Cocktail Rock © Tom Owens


I took this photo on my trip to Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario Canada over the summer. This is just one example the many glassy sunsets and the amazing weather we had. My buddy and his dad have dubbed this cliff face we're on "cocktail rock." After a long days paddle, watching the sunset with a big cigar and a hardy cocktail can be quite relaxing. We started our trip in the northern part of MN at the end of the Gunflint Trail, paddled through the boundary waters to the border of US and Canada, then in to Quetico. All together, in 10 days, my buddy's gps read just over 100 miles of paddling! That was just a tiny portion of the million acre park.
Dont get me wrong, i dont hate people, but up there you dont see anyone except the people you came with and a few other adventurers like us here and there. its the most relaxing thing. Canada Eh!

Untitled © Georgia E. Lloyd

I have recently fallen into a mode of photographing where I seek ordinary spaces that can be flattened through compositional selectiveness. Since January of 2009, this kind of view has been developing without intention through my work. I have decided to embrace and push it, as ignoring this need is utter torment. For the most part, the flattened images I have been shooting are a therapeutic outlet for my very hectic and anxious mind. Simplifying, minimalizing, and focusing on one plane (or forcing one plane) is a near meditative process. I hope to develop this vision through complete dedication to my newfound visual craving.

5th © Michael Senise

Right before my summer began, I decided that I was going to not touch my camera for one month. I really don't have a solid reason as to why I chose to do this other than I thought it would be interesting to go thought my typical routine and instead of bringing my camera, I would bring a notebook and just write down what I thought I would have taken a picture of. I often drew quick sketches to illustrate the story I was trying to tell. Although, this was fun and I tried to continue to do it. except, i got bored. After a few weeks, I decided to begin using a camera again. But I still wanted to do something different. I wanted to use a camera but I didn't want any control over what the result was. So I went on eBay and purchased a bundle of disposable cameras for 30 bucks. I decided that I would only use the disposables until they were gone (obviously.) and I would use them in a manner that I thought would fit. I didn't have to think about anything except pointing the camera where I wanted. this is one of the images that I took of my dog and I while on a walk. I held the camera in a manner that I would never take a picture.

As I stated above, there was no real reason that I decided to change my typical way of going throughout life except for the change itself. I didn't really learn much but I had a great time doing it. I would love to revisit this idea of sacrificing control again the future. I don't have a final photo that I really care for from the group. but I do enjoy just looking through the negatives.

Pour My Pain In A Dirty Glass © Todd Langkamp

Over the summer I had a chance to see the band Dropkick Murphy's at Summerfest. Dropkick Murphy's is an Irish Punk Rock band. This a photo of the band's lead guitarist. The title of the piece is a reference to one of their songs that I thought was appropriate. I really enjoyed doing this series though taking the photos was a real challenge since I was front row center at this concert and the crowd was very wild. For this piece I was really drawn to it from the expression of the guitarist, the slight softness which shows his movement, and the harsh light of the spotlight on his face washing out some of the details. All of this I believe creates drama within the photo and you can really get a sense of the passion of this performer.

Untitled © Barbara Vonderharr

I feel comfortable shooting portraiture as a general basis, but during my summer photography class with Frank Ford, I realized how creating a connection with every person that you are taking a picture of is very important. Being able to create a comfortable environment and a willingness to be open for what you may ask the model to perform can be quite significant to your ability to snap a quality photo. I had my good days, and my off days; but regardless we still had to meet with models and be at the top of our game, ready for any number of characters to waltz through the door to be photographed. From drag queens, bands, to five-year old Johnny Cash impersonators, we learned to better connect with our models as growing photographers. It was a very positive learning experience, and one that I will not soon forget.

Untitled © Rose Tarman

Something about this image breathes inside of me. A monster is growing. Arcing tendrils of leaves churn above a streak of wood and pavement. I’ve had this scene stuck in my mind for months; I’ve passed this spot only twice before I made this photograph. Originally I decided to finally confront the image in my mind because of something that has now been lost to time, a simple red spraypainted phrase “no magic here,” though for me that phrase holds everything I see in this photograph, even without it being spelled out in red. Once I finally got off the bus at the right stop the fence was newly repainted, I'd lost my prize. But then again, I still achieved it, didn’t I?

Untitled © Kayla Newman

Whenever I step outside I find myself awed by the world around me. Though what I find myself admiring the most is nature and its landscapes. The way the sunlight hits the leaves in the trees, the complexity of their limbs sometimes knotted and twisted, and the grandeur of open fields against a rich blue sky. It never ceases to amaze me. This photograph, to me shows that complex beauty that not many people stop to appreciate.

Pyong Choi © Priscilla Whitenight

This summer I was involved with an internship at the Milwaukee Public Museum. The images I had accumulated were more for the viewer, not myself. I was photographing artifacts but had no deep connection with any of the objects. This is the one photograph that I've been drawn to over the summer -- a portrait of my mother. This photograph was a challenge, my mother rarely enjoys her picture being taken. In this photograph, through her gestures and facial expressions, the viewer gets a real sense of who my mother is from 2 split moments in time.

Pyong Choi is not like any of my other photographs I have taken before. I have always been more attracted to photographing objects rather than people. This was just a rare occasion where I was able to experience my mother with her guard down.

Untitled © Debra K. Leal

Stepping away from more-or-less documenting my summer through 35 mm, this photograph was the only piece created digitally and conceptually from the three-month break. For me, this triptych was more of an emotional and sensual record of the connection I shared with the man in front of me, and the environment that we inhabited. Aside from being suggestive in nature, I really wanted this to be simple-- only introducing elements that could closely describe what I felt at that point in time. When thinking about past work I have made, I consider this piece to fit perfectly within the approach I take to pick apart and study intimate relationships with significant others, loved ones, and myself. Intrigued with the idea of understanding and showing the strongest of human emotions (I have yet to find the answer), I continue to present my research.

