As a young man Christopher Bissell tried a few occupations while growing up in BC, but he wanted to do something more than being a logger or miner. He would decide to do some traveling, in hopes that he would find himself and find his passion. Bissell bought a ticket to San Francisco and there he would take a ship to Hawaii, Fiji, and onto New Zealand. It was in Fiji that Bissell purchased a camera which he practiced with while he was on the ship. He would arrive in New Zealand a few weeks later where he was surprised by a couple friends from BC that were now living there. His friends had recently been recognized for a show they designed which consisted of slides and transparencies. He was amazed at the images his friends were projecting on the wall of their little New Zealand flat. That was the moment that Bissell learned all about composition and balance. …show more content…
“It’s all about the composition and balance, whether I put people in the images or it’s just a building, it’s all about the strong composition and I have to really stress that fact.” Bissell would dive into photography head first in New Zealand.
Over the next few years he shot everything from aerial farm photography, to landscape, architectural, and portraits. He would even set up his own darkroom and dabbled a bit in black and white. One day he awoke and decided to go back to North American and pursue fashion photography, and he hasn’t looked back since. For the next few years, Bissell would begin to make a name in fashion photography out of his studio in Victoria, BC. At the time, the Alberta economy was booming and soon he found himself in Edmonton where he had become a bit of a sensation. “I was the new blood in town, and all the sudden I became the flavor.” Work started flowing in from big advertising accounts such as Eaton’s and The Bay. Bissell employed numerous assistants and filled a 3,000 sq. ft. studio Monday to Friday non-stop for over 5
years. In the 1980’s Bissell took his work to New York where he mixed street photography and fashion. Possessing a British passport, Bissell would end up London, UK. He’d shoot some catalogue work in London and work with Coca Cola designer Zandra Rhodes, shooting ads for Vogue magazine. Occasionally, Bissell would shoot the odd album sleeve for some of big record labels such as Universal and Sony. One of his most memorable shoots was a fashion shoot with supermodel Paula Hamilton on Tim Burton’s Batman set at Pinewood Studios. Many years later, Bissell would reconnect with Hamilton who was now a judge on the TV show Britain’s Next Top Model. After an introduction to the show’s producer and a short screen test, Bissell found himself in a reoccurring role as the show’s photographer and guest judge. Today Bissell continues to shoot out of his London office, recently completing an ad campaign for Tech21. The shoot entailed five long days of shooting to capture a few dozen images for Apple’s official iPhone case. When he’s not shooting around London or some exotic world location, he’s hanging out with celebrities and some of the world’s elite. Despite all his success over the years, Bissell still returns to his roots in Alberta and BC every year to shoot models looking to build their international portfolios.
Christopher McCandless can be described as a thrill seeker for many reasons.One example is he would always be thinking about adventure and always wanted to be on the move. On page 45, it states “I thought Alex had lost his mind when he told us about his ‘great Alaskan odyssey’ as he called it. But he was really excited about it. Couldn’t stop thinking about his trip.” This shows that he was ready to go and explore and to be able to go where he wanted. Another example is he would write down everything he was doing day by day as it was his own little adventure book. “The trip was to be an odyssey in the fullest sense of the world, an epic journey that would change everything.” found on page 22. Therefore Chris would go on about how he would make it on his own to where he wanted to go. From these examples, it is clear that Chris made
Johnson, Brooks. Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers on their Art.” New York: Aperture Foundation Inc., 2004. Print.
