Departure Point - Despina Costalas

Hello everyone! I'm Despina and I'm currently a third year(?) Political Science major, minoring in (maybe) psychology and (hopefully) the non-Tyler art minor.... maybe both, who knows. This is my second semester since transferring from Drexel in January as an International Area Studies major and photography minor, and my second class at Tyler(!).
My background in photography is lengthy, but scattered and relatively intermediate. I first worked as a darkroom "apprentice" for a professor at American University in 2009 and since have held a few exhibits in both New York and Washington, DC during high school. Recently, I've been a staff photographer at FringeArts, Underground Arts, and Drexel's Intercultural Center. I have also worked in a photography studio, but I didn't particularly enjoy it because we basically only shot for weddings (monotonous fest wooo), corporate events and boudoir, aka rich wives wanting to spice up their marriage and hiring us to take oddly forced-looking pictures of themselves.

My love of photography began in the summer of 9th grade when my father gave me his Olympus film camera that he used and loved when he was a photography and architecture major at Spring Garden College in Philadelphia. I've been surrounded by the dyad of art/culture and politics my whole life, considering that I grew up in DC, partially Greece and partially Philly.

I'm so excited to be in the darkroom again after 5 years or so of inactivity, and develop my portfolio. In fact the first time I ever began the craft was through conventional film photography. I was forced to switch to digital once I left high school, however, for photography minors were not allowed to use the darkroom or open studio at my previous university.
I want to master the techniques and relearn them on a more advanced level. In the past three years, I have lost over 4,000 digital pictures and digital negatives, and it's such a shame. I'm basically starting from scratch again.

                                      

I love humans and I love how they interact with their environment and culture. In fact, that's the entire motivation behind why I chose my program of study in the first place: to research, analyze and document people and how they affect "space", notably in urban or international settings.
I'm interested in expanding my subject matter more towards landscapes and object shots. I have a hard time with object shots because I have a hard time feeling satisfied with any of my results.

 

I need to include this man I met in Greece for the emphasis of his awesome beard. 

 When I shoot, I tend to choose one specific detailed of the shot that I enjoy the most and attempt to exemplify how unique I find this detail. Lately, I've been really into shooting pictures where the subject matter directly juxtaposes another aspect in the shot, or something about the subject matter that doesn't entirely make sense.

This is a little mini project from my AP studio art class in high school. 

Keys & broken glass & mirrors & eye-less faces & weird lips & multiple versions of self~ 

Symbolic presence and tangible evidence of emotion is also very important to me. I tend to have the most fun shooting at an event that's particularly weird or its intentions were spontaneous. I'm into quirky art parties and encounters with nature and kitschy objects and abandoned places... or seemingly dangerous places for that matter. It makes things interesting.

  

I'm very drawn to urban environments because there's always a lot to talk about and its constantly changing. 

                                        Also, lines. I love me some organic and geometric patterns. 

                                                           

With my major and all the endless papers I have to write, it feels really liberating to step into another frame of thought (since its where I'd rather be anyway). My goal is to familiarize myself with more non-linear styles of photography in our class in order to expand my creativity. I'm so glad that I'm able to be in an artistic environment where I have the freedom to learn, express and surround myself with friendly, awesome people.

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Departure Points - Hannah Thomases - Hybrid Photography - Fall 2014

Hi All! I'm Hannah, I'm a 5th year...Junior. OY! I just transferred to Visual Studies last year from who knows what (Undecided Liberal Arts at Temple). I really enjoy the major because it allows me the freedom to really focus on my inspired interests while paralleling the curriculum with a good eduction in an outside perspective of my interests. I spend most of my time either procrastinating and a lot of time smoking cigarettes and drinking at the bar with pals and strangers alike. I've been trying to read more recently (Reddit doesn't count) because reading is important. I also Love to support other artists and contribute where I can to supporting their work.

I've been interested in photography for a very long time. In high school I worked in a makeshift darkroom and made due with what we had available. We produced images but I wouldn't say they were of great quality. Through almost my entire journey through photography, Ive been accompanied by my Canon Rebel XTi and Tamron 18-250mm lens and to be quite honest, I don't know much else other than that camera.

In the past I have steered more toward macro photography and close-up shots (which is redundant) but more recently I have tried to make myself more comfortable shooting people (not shooting but shooting) in social situations or just strangers in the city. Living in Philadelphia has inspired me in the past to shoot more of the goings on, on the streets and has brought me to a state of awareness of the  juxtaposition of luxury vs. degrees of poverty. It took me a long time to find the beauty in Philadelphia and in doing so, Ive been able to understand so much more. Even more recently, I have been using social media as a vehicle and my iPhone as a tool to attempt a new form of photography for me and in some ways a kind of social experimentation but it hasn't really turned out to be that profound. I don't quite know how to describe this visual phase other than having less context...I suppose its more contemporary work. Ive always been more drawn to pretty, organic, light, airy visuals but have begun to study the beauty in less obvious and sometime ugly visuals and combining those two elements. I try to exist outside of my box but how in the hell do I even know if thats not in my box too.

In this class I hope to work mainly in the darkroom to bring myself to a higher understanding of process. Ive always believed that you can't be great in your own niche (in whatever you're doing) unless you have the classical training first, fundamentals, your foundation; your technique is everything. Cyanotypes and lithographs are my big interest though transfers seem very interesting, Id rather do what I can't quite achieve without the tools and training provided by the studio/classroom. I Love studying materials and processes, I would like to be intimate with all the materials that I can.

I am the worse at deciding what I want to make beforehand. My creative process, though I wouldn't say Its the best, seems to be that I cannot plan for things and that what comes out of me often times has to be forced out but is often pretty good when its out; that is my organic. I have no clue what I will produce with the things that we learn in this class but I am excited none the less to share the learning experience with everyone because our class seems to be a collection of very cool people! 

Departure Point - Kelly Mullin

Hi all. I’m Kelly “Happy” Mullin, currently I’m a visual studies major with a concentration in photography. This is my senior year at Tyler and finally sticking to some sort of idea when it comes to my work. I also commute to school since I live in Doylestown, PA. When I’m not taking pictures I’ll probably be out with friends or watching Netlix. Hiking around in forests and parks are also a hobby of mine along with recently trespassing on abandoned buildings.

            The idea I would like to follow this semester is the idea of intimacy in my work a focus on making people look more in my photos. I intend to do this by using bigger paper and printing my photo small upon it. I hoping by doing this the viewer will have to get closer and really step in to my photos. It’s a new way for my approach but I would love to see how it goes. My focus tends to be upon things of nature and such also.

The first photo posted is one of the first landscape photos I have ever taken. It is located in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. This is actually my friend’s backyard. The photo was taken at sunset Thanksgiving Day which makes for great photos due the quality of light at that time.  The high contrast has no filter it was taken that way. I actually got this photo in to a photo journal in my last college art journal. This became the start to me taking more landscapes.