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Yelena – Final Project

The photographer I’ve chosen as inspiration for my photos is Jerry Uelsmann. I’ve chosen his work because he mostly does surrealism and that is the type of photography that I love to experiment with.

His work:

My work:

My goal for these photos was to capture my love for nature, photography, and photoshop. Jerry Uelsmann used beautiful photos of nature and combined them with other images that you normally would not think to do. His work inspired me to do my own surrealism photographs but put my own taste and touch into them. I kept them dark, gloomy, and mysterious. For each photo I wanted a sense of mystery, tranquility, and uniqueness. Photographing nature is how I started out doing photography. However, I never really do anything with my photographs besides show them to family or friends. I was glad I had the opportunity to do this type of work about something that I am so passionate about.

Each one of these photos has deep emotion attached to them. While some seem normal, others are quite bizarre and dark.

This photo is meant to be serene and calm. A bird sitting in a tree at night looking out at the water. But, at the same time, there is a sense of mystery to it. It’s dark and you can’t see much but the bird, the water, and the moon.

For this photo I combined an image of water, plants, and an eye. I wanted to imitate Jerry’s work. While the water is calming, the eye in the middle feels like it’s trapped by the surrounding plants and the water. Feeling trapped is one of the emotions I tried to portray throughout these photos.

While this photo is very calming, the trees in the back hover over the waterfall making it feel small and trapped. The reflection is not the same, and you can subtly see flowers peeking through the water like they are trying to emerge from the dark abyss.

With this image, I wanted to subtly represent social distancing with the birds being far apart. Even though this image is the only one that does not consist of a dark background it still has an eerie feeling to it like something is wrong.

This photo was meant to be more abstract. It was one of the only photos that has color to break up the black and white scheme. The reason I chose color for this photo was because it actually seemed “darker” with it. The moon in the middle is like a sign of hope, a beacon in the darkness that will guide us out of the dark times.

This image is meant to show that nature is always watching what you do to the earth, so treat it right. Humanity isolating themselves from the earth is doing more good than bad to the planet. There is less pollution, animals aren’t afraid to come out of their isolation, the planet is healing.

This image is meant to represent feeling trapped during isolation and quarantine. Many of us struggle with being stuck at home 24/7, I just want to share those emotions through that photo. It is the darkest out of all photos and has the most emotion with it. The sheet is meant to represent suffocation, being trapped, and loneliness. The hands are coming out grasping the sheet to take it off. The background is juxtaposing the image, all we want to do is go out and enjoy life the way it was but that is no longer possible.

I wanted my last photo to be a representation of who I am. I have always had a strong connection with nature. And the first thing I did when I got a camera was I photographed birds and trees. However, the trees in this image are meant to make me feel trapped like they are guarding me from going outside. The birds are there as a sign of comfort, I will always have photography to comfort me. Even though I am not able to go out I can still photograph nature even if it’s through my window.

Yelena – Photo assignment #4

For this assignment I chose to take pictures of how the coronavirus has effected me personally. When I think of the virus I think of craziness and loneliness. At first I was excited that we had an extra 2 weeks of break, but then I quickly came to realize that I did not want to be home any longer, I was going insane from boredom and my parents constantly nagging me. I’m the type of person who needs to be alone from time to time without anyone bothering me. So the fact that I’m stuck in my house with my family for months is driving me insane. I also check the updates about the virus every single day and every few hours. When I see the numbers grow I get upset because there’s nothing I can do besides be home with my family and endure it. So these pictures are supposed to be crazy and scary because those are the emotions every one is feeling, this is just my take on it.

Coronavirus and its affects on me

This picture is supposed to feel apocalyptic. To create this effect I just set my ISO to a very low number (125) and moved the camera so the photo would be blurred and chaotic. Most of the photo was already red but I wanted to push that red further to make it feel eery and scary. This picture is of the USA map for the virus cases. It also includes some other numbers from the worldwide results. I chose this picture first because because it goes with my other photos nicely. It’s an introduction to chaos and how I feel but it’s shown in a more abstract way.

This photo is meant to represent several things. First, I wanted it to represent my feelings and emotions towards the virus. The virus is like a glitch in our system so that’s why I chose those effects. Again, I wanted to be creepy, scary, and dark. Second, I wanted this photo to represent what I do everyday. I sit at the dining room table to do my homework, use zoom, and check the virus updates. I’m glued to my laptop for 80% of the day. Sometimes I feel like a robot just doing those same tasks every single day because that’s all I can do because I’m stuck inside my house every single day and it frustrates me to no end.

Lastly I took this photo to represent my isolation. Like the last two photos this photo is also meant to be dark. But, this time the only thing we can really see is my laptop screen with the map of all the outbreaks of the virus. Everything seems so surreal. Just less than a month ago everything seemed so normal. But for the next few months or more we will no longer be normal. This picture is meant to feel sad and lonely. This photo relates quite well with the others. I hope it also relates to everyone else in some way.

Yelena – Photo assignment 3

Because I wasn’t able to go anywhere I just decided to take pictures of what I had available to me at home.

This was the only picture I was able to capture outside of my house, when I was on my way to Penn State to get all my stuff. This sign is now seen on every major roadway displayed bright and loud to remind us this is no joke and to please stay home.

For these images I wanted to capture how COVID 19 has affected people’s lives. We now carry most of these products with us anywhere we go just to be safe. We are almost always in a state of paranoia. My mom uses that lysol bottle to spray everything she has touched, especially when she goes out to the store or to get gas. We use the thermometer to check our temperature just to be sure we don’t have a fever. We use Clorox to wipe every surface, and Tylenol because at the end of the day this is all a big headache.

Yelena Cochrane – Photo Assignment 2

The photographer I chose for this assignment was Winston Vargas. He mainly photographed people in the streets during the late 1950’s all the way up to today. I like his work because he captures important yet everyday moments, usually people don’t know he’s taking a photo. He currently resides in New York City.

This photo was taken in 1959 in New York City.

Photo #1:

I chose this image as my main because it represents the daily life on campus. I walk this way every day so I get to see the amount of people that walk through here every single day. Most people aren’t paying attention and are more worried about going to their next class.

Photo #2:

This image is similar to the first one and it’s in the same area. Old main in the background makes the photograph feel older than it is since it’s such a prominent builiding and we all know it’s very old. I wasn’t able to capture more than one person at this time.

Photo #3:

This photo was unexpected but I loved how it turned out. This person looks like they are waiting for something, just relaxing. I did walk by him and he had his eyes closed like he was sleeping. Having his hood up makes it seem like it’s very cold out when in fact it was quite warm and sunny.

Yelena Cochrane – Photo Assignment 1

The photographer I’ve chosen to base my photos off is Albert Renger-Patzsch, he was a German photographer during the 1920s. This is the photo that I have chosen to imitate, it’s called Echeveria it’s a Gelatin silver print and it was photographed in 1922.