Ike Edeani

I found this photographer very interesting. He is from Nigeria, but moved to the US ( and lives now in San Francisco). He went to school for architecture, and finally became an architect. After being laid off for a second time, he took it as a sign and joined a friend/business that made him a freelance graphic designer.  Yet, it didn't feel right to him. He then became an art director for a clothing company, and slowly drifted onto Instagram and Tumblr with his iPhone, which led him to finally going into freelance graphic design again and photography. He traveled and got into Phoot Camp, and here he is.

It's very refreshing to see someone strive to do what they want, even though you weren't quite sure of wht exactly you had in mind.

Kyle Thompson

I ran across him on Tumblr, and realized that he is one of the photographers Kate spoke about in our lecture of portraits. He is from around Chicago Illinois, and enjoys to shoot portraits, including many self-portraits that he takes in the woods or abandoned homes/buildings. After reading through his blog, I found out that he is living in his car while traveling the US/Canada to complete a book he has been working on for a few years. He also firmly believes in not naming much of his work because he feels as though it takes away from the viewer's meaning of a piece. Of all the artists I've seen so far, Thompson is one of my favorites.

If you are interested in more, here you go:
http://kylejthompson.tumblr.com/
http://www.kylethompsonphotography.com/

Kevin Michael Connolly

I read quite a bit about him through the internet. Unfortunately I missed his presentation, at SCC, but spoke of his new collection The Rolling Exhibition, which photograph how people view him as a different person. Connolly was born with a birth defect that left him without legs, but was raised like a normal child by his parents which eventually led him to win silver in the X Games. He is living proof that nothing can stop you if you want something

I recently came across Tabea Simple, she is a conceptual photographer that makes very contemporary portraits. She is fantastic and has a great creative mind

Multiples Assignment

Kelli Connell

After our discussion, I could not tops looking at these images. I love the idea of Kelli using herself as the subject of her work, as well as adding herself more than once, without the use of photoshop! She has so much to say and portrays it perfectly in her photographs. It's wild how lucky she is to get the portraits to match up. 

Technology is cool

I think it's wild that both art and technology have advanced so much that we can take pictures of anything from a the shadow of a SINGLE ATOM to images of space. I thoroughly enjoy anatomy and have fallen in love with these two photos that portray the heartstrings that help the valves in our hearts to pump, keeping blood circulating, and sustaining our lives. The more amazing thing is that we can take pictures of these post-moterm AND antemortem. Go science!

This is how I feel when I wake up

This is from a series by Rik Garrett, a Chicago-based artist with a "strange romantic" and heavy occult-related aspect to his art. These photographs (above and below) are from a series called Symbiosis, a book/series of photographs that emphasize the ideas of love, alchemy, and partnership in nature.These images are painted on with acrylic paint, which is something I would have never thought would look as interesting as this.

Garrett refers to these two beings (a male and a female) merged as a symbolic and visually perfect being. These images remind me of the story that Aristophanes told in Plato's The Symposium that describes how man and woman were once joined as one. This angered the gods, who split them and put them back together as two separate beings. They were long depressed and searched for their other piece of their souls, soulmates.

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus is such an interesting photographer. I really enjoy that she decided to leave fashion photography to go on her own way. She chose to photograph what general people feel to be obscene and eerie. It is such a shame that she committed suicide 

ADAM ELMAKIAS

I just found the best of both worlds: zoos and A Day to Remember. Adam Elmakias is a great band photographer. Just living that life must be so cool, being able to travel and listen to good music while taking pictures.

I have a friend, that loves to paint and draw, and recently rented a room that is strictly for her art through her cousin Zack Smithey. She finally brought me to come hangout with her at the studio and was blown away by the beauty of this place. Zack has been in many art exhibits with his unique abstract-esque pictures such as Materialization of Sound. His art personifies his opinions and makes me really wish I could paint! 

self portrait with self portrait

Zack also has a masters in teaching art, where he used to teach at Francis Howell North.

If you like anything

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Justin Visnesky

I was creeping around here and found this artist. I went to his tumblr account to investigate farther and loved what I saw, and really appreciated these from his collection A New Morning, in St. Louis, the same year that Obama was elected. The first image is also the cover of a book, which must be a great honor. I feel like this is the kind of artist I would want to be.

Here I am! I still need to update this because I'm usually on tumblr, but it shall be done this weekend!