Zinnia Upson
ART300: Photography 2 Theory and Practice
Digital Prints; Sizes varying
I wanted to investigate the life of bees through observation. As not a lot of people know the bees are in danger of extinction from Colony Collapse Disorder. This is a growing problem across the United States and even large parts of Europe. I wanted to take a different angle and try to find these bees in their natural habitat and observe them and observe where they are not. A big part of bringing awareness is to show the future without these little creatures. I also think humans do not know the impact that will happen if we fail to help these creatures. I sought out to show an aspect of observing bees gathering pollen from local flowers and then to show the flowers with missing bees because of the decline in the bee population.
Photography and Video Exchange 
I find the reasoning behind your work very interesting, and I think it makes the photos that much stronger. I really enjoy your first image. The contrast between the yellow and the green is very nice, and I like how central the bee is. I also feel that the flower looks almost like the sun and it makes me think of life and the cycle of life, so I think that also goes back to your intention. I do wish you shared more images because I would like to see more on this subject.
Referring to the first image– I really like this photograph. I like how close the photographer got to the flower. The detail of the bee is also very compelling. The colors of the flower with the different shades of yellow are very appealing to the eye. The depth of field used works really well for this image to allow the flower to stand out without any distractions. Overall—amazing photograph.
I love how vibrant and symmetrical these photos are. Even more so, I enjoy you bringing awareness to the life of bees. It’s sobering to know that these colors wouldn’t be here without that little fella in the top.
Your thoughts about exploration of bees are pretty impressive. I love your first photo, both it tone and colors look wonderful! For the second one, I think it is a little bit weird for me to see the flowers on the sky without the roots. So maybe you could improve that picture a little bit.
I love that you used your art to stand up for something you believe in. Not only did you take really beautiful images with amazing colors, but you also captured bees in a really lovely way as well. In addition, the detail on the stem of the first image is crazy and I’ve never even noticed all those spikes with my own eyes.
I think what really helps you accomplish the goal of this project is the surrounding life in the first photo (the leaves and grass), and the lack thereof in the second (showing only the sky). I really like how the subject of the pictures are large and centered, not really allowing you to think of anything else while looking at the pictures. I like the balance of the colors and the composition looks really well thought out. Nicely done!
I love how the flowers seem almost detached from the background in a way because of the short depth of field. It makes the colors pop and really drew me into the photo. Great work!
I love the vibrant colors in these photos and how close you got to the flowers. I also love the way you captured the bee, and brought awareness to the life of bees through these photos. Your use of depth of field works really well in these photos by allowing the flowers to stand out without any other distractions. Amazing photographs!
I like your picture when you show us the difference between flowers with different backgrounds. In the first picture, you focus more on the yellow flower and use the leave behind it as a background. The flower is really clear and we can see the green color of nature. For the second we have the red flower with the bright sky. Especially, you take these two pictures with the different angle which create the contrast between them.
I love how in these pictures its focused on the beauty of the flowers. Its focus centered and really shows the bold colors of them with a lot of differences between the two. I enjoy how in the first one you captured the bee on the floor because without bees we wouldn’t have pretty flowers.
I think both of these images are really successful. Both are fairly simple which helps the centered flowers really stand out. The plain backgrounds allow the viewer to focus on the flowers in both images as the only point of focus which allows the viewer to really see all the detail you captured in the flowers (and the bee). Your color is very vibrant and you have good contrast in both images. One thing I think would help the second image of the red flower would be to move it up a little bit to generate some negative space between the edge of the image and the flower. The image of the yellow flower is my more favorite of the two and I really like how you managed to include the bee on the flower. It really helps connect the images with what you set out to do. The composition is great and the flower isn’t touching the edge of the image which is aesthetically pleasing. Great work!
I really enjoy these photos! You did a great job technically of taking the photos; I especially love your coloring and framing. But also, I love that your photos mean something to you and you have a purpose behind the subjectivity. Really great work!