Name: Jeffrey M. Smith Personal Background: Jeffery Smith is an American photojournalist specifically in Michigan. He currently works as a photographer and videographer at The University of Michigan School of Information. Jeff is a American man but his family background is from a european descent, he grew up in Ann Arbor specifically just a street down from Abbott Elementary school, and a fun fact Jeff graduated from Pioneer when Skyline was being built. Jeff has always had an interest in Photography since a young age but started to take it seriously when taking his first photography class in high school and this all was when black and white processing was the best developing system for photos. During High School Jeff was a part of the bicycle club and he would photograph there meetings and rides they would go on which brought in more people that wanted to participate, he shot the photos with the first Canon Rebel, this made Jeff realized the potential career that he could have. He also delivered the print edition of the Ann Arbor News for about 8 years and loved seeing the photos in the paper, and the fact that an image can tell a story. After graduating high school Jeff went to Central Michigan University to study Photojournalism. Jeff worked as a photojournalist for newspapers around the state for about 6 years when last year, Jeff moved back to Ann Arbor to work as a Photographer and Video Producer for the University of Michigan. Jeff’s favorite things about photography are how a camera can be used as a tool to learn more about someone and establish a personal connection with a total stranger.
Style: With the objects and people that Jeff is photographing I can tell that they definitely have a story to them because that's his favorite aspect of photography. Also when looking at his photos I get emotions from them such as the photo when a football player is kneeling after his high school game because it was the cancer awareness game and his grandmother passed from ovarian cancer. I’d also like to say that all of Jeff’s photos have a meaning behind them. Another thing that I noticed is that in most photo of Jeff’s have a man made item in it such as a bridge even though the focus point of this specific photo is of a segal. When looking through all of Jeff’s photos I think it’s right to say that he doesn't have a specific type of his photography but there is most definitely significance to them. Philosophy: Jeff’s work on his website is mostly documentary style photography. His intention for these images is always to provide an authentic, intimate look into a subject's life. Jeff’s goal is to make the viewer of the photograph feel a personal connection to it and in the case of working at a local newspaper, hopefully the images could help the reader have a better understanding of the community they live in and have a better understand of those who may have very different lives. He really just wants to show that we are all human. And we all are more similar than we think regardlessof our race, gender, rich or poor, educated or uneducated. Jeff’s photos are most definitely social and life/documentary Photography. Influences: Jeff has made me realize that the best pictures aren't the big action scenes of a shark flying out of the water with a seal in its jaws but perhaps a mother taking care of her children or something more subtle. He’s made me broaden my horizon of photography and what I choose to take photos of. Along with that Jeff has also made me more observant of the people or items in the background that could make the photo a little congested. Also his photography has made me realize that there are potential photos everywhere I go so I have to be more aware. All around Jeff has made me a better photographer then I was at the start of this class and it has definitely help me to take better pictures.
Compare and Contrast: 1.In this photo I am recreating the image of the track star jumping over the long poll onto the landing tarp. Some differences that I made with this photo is that it was at night and I was jumping into the snow that was on the landing tarp on Skylines practice field. I especially had fun taking this photo because of the landing into the snow but my mom wasn't too happy because I got her car really wet on the ride home.2.In this photo I was recreating one of Jeff’s portrait pictures which had a guy in it holding an ice cream cone in a dressed up fashion. But as you can tell the guy in the pictures shirt and ice cream are both pink but in mine I’m wearing white as well as the ice cream. Although this wasn't my favorite photo to take it was most definitely the tastiest!3.In this photo I was recreating Jeff’s photo of Stephen Igman III after his cancer awareness high school football game. This photo has a lot of meaning to me besides the fact that I play football but that my grandmother died from cancer, and now I play every game for her. Taking this photo was very meaningful to me and I was glad that I could find this relatable photo that I could recreate. Personal Artist Statement:Over all I had a lot of fun taking these photos and having the great honor of recreating Jeff’s photos. I don't believe that my photos tell the full story but the meaning is there like Jeff’s says. In my recreation of Stephen Igman III I tried using the leading lines effect on the field to lead you to where I was kneeling like how if it were leading up to me. In my portrait recreation I tried to show that I like ice cream in the photo because I really do and my emotion when someone interrupts me when I’m trying to eat it. In my first photo of me jumping onto the landing tarp I was trying to portray my athleticism by how “high” I was going to jump but it didn't look like that on photo but I still had fun. Resources: http://www.jeffreysmithphoto.com/pages/biohttps://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/KtbxLthKMcSqQnwlKhRBGdxLHctPgNwNXqhttps://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/QgrcJHsTmcCsXRNQjSPxxpRrMjdhnxztLHV