I wanted to capture a unique perspective of Old Town Pocatello, Idaho. The city used to be centered around these train tracks since Pocatello used to be the Gate City. Travelers headed to Oregon or Washington would take the train out of Pocatello. This vantage point shows the rail way going through Old Town. It is now just freight cars, but still an interesting part of town.
The assignment is to take photos in support of or against the statement that ISU buildings are in good condition. I decided to support the claim that the buildings are clean, sturdy, and create a healthy learning environment. I took my Nikon and started researching the state of our buildings at ISU. I found them to be well maintained tidy. The physical science building has a great entry way. The space is open and balanced. The building was pretty clean and the tile floor caught the sun from the window. I decided to shoot just under exposed to get some detail through the windows. The rendezvous building was built while I was attending the college of technology. I would look out and watch the workers installing struts and concrete forms. The design of this building is effective as a space for students to mingle, live, and attend classes. The education building has this neat little garden area that I wanted to shoot. The light was not ideal, but I managed to get a clear shot with decent color saturation by propping my camera on a rock. I enjoyed exploring campus searching out the good side of things even though I gave myself very little time to really soak it in.
I went out to City of Rocks in Malta, Idaho. This area is known for majestic granite forms and pioneer history. This area was a landmark along the Oregon Trail. I had a blast climbing up the building sized boulders to get a unique vantage point on the moon rise and sunset. Once the sun went down it was time to set up at Castle Rock to shoot astro-panoramas. It was great connecting to the history of this area and spending time exploring the unique geography.
The Assignment is to create a summer scene in the studio during winter. I felt like lemonade and watermelon were my best bet for a summer feel. I set my white balance manually to warm up the light and used a graded filter to cool off the background just a touch. I spent a lot of time on the composition and getting the proper exposure with shallow depth of field and two light studio flash. I enjoyed the experience of setting up and executing an idea in the studio. This genre of photography could be something I explore further.
Here is a scene I modeled for Kirk Youngs 3D modeling class at ISU. I generated UV maps from photos of leaves that I took in the ISU arboretum. I then used the UV maps to make the plants in the scene. The pyramid and fog are procedural.
The theme for this assignment was to document a lost world. I decided to document the history of gold mining in Leesburg, Idaho. My Dad, two of my brothers, and I went up to the mountains at 4:00am. We got to the cabin as the sun started to pop over the ridge line. We continued on into the maze of old mining roads and abandoned homesteads. Finally arriving in Leesburg. This was a mining boomtown around the turn of the last century that became a ghost town. Hippies moved in during the 1960’s, and there are still remnants of both the old miners’ and the hippies’ presence. We also visited the cemetary where the people of Leesburg were buried. On the way off the mountain, we had to pass by the modern mining operations at Beartrack mine. I decided to document the scar where a mountain was removed to get at ore. Then we stopped at Dump Creek Gorge. This gorge was created when miners diverted the creek for the purpose of dredging gold. I have a deep appreciation for the history of these mountains, and the history that is being made today. It was great getting to document the mines and the the way the miners lived.
Kyler Michaelson 