Prompt 25

Write a detailed description of your “motivations” for your final self-proposed project. Why are you interested in this subject? What do you want to convey? How do you want viewers to respond? Why are you inspired to make these images/this project? Do you want to evoke emotions in viewers? Shock viewers? Make them laugh? Make them think? Inform them? Reveal something about how you see the world? Reveal something about yourself, a person, a place, a feeling, a memory, a moment in time?


I'm interested in this subject because it is quite interesting to see how a person can change (or not change) over the course of their life. I want the viewers to respond by remembering memories of their childhood and their dreams. I'm inspired by this project because childhood is an important period of time for every person and can heavily influence the way they act, think, and grow. 

Final Project

For my final project, I want to incorporate photography with drawing/collage.

My idea is to take pictures of a selection of my friends, and ask them what they wanted to be as children. For example, I wanted to be a teacher, so I would take a picture of myself and edit it digitally by tablet drawing. I would redraw the background to look like a classroom and perhaps even edit my clothing.
My goal is to take the person's childhood dream and play it out visually.
The pictures wouldn't come off as realistic, but rather a more playful sort of image.

Constucted- Final images

I wanted the photograph to be heavier on the side that the subject is 100%opacity on and lighter on the side where his image is more see through.

The prompt was "subtle disruption", so I chose to change my subjects eyes with magazine cutouts. I wanted it to be something that you would find more "normal" when you first look at it, but double-take when you realize it isn't actually part of him.
I chose to leave the actual disruption to be something that really exists, rather then editing it with photoshop. As for the rest of the picture, I used photoshop to darken and copy certain parts. 
I wanted this piece to represent first impressions and how you need to see a person again to find out who they really are.

I chose to add multiple pictures together in opaque layers. This prompt for this project was "collage" and I wanted to create something that would work together. In order to make this image, I put multiple images on different layers and played with the opacity settings in order to create an image in which your eye can capture multiple scenes. 
This image represents the places you frequently go and your memories of them.

I chose to put three images together to create one because I wanted to create a storyboard effect. The prompt for this image was "Narrative". 
I did little editing on the images, but I placed them together with a black border. 
This image represents the timeline in which one daydreams. One starts out by drifting into thought, and their vision blurs, various scenes play through their mind and then they snap back to reality.

The composition within this photo relies on the dark hallway leading to a bright white. I only cropped and added contrast to the original photo in order to create a nightmare type of effect. This image was created after I had been sitting in a basement and my friend's cousin came out of nowhere with a bunny suit in his hands. I wanted this image to represent a childhood nightmare where something innocent can become something that scares you.

 

 

Works in Progress Critique

 Constructed Miniature Stage

Subtle Constructions

Prompt 24

A. Pick two images from any of the “constructed reality” photographers presented in class or linked on the assignment sheet. Describe how you could