This past Sunday marked my last black and white photography class. I can confidently say that I learned a tremendous amount, specifically elements such as contrast, composition and lighting. In our last class we worked on some final prints, and then reviewed and critiqued our final project. Here is a snapshot of my final project:

Final Project: Humble Sacrifice -- Fruit Series

Since this is kind of a janky photo I took with my iPhone, here are the apple images slightly enlarged:

fruit series- apple 1

fruit series- apple 2

You’ve seen the other images in previous posts.

The overall idea for this project was to take a humble approach to a photograph. To make something really simple, yet really effective. The fruit itself isn’t exactly a very complex, interesting, or significant image, but the shadowing and the way that the fruit is structured on the frame makes you stop and stare. I think the most compelling element of these images is the sharpness, and the contrast. You really wouldn’t think a peeled orange could tell a story, but in a way, it does. My Professor also mentioned the idea of “sacrifice”, implying that these fruits looked like they were being sacrificed. He said he kind of felt bad for the fruit, like they were defenseless. I didn’t really think of it that way, but it is an interesting perspective.

Some of the other art that was displayed on our final critique was very unique and interesting as well. I wanted to take pictures and show those, but I felt as though it wouldn’t be right to not ask permission. Hope you enjoyed my final project and walking through this black and white journey with me. Will follow-up next week with more photo tips and tricks! For now, I will leave you with one more final print I made of a guy in my class… creepy…

Devil Mitchel