Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #6

10/26/2017

Today you will be writing about this self-portrait image by artist Alex Stoddard. Now that you have made your own self-portraits, think about the great difficulty the artist must have gone through to get this shot. What equipment might he have used? What do you think the lighting scenario was? Where was this photograph made?

Your analysis must be 5 paragraphs, 5 sentences minimum per paragraph. Remember to post your analysis as a comment to the blog post that corresponds to your class. If you post your analysis to the wrong class's post, it will not be graded.

If you do not complete your analysis in class, you must finish it for homework before your next class on MONDAY, 10/30/17.

Refer to your "How to See" handout for analyzing a photograph--

Describe specifics.
Describe form.
Describe the content.
Evaluate the image

Your analyses will be graded on:

meeting minimum length requirements
depth of organization
evaluation of the content
grammar/punctuation

Ryan Kyle

10/26/2017 11:32:30 am

The image is of Alex Stoddard standing next to lightning striking the ground and making the dirt fly off of the ground. Alex is wearing grey sweatpants and is in the middle of the desert. The image uses a lot of blue, green, and yellow. The light of the image is all dark except for the area around the lightning. Alex looks to be standing on a hill from the loo of the background but it could just be a higher point in the desert he is in. He appears to be calmly looking at the lightning while being right there and not flinching at all.

The image is pleasing to look at because of the bright lightning in the center. The rule of thirds is being used in this image because Alex is in the middle of the image. This image is a 3rd person point of view image although it is a self portrait. It is hard to tell what kind of depth of field is being used because of how dark it is in the image. It does however, look like a deep depth of field to me.

The main focal point is Alex and the lightning which is in front of him. There don’t appear to be many lines in the image other than the lines in the lightning, which direct your eyes toward Alex. The image appears to be symmetrical for the most part other than the lightning. There is extra space that the subject leaves open for other things in the photo. The edges of the image aren’t very important so nothing really gets cropped out.

There is a story being told in this image although it is not exactly clear on what it may be, so you have to speculate. The artist made this image for his collection of self portraits that all tell an interesting story. In my opinion, this is one of the best images because of the lighting it uses. The image is interesting because of what kind of story it may be telling. It is also interesting because you don’t know where this was shot.

I like this image, along with the other images that Alex has produced because of the variety of colors in each. In this one, I like how the sky is a dark blue with little spots that are filled with clouds. This image is successful because a story is being told, and it is also very pleasing to look at. I like that the story is not exactly clear because it allows you to make up your own story. This image is pleasing to look at because of its symmetry along with the colors and lighting it uses.

Marynez Cantu Cardenas

10/26/2017 11:46:04 am

This amazing self-portrait image was taken by the artist Alex Stoddard. There is many concepts that go along with this photograph. There is a wide variety of lighting throughout this picture. It seems to be the darker stage of twilight and there is clouds which may indicate that there is a lightning storm going on. The actual light comes from the lighting itself and it is what brings this photograph alive.
This image is very simple but with a lot going on at the same time. In this image there is one person which is Alex Stoddard himself who is standing on a hill out in the wild, there is no indication in this photograph of any houses out on that area. Alex is shirtless and he is wearing white jogger, he is also barefoot. I think that he wanted to say something with what he was wearing and how he was positioned but I’m not quite sure of what that message is.
I don’t think that this was just one picture since lighting is very fast and Alex seems to be really close to it and it is very dangerous. Also, it is very hard to get the exact positioning of here the lightning is going to hit. So for those reasons I believe that this is two picture into one. I think that Alex Stoddard took one exact picture of the streak of lightning and then he went and positioned himself in the exact place where it hit.
This is a very creative and time consuming photograph and I admire Alex for having done this. This is certainly very creative and original since it is not an image that you would normally see and there is many aspects that go along with it to make this work. Alex had to position himself exactly where the lightning hit, he had to see how he was going to capture the streak of lightning in motion, and see how he was going to make all of this work together to make this amazing photograph.
This image is very centered and your eye goes directly towards Alex and to the streak of lightning hitting it. The streak of light is very bright therefore your eye goes directly towards it. What I most like about this photograph is that it brings out wounder in the viewer since it makes you wonder how this was composed and what it took to make all of this work to get the exact picture that Alex Stoddard wanted. So overall, I believe that this is a very well composed photograph that has many elements that go along with it.

