Nicole Cartier Digital Photography blog

For my final project, I want to take photos of the Jersey Shore. My idea is to portray the beauty that still remains after the tragedies that have occurred in the past year. After the hurricane, and more recently-- the fire in seaside, the Jersey shore has gone through so many changes. Although some areas are completely destroyed still and some have completely transformed... other areas are still beautiful. There is beauty that can even be seen in the destroyed areas of the shore still and that is what I want to focus on. If you could put it into one phrase, I would say that my topic is something like: the beauty in the aftermath of destruction.

I wanted to take photos of some of the houses that are still almost completely turned on their sides, as well as the beautiful, rebuilt parts of the boardwalk in Point Pleasant. I don't want my photos to look like journalism, though. I have always been so interested in taking photos of the shore where I grew up and I think that this will be a good topic for me.

This photo by Jerry Uelsmann is very eye catching. After researching him, I found that he did not edit this photo digitally, instead he was very talented in the dark room and working with film negatives. I think the meaning of this photo has to do (more literally) with the roots of where you come from. The roots building the house is a great visual metaphor and the surroundings around the center of the photo are very drastic, but also has a very far depth of field.

This photo by Brassai is one of my favorites because it has a very peaceful feel to it because of the blurred out street lights in the back and their reflection on the water. However, I like that it could also be a scary photo because the silhouette of the branch in the frame gives it almost a Halloween-ish feel, which is also enforced by seeing the lights and the bridge in a different way. The fogginess and blurred out lights in the back seem to play on the more dark and scary features of this photo. I Just really like the way he showed the bridge in this photo.

This photo by Bresson is probably my number one favorite photo of the six. I like the way the man in the front is leaping over a puddle with a perfect umbrella, while the couple in the back seem like they are being blown away. I think the drastic silhouettes give the photo a very dramatic feel. I also think the Eiffel Tower in the far background makes the photo because otherwise these people would just seem to be standing in a huge, empty, wet lot of some sort.

This photo, by Halsman, I found to be very interesting because of all the random things going on in the picture. I really like all of the stop-motion with the water and the cats and the chair because I enjoy shooting stop-motion as well. I think this photo just looks like it is comical and gives me the feeling that Halsman was a comedian in some way. the mans expression in the photo is another reason why I think it just seems like a funny photo.

This is a photo by Ansel Adams that I really enjoy. I like this photo because it reminds me of an octopus. The huge tree branches are winding like the legs of an octopus, and the plants that are growing all around the roots almost look like they should be the suction cup looking features under the tentacles of an octopus. I think overall I really like the texture of this picture as well.

This is a photo by Cory Smith. I think what drew me to this photo was the odd symmetry of the faces becoming one face even though they are at different angles. I think this photo has an underlying message of equality for men and women. I believe that it is showing how similar men and women are, or even the idea that we "complete" each other by the way the two faces come together to become one face.