Menu
Final exam research
Name of artist: Sam Kaplan
Born: 1985
1. Personal Background-
Sam Kaplan was born in Boston, New York and now lives in New York City. He is 31 years old and he is American. He attended Wesleyan University and graduated in 2007. In college he studied sculpture and photography. After he moved to New York City he assisted many photographer that taught him a lot about photography and how to run a business. He then started to build his portfolio, while doing this he started sending his images to everyone of his clients. Then he worked with a designer to create better promos to send out every 6 weeks. His first break was a shoot in Fortune.
Born: 1985
1. Personal Background-
Sam Kaplan was born in Boston, New York and now lives in New York City. He is 31 years old and he is American. He attended Wesleyan University and graduated in 2007. In college he studied sculpture and photography. After he moved to New York City he assisted many photographer that taught him a lot about photography and how to run a business. He then started to build his portfolio, while doing this he started sending his images to everyone of his clients. Then he worked with a designer to create better promos to send out every 6 weeks. His first break was a shoot in Fortune.
2. Style-
Sam Kaplan's style of photography is mostly still life. A lot of his shots are for commercial use. He says that his preferred things to photograph are bought at a dollar store or Home Depot. I believe that his style of photography is influenced greatly by the fact he also studied sculpture in college. Most of his experience in art is capturing a single moment in time, weather it be sculpting a person or photographing a still life scene. He is very precise with his photos, they are all extremely balanced and well composed. I can tell he plans out his images in advance and makes sure they look perfect, clean, and organized.
Sam Kaplan's style of photography is mostly still life. A lot of his shots are for commercial use. He says that his preferred things to photograph are bought at a dollar store or Home Depot. I believe that his style of photography is influenced greatly by the fact he also studied sculpture in college. Most of his experience in art is capturing a single moment in time, weather it be sculpting a person or photographing a still life scene. He is very precise with his photos, they are all extremely balanced and well composed. I can tell he plans out his images in advance and makes sure they look perfect, clean, and organized.
3. Philosophy-
Sam’s work is almost all for commercial use. He states that he loves working on personal projects because it is gratifying and you have more freedom. While he is taking the pictures he plans everything out to the finest detail. This is why I believe he is very good at what he does. He mostly photographs food and common everyday products. But he does so in a grand way, for example, using something as simple as flosser picks, he took about 50 of them and made a star out of them.
Sam’s work is almost all for commercial use. He states that he loves working on personal projects because it is gratifying and you have more freedom. While he is taking the pictures he plans everything out to the finest detail. This is why I believe he is very good at what he does. He mostly photographs food and common everyday products. But he does so in a grand way, for example, using something as simple as flosser picks, he took about 50 of them and made a star out of them.
4. Influences-
Sam’s photos have influenced me a lot to make sure to plan my photos out ahead of time. Also how important it is to have a white background. All of his photographs are well composed and balanced, which is why I think he is such a great photographer. He puts in maximum effort to play his photos. He has said that he might be a little OCD about his images sometimes. This is how I like to think of myself, I care a lot about how my images turn out.
Sam’s photos have influenced me a lot to make sure to plan my photos out ahead of time. Also how important it is to have a white background. All of his photographs are well composed and balanced, which is why I think he is such a great photographer. He puts in maximum effort to play his photos. He has said that he might be a little OCD about his images sometimes. This is how I like to think of myself, I care a lot about how my images turn out.
5. Sources-
http://www.samkaplan.com/PROJECTS/16/
http://www.thisisthewhat.com/2013/05/10-minutes-with-sam-kaplan/
http://www.digitalphotopro.com/profiles/sam-kaplan-the-problem-solver/
http://www.samkaplan.com/PROJECTS/16/
http://www.thisisthewhat.com/2013/05/10-minutes-with-sam-kaplan/
http://www.digitalphotopro.com/profiles/sam-kaplan-the-problem-solver/
6. Compare and Contrast
Image 1-
The first image of his (Oral B) is probably my favorite of his. However, my image based on that one is my least favorite image out of the ones i took. I could not find the right stick flossers to save my life. I went to many different stores and none of them had the Oral B ones. But, while reading about Sam Kaplan, I found that he likes to photograph stuff you can find at the dollar store or Home Depot. So I picked up the stick flossers I used from the dollar store near my house. It was hard setting up the ends to meet while also making a perfect square in the middle because the ones I had bought were not curved like the Oral B ones were. So I had to find a solution, I made it so that the middle of each star is more like a diamond shape. Overall, I think it turned out alright.
Image 2-
This image was probably the funnest to recreate. I had set up my white background on my bed in my room, but my cat kept trying to eat the chips. The original image taken a little bit darker then mine. Also the shadows were a lot more present and defined in the original. If I could’ve done one thing different to my image it would be to make the chips a more realistic color to what they really are, I could not achieve this with my lighting set up and my phone.
