Personal Background:
Brad Reed is the son of Todd Reed. Todd Reed is a very influential photographer who is best known for capturing the beauty and everyday life in small towns in northern Michigan. He has won multiple awards including third place in the Nikon international photography contest. Brad Reed well not being as decorated is an equally good photographer. His career started early carrying his father's gear on his different photography assignments. He grew up in Ludington where he has stayed and now has a gallery in. Without a camera hand, he would study the world around him and learn the mechanics of photography. He graduated from Calvin College with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and is currently working on a masters in social work. In 2005 his picture Power and Light won runner-up in the Nikon international emerging photographers bracket. Their work has also been featured in many different magazines and other publications.
Style:
The style of Brads work is nature photography. The really only take pictures of nature and sometimes rustic buildings. Most of the shots are of just nature landscapes. There is also a lot of wildlife. That being said they do take shots of buildings and also they seem to like taking pictures of boats, in fact, they have an entire portfolio donated to boat pictures. Brad and his father get calls every day asking them to photograph weddings and events. They always decline to say “trees don’t talk back”. They may be good at it but it isn’t what they want to do. Brad loves northern Michigan and the surrounding area and his goal is to document it.
Philosophy:
Brad's outlook on photography is fairly simple. Their goal with there photographs is to convey emotion. They take a subject that touches them emotionally and photograph, they have both been quoted saying that photography is about feeling. A quote from there website states that “to see and appreciate the world is one thing; the artist challenge is to capture visually the emotions in the scene at that moment.
Influences:
Brad Reed has influenced me from the very beginning. In fact, if it wasn’t for him I might not be taken this class and I for sure wouldn’t be taking pictures in my free time. It all started four years ago. My family goes camping in Ludington every year. One day it was raining so we went into town because you can’t do a lot on the campsite when it's pouring down rain. In town, we found this amazing photo gallery. My family and cousins hung out there for a long time. This happened to be Brad and Todd Reeds gallery. I was amazed by wonderful pictures, I begged my parents to buy me one of the huge ones on the wall (they didn’t) and from then on I knew I wanted to take pictures like that. The next year I took a photography life skill in middle school, that Christmas I got my first camera. It is all history from that point on, every family vacation I bring my camera. I have pictures of DC, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and all over the US. I don’t like photographing people, its not my thing, just like Brad Reed. I also try to take better pictures instead of taking lots of them, which was one of the things Brad mentioned when I interviewed him last year. Overall, Brad Reed has not only influenced the way I take pictures but the fact that I take pictures in general.
Brad Reed is the son of Todd Reed. Todd Reed is a very influential photographer who is best known for capturing the beauty and everyday life in small towns in northern Michigan. He has won multiple awards including third place in the Nikon international photography contest. Brad Reed well not being as decorated is an equally good photographer. His career started early carrying his father's gear on his different photography assignments. He grew up in Ludington where he has stayed and now has a gallery in. Without a camera hand, he would study the world around him and learn the mechanics of photography. He graduated from Calvin College with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and is currently working on a masters in social work. In 2005 his picture Power and Light won runner-up in the Nikon international emerging photographers bracket. Their work has also been featured in many different magazines and other publications.
Style:
The style of Brads work is nature photography. The really only take pictures of nature and sometimes rustic buildings. Most of the shots are of just nature landscapes. There is also a lot of wildlife. That being said they do take shots of buildings and also they seem to like taking pictures of boats, in fact, they have an entire portfolio donated to boat pictures. Brad and his father get calls every day asking them to photograph weddings and events. They always decline to say “trees don’t talk back”. They may be good at it but it isn’t what they want to do. Brad loves northern Michigan and the surrounding area and his goal is to document it.
Philosophy:
Brad's outlook on photography is fairly simple. Their goal with there photographs is to convey emotion. They take a subject that touches them emotionally and photograph, they have both been quoted saying that photography is about feeling. A quote from there website states that “to see and appreciate the world is one thing; the artist challenge is to capture visually the emotions in the scene at that moment.