Maria Tirado

10/26/2017 11:46:34 am

This image is of a man, Alex Stoddard, the artist of this picture, looking off into the distance to what appears to be a dark sky with a lightning bolt. The main object in this picture is kind of split into two main parts. I believe Alex is the main person in this picture, since it is a self portrait, but the lightning bolt also captures our eye. This image is using really dark colors so that the bright light of the lightning bolt stands out. The artist is also wearing light colored clothing and no shirt to stand out in the night. The artist and main object seems to be standing on an isolated hill, maybe to give a little bit of suspension and mystery to the picture.

I believe this picture was composed at two separate times. I think Alex Stoddard made a self portrait shot of himself standing alone, facing the back at night. He then took a picture of a lightning bolt, maybe one he took himself and edited it onto his self portrait. I really enjoy how creative he is in his images, especially because they are all self portraits. This self portrait in particular, has that special spark, no pun intended.

This photograph is very pleasing to look at, because I believe that is a composite. A composite forces you to look at something that is not necessarily realistic and makes your mind wonder. The photographer probably took this picture with a tripod at a medium to high angle so it could capture a big chunk of the sky. The image appears to be semi-symmetrical, at least the most symmetrical we have ever analyzed, just because there is the same amount of lightning, man, grass, and sky on both sides of the picture. There is also extra space, because the subject is straight in the center.

There are lots of stories that you could take from this image, since it is a composite. It is a little bit unrealistic that Alex Stoddard could’ve been standing on a hill at night with his shirt off, and captured a picture of a lightning bolt landing right in front of him without him getting hurt. If you are imagining some stories, there are the possibilities you could say he enjoys solitude, hence the self portrait, and was just pondering life up on a hill. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, a lightning bolt comes striking down right in front of him. This image reminds me of the movie Hercules, or just of my 7th grade Latin class, when we learned about the Roman gods. This picture could have had some inspiration from the god of lightning and the skies, Zeus.

I really enjoy this image. It is not one of my favorites, because it is a little more dark than what I prefer to look at. I can definitely understand how hard it is to make self portraits, and how difficult it must have been to edit this picture. I admire Alex Stoddard for all of his creative ideas and how he makes them come alive into still photographs. Overall, I think this image is very successful even if it is not a fan favorite.

Larissa Esparza

10/26/2017 11:48:42 am

This images pictures a boy in his pajama pants without a shirt and is barefoot. The boy is walking towards the edge of a hill ledge. At the tip of the ledge there is a lightning bolt. The lighting bolt is bright and white while the surrounding sky is a dark blue almost purple color. There are a couple of plants that frame the bottom of the lighting bolt the lightning bolt is landing directly in the middle of the plants. The rest of the land is empty and looks kind of dry.

This image is pleasing to look at because of the white lighting bolt that stands out and the different color usages. I also find this image pleasing to look at because of how the lightning bolt illuminates the boy and displays him clearly in the dark environment. The rule of thirds is being used in this image because the boy is in the middle of the image. This image has many lines there are lines that shape the boys body and the lighting bolt. The lighting bolt leads your eye down to the boy and the land surrounding him. The edge of the frame is the dry grass and and bolt coming out of the sky. There isn't anything important cropped off of the image which is important to capture the image completely.

