icy Dawn
HH-60 MEDEVAC Blackhawk with C 3-10 GSAB sits ready to respond as the sun rises and during a Lake Effect Storm Warning
Portfolio: Garrick Morgenweck
In DUSTOFF, BFA student Garrick Morgenweck brings insight to the often unseen military practice of evacuating the wounded and dying from war and conflict zones. Dustoff is backronym for Dedicated Unhesitating Service to Our Fighting Forces -- and a callsign for these actions.
Brotherhood
A mock patient is assisted into the DUSTOFF Helicopter during a field training exercise with 1BCT, 10th Mountain Division
Asks Morgenweck, "What does it take to become someone who lives this life, and often gives it up, to ensure that someone else can live to see another day?"
"Some of the individuals have volunteered for this duty, most notably the Flight Paramedics and Medical Service Corps Pilots, some have just been assigned to the mission. However, they all have a dedication and passion for the mission that is rarely seen outside their closed world, even in the military."
More of Morgenweck's DUSTOFF can be seen at https://www.mweck.com/index/G0000Br0uHaFfuhU
Art, Travel and Photography: AAU's Braden Summers
Professional travel and luxury photographer Braden Summers discovered early that the key to having a successful career was to surround himself with other professionals. As a result of internships and self-directed study abroad with the Academy of Art University's School of Photography, Braden now has a versatile portfolio of sophisticated imagery.
His work has been featured in Marie Claire UK, on the sites of French Elle, French Glamour, Advocate and The Huffington Post.
In this video, Braden talks more about his experience at AAU.
More of Braden Summers' work can be found at www.bradensummers.com
Image by AAU School of Photography Executive Director Jim Wood.
We're Back! It's Fall Semester, 2017
It's fall again, and the School of Photography is in a flurry of activity! We have some exciting announcements:
- Don't miss the newest exhibition at 688 Gallery. This month, the gallery hosts work from the School of Photography's prized faculty. The exhibition opens tonight, September 7th, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, and runs until October 2nd.
- Students enrolled in PH325 Advanced Digital Capture will now be eligible for Phase One certification! Phase One products mark a new industry standard; our students will now meet this popular demand.
- The MFA program rolls out new classes this semester -- take a sneak peek here:
We hope to see you all in the classroom or in the field!