Influences:
Brad Reed has influenced me from the very beginning. In fact, if it wasn’t for him I might not be taken this class and I for sure wouldn’t be taking pictures in my free time. It all started four years ago. My family goes camping in Ludington every year. One day it was raining so we went into town because you can’t do a lot on the campsite when it's pouring down rain. In town, we found this amazing photo gallery. My family and cousins hung out there for a long time. This happened to be Brad and Todd Reeds gallery. I was amazed by wonderful pictures, I begged my parents to buy me one of the huge ones on the wall (they didn’t) and from then on I knew I wanted to take pictures like that. The next year I took a photography life skill in middle school, that Christmas I got my first camera. It is all history from that point on, every family vacation I bring my camera. I have pictures of DC, Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and all over the US. I don’t like photographing people, its not my thing, just like Brad Reed. I also try to take better pictures instead of taking lots of them, which was one of the things Brad mentioned when I interviewed him last year. Overall, Brad Reed has not only influenced the way I take pictures but the fact that I take pictures in general.
The swans were probably the hardest image to get. I had to fight my way down to the banks of a pond and take the picture. Brad Reed most have had to have a really long zoom lens because I had a telephoto lens and it still couldn’t get that high quality of a image. The second I went down to the bank, the swans bolted to the other side of the lake. Making it hard for me to take a picture of them. I kept waiting for them to come side by side but I couldn't really capture the same effect as Brad's because I didn't have the same angle of sight. This one is probably my least favorite because of how blurry the picture is. However, wildlife photography is a big part of Brad’s portfolio and I felt I should include at least one wildlife picture.
I had just finished photographing the swans when I came upon this birch forest. I knew that Brad had photographed a birch tree that would be pretty easy to replicate This picture was kind of a afterthought. I didn’t think I would end up in the final just because of how basic it is. However, once I figure out how hard it was to get an image exactly like the photographers. Its especially hard to replicate nature photographers work because you almost have to be in the same spot and take the same picture as them. Brad’s looks a lot better because he took it focusing on the tree and in turn blurring the background. My photo I had to use the tool in photoshop afterward so it doesn’t really look natural. Also, the lighting was terrible so the leaves in the back look a little weird almost like a pizza. This is also due to the fact that the blur in Brads image is from motion and mine is more just a regular blurring of the background. That being said I think it turned out better than I expected and its pretty close to the original.
Seasons Changing
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Fall Gathering (Brad Reed)*
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This final one is interesting. As you can see I chose to use a yellow leaf instead of red one. This is not only because of the lack of red leaves in the area but also because I wanted to show something. In Brad's image he wanted to show the season of fall. I wanted to show the transition between fall and winter. I think the yellow leaf really shows that transitional time where the colorful leaves are disappearing and being replaced by snow. Also, he has pine needles in the back however in the forest I was in a birch forest there really wasn’t accessible pine needles so I had to make do with fallen leaves.
I really wanted to show how images can convey emotion with this set of pictures. That is one of Brad Reeds main goals. For the Swans I wanted to convey a feeling of majesty. Swans are majestic creatures and the way there white feathers stand out against the dull background makes them stand out even more. For the tree I wanted to convey a feeling of wonder. As all of the different colors of the leaves swirled together in the background and the tree stands out in front of it all. Finally with the leaf and the birch tree I wanted to convey change. The leaves are turning colors the tree is on the ground dead. I really wanted to capture the seasons changing hence the yellow leaf instead of the red one. I just wanted to make the viewer of these images feel something rather the just see something.
Sources
“Todd and Brad Reed.” Todd and Brad Reed Photography, www.toddandbradreed.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=46695&Akey=Y679BHN9.
*all pictures are from the book Ludington Point to Point by Brad and Todd Reed
“Todd and Brad Reed.” Todd and Brad Reed Photography, www.toddandbradreed.com/Artist.asp?ArtistID=46695&Akey=Y679BHN9.
*all pictures are from the book Ludington Point to Point by Brad and Todd Reed