Today, I leafed through several photographers' and digital artists' work to find a few that inspired me.  The first that I really enjoyed was the work by Stephen Carroll.  A few of my favorite images follow, and his photostream on Flickr can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarroll99/

I really liked Stephen's work because I think each picture tells a story.  The lighting in his photos and the filters he uses are also very interesting and add a lot of depth to his pictures.  I also enjoy his work because I identify with his Big Idea, which I believe to be emotions.  Each of his photographs evokes some sort of emotion.  In the 3 images of his work that I have provided, I think the first displays happiness, the second shows desire, and the third depicts sadness.  He is a master at capturing emotion, which I find truly inspiring.  After looking at his work, I am curious to learn more about the stories behind each image and from where he derives his inspiration.

Stephen's work is very inspirational for my final project.  I would love to be able to evoke such a strong sense of emotion from my own work.  Stylistically, I would like to try to incorporate a larger usage of filters and saturations into my final project, because I think these strongly help to deliver a higher sense of emotion in Stephen's work.  Stephen is a very talented photographer who has mastered the art of conveying emotions.

The second artist whose work I really enjoyed is named Jeannette Woitzik.  She is a very talented digital artist.  Her work can be found on the following website:  http://schnettepics.de/index.php?x=browse

Jeannette's work appealed to me because I appreciate the dream-like quality of her artwork and the innocence and warmth of her work.  I think her Big Idea revolves around this perfect, dream-like state.  I find the simplicity of her work very inspiring--each picture has a very obvious focal point, yet her work is still beautifully intricate and her talent with photoshop is very obvious.  Once again, I am curious to see where she finds her inspiration.  I also noticed the recurring heart balloon in her work, and I am wondering what the specific significance of the balloon is.

I will definitely try to incorporate some elements from Jeannette's work into my final project.  Her work inspires me to use only one or two things as a focal point in my final project, but to use intricate and beautiful backdrops to frame this object impeccably.  I will try to narrow my focus to make my own work stronger.  I also like her use of a vignette in her pictures to make it seem more dream-like.  Seemingly small details like this can add a lot to a work of art, and I will try to keep an eye out for such opportunities in my work.

Overall, I enjoyed thumbing through various artists to get inspiration for my final project.  Both Stephen and Jeannette used interesting techniques that I will keep in mind as I work on my final project.