Artistic Expressions: What Visually Inspires Me

Here are a couple of items that inspire me. Although I spent hours searching, I am unable to find the original source for these photos, which I hate. Majority of these come from my Tumblr account. 

My love for photography developed at a very young age. If I wasn't taking photos, then I was studying them, getting ideas, creating stories from hundreds of meaningless stills, staring for hours until my eyes got heavy at different color schemes, lighting, and visual styles. To me photography is all about having a purpose. Being able to move your viewers emotionally, to have meaning, and give life to a single still frame. 

 Black and white is my favorite style of photography.  It is so simple, yet so beautiful. The interpretation of a piece now has much more meaning, emotion, and imagination due to the depletion of color. Which leaves the lighting to play a key role in covering the subtlety of the photo. Causing the light broadcast a more dark feel with the black, absorb the white to create a brighter feel, or focus one the subject.  

With the photo to left there is more light on the subject. The background is much lighter, which makes it easier to cast a soft feel on the dancer. She appears more graceful, elegant, beautiful.

 Unlike the photo above, the light on the dancer to the right displays a darker feel. The background becomes dimmer, casting a shadow below the subject. Opposite of the gracefulness above, subject number two appears stronger. She balances on the tips of both feet, creates a deep arch in her back, and controls every aspect of the photo. She expresses power, strength, and captivates more attention. 

Photo number three is a combination of both empowerment from photo two and the grace of photo one. The background is now lighter, casting light around the subject. Although the lighting is not dim as the photo on the left, the look that is given is dark. Black becomes the main focal point of the photo, the dancer is surrounded by the material of her leotard. Her feet are planted firm to the ground. Although she embraces a sense of grace and strength, she lacks the control of the other two photos.  

The fabric has more power over the subject, she is engulfed by the darkness of the material, which makes the dancer appear weaker. She has no power over the surrounding, which then turns the attention away from the original emotion being expressed in the photo.

  Not only do I find the imagery of ballet stills beautiful, but I also have a strong appreciation for the art of dance. 

I find ballet to be very moving, beautiful, and unique. This is reason why I love dance photography so much. There is such a grace and elegance that can be captured .  

 "A picture is worth a thousand words"

Giving a photograph "life" has always been important to me. The frame should be able to tell a story, whether it is through expressions, depth of field, or colors. 

The photo above caught my attention as soon as I found it. Instantly my eyes became focused on the model in front. This is more of a two shot angle, a shallow depth of field has been created to focus the viewers eye on the model. Her eyes appear chilling, as if she is up to no good. Maybe she is leaving from a conflict from subject number two. He is placed in the back, not to be a key reference, but to symbolize more meaning to the photo. 

The colors are more mute, earthy, which creates more of a cold feeling.

  

I found the warmth of of the earth tones in this photo to be more aesthetically appealing. This shot appears to be at a very wide angle, but it still focuses on the subject. To me I feel as if it is expressing this "small girl" ready to conquer what life has to bring to offer in this big world. 

Photography is not my only source of inspiration. I also enjoy viewing paintings, since I am a painter. Abstract is what I mainly do because it pulls out more of my creativity. I hate that I found this painting on my Tumblr because I would really love to figure out who the artist is behind this. 

I love the abstract portrait that has created a figure of a woman. It is done with lots of texture, bold colors, and heavy painting. 

  

Little Dragon-Twice

This is one of my favorite songs and music video concepts. I'm pretty positive that story has no relation to the actual lyrics, but the use of shadow puppets was very neat. Although the pallet for the background is very light, the story seems darker, chilling. The concept of the video can be interpreted in many different ways.