Final

"The influence of art is so powerful in shaping our lives for a higher appreciation of the creations of our God that we cannot afford to neglect an acquaintance with it.  We should be as eager for its companionship in our homes as we are eager for chairs to sit upon or for food to sustain our lives, for it has as important a mission in shaping our character and in conducing to our happiness as anything that we term necessities.  Life is incomplete without it.  A religious life is not an ideal religious life without art."
-Joseph Hafen

While I was trying to figure out what to do for my final project, I decided to talk to my professor about it and see what we could come up with.  I knew I wanted to do something about family, and, while we were talking, it came up that my great-great-grandfather was a Utah artist by the name of John Hafen.  My professor suggested that it might be fun to go around Utah and take pictures of the places that he painted over 100 years ago.  I strongly agreed.

Geneva Dance Hall and Resort, Utah Lake

This picture, along with Landing at Geneva, was taken at what is now the Lindon Marina.  Geneva Steel was named after this resort.  Unfortunately, due to various droughts that the lake has gone through, I am uncertain of where the exact shoreline was at that time in his life.

Landing at Geneva, Utah Lake 

 Springville Sunrise

I struggled with this picture for days.  I included the entire mountain and space that Hafen did, but my picture was always much wider than the original painting.  I then realized that John Hafen had used artistic license and  condensed the mountain.  It was a relief to know that it was not an error on my part.

Seagulls

My great-aunt owned the original Seaguls, but sold it a few years ago.  Before she did, my grandparents made copies of it for various family members.  It now resides in a private collection somewhere.

Springville, My Mountain Home

This picture was taken just outside of the house that Hafen built in Springville.  My mother was showing me where he had lived.  I looked at the little pictures of his paintings I had brought with me, and I knew instantly that he had painted it right outside of his own home. 

The Hafen Home

This house was built and occupied by John Hafen, his wife Thora, and their ten children.  He bought the land, previously owned by the Crandall family, with one of his paintings.  The home was built in a Swiss chalet style.

 Springville Pasture

I do not know if this is the same exact pasture that Hafen painted, but I saw the large tree right next to a fence in a beautiful pasture.  I could not resist the similarities. 

Saltair

John Hafen painted a picture of Saltair some time before 1910.  Since he painted it, Saltair has gone through two fires, and regularly declining attendance.  The Saltair I photographed used to be an Air Force hanger.  It is one mile west of the original Saltair, and has recently been host to a number of high profile performances.

Springville Museum of Art 

In 1903, John Hafen and sculptor Cyrus Dallin each donated a piece of artwork to Springville High School.  In the following years more and more Utah artists would donate various pieces of art until, over time, the collection turned into the Springville Museum of Art.  They began receiving funding and were able to buy more precious works.  The museum has continued to grow and inspire the minds of thousands of people. 

Thank you to the kind docents at the museum for all of the help that they gave me.  Without their help and their website, I would not have been able to accomplish as much as I did.  You can visit their website for more information at www.smofa.org.

Head Stone 

John Hafen passed away June 3, 1910.  He had only just begun to receive recognition for his work. He finally saved up enough money to bring his wife and family to the Indiana home he had recently purchased.  Five weeks later he died of pneumonia.  His family returned to Springville to bury him there.

"John Hafen is not dead; his memory will live on as well as his spirit and work and they will appreciate in value and new beauties will be discovered from them and the family will be blessed by them."  Excerpt from the eulogy given by Elder B. H. Roberts of the First Council of the Seventy on June 9, 1910.

Note: Due to time constraints and school schedules I was not able to harmonize the seasons in John Hafens paintings.

Assignment #7

This will probably be the my last post until I put my final on here, so I hope you enjoy these panoramas!  I had a lot of fun making them.

Assignment #6 - Black and White

 Here is my self portrait.  I actually like this picture of myself, which is pretty rare for me (and probably half or more for everyone on the planet).

And this is my wonderfully exuberant brother, Mark.  It was late at night that I took this picture, and I believe that his exhaustion shows a little.

Overall, this was an enjoyable assignment.  I enjoy B&W, and I think I may use is a little more that I have before.  One down side is that, for me personally, it takes a little longer to edit the pictures.  It's good, just a little time consuming.

Here are my very first PANORAMAS!!!

Extra Portraits

While doing my portrait assignment, my sister Katie (who is visiting from college) helped me focus my camera so I could take my self portraits.  While she was sitting there I decided to take a few pictures of her, and this is the result.

Assignement #5

 This is my "not as self" self portrait.  Everyone in my family thought I did the goth look a little to well.

 This is a picture of my lovely sister, Sarah.



This is a picture of Celine Vega.  She is a member of my single's ward that I currently do not really know, and she was willing to let me take pictures of her.

Portraits

 This  was our in-class portrait shoot.

Assignment #4

 For this assignment I was looking around my house for what I could use for this assignment, when I realized that I could use an assignment that I had been working on for another class.  For 2-D design we could use any medium that we wanted for this upcoming project and I had used fake flower petals.  That took care of analogous.  I then found some complementary-colored barrels out on my back porch.  There goes number 2.  Then I found a tree that still had green leaves and decided it would make a great monochromatic.  The sun came out at just the right time so that it shone through some of the leaves really quite nicely.

Black and White Practice

 Here I took a photo from a random search on google (aka, this is not a picture I have taken). This photo was in color, and I have posted them in black and white (captain obvious, I know).  I used Lightroom 5 to do it. They are listed from the first manipulation to the last one. The third one I had just come back from a quick break, and remembered about Split Toning.  I turned it into a sepia picture just for fun.  Then I toned it down a bit.  I like the warmth I added on the last one, but I tried to not add too much so it would still look like a black and white.

Assignment #3: Low and High Key

 Here I have posted what my camera thought the picture should look like verses my own opinion.  I learned from this assignment that, while my camera's automatic shutter speed can be useful, it does not always know what I want.  It made my white objects too dark and my dark objects far too light and a yellowish tint.  My camera does not have a brain of it's own, neither is it telepathic.  So I just have to tell it what I want, because there is no way it could know.  I am a little tired, and I feel like I just keep rambling on, so I bit you farewell for now, and a good day.