Composite

Self Portrait

I must conquer this now... =]

Simen Johan

Simen Johan's photography in my opinion is very successful.  The composition of the photographs is wonderful and everything in the photograph flows very nicely.  The way he uses the camera to take pictures is very skilled and well thought out.  I think it is successful in just the way the pictures are laid out; the main subjects in focus, the colors are quite vibrant and contrasting, and the light is always just right. 

Exam

Gradient

Home Portrait

Jeffery Stockbridge

Currently featured in the Chesapeake Gallery at HCC is an exhibition by Jeffery Stockbridge.  His work is the photography of abandoned homes and sometimes homeless people that live in these abandoned homes.  It really is quite moving weather you are an art enthusiast or not.  Just looking at these photos makes you stop and stare.  You wonder what possibly could have happened here.  When you look at an abandoned home you know that at one time someone used to live in and care for the home.  But now it is all alone, dark and depressed.  The paint is peeling off, doors fallen off the hinges, and trash can be found everywhere.  If only the walls could talk and share their story.  As for the homeless people that he photographs you can just see their pain.  What I mean is their emotional struggle in life is clear to see by their facial expressions.  Being homeless is rough.  What these people go through living in old abandoned houses cannot be very pleasant. 

The most moving piece is 19th and Catherine St. and it also raises the most questions.  The focal point of the picture is what I assume to be a wallpapered wall of a beach scene with palm trees.  At first it almost looked like a backdrop that you would get your picture taken in front of, but since it is raised above the baseboard I do not believe that that was the purpose.  An original purpose will be uncertain, but whatever room this was the person that lived here probably liked the beach.  The other element that caught my eye was the portrait above the door on the left side of the picture.  It is a rather small picture, but the fact that it is there is just fascinating to me.  Why was it left hanging here?  Did the people that leave this place rush out so quickly they forgot it?  Who was the girl in the picture?   She must have had some status or reputation with the people that lived here. She could have been a part of the family, but we just do not know.  As for the rest of the interior of the room it is just falling apart.  The paint is peeling, the ceiling is falling down, and it is just not in the condition it once was in. 

It can be sad looking at his photography.  And it is definitely moving.  It is almost a break from our world we like to live in that is clean and quite frankly not falling apart.  We should look at these people with respect for their endurance.  Jeffery’s work definitely stands as a reminder of what is out there.