Ben Dengler

Personal Blog

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We Are Nature is an awesome portrait project by photographer Christoffer Relander of Raseborg, Finland. He used a Nikon D700 for in-camera multiple exposur

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True Detective - Intro / Opening Scene HD

The HD opening credits to HBO's series True Detective. Song played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4zluA60hjs&list=UUkSsu_JvG53vwdMNEDCLLqQ&feature=c4-over...

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Nature of a Place

The only thing I knew when I began thinking about my final project was that I wanted to incorporate portrait photography and the overlaying of multiple images. Portrait photography is a personal favorite of mine and I really enjoy capturing people I know in a new and unique and ways. The decision to photograph silhouettes on the other hand was completely driven by my failure to do so in a previous project so I made it my goal to succeed this time. Initially I wanted to ask my friends what places around campus really meant something to them and I would overlay these places on top of portraits of themselves. This ended up being very difficult and I started to learn that most people don’t have any single place that means something special to them. What people really care about is the people and the times that they spent in those places. So I needed a new direction.

In the end I decided to do something new and take portraits of myself and overlay images of all the little things and places I see every day. I took my camera to class with me for two days and captured as much of my day as I could. By overlaying these images onto portraits of myself I want to show viewers how the environments we live in are an integral part of who we are.

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Project 3: Presence

For this project my goal was to capture how people affect a space. Every day we walk through countless different places. These places all have a feeling to them that is largely controlled by the people in this space. For example a street at night is a much scarier place then that same street will be in broad daylight with other people all around you. To capture this feeling I photographed the paint tunnels on campus during the day and then again at night, with other people and then with only myself. By displaying these images side by side I hope to emphasize the effect.

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test photos

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Corvus

The American Crow otherwise known as Corvus brachyrhynchos is common sight around the University of Rochester’s Campus. At dawn and dusk thousands of these birds take flight and can be seen flying over the campus itself or resting in the trees. When I originally approached this project I was interested in capturing the dark feelings that our culture generally associates with crows, and ravens Feelings of dread and unease exemplified in works such as The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Fortunately when I finally decided to pick up my camera and photograph the animals themselves my entire thought process changed.

After spending hours outside photograph the birds in flight I began to develop a sense of just how incredible these animals really are. After seeing hundreds if not thousands of crows in flight I had a hard time connecting my original theme of darkness and unease with the photographs I had taken, so I changed the theme and direction of my project. In an attempt to share my experience of hunting for crows across campus with viewers, I will display my photographs at different locations around the entirety of a space. I hope that by forcing people to search for my images they will see something different every time they move much as I did when taking each photograph.

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Additional photos from my time searching for crows

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The crows above campus

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The elusive crows

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University clock tower

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Photo Project 1: One Roof

When I received a photo of the Capilla de la Paz (Chapel of Peace) in Acapulco Mexico to use as the basis for a new set of photos I wasn't sure what I was going to do. My first thought was just how picturesque the photo was. Even though the chapel itself wasn't featured prominently it made me think about the different chapels on and around campus. Each of the buildings that I photographed is a chapel but each has its own unique style and purpose. I really enjoyed photographing each chapel and learning a little more about what makes each one unique.

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Photo of the Library

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