I think a theme of the image is that the lighting bolt is awakening him as he is having an epiphany like how a lighting comes on when someone has an epiphany but with a lighting bolt. I think the story behind this image could be that human is invincible against all and that’s how the boy is so close to the lighting bolt without dying. This image reminds me of multiple videos I saw when I was younger on America’s Funniest Videos. The videos showed different people doing things while being struck by lightning and now that I think about it it isn’t really funny at all. I think this image may question how strong the human body is even though I don't believe it is a real image.

I like this image because of the story I think it is telling, the different color usage and how the lightning bolt illuminates the boy’s body. The colors of the sky, lighting bolt and the plants around the lighting bolt go well together as in color. I like how the lighting bolt is landing in the middle of the passage of the plants. I’m not sure where the image is taken because the environment seem very hilly and dry and like there’s no surrounding life but that just adds more to the image. This photography is successful because it clearly pictures a beautiful environment with a subject and doesn’t crop off anything from the picture.

This image is a self portrait image which means he couldn’t have taken the picture while being in the frame; so how did he do it? To take an image of himself he would've had to have either someone press the shutter for him after he focused the camera and setting,use a timer or a remote. I don’t think this image is actually real because the photographer wouldn't have time to press the time and pose for the picture while a lightning bolt. It is also extremely dangerous for a someone to pose next to a lighting bolt. I think the photographer used composite to make this image.

Marissa Elizondo

10/26/2017 11:49:21 am

This picture is of Alex Stoddard standing in front of a lightning striking on the ground. Alex is standing barefoot on a hill while wearing grey sweatpants. The lighting streak sparks as it hits the ground. This picture uses a lot of blue, yellow, and some green. This picture was clearly taken at night because of the dark sky and the light used in this image is coming from the lighting streak.

This picture is very pleasing to look at because of its balance of light in the center and shadows on the outside. The subject and focal point of this image is Alex. The subject of this image does not fill up the whole frame and there is a lot of space where the plants and clouds and other components of the image are. The lighting streak directs your eyes to him. The fact that Alex is standing right in the center of the image also draws your eyes towards him. This is a deep depth of field because the majority of the image is in focus even towards the back. This picture was taken in the photographer's point of view.

This picture is a self portrait. The guy standing in front the lighting is Alex Stoddard and he is the photographer. I think this picture is a composite. I think he took a picture of the lighting and took a picture of himself standing on a hill and put them together. The reason I think it is a composite is because the chance of him taking a picture and of him standing exactly when lighting struck the ground is really unlike and also very dangerous. This picture definitely took a lot of time and effort to compose.

I personally think the theme of this image is the beautiful and exciting nature is. Even though you can’t see Alex’s face, he seems to be staring at the lighting with amazement. The sparks on the ground give a the picture a vibe of excitement while the actual lighting and the plants around showcase beauty. The lightning streak looks beautiful and standout. In a way by showing how beautiful and exciting nature is, it should encourage people to go outside and really appreciate the beauty that our world has to offer.

I really liked this image. This image has been my favorite image to right about so far. I think this image is successful because of the photographer’s creativity and uniqueness. I’ve never seen a image like this one before and I think the quality of this image is also very successful. I like how this image has a balanced use of shadows and light and I like the color scheme (yellow, blue, green) that was used.

Jessica Mims

10/26/2017 11:49:47 am

This image, by Alex Stoddard, is a self portrait. He is standing under a lightning strike in an open field. He is wearing pants, but not a shirt, and his back is facing the camera. The sky is dark, it is probably night time, and the lightning is illuminating the sky. The colors in this image are colors we would see in nature; green, tan, and dark blue. The sky is cloudy and it sets up the mood for the photo, which seems to be intense and eerie.

The subject of the photo, Alex Stoddard, is standing in the center of the image. The image has a deep depth of field, the lighting is sharp in the background. I think that the lightning is the focal point, your eye is immediately drawn to this when you look at the image.This image is symmetrical, both the lightning and Alex Stoddard are in the center, while the borders of the image are open. The edges of the photograph are taken up by nature; the sky and ground.

