Simon Norfolk

When I first looked through Norfolk's images I was in love. They are mostly of nature, with man-made things mixed in. One image in particular that I was drawn to is of 4 people who are standing on a very green mountain/hill. There is even a lake in the image which appears to be a dark emerald color and draws you right into the center of the image. The colors are incredibly vivid, and at the top of the image they meet with white clouds, providing some balance to the image. Another image that I love is of an old, run-down airplane that looks as if it's been dumped in a desolate area of sand.In front of the plane there is a man holding a bird cage with what appears to be a hawk inside. To me the image is just beautiful...the bird in the cage is trapped and unable to fly just like the run down airplane, and this makes me wonder if the man in the image feels the same way. The next image in his series is similar, there is a man-made structure in the background and a man standing in the forefront of the photo. The color palette is the same gray/tan, but the man is holding a large group of very brightly colored balloons which seem to make the entire image. It seems strange for the balloons to be in such a desolate place, and yet there they are.

Source: http://photography-now.net/simon_norfolk/portfolio1.html

Lewis W. Hine

For my next photo project I am photographing things that people do with their hands that they feel are unique. I researched photos of hands and came across Hine's work. The image of his that I like most is entitled "Hands Turning Wheel". This image fits very well with my project because it basically follows the same theme. I like that you can't see who the person is, you can only try to guess who they are by looking at their hands, which adds a little bit of mystery to it and it also helps you to focus more on what the hands are actually doing. Hine also has a group of photos of people hand sewing. These photos do include the person's face, but you are still drawn towards their hands and what they are doing. Additionally, he has images of people using hand presses, loading hay, and with a hand puppet, among other things. The images are in black and white, and I think that the lack of color also helps to focus the image towards the hands. I plan to make my images for this assignment black and white and I think that it worked well in Hine's pictures.

Source: http://photography-now.net/lewis_hine/portfolio1.html

Ron Van Dongen

Ron's photos are all of flowers and plant-life. He has both color and black and white images, and while the black and whites are beautiful, I am much more drawn to the color images. I think that looking at a flower without seeing the color just takes something away from what flowers are. I like the way that he coordinates the background color with the color of the flower, it almost creates a colorless color effect in some of the images. One of my favorite images is of a brown tulip on a black background. The colors are extremely vibrant at the center of the flower, and at the tips the dark brown of the flower begins to blend with the black of the background, almost like they're melting together. I really enjoyed the variety of plants that he used, half of them I had never even seen before! There was one plant that looks like it has a bunch of little eyes on it, and I must say I'm very curious to figure out what exactly that is!

Source: http://photography-now.net/ron_van_dongen/portfolio1.html

Jill Greenberg

Jill Greenberg has a collection of animal and children's pictures on Photography Now. I love that although the photos are set up the same way, with the subject in the center and a fairly plain border surrounding them, each one is unique by way of facial expressions and different colors of the subject. My favorite image is of a black bear that appears to be in some kind of room. He is clearly not in his natural habitat, and  it seems that he is very saddened by this due to his slumped way of sitting in the photo. To me it provides a powerful message that animals should not be kept in captivity. I also love the 2 images she has of children crying. The color in the photos is beautiful and she is capturing such a raw emotion. She also includes many images of monkeys, which seem to be making a wide variety of facial expressions. I like this idea of showing expression with non-human subjects, and I can click through the photos and name the emotion that each monkey is portraying.

Source: http://photography-now.net/jill_greenberg/portfolio1.html