Eric Kim Street Photography

Eric Kim runs a street photography blog from his home in Berkeley, California. He teaches workshops around the world and is a prolific writer. He publishes all of his books open source so that anyone can read them for free. I love his approach to the genre and his willingness to share his own experience, whether it's distilling the tactics of an old master of photography or simply asking questions about one's own photographic journey. I have learned a lot from Eric's informative and reflective style of writing and admire his growth in street portraiture

Sometimes Eric breaks down his own photos to critique them and demonstrate principles of technique.

Christopher Griffith Foot Soldiers

Foot Soldiers is a photo series by Christopher Griffith that chronicles the hands of shoe shiners on the streets of New York. The exquisite details of their hands and shine implements make for striking manual portraits. The artistic choice to isolate the hands on a simple background really highlights the details and vibrant colors.

Margaret Zhang

Margaret Zhang is an Australian photographer/stylist/blogger who runs the website Shine by Three. She travels around the world writing about and photographing fashion and still makes many of her own self-portraits used on the blog.

Minh Ha Pham

I heard Minh Ha Pham speaking on a program on NPR and while I did not have time to read her book, it seems like something that would be particularly applicable to my journey of self-discovery and identity. I have always wanted to have my own blog... and if I had been writing instead of talking about it I probably would have something cool to show for it. But who knows? This could be it~ It's never too late. Personal style blogging is a unique way of expressing oneself and connecting with the world. Everyone wears clothes, but not everyone takes the time to care about what they're wearing says about them.

Do More, Wear Less

This is the motto of Ewan and Brianna Phelan, a husband and wife intimate lifestyle photography team. I was introduced to their work by my Event Photography professor and was immediately drawn to their style of boudoir photography. Their photographs have a raw sensuality to them that is empowering for their clients and striking for the viewer.

Guy Bourdin

Guy Bourdin cultivated his own aesthetic in the fashion world. His use of color and dynamic posing are imitated to this day. I spent more time using and getting comfortable with studio lighting this semester and I hope to continue honing my skills with off camera flash.

Whistling for the Wind~

From the moment I saw the cover of Ryan McGinley's monograph Whistle for the Wind I knew we would jive. 

The impact of Ryan's work reaches deeper than an appreciation for the grand landscapes and celebration of youth. Seeing his approach to portraying the human form and displaying our humanity inspired me to feel free to express myself without judgement.

And I love his words of wisdom for Parsons' graduating class of 2014:

On Form

The work of Andreas Bitesnich was my first introduction to the world of fine art nude photography. While in Vegas for my 21st birthday I stumbled upon this book in the spa at Caesar's Palace and for some reason (that definitely had nothing to do with alcohol) I felt compelled to spend more money that I had ever spent on a book simply based on its cover. I had a mild idea of what I might find inside, but what I actually found instilled a new sense of wonder within me. It has taken me until now to try my hand at creating some of the emotional and beautiful portraits contained within this tome. But without the foundation for appreciating the human form this book helped me establish I may never have pursued my own nudes this semester.

http://www.bitesnich.com

What if...

What if the story that I have been telling myself and everyone else about why I take all these self-portraits isn't the whole story... What if it I have just been doing it so long that I have convinced myself that this is what I am doing and have no reason not to believe myself. Central to the story of my self portraits is the genesis of the idea. Wrought from a desire to simply share a moment with someone that I cared about. Neither of us knew what the future would hold, but we were going there together and at the time that was all that mattered to me. This desire to capture the essence of our time together preceded any thoughts or other feelings about what this project would come to mean to me. Initially, it was intended to be my own way of making sure that I never lost sight of why I had moved across the country in the first place. That each day I would remind myself, you are here with your love because you came here for love. This record was my way of sharing the connection that brought us together and remembering it fondly, whatever happened between us in the future. In the beginning, the memorial project was simply an idea, something I wanted to do, but it was still unclear how it would work.

To Be Continued...