This image could be telling a story about one of the days of the year for the photographer. Since it is a 365 project, maybe he encountered a lightning storm one of the days. He might have also had a past experience with lightning that he wanted to recreate, maybe from his childhood. Another reason for this image was that he just had the idea to create it for pleasure and enjoyment. He has to be an extremely creative person, because all of his images are very different from each other, yet they are all interesting.

Since this image was a self portrait, a lot of work was put into creating it. Alex Stoddard would have most likely used a tripod while creating this image. This photograph might be a composite, a photograph made up of other images, since it is kind of unrealistic to stand directly under a lightning strike. This was probably taken while using a timer or a remote for the camera. He would have probably had to retake this shot multiple times to make sure everything turned out the way he intended.

I think this image is really cool. I really like all of the details and especially sharpness of the lightning. I think it is cool that we can see the sparks coming from the strike as it meets the ground. I think this image is successful, everything is in focus and I am drawn to look at the image more. The fact that this image is part of a 365 project makes it even more interesting, because I realize how much work he devotes to creating images daily.

Troy Rollwitz

10/26/2017 11:50:00 am

In this self portrait taken by Alex Stoddard we see him standing shirtless on a hill. He is not wearing shoes and his feet are muddy. He is overlooking the landscape and the picture was taken from his back side. There is a giant white lightning bolt that is striking right in front of him. He has a small white glow around him from the brightness of the lightning. The main colors being used are blue and white. All of the lighting comes from the lightning bolt.

Alex is in the lower center part of the frame, and none of him is being cut off. He fills a very small portion of the frame. The lightning is directly above him and starts at his feet, and fills up to the top of the frame. The lighting acts as a line to direct our eyes towards Alex, though it is not a strait line. He is using a deep depth of field because everything is in focus, the hills in the back are so dark that it is hard to tell but if they are blurred it is not much. The image crops off at points of random sky and hill, the only important thing that is being cropped is the lightning.

The theme of the image seems to be the power of nature. Alex is shirtless and barefoot, and on a hill with no manmade structures in sight. The lightning is the most powerful aspect of nature in the photo, it lights the scene, and is massive in size compared to Alex. The strike is on the ground and there is some shrapnel flying from the point of impact. This is also showing the destructive capabilities of nature.

I really like the photo. Not as much for the message it tells, but rather simply how awesome it looks. There is a giant lightning bolt striking the ground. It looks amazing. I also like the colors it uses because they are pleasing to look at. I think it was a successful photo because the subject is very powerful, and everyone would enjoy looking at it, and also it has a good message that goes along with it.

I have multiple guesses as to how Alex made this photo. I will say that I don’t think this was taken together, I think it was a composition. I think that he may have taken a photo of lightning and placed it behind him or placed himself in the scene. Another guess is that the lightning was computer generated and he just used lights to blend it in. I know I can make lightning on After Effects and it isn’t hard so I think this could be a reasonable explanation.

Josh salehi

10/30/2017 11:20:55 am

This is a very cool and fun to look at image. This image shows a tennager in the middle of nowhere nearby a lighting bolt. I like this image because it leaves a mystery on how to the photographer took it.i believe that alex stoddard i think his imagines are really successful because of how real the lightning bolt look like it is actually near him because if that actually did happen he might have been dead. due to the electric charge that a lighting bolt has around the permissions.

This picture contains many bright colors such as bright yellow, dark yellow for the sky. The picture looks very dark and it has a big shadow of him of his back on the ground right next to his feet. The picture has more objects than then just the lighting bolt.It also consists of grass and bushes that are being blown away.This image is also taken during the night/dusk time.this gives a pretty sky for the viewer to look at.

The image functions very well and it is very pleasing to look at. The photographer takes this picture in the third person point of view and it is a deep depth of field. I believe that he put his camera on a tripod and took the picture.This picture has obviously been taken at a extremely fast shutter speed because lighting so fast that the human eye cannot even see it. The background looks very dusty and the subject does not fill the frame that good and there is a lot of extra space around the edges at towards the top middle.

