Chris Jordan photography

http://chrisjordan.com/

CHECK THIS PHOTOGRAPHER OUT. I looked through his Katrina photos, and they are shocking, and beautiful at the same time. The tragedy feels completely surreal, and this is truly a photographer who "sees" and gets across what he feels to an audience. Read his descriptions too. Well worth it. Take a look at the "Running the Numbers" series. Even more shocking. Kind of opens your eyes (a lot). This is the kind of photography I want to aspire to do.

When the trees start to shed their colors...

When I think of fall...I think of home, and I think of Vermont. This past weekend I was home for October break and I took a surplus of photos of leaves, my kitchen, my dads garden, my cousins, my cats, pretty much everything I associate with autumn. To me, fall is my birthday, my home, apple crisp on the stove, pumpkin spice candles, my dad's homemade salsa, mason jars, the sun coming through the kitchen window, patches of scattered light on the floor, fiery red mountaintops, half barren trees, overlapping patterns of leaves covering the green grass, over saturated color that screams at me, patterned table clothes, apple cider, Burlington in full swing, cobblestone streets, cold rain, crisp mornings, and scarves. I can't wait to post more of my photos as I continue to sift through them all. But here is a quick preview of some fall close-ups.

Pools of leftover rainwater, gluing the leaves to a wooden bridge. Love the reflection, and how well you can see the water as it gathers around the edges of the leaves.

A droplet in the middle of an otherwise, relatively dry, path. I love the contrast of the diluted and heavy rocks against the frailty of the saturated, multicolored leaves that are thin, ripped, and weathered, contrasting again with the lines of the pine needles.

Milkweed blowing in the wind. Soft and serene.

Don't look away.

I was inspired by the fall this week, decided to try out a couple macro shots. I'm always paying attention to what I see around me when I'm walking to and from class, but I hardly ever take the time to photograph, especially when I get absorbed into school mode. I love the look of the crushed acorns contrasted with the pavement. It's kinda the cliche, nature versus humanity theme. But I was more interested in capturing the little details; the insides of the acorn strewn about, individual cracks and grains, the veins in the leaf, the color (especially working on accuracy of the translation of color), and all the imperfections and wear and tear of the weather and time.





Traina Center....outside Razzo hall at night. It's a long exposure, and the creepy looking shadow/ghostlike outline in the bottom right corner is me, as I left the frame. I promise. haha. And I have to be honest, I didn't even notice it before.

The beginning of a series of night pictures. Originally, because of the light, the photo was extremely orange. So, I worked with trying to make the colors more realistic. I was interested in the way the shadows of the trees were overlapping each other in different shades of grays against the lighter grey of the pavement. I especially like the way the shadow of a tree branch curves at the bottom right of the photo. It works to break up the lines a bit.

I love portraits, and the way these two look so natural next to each other.

All goes out through the windows

The photos for last week were inspired by a revisitation to a hallway in one of my friend's apartments at Clark. I was leaving her apartment, walked into the hallway, and was just overcome by how perfect the lighting was! This week I really tried to play around with the idea of natural, soft, white light and more reflections. Also, when I took the photos on the staircase, it was originally extremely dark. Let's just say, I fell in love with a tripod (maybe not so extreme), but I realized how much more you do with one. Now, I didn't completely grasp the hallway feeling I was going for, but it's getting there. The light coming through the window drowned out the details of the window, but if i brought up the aperture any more, the inside of the staircase would have been way too dark. So, there is a really intense reflection of light on the wallpaper which is a little distracting. I also worked on skin tones in photoshop this week, and working on making people look alive, rather than blue and dead. So, I think I did a pretty good job with that.

I played with the idea of cropping the bottom of this photo, but I decided that I liked the full view with more of the perspective of the windowsill. I also loved the way her hand was so naturally falling, and fading into darkness.

I loved the way her eyes translated on film, but the angle here is a little awkward.

Creepy. But I was trying to play with the idea of multiple reflections here. Originally I printed this photo in black and white, however, I decided to stick with the color because it contributes to a feeling of immediacy. While the black and white is more ghost like, the color is more real and tangible, and almost creepier because it's so vivid and present. This was a window in the hallway outside my suite, and there were three windows. I opened them all and kept seeing what kind of an effect I could get from different angles.

Oh, Mr. Sun.

Once again more images playing around with light and reflection...

I loved the light through the window, lightly touching the stairs. A little creepy maybe? I don't mind one bit.

Sun setting in downtown Worcester. I walked past the leaf and had to take a picture of it. The only thing that bugs me is the sun spot right over the top of it...but I loved the way the light is reflecting off of the street.

Just thought the reflection of sunlight off the window and back into my face was cool...

and again...

