This picture captures great detail in buble and leaves everything in the backgroupnd blurry.  Even though the hand is in focus its relativity to the photo is just to show the action on the bubble and so the detail for the buble is heightened even more.  I also love how fast this photo had to be taken to capture this moment in time.  This is something that could never be seen with the naked eye and the exposure had to have been incredibly short.  Not only do I love the detail of this photo but I also love that it makes me think of great memories with my own experience of bubbles.

This photo has an interesting vantage point, kind of looking through the trees as well as somewhat framed by the cliff on the left.  The color of the water looks incredibly enhanced but the other colors in the photo look natural.  Normally I really enjoy landscape photos but this one has such an awkward point of view that I really don't like this photo at all.  There is also a lot going on with the trees and the branches that isn't really aesthetically pleasing and since the photo doesn't really seem like the thing itself it just feels cluttered.  Also since the color of the water looks so fake it makes me feel like the authenticity of the pictured should be questioned.

The detail in this photo is what caught my eye, how the butterfly and the flower are in perfect focus and the background is blurry but as the viewer you know enough to assume that there is another flower and greenery surrounding the butterfly.  Color has a big impact in the photo as well.  Even though the colors of the butterfly do not exactly match the colors of the flower they are close enough that they are excellent compliments to one another!  The eye's focus remains on the butterfly and moves to the flower and is only distracted from the focal point of the photograph is the blob of color in the background which is probably another flower.

This photo is an amazing example of vantage point.  By placing the lens on the road directly where the rainbow appears to begin in the distance not only do we get a really unique perspective of the natural phenomena, but we also are left with a sense of how small we as individuals are in comparison to this beautiful display of nature.  The use of color in this photo, where everything is relatively earthy neutral tons other than the rainbow, is not only pleasing to the eye but really helps the rainbow stand out as a focal point of the picture.  I also like how the rainbow divides the picture into nice weather and stormy weather.  Almost showing that there is light and dark in everything, even things that are seemingly good like rainbows.  A rainbow can only occur if there is both rain (or rain like conditions that create moisture in the air) and sunlight.

Review/Photography; A Glimpse of the 40's and 50's at the Met Museum

I love the 40's, the clothes the images, the way of life a simpler yet still socially complex time of history.  To me there is something so interesting about the way in which people lived in the 40's that fascinates me so when i saw a review of an exhibition from the 40's and 50's my interest was immediate.

In Andy Grundberg review of the art exhibit, A Glimpse of the 40's and 50's at the Met Museum he provides historical context for the inspiration of the photos and highlights the comparisons between the seemingly very different photographers.  The exhibit was organized by Morris Hambour, the museum's photography curator, and she did so in such a way so that viewers could appreciate the "major stylistic impulses of those years without drastically oversimplifying them."  This first photograph above is a Sid Grossman photo entitled Harlem, New York from 1939.  It is one of his earlier pieces but the exhibition too was started with one of his pieces, Seagulls, (which I could not find a image of) but was used to introduce the rest of exhibition.   

 Grundberg described it's use as "an essential clue to what follows: verging on overall, nearly chaotic pattern, it is less about the seagulls it putatively depicts than about a pervasive urge toward abstraction in photography."  The rest of the exhibit is organized into a Cool Zone and a Hot Zone.  Artists depicted in the Cool Zone include, Aaron Siskind, Bill Brandt, Irving Penn and Otto Steinert, Mr. Callahan, Mr. Metzker and Mr. Tomatsu.  Those artists depicted in the Hot Zone include Robert Frank, Mr. Klein, Garry Winogrand, Lisette Model, Leon Levinstein.  Throughout both rooms the photographers shy away from describing the world in perfect texture and detail and if we ignore the "emotional temperatures" of the room overtones of futurism.  The photo on the top left is by William Klein and shows his common technique of blurring out the image.  The bottom photo is by Bill Brandt, and the two photos together give examples of work by an artist in the Cool Zone and one in the Hot Zone.  I really enjoyed how accessible Grundberg mde the exhibition.  Even though it was difficult to find images from the actual show, from his description and contextual evidence I think I would be able to walk through it and identify the different zones of hot and cold and appreciate that the artists were attempting to do at the time.

First and foremost I love elephants so the content of this photo draws me in, I want to be that person hanging out reading with the baby elephant.  I want to be the baby elephant's friend.  The other reasons I like this photo are because even though the clear focus of the picture are the elephant and boy sharing the rock, there is so much going on in the background that you don't really notice right away.  There are elephants and trees in the background at different distances away from the focal scence giving the picture a sense of depth that it otherwise wouldn't have.  There is also a lot of detail captured in the foreground of witht he blades of grass.  I can see varying colors and empty patches.  Even though this photo has a clear focus it is surrounded by lot's of details that serve to make the photo visually more interesting but not to clarify context.

I love how the lights in this photo create lines for your eye to follow, as well as the shape and composition of the buildings.  Color contrasts between the light of the buildings and the dark of the mountains is also very striking.  This photo has a ton of depth and texture, from the layers of the buildings to the contours of the mountains there is a rich amount of depth to this photo that make it visually interesting both vertically and horizontally.  Even though there is detail in the texture this photo more captures the theme of "The thing itself" with the thing being this community of housese set in the mountainside.  Because there are few distinctive markers this phot makes me ask a lot of questions, like where was this photo taken, are these houses or is this part of a hotel or something else entirely, how was the unit built into the side of the mountain, what's on the other side of the mountain beyond the skyline and so on.  My favorite part of this photo is the light dark contrast between the building and the natural landscape.

Lightening is a fantastic display of mother natures power and when it can be captured in a photograph it's magnificence is captured in time.  Capturing any weather phenomenon is an example focusing on time within photography but due to lightening's short bursts capturing it truely depicts capturing a moment because as we've all experienced it is here one second and gone the next.  What's truly incredible about this photo is the fact that four bolts of lightening were captured at once and even though they have such a grabbing display of light, the lights of the city are in no way diminished in this photo.  Even though the lightening bolts are the focal points especial the one in the center of the photograph the city holds it's own as a very interesting compliment and a symmetry is almost created with the bolts and the buildings.  I really love this photo for the colors and the awesome weather that's captured in it.

I love the frame of this picture, how the water is completely surrounded by rocks and how that natural element was captured so nicely by the photographer.  The reflection of the light draws the viewer in to the center of the photograph and then the view is lead out of the cave through the back right corner of the photo left to imagine what more is beyond the scope of the lens.  There is so much going on with light and highlights and reflections in this photo that I find it incredibly visual interesting to looks at.  While the majority of the photo is natural tones, the light and the highlights created vibrant blues and greens and reds that are so interesting to the eye.