I like how this picture could have been made with two separate pictures and I also think this picture is very successful and the artist did a very good job on the background and a good job on the main subject viewpoint because the colors really popped in the eye and u could tell that the kid probably wanted to be a superhero based on what he did

Zach Burgos

10/30/2017 11:35:50 am

The image is of Alex Stoddard standing in front of a lightning bolt in the middle of the desert. The colors the image is using are cool colors, such as blue, and a bright light with the lightning. The lighting is from a somewhat studio setup because I believe that there is a light in front of Alex. The photo is most likely a composite of photoshop with Alex’s own photo of lightning and him in the desert in front of a light. The objects in this image are Alex, lightning, and some desert plants with grass.

The composition is pleasing to look at because of the cool colors mixed with the bright white from the lightning. The rule of thirds is not being used in this photo. Alex is taking this photo in 3rd person, behind him, and the camera is at the same angle as him. The photo was taken with a large depth of field. The focal point is Alex and it he framed by the light from the lightning strike.

The line in the photo is the lightning and it points to Alex. The image is balanced and it is asymmetrical because the lightning is not straight and the sides are not the exact same. There is some extra space on the side of the image. The edge of the image is the sky and the desert, and the frame cuts of the rest of the sky and desert. The positive space is the lightning and where it strikes, and the negative is the sky and the rest of the desert.

I don’t really know what the theme of the image is exactly other than it being about Alex being in front of a lightning strike. I also don’t see a story in this image. Alex Stoddard probably made this image to practice making composites. The image reminds me of the times when I see lightning strike near me when there is a rainstorm. The image doesn’t challenge any beliefs or anything. The image is very noteworthy because it shows the power of composites and what you can do with them.

I like this photo because it shows what people can make with composites. I also like that Alex probably added a light in front of him so it seems that lightning struck in front of him. I like that the image makes it look like the lightning is real. I think the photograph is successful because it seems that the lightning is real. I also think it's successful because of how the colors look really good with each other, the dark blue sky and the white lightning.

mikaela mumme

10/30/2017 11:41:57 am

This image is of a young man standing outside right in front of lightning. Where he is looks very secluded. There are no buildings adding to the feel of the picture. The lighting is very cool in tone and well lit. This picture was taken at night or very early in the morning and and it is dark outside, so it is hard to tell if another source of light was used or if the image was composited.

This image is very sharp in the foreground and focused on the subject in the mid-ground then the sky has a slight blur. This photo arguably has two subjects the lightning and the young man. The lightning looks framed by the grass and very centered where it is striking. Then the boy is standing in the center of the photo and looks framed by the grass and lightning rupturing where it hits the ground. The view the photographer presents is flat footed, eye level and it helps tell the narrative of the image.

This image gives a exciting, thrill seeking, brave theme and i love the narrative it tells. From my perspective this image tells a story of a hero. It reminds me of Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief movie, where it is a story full of adventure and action. The way the boy is standing adds to the story he is standing tall and confident portraying a hero. It is brave and unique how he is standing right in front of the this intimidating lighting, yet he looks so calm and like he can conquer anything.
I think this image was made with some creative outside the box techniques. I think this image was staged and probably composited. To take the photos he may have used a timer to take his photos. Since it is dark outside I think the picture of the lightning was taken at night. I think it is naturally lit, because I assume the lightning was bright enough to photograph at night.
Then I think the picture of the boy was taken during the day maybe in the morning or afternoon, because the shadowing on his body. Once he took these two images he would have composited the photos and the created the image. I like this image and enjoyed analyzing it. This image is successful in my definition, because it tells a narrative that I find interesting. Also the quality of the image is high and the composition was good.