Image 3-
The image I took for this one was definitely the most successful in my opinion. I feel like I did a really good job recreating what was in the original photo taken. One thing that is different about mine is the color of the pencil, just like the stick flossers, I bought these at the dollar store so they weren't the same brand pencils. Another thing is that my shavings don’t follow the bottom of each pencil in a wave like his do. I had tried to do it like that but I did not like how it looked so I decided against it. Even though this was my favorite photo I took, it also took the most time. I had to get a pencil sharpener from the art room and sharpen 32 pencils by hand. I had my friend Omar help me because my hands were cramping. Then I had to go to my teacher Mr. Garcia and ask for the shavings from the electric sharpener to sprinkle at the bottom. But overall, I love how this photo turned out and it is probably one of my favorite photos I took during this trimester.
Image 1-
The first image of his (Oral B) is probably my favorite of his. However, my image based on that one is my least favorite image out of the ones i took. I could not find the right stick flossers to save my life. I went to many different stores and none of them had the Oral B ones. But, while reading about Sam Kaplan, I found that he likes to photograph stuff you can find at the dollar store or Home Depot. So I picked up the stick flossers I used from the dollar store near my house. It was hard setting up the ends to meet while also making a perfect square in the middle because the ones I had bought were not curved like the Oral B ones were. So I had to find a solution, I made it so that the middle of each star is more like a diamond shape. Overall, I think it turned out alright.
Image 2-
This image was probably the funnest to recreate. I had set up my white background on my bed in my room, but my cat kept trying to eat the chips. The original image taken a little bit darker then mine. Also the shadows were a lot more present and defined in the original. If I could’ve done one thing different to my image it would be to make the chips a more realistic color to what they really are, I could not achieve this with my lighting set up and my phone.
Image 3-
The image I took for this one was definitely the most successful in my opinion. I feel like I did a really good job recreating what was in the original photo taken. One thing that is different about mine is the color of the pencil, just like the stick flossers, I bought these at the dollar store so they weren't the same brand pencils. Another thing is that my shavings don’t follow the bottom of each pencil in a wave like his do. I had tried to do it like that but I did not like how it looked so I decided against it. Even though this was my favorite photo I took, it also took the most time. I had to get a pencil sharpener from the art room and sharpen 32 pencils by hand. I had my friend Omar help me because my hands were cramping. Then I had to go to my teacher Mr. Garcia and ask for the shavings from the electric sharpener to sprinkle at the bottom. But overall, I love how this photo turned out and it is probably one of my favorite photos I took during this trimester.
7. Personal Artist Statements
Image 1-
I got the idea to use this image because I am always around my grandma and she uses these all of the time. I used to spend the night at her house a lot when I was younger. And every night before I went to bed, me and her would look in the mirror and brush our teeth and then use these. It was just a memory that came to mind when I saw this picture. I didn’t really know what they were called until I started doing this project though.
Image 1-
I got the idea to use this image because I am always around my grandma and she uses these all of the time. I used to spend the night at her house a lot when I was younger. And every night before I went to bed, me and her would look in the mirror and brush our teeth and then use these. It was just a memory that came to mind when I saw this picture. I didn’t really know what they were called until I started doing this project though.
Image 2-
When I saw this photo I wanted to use it because I loved the way he executed the photo. Everything is aligned and organized. Also I love Pringles, BBQ Pringles are probably my favorite type of chips. When I started setting up the Pringles to take the photo, I thought back to middle school when we did value scales in art class. This reminded of a lot about doing the value scales because the chips are arranged from lightest to darkest in color.
When I saw this photo I wanted to use it because I loved the way he executed the photo. Everything is aligned and organized. Also I love Pringles, BBQ Pringles are probably my favorite type of chips. When I started setting up the Pringles to take the photo, I thought back to middle school when we did value scales in art class. This reminded of a lot about doing the value scales because the chips are arranged from lightest to darkest in color.
Image 3-
I decided to use this photo because I thought it would turn out good. I loved the way it is set up it looks amazing. Also, still life photography is a strength of mine I would say. This was a really fun photo to take even though it was kind of last minute. To start, I thought everything was due Friday, and I waited until Thursday at almost 9 pm. When I was buying stuff to take pictures, I forgot to get a pencil sharpener. So I had to wait until the next day at school and get a sharpener from the art room. During second hour we were just reviewing so that's when I worked on it, I had to have some friends help me sharpen because my hands got sore. Then I had to go to the class across the hall to get pencil shavings from an electric sharpener. I also had to have my friend Omar chew on some of the pencils because I didn’t want to mess up my teeth. But I finished it about 10 minutes before the end of class and I think it turned out awesome.
I decided to use this photo because I thought it would turn out good. I loved the way it is set up it looks amazing. Also, still life photography is a strength of mine I would say. This was a really fun photo to take even though it was kind of last minute. To start, I thought everything was due Friday, and I waited until Thursday at almost 9 pm. When I was buying stuff to take pictures, I forgot to get a pencil sharpener. So I had to wait until the next day at school and get a sharpener from the art room. During second hour we were just reviewing so that's when I worked on it, I had to have some friends help me sharpen because my hands got sore. Then I had to go to the class across the hall to get pencil shavings from an electric sharpener. I also had to have my friend Omar chew on some of the pencils because I didn’t want to mess up my teeth. But I finished it about 10 minutes before the end of class and I think it turned out awesome.