Shot from the hip

People. People. People.

So this was the week of Main South Celebrates....and I tried to focus on more people. However, I ran into a lot of problems with time of day and wanting to take pictures during the middle of the day when there was more going on. (Side Note: the blog dilutes the colors in some of these photos, and washes them out a bit). I noticed a theme for the week: eyes and the way they reflect light (once again with the light theme). I'm starting to grasp photoshop a little more and I'm becoming less frustrated. However, when I went back over my photos for the week I noticed that they were just all over the place. I was completely frazzled, and I felt like I was trying too hard to capture, rather than allowing the photo to come to me. I feel like because of this I missed out on a lot of opportunities for great pictures. My problem is that I just have way too many ideas and I sporadically move from one to other, without mastering one before I move on. This just allows for a bunch of mediocre photos...which isn't really what I'm going for. Oh well, I just need to slow down my pace and focus on one thing at a time.

I wasn't as interested in the quality of this photo than the story behind it. This man was talking to my friend and I on the bus (my first time ever riding), about life, and college, and when he was in war. I think that part that I was so drawn to was the way he seemed so isolated from everything. I sat on the steps of city hall and literally watched him walk by 5 or 6 times by himself, just going back and forth with his crutch to help him walk.

This photo is a little hard for me to look at. I don't want to give away personal information, but her story was moving. You can see the wear and tear of life if the wrinkles and lines on her face. Earlier in the day I had painted her face and she came back and she had cried, so the paint around her right eye had ran down her face a little.

I know that his face is a little cut off...but i loved the expression and his eye in this.

Not so pleased. If you look close enough you can see the girl painting her face and me taking a picture in the reflection of her eye.

Soft, gentle, reflective.

I am fascinated by the effect of natural light and the way it shapes an environment and what you are seeing. There's something so gentle and soft about the way that it touches it's subjects...I might even go as far to say that the dramatic effect that it casts is almost emotional. The way that the light reflects and bends through glass is beautiful. I didn't really edit these photos too much, but there something about people next to windows that I just love. Maybe its because I feel like people stare through windows when they are completely absorbed in thought. There's a purity in the way someone isolates themselves, literally creating an environment where their surroundings become invisible. Of course this isn't all occasions...but I love to capture the stillness and intimacy of that moment, step back from the craziness of life, and reflect.

ehh

This is the first week I really started playing around with the camera (actually it was my friends camera...before I got mine). However, I felt a little lost and frustrated. The camera wasn't mine...so it's hard to explain...but I didn't feel "settled" in some way, I felt like I couldn't really take off the way that I wanted to. Also, I'm in the film photography mindset...black and white, and so color is a whole new world for me. I kind of kept my distance from people this week. Just observed the little things around me and took a view close ups. I eventually want to delve into photographing more people, specifically portraits that stare right through you. I'm trying to start out small, and understand the basics of photoshop before I move on (which is not as easy as it seems). I'm never completely sure how far to go with the color.

the colors got a little messed up when I uploaded this one...

I loved the effect of the light through this underpass, and the shape of the shadows.

Ripped up newspaper in the middle of Red Square. I stood there for awhile trying to get the right picture of it. People kept walking by and staring at me, but hey, I guess thats just how it is when you're a photographer...sometimes you have to look a little ridiculous for the sake of a good photo.

Summer when I didn't know a thinngg.

So I am catching up on these postings....here are a few pictures I took this summer. I'm completely new to digital and photoshop so this is when I had absolutely no clue what I was doing...

Little brother. I love the light in this...and his expression.

Sister.

Sister and cousin. I'm not completely sure how to use photoshop so i think I might have overdone the next couple of photos...I never know when to stop. (Which I'm sure will come with time).

Harsh light=bad=white holes in my photo.

More darkroom...

I love this picture. I took another photo that is similar to this one on my last posting. The first is my brother looking out the window in our kitchen with my mother in the background, and this one is actually his best friend Brittany gazing out the window of her kitchen as well. I love the stillness of this photo, and the way she seems to be completely absorbed in thought. There's a softness and youthfulness to this that I can't quite put into worlds, even down to the way that one curl drapes gently over her shoulder. The sky was beautiful that day, and the sunlight filtering through the window had a dramatic effect that emphasized her facial features, adding a very concrete line between the light of the outside and the darkness inside the house.

The first photo I ever printed!

My sister Victoria (you'll notice she appears regularly in a vast majority of my photos...and she's wonderfully photogenic as well)

Who can resist this kind of begging?

Nothing more powerful than when someone's eyes pierce directly through the camera. Kinda feels like they're digging straight into you.

My cat Jazz, caught mid-meow.