Pato Wray link

10/30/2017 06:48:01 pm

The image by Alex Stoddard is a photo of a dude getting really close to "lightning". I put lightning in quotations because the lightning is obviously fake. Look at the night sky, clear as day. How could there have also been no reaction to this guy makes it also insane. He is also shirtless so he should have gotten severe scars on his body.

The image is very appealing to the eye as it most likely is photoshopped. It still has a very good image yellow in the lightning bolt because you can even see the dirt coming off the ground. The photo doesn't follow the rule of thirds.The angle at which the picture was taken at is off the tripod. It could have been real if they knew exactly when the lightning was striking. The image is balanced and it one of the best photos I've ever seen.

The idea of the photo was maybe all the fame of the photoshop. He thought that if he could photoshop something so good he would get fame. The intention is for the photographer to get the perfect photo of himself. The image is very beautiful and I wouldn't change it a bit. Although it was photoshopped, it was a cool photo.

The photo to me kinda stuck out. It was a very intreeging and it caught my attention very well. The photo has the lightning bolt like it's in a blaze of glory. Yes, the picture was very successful and I think the guy was very happy at what he got out of the photo.

I honestly don't know what to talk about so heres what I think of the photo. Alex was a very good photographer. Even though again he photoshopped the photo it self was magnificent. The tricks we learned in the class were put into affect here. The place he decided to put the photo at was good too.

Kate Madison

11/1/2017 09:28:22 am

This image is of Alex Stoddard standing in what looks like a desert at night as lightning strikes down either in front of him or above him. This image is using mostly dark colors for the background, a bright light for the point we are most attracted to, and natural colors for the bottom of the image. The lighting is dark shadows in the background and what could either be a very lucky picture of natural light or something that’s shaped as a lightning bolt and is studio set-up. The objects in this image are mostly Alex, dried bushes/grass, and a lightning bolt. In this image Alex has wandered out into a desert during a thunderstorm.

It is pleasing to look at because the dark colors in the background seem almost inviting to me (maybe because my favorite color is blue) but then it is disturbed by light to make it look somewhat like a gap between curtains. At first, this image may look like it is in the third point of view, capturing events happening around Alex, however, if you know that Alex Stoddard creates self-portraits, you would then realize this is in first point of view. The depth of field seems to be shallow because everything that’s not in the light is focused and not blurred but then the background it hard to see shapes or objects, you can only really see color. The focal point in this image is very obvious - the lightning bolt leading your eyes to Alex Stoddard. The actual image that Alex was probably wanting you to focus on does not fill up the whole image, but maybe a tenth of the whole thing.

The theme of this could be Alex (since he is a self portrait creator) or the lightning bolt, whichever you think attracts your eye more. A story being told in this image could be is that one night in the desert Arizona, Alex snuck outside of his house to see the lightning bolts around more clearly. The lightning bolt cutting through the sky reminds me more of curtains that aren’t completely attached and can be pulled apart, the blue is the dark shadow of the curtains and the lightning bolt is the little crack of sunlight peeking through them. Alex might’ve made this image to be a part of a nature series he decided to do, maybe for a contest. I think this image is beautiful because the blue in the back looks amazing to me and with a quick glance you might think that the lighting bolt is striking the ocean because the dried brush may have looked like waves (to me at least).

I like this image because it combines two things I’ve always liked - lightning and a dark-ish blue sky. I looked at this image without knowing anything about Alex and thought it was a picture set up to look like he was in ancient Egypt, I have no idea why. There is a lot of space in this image that is not being used but without it the picture would not seem or look complete. I think this is successful because it shows nature’s beauty as the same time as it shows nature’s other side. This also seems very interesting to look at and think how he got the picture where the lightning bolt was right there.

Another way this image could’ve been made is by taking a picture of a lighting bolt and adding Alex into the image. It seems fun but I’m sure it took them a while to do either way. They could’ve also used a fluorescent light to make the lightning bolt. I’m going to guess the he had someone help him like a friend or co-worker that helped him set this up. I wonder where he could’ve also taken the pictures.

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Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #6

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