lecture 2- Michael Cardinali

Michael Cardinali

      

          I went to Michael's lecture because I was very curious about what is work was like. I had him for a teacher last semester in black and white photography. He didn't talk much about his work during class so I was very excited to hear him talk about his work and share his ideas and influences. 

      Michael started his lecture off by showing a photograph he took of his fathers vegetable garden that was kind of torn down. He explained that this was the beginning of his photography career. When he saw the vegetable garden and the way the light hit it and everything about it, he said he knew he had to put a frame around it. He said this where he finally realized he loves being able to capture every day events and ideas. I tried to think about when the first time I realized I wanted to do photography because the way he was so touched by this, really stood out to me. The first time I realized I had a passion for photography was my senior year in high school. I had taken photography my junior year also but I really didn't get the need to do it until senior year. It was when I was photographing my little sister right after being born. It was a very special moment and has made me have a love for photography, especially photographing children. 

        He explained how he moved from New york to Boston and how much of a big difference this was for his photography. He also talked about how he took a lot of pictures of his wife. The one image that really stood out to me was the image he said was when they "fell in love". That really shows a lot about photography. They can always look back at this one image and know that is when they fell in love. And it is kind of like they fell in love through photography. The image is absolutely beautiful. I really like all of the images of his wife, with the lighting and the figure. 

      He also talked about what he has been doing for the last couple of years. He has been really focusing on landscapes and the nature. He showed a lot of different ways to look at the different landscapes. Someone asked him if he always took his camera first to the sights he was photographing or if he went to the landscapes first without the camera. His answer was very honest. He said he wants to say he always had his camera but really they were things he saw in every day life. He really emphasized that he likes to photograph everyday life. He mentioned he saw some of the landscapes he photographed when he was running for a marathon. 

       Overall, I really liked his lecture. It was very inspiring to see your teacher talk about their own work. I feel like I can respect him even more knowing his background with photography. He has seen and photographed a lo. I really like how he talked about how he didn't photograph in color until recently. He felt like black and white was an automatic abstract feeling and thats what he liked the most in his photographs. I felt like I really could relate to this. I am more interested in black and white photography rather than color.