Favorites: Joel Robison

Joel
His name is Joel Robison and he is a conceptual portrait photographer living in Cranbrook, British Columbia Canada. He creates whimsical worlds where size, scale, movement, and function don't play by the rule that we know. He puts so much positivity into his work and I really admire that. "I became a more positive person and I've noticed that when you emit positivity, it returns back to you." He said. He used to be a really depressed and negative person and there was nothing in his life that he felt passionate about, and I totally relate to that. So when just a regular ol' photographer says how much positivity changed his life, it gives me hope that it can change mine too.

Conceptual Photography
Concept photography is a type of photography that illustrates an idea, and is focused on the concept of the photo. There is some abstraction, but in a conceptual photo the image isn't a blunt example of your idea, it's an expression of it. Often, conceptual photography is used to convey a certain emotion or imply something about a person or society. It is heavily enhanced by programs such as Adobe Photoshop. More and more photographers are taking a dip in this type of photography as photo manipulation software has advanced.

Examples

These were from when he collaborated with Coca-Cola! He sent a picture he took of a glass Coke bottle into their company. A Year and a half later, Coke messaged him back asking if it was okay to post his picture on their twitter page. After the picture was posted, he got a phone call from them saying they had developed a project for him to moderate their flickr page. He did that for about a year and a half and when it was done, Coke offered him the role of photographer for the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. This gave him the opportunity to quit his job and pursue his dream of being a full time photographer, spending every second doing what he loves.









And this is just adorable. Not really conceptual, but very cute! That's actually him in the photo! He is his most used model! He sets his camera all up to the right settings and just has someone else take the picture.

This is very interesting to me. Like maybe it's saying his words aren't meant anything. Someone isn't allowing him to talk as if his words were poison.  This is the thing about conceptual art, you can create a main focus but everyone is going to interpret it differently because it's an expression.

This means to me that time is fragile and it's escaping. Which I totally agree with and live with.

Joel is one of my personal favorites for his stepping out of the box ideas. I only wish I could be half as creative and successful as him. 

Here are some of his links! Y'ALL SHOULD CHECK HIM OUT. Please and thank. 

http://www.flickr.com/joel_r

http://joelrobisonphoto.wordpress.com/  

http://www.facebook.com/joelrobisonphotography 

The Language of Light

Light reflects off of all objects that you see around you. You can play this up with camera flash (artificial light) or natural light.
Positive and negative space have a lot to deal with light because it shapes the object you're trying to capture. If there is more negative space, it's going to look like there is less of your object. For example, this picture of these two boys. The only light source in this picture is from the electronic device they're holding. This is a perfect example of using artificial light to shape the main focus of the picture, leaving the rest all negative space. And if there is more positive space, you're going to be able to see most or all of your subject.

Now we can jump into natural light, my absolute favorite! I always play off of natural light because I'm not a big fan of using a flash. The sun is your biggest, most useful tool! Depending on what time of day it is, you'll always get a different photo. In the morning and sunset it's soft and golden, mid-day it's bright and intense, and before and after sunrise/sunsets it's dark and colorful. The best time to shoot is basically any other time than the middle of the day. When you try to shoot mid-day, you can loose detail from intense highlights and shadows, but it is possible. Anything is possible. Here are two examples of my own photos using natural light. Note that they are straight from my camera so they're unedited. 

You can also tell the emotional tone of the picture through how bright or dark the photo is. So if someone wants to capture sadness, it's usually not something very bright. The same as if someone wanted the tone of their photo to be happy, it would normally be something bright and upbeat. 

 For example, the top photo of my friend (model) Sarah. The way I positioned her face so the light hit on the more interesting places like the tops of her cheeks, edges of her nose, and the one half of her eye was to create a tone of mystery. 

You can tell stories by how you portray light in your photos. Once you understand the language of light, you can always create a sound photo because lighting is the most important thing in photography. Without light, we would be left in the dark with nothing to capture. 

My Main Inspirations

A Little Bit of Background

Ive always been fond of the human form. Ever since I could pick up a crayon, or a marker, that was the first thing I drew, a person. So I’ve stuck to that my whole life through drawing, painting, and eventually doing portrait photography. Whether I was drawing or taking pictures, I always had some source of inspiration. Ranging from a torn out magazine page, to the way light shined on an object, or even a simple color. 

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My whole life I actually wanted to be a fashion designer. I had a monthly subscription of four or five high fashion magazines like Elle, W, Harper’s Bazaar, and Marie Claire sent to my house. Clearly I was an obsessed little fashion child. I tore out pages from these magazines and either drew them, or used their poses to create my own version of the pose. I would also watch Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model practically until my eyes bled. While watching these shows, I learned things like posing people, how light looks on the human face, and the good and bad of both of those. Still to this day, these two shows and fashion magazines are one of my main inspirations for my photography. 

Another and probably my most used inspiration of mine is Pinterest. People post their photography all over Pinterest in different collections, boards, and pins. Photographers will have their own page and post their pictures, what equipment they use, how they use it, and give tips. Seeing other people’s photographs and tips helps me better myself and create new ideas! This is what I hope to do to you guys! I love teaching do’s, don’ts, and giving tips. 

These inspirations help me take my creativity from its abstractness to form into something real like an idea! I have so many ideas and a ton of different ways to use my ideas. I’m so excited to show you what I’ve done with them so far. 

Why I Chose Photography

The main reason I chose this topic is probably very obvious; I like photography. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. I am minoring in photography for college and I’m currently building up my portfolio for art school. So far, I have a majority of my friends, two seniors, and two upcoming eight year olds. 

My love for taking pictures all started when I received my very first digital camera. It was hot pink, bulky but still pretty tiny, and had about 4 mega-pixels. I carried it around like it was gold. It was always with me, even if we were only going to the grocery store. I think my first picture on it was of a not so interesting red wings jersey. I thought that documenting my whole life through that little thing was super cool. Many of my pictures were of people. I’ve always been fond of art surrounding the human form and features. That’s when I found my love for taking portraits. 

After having my first camera love, I moved onto something bigger and better; a Nikon Coolpix. It was an expensive looking matte black, was just under the size of a professional camera, had a camera strap, and a built in flash. I lugged this around just like my last one. I even took it on my first day of eighth grade. This camera came with me to all my important events such as vacations, birthday parties, dances, and much more. 

Then after having that camera for a few years, I finally got a professional DSLR camera. It’s a Nikon 3200 and it truly is my baby. I saved my money for what felt like ages just to pay for it. But when I could finally pay for it with my own money; all 600 of my own dollars, it felt so good. Ever since then, I’ve just been learning everything and anything I can. 

What really makes me fall in love with photography is how you can capture a perfect moment in a photo. You can have a tangible piece of a memory. You can tell a full story through one picture. I think I just like being able to tell a story without words, seeing i’m not all that good at it. Art has always been my favorite way of expressing myself, whether it’s through my clothing style, my drawings, or my photos. That’s why I chose this topic.