Mary Ellen Mark and Nicholas Nixon

The two artists from the list that I found most interesting are Mary Ellen Mark and Nicholas Nixon. Apart their work is an interesting view of society that most people do not see or try to think about. If their works are viewed together, side by side, and compared, they tell an interesting story that is even greater than apart. Their works contrast in so many ways. Mary Ellen has pieces focusing on society and peoples from nations that are rugged and whose people are forced to live had lives because of the areas they are simply born into. Her pictures of the Indian circus shows this greatly, how these children who are naturally gifted work for years when they are younger to support their families. Nicholas Nixon has work that contrasts with Mary Ellen's, in that he has pieces taken in large modern cities, where opportunities abound, but shows the people for one reason or another who are forced to live a second class life, and struggle to get by.

Their works separately show interesting niches of societies around the world that are often not thought about, but are a striking thing to view. It hits me deep personally to see these people who live in completely different situations and places that still share common experiences. With both of their works being looked at, I feel like they give a combined view of the world that is absent in so many other people's pieces of art. This is not necessarily a bad thing about other artists, but it is a great opportunity to see what these interesting groups of society, whether it be here in the United States or abroad in Vietnam and India, have to experience and live with everyday. It makes me wonder if the artists are onto something. Do people not think about all levels of the societies of the world often enough, from the poverty stricken areas of the northern cities of the United States to areas in Vietnam?

What I Want From This Class

I hope to get quite a few things from this class. Of course most of all I want to get better at making art, but more specifically I want to get better at photography, but of course it is a photo class. I hope to learn how to better use the basics of design from a photographers point of view, such as how to use negative space and color. And lastly I hope I get to learn how to edit photos to make them great works of art when we print them.

Henri Cartier-Bressen

My reaction and feelings toward Cartier were mixed. Some of his photos were extraordinary, showing great talent for the art, gaining my respect for his works. The man himself however, I do not have such great feelings about. While his photography show great emotions, ranging from peaceful feelings, to some videos of the war that were depressing, the man himself only seemed to only have a short set of opinions and emotions, and very few were good. His personality made me not want to watch the video more, and eventually made me bored and not care about what he was saying. Even his rambling away from what is the main point of the question posed to him got on my nerves, because half the time it was hard to even know what he talking about anymore. While I have great respect for Cartier's work and believe he is by far one of the better photographers of his time, I would never want to meet the man personally, because I believe it would be hard to even pay him any attention, and perhaps he would in some cases give me the urge to slap him and tell him to get to the point.