Untitled © Crystal Miller

This work was taken during a summer photography class. I found while shooting that the connection between the person in the photograph and the viewer of the photograph truly interests me. Although most viewers of this image do not know this young boy, he truly entrances you. Over the summer I worked a lot more commercially in hopes to build up my portfolio for some future jobs. However, the experience was enlightening for me. I want to try and merge my commercial work with my fine art. Maybe I am interested in the relationship that is created while photographing a person that at first is a stranger, but ultimately the experience is something fairly new to me and exciting.

"Untitled" © Sarah Moore

The band featured in this photograph is Reckless Use of Fire. They are old friends of mine from my home town in Iowa, and were passing through on their first tour. I offered to take some professional looking photos to promote their music and help to build my commercial portfolio. To be honest, the whole porch setting wasn't exactly inspired....they didn't want to leave the house and certainly did not want to haul all the way to the school's studio, so I worked with what I had. I directed the seating arrangement but allowed the subjects gestures and facial expressions to be impulsive, to allow the guys to make the photo personal.

Untitled © Lara Ohland

I took this photograph while exploring the woods behind the hostel where I was staying in Hongzhou, China. When going out to make pictures I am easily seduced by atmospheric haze, which along with the transient light falling on the clearing makes this one of my favorite images of the summer. For me it is reminiscent of an elusive and beautiful place.

.Spiraculo. © Aryn Kresol

I set out this passed summer not only to widen my understanding of pinhole photography but to also broaden my experience by photographing a subject I have done well to avoid: landscape. I wanted to challenge myself with the task of focusing on a subject that I did not find all that interesting (at least in terms of what I like to photograph). When it comes to landscape photography, I thought, I could appreciate it for what it is, but it was not for me. And even so, in my mind when I started photographing this summer, I set out with the intention of photographing Nothing. Over the passed year I have become increasingly interested in minimalist style photography. And I have spent time looking at photographers such as Michael Kenna, and it was only after I started photographing to that desire that I became familiar with the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto of the same style. As it turns out, I fell in love - not only with the pinhole way, but with the beauty and sophistication of simplicity.

Untitled © Aimee R. Keil

In May of this year, I went on the Study Abroad trip to China. I had never been out of the country previously, so for me, everything about the trip was inspiring. As a photographer my work varies from project to project and subject to subject, but I have always been drawn to the seductive nature of black and white photography at night. This photograph in particular was taken in Shanghai, and is one of my many favorites from the trip.

Untitled © Mandie Lousier

Photographing at night becomes a trip into a new atmosphere where photographer and subject become intimate with one another. Nature becomes closer, capable of becoming treacherously inviting. The artificial light clashing with natural light becomes seductive drawing the eye to its intensity. Hearing your own breath moving in and out and the wind passing by your ears creating a steady rhythm inspiring picture making.

Searching around in darkness presents small surprises. Night photography has a way of creating colors you did not notice at first sight. The beauty of a long exposure takes how the eye views the subject matter and enhances what is seen.

Art the beat © Matt Avila

My summer was mostly spent in the city, so I did my best not to plan it. I ran around and got to know a group of kids through the Urban Underground, listening and talking to them was one of the best things I have felt in Milwaukee. This combined well with my recent feelings that photographs are even more enticing when there is a certain amount of risk or rush involved.

We found ourselves running and screaming down the block towards this picture here, just in time to catch the bridge before it dropped back down. I think that this picture is influenced by Mark Cohen, and his obsessive control over quick movements and along with his color theory has worn off visibly in my work.

Untitled © Kathryn S. Kmet

I took this photograph in late May, only a few weeks after summer vacation began. A simple trip to McKinley beach with friends was the opportune moment to bring my camera and snap photos. It was a perfect day outside, the sun was bright, and the wind was dramatic. I really enjoy taking candid shots of people I know, or total strangers around them. So snapping photos at the beach is fun for me.

The people I photographed were people I was around quite often at the time, so they were able to ignore me and my camera. I took many photographs of them throughout the day and some better then other I tried to play with composition, and also include the scantily clad women in the background for a humorous contrast in subject matter.

I can see that people may think of this as a snapshot, but I see this as a photograph that captures a moment of disconnection between the three people. I enjoy the composition because of the shapes and perspectives that the figures make. I am always interested to explore new ways to do portraiture work.

Untitled © Autumn Clark

This work is not one of my fine art pieces, mostly this summer I stayed away from fine art to just focus on doing weddings, and head shots for friends. I used this time to brain storm about my fine art work as I worked on these other types of photography. This photograph to me is one of the better head shots since it shows most of his upper body and an expression that seems inviting and friendly which is how this person is with others. This is not like any of the work I have done in the past but I am proud of this piece and the knowledge I gained from taking photographs that are different and new than my fine art.

"Untitled" © Andrea N. Payne

I became very interested in nude photography in the fall semester of my sophomore year. I find the nude form to be a very beautiful subject, and I wish to show that beauty with others around me. I'm continuing to experiment with different sources of light, and how that makes the body feel and look.

This photo is one of my favorites because it only gives a hint of a nude form, and the lighting makes the body look somewhat unpleasant.

welcome!

Class Picture © Kevin J. Miyazaki

This is our class, minus Matthew, who was sick on the first day of class. Please visit back often to see lots of great pictures by these talented photography students from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. The first assignment for the blog: Post and discuss your favorite photograph from the summer.