Annie Leibovitz and James Nachtwey

In class, we watched films of two photographers; Annie Leibovits and James Nachtwey. They are similar in the way of taking pictures; both Annie and James, once they have decided what they are going to shoot, they try to get to know the people, objects, places and problems that they are going to deal with. They are not just taking pictures but they are doing the research through photo shooting. Of course Annie and James are different in many ways. Annie is a photographer for Vanity Fair, while James is a war photographer. Annie is an expert of expressing beauty and personal messages of human beings, while James is an expert of conveying silent messages regarding world issues. Annie is an inventor------she tries many things to make the picture special by using materials that no one else uses. Also Annie is a communicator-----, she always tries to get to know the person before the shooting, so that models can feel relaxed and do photo shooting without tension.  James is a fighter-----, he fights against unfairness through taking pictures of unsolved problems still occurring in the world. Also, he is an activist-----, he goes to the places where problems are happening, get close to the problems and throws questions to us without words but through pictures.

John and Yoko by Annie Leibovitz

http://jrn331.wordpress.com/

This picture of John and Yoko was taken by Annie, five hours before John's death. Through this picture, we can see John's personality. He is a popular musician who's loved by everyone; however, John Lennon, as a person is vulnerable, sensitive and always need love from the person who he loves. His posture expresses how much he needs Yoko and he depends on her.

Coke Factory by James Nachtwey

http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

This is a picture of Coke Factory taken by James Nachtwey. This picture brings up the environmental issue. The area around coke factory is polluted by smoke coming out from the factory. There is one person who's working under terrible air pollution. This picture shows how harmful the coke is for human bodies and how the use of coke have negative effect on not only workers but also on the environments.

Japanese people

Japanese people (portrait)



In today's post, I am going to talk about my friend Shizuka. I met her for the first time in freshman year because she was my friends' friend, but I have not really talked to her before. I met her again in "Japan and western film and literature" class and became good friends. Since then, we often hang out at CIE and pictures here are taken when we went to moss burger after school.

Shizuka is very openminded, cheerful, and always ready to be your friend. Unlike typical Japanese, she is not shy at all. She says what she wants to say. Probably direct, but in a positive way. Japanese people in general, they become really shy when they are in class and rarely give their opinions; however, she is completely different. We have been taking Japan and western film and literature class for a while now and I think she is the most talkative Japanese student in class. I was so surprised by how friendly she is and how quickly she becomes friends with many people. Also, she has studied in England for a year and she often uses British term which is quite funny to me.

Interesting fact about Shizuka.....She is weird. She often says very random things! What she says really make us laugh. For example, if we were talking about sports, she can just randomly says things like "I had fried chicken yesterday!".....and she often do not get jokes. She looks so confused when she doesn't get jokes. I think she is a bit different from others and that's why I like spending time with her. When we went to moss burger, we talked about fashion.....then she suddenly took out her credit card from her wallet and said "LOOK! JCB CARD, isn't it cool?" hahaha amazing!