Cartagena & Gronsky

Alejandro Cartagena: http://www.aperture.org/apertureprize/2009-3.php
http://www.aperture.org/apertureprize/2009-3.php

Alejandro Cartagena is from Monterrey, Mexico. It is also where the photos were taken. At least in his series Lost Rivers, Alejandro used landscape and reflection of water along with scarce animal life to get his point across. The images are about the interdependence of man, and the ecosystems around him. Cartagena uses subtle evidence of the presence of man to show how man has interrupted the fragile nature of the ecosystem which is photographed. In this photo, one can see some sort of manmade structure on the left bank, and a set of possible tire tracks on the left as well. Cartagena used shape, shadow and light in order to arrange a masterful image.

Alexander Gronsky: http://www.aperture.org/apertureprize/2009-1.php
http://www.aperture.org/apertureprize/2009-1.php

Gronsky comes from Moscow, Russia, a cold and desolate place. All of his photos in the series show the distant city, as well as a sense of serenity and peace in nature. Gronsky took advantage of the striking whiteness of snow, making his subjects pop out and become detached from the nature. Like Cartagena, Gronsky focused on man’s integration and into a unique ecosystem. However Gronsky also conveyed how humans can never truly be one with nature. Gronsky’s pictures have a depressing, emotionless feel. He arranges his elements in a very layered fashion: Snow, subject, trees, sky, and city. This gives the view many elements to focus on.

Portraits

Mara

Mara uses very complex concepts, ideas and messages in her photos. Mara combines people and setting in an inventive, almost revolutionary fashion. Her eye focuses on an array of objects and people, which makes her work special. Mara finds lines that follow each other, and contradict each other, to formulate a comprehensive image.

Her best photos are her grid photos, and her Chinatown pictures, which especially exhibit her complex style. Her photos speak for themselves:

Zoe

Zoe’s photographic eye is very versatile. She can focus in on minute details, but she can also widen her view, by finding a greater message in her photos. Zoe often uses human body language, simple, but very emotional. She also has a good grasp of macro and has no trouble connecting correlating textures and movements within the frame.

Zoe’s series that demonstrate her eye are her grid project part 2, and her faces series because she used connecting people, and inanimate objects. In her faces series she looked at big and small objects and sucked emotion out of them.

Benny

Benny’s photos exhibit deep thought about visual concepts, especially shape, design and texture. His eye always seems to find abstract shapes, or beautiful scenes. He especially uses nature to define the concepts he seeks to convey in his photographs.

Benny’s best series that shows how his photographic eye works best are his raindrops series and his emotions series. His raindrops series is a classic Benny series, as he used the luminosity and freshness of water and the simple beauty of flowers to create various masterpieces. His emotions series uses great set up and shadow/light/contrast.

Griffin Shafer

Griffin's photos have exhibited enormous amounts of progress throughout the years. His photos have matured as he has. His funloving, outgoing style as a person is demonstrated in his work, but another, more personal, darker side is conveyed as well. Griffin's photos show deep emotions, which are further emphasized with high contrast, the usage of sepia, and other thought provoking editing techniques.


Griffin's strongest photos are the one's he feels most strongly about. One can tell what Griffin really cares about by the masterful images he finds with his photographic eye. Griffin's best photos are the ones of his dog and cat, and the ones in his San Francisco series.

Chinatown