He will continue to follow his profession on the journeys it takes him on. If anyone’s interested in starting photography Paris would say “to always have an opened mind and if you want something, you just gotta go out and do it. Get a camera and shoot! There's always room to improve and grow, you just need to take your time. It’s about trying new things and seeing what works best for you and what you like and don’t like shooting. It should catch your eye and have meaning to you, not just taking a picture of something because someone else is. Be original, not a
Christopher “Alexander Supertramp” McCandless was a dreamer. However, unlike most of us nowadays, Christopher turned his desire for adventure into reality. Similar to Buddha, he gave up his wealth, family, home, and most possessions except the ones he carried before embarking on his journey. He traveled by various methods, mostly on foot, to eventually reach his desired goal in the Alaskan wilderness. Unfortunately, due to various mistakes, Christopher ultimately passed and his body was found in a neglected Fairbank City Transit Bus. His motivation to achieve his goal was based on the many aspects of his life. Chris’s dysfunctional family weighed heavily on him, one prime reason for driving him onto the road of freedom.
Living in the wilderness is difficult, but understanding the meaning of such lifestyle is even more difficult. One of the Christopher’s admirable qualities was that he was well aware of what he was doing. He knew about the difficulties and dangers that he would face into the wilderness, and was mentally prepared for that. Author Jon Krakauer says that “McCandless was green, and he overestimated his resilience, but he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on little more than his wits and ten pounds of rice. And he was fully aware when he entered the bush that he had given himself a perilously slim margin for error. He knew precisely what was at stake” (182). McCandless was an educated youth, who loved nature and dreamed of living in the Alaskan wilderness. Although he ignored to take many necessary things with him on this
He went through many obstacles that could have proved fatal. From canoeing in the Colorado River to picking the right berries, he was testing his intelligence. Chris had a true confidence in the land and in himself to set out on a mission so dangerous. “Wilderness appealed to those bored or disgusted with man and his works. It not only offered an escape from society but also was an ideal stage for the Romantic individual to exercise the cult that he frequently made of his own soul. The solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exaltation” (Nash; Krakauer 157). Chris longed to escape from society and rely on only mother nature. An innumerable amount of people desire to withdraw from society as Chris did; but they are so comfortable and secure with a normal life they do not dare take such a gutsy
find true satisfaction in life was to follow his passion into Alaska the northern. The
He didn't have a very exciting life when he was younger but he did grow up sailing on short trips on the English coast. Since a young age he knew he wanted to be on the water. When he was older he sailed on countless voyages.
In his first voyage in 1492, when Christopher Columbus set out to search for Asia, he ended up landing in America on a small island in the Caribbean Sea, which he confidently thought was Asia. He then made several other voyages to the New World in search for riches, thinking that he was exploring an already explored land, but he had found the greatest riches of them all, undiscovered land, America. This shows that when one sets out on a mission, they face different challenges on the journey but in the end, achieve more than what they planned on achieving. The novel The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, and the novel Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, both describe two journeys where the characters achieve more when they learn about life, survival and patience, by understanding religion, tackling their fears, associating with nature, and encountering other characters from whom they learn something. The former is about a young shepherd named Santiago, who has a recurring dream of a treasure in Egypt, for which he makes a journey to achieve his “Personal Legend” by the help of a man who claims to be...
Sometimes a character may be pushed over the edge by our materialistic society to discover his/her true roots, which can only be found by going back to nature where monetary status was not important. Chris McCandless leaves all his possessions and begins a trek across the Western United States, which eventually brings him to the place of his demise-Alaska. Jon Krakauer makes you feel like you are with Chris on his journey and uses exerts from various authors such as Thoreau, London, and Tolstoy, as well as flashbacks and narrative pace and even is able to parallel the adventures of Chris to his own life as a young man in his novel Into the Wild. Krakauer educates himself of McCandless’ story by talking to the people that knew Chris the best. These people were not only his family but the people he met on the roads of his travels- they are the ones who became his road family.
Lange enjoyed photography from a young age, and went on to study photography at Columbia University. She interned in New York City following her graduation, and then in 1918 she began to travel, eventually settling in California. Photo’s Lange published of homelessness during the Great Depression attracted attention, and the Farm Security Administration hired her.
One of the greatest explorers to ever live. As a trailblazer, he was the first to cross the
accomplishments as a young fellow. He venture out into the world away from his native land
went on seven fantastic voyages which earned him fame for the rest of his life.