Cows can have portraits, too!

I chose cows as the subject of my mini-project. Personally, I am scared of a lot of farm animals. You might ask why, well first of all I find chickens treacherous (I got attacked by them in the past, and they never feel full- they'll eat ANYTHING.). In fact, I find many birds quite evil (the other day on campus I got attacked by a seagull, who tried to steal my salmon and cream-cheese bagel from my hand, and it was quite huge, not exaggerating.) The thing with many birds and farm animals is that you think they are harmless and all that but then they fly at you with the little flying capability they have and try to poke you with their beaks (chickens), or suddenly walk onto you and open their mouth and let out a big boo (cows), or stare at you for hours (cows and sheep). At least with wild animals you know that it's not safe to be around them, so you basically avoid them. But farm animals and birds, those are animals we trust, and birds are basically a part of our daily lives. So you don't avoid them, and then they end up pooping on your head as you're walking under a tree. Not cool.

Anyways, I decided to portray some cows. Thought they'd be more interesting than human subjects. It's interesting how when you direct the camera at any animal they tend to stare back at it. 

What do you see?

There's a church in Stanmer Park, where Paul wanted us to take close-up pictures of the patterns we see on the Church's walls outside. Here's some I saw:

not-so-happy moss face

hand of the Almighty

p.s there's more I'll add them.

Impressions, Anecdotes, etc.

So I decided to also write some interesting things that I observe, some of this stuff is stuff I laugh at when I see it, or be surprised at. Here's two:

• I think only in England can you see a little girl with red curly hair and freckles, who once entering the train station jumps in absolute joy with two arms raised in utter surprise and screaming: "Oh my GOSH, this is the BEST playground ever!" in the cutest British accent.
• I had to go to another town called East Bourne, which is half an hour away from Brighton. When I was coming back, my train changed at Lewes, and I had to wait for the next train. There was a guy standing a little far away from where all the benches were, and when I first saw him I thought he was practicing Kung Fu, which is by itself an interesting sight (although, I once did see a guy in O'Hare who was practicing some sort of martial arts by himself in one of the less crowded corridors, so I wouldn't be too surprised.) But what made this guy absolutely phenomenal is that he only had one leg. His other leg was amputated, and his crutches lied on the floor next to him. And until the train came, he continued doing what he was doing despite surprised stares. I couldn't stop watching him and I guess he wasn't really practicing Kung Fu, it seemed more like he was practicing balance. But it was definitely a fascinating sight. In fact, a little girl who was sitting with her parents kept asking: "What is he doing? Daad, what is he doing?" and the parents just couldn't answer her question.

More from Stanmer Park

fallen tree

tree reflection
dry leaves

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson is my new photographer hero. There are so many good quotes from him about memory and photography that I have thought to myself at times before reading his quotes. One that crushes me to pieces but which is absolutely true: "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst."

I have to take so many photos.

Stanmer Park

Stanmer Park is right down the hill from our school, very rustic and pastoral. The fields were very green and looked georgous with the dramatic lighting of the clouds and hazy weather. Although I used to think I don't like scenery pictures, I realized I actually do.


I took the first picture on the top of the hill on my way down. When you compare it to the fields below, it looks very desolate and barren. It's weird because there are farms below everywhere and trees cover the hills across.

London Soho

Photographer

So this is the other shop-owner we found in the Lanes. He' s a photographer and owns this cool photography shop, mostly made up of Brighton pictures. He posed for us, and this time I was the one introducing what we were doing. He quoted Annie Leibovitz and said that you capture the best portrait photos when your subject gets tired of posing and lets go. I think that was the case with his portrait pictures also. When he stopped staring into the camera and started talking he gave a stronger picture.

Staring Blankly

When I changed the exposure in this picture, her facial expression seemed to become more stern.

Mini Project in the Lanes

So Paul asked us to find a store, or just someone in the Lanes, and ask them if we can photograph them. Me and Mel found this lady working at Cath Kidston (it was more like Mel asked if we could photograph her when working), and she said it was okay to take her pictures.

p.s. there is more, but they are all .tiff files and i have to convert them to .jpg to upload on here.

Fulham vs. Aston Villa Football Match (the real football)

We missed the first half of the match because someone died on the rail tracks, so the whole railway system fell apart, trains got delayed and people rode in the trains like sardines in a tin can. But, we made it to the second half. And Aston Villa won. Two thumbs up. (p.s. I think Prince Harry is an Aston Villa fan, didn't see him around though =) )

Clouds look pretty.

end of the match..

some jolly crowd, who after I took their picture demanded I pay them 5 quids. nope.

London Underground

If you love London, you gotta love the tube.

This is my Warholesque depiction of the London tube. Unfortunately it turned out to be too small. But if I figure out a way to make it bigger and better, I will.

p.s. actually click on the picture to see it in real size, it really makes a difference.

Jumping Pictures Never Get Old

Brighton Pier- Summery Symbol of Brighton

Birds- They are always there somewhere in the pictures.

The Clocktower at the top of the Pier (and of course a bird).
It was just a little cold to photograph Brighton Pier in all its summery glory. But, the sun was out and all was good, although the weather was nearly 0 degrees Celcius. Yet old couples were there for a little chit chat, mothers brought their babies in strollers, and it just made me wish it was way warmer and I could swim in the English Channel (or La Manche).

Sussex Campus Geometry

New York Silhouette

Of course, it makes a lot more sense to depict the silhouettes of the buildings in New York City than the people, since the buildings in this city are more prominent than its people. I don’t know who this pictures belongs to, but this is how the photographer described taking this photo: “[I]t can take a while to become familiar with a city and to figure out how to photograph it. [S]tudying the shapes and negative spaces in architecure is usually a good start for me.”

Another Silhouette

This is another silhouette picture I found in photobucket. Sorry the quality is low, I couldn’t figure out how to attach the full-size image link.

First Post- A Photograph by Levent Kopuz

As I was looking for a good photograph to post as my first blog entry, I remembered that some of my friends’ friends were doing professional photography. So through some stalking in facebook, I was able to find their websites. This is the photograph I chose, mainly because it was taken in Istanbul, my hometown, and I like the sharp contrast between the lighting of the building and the people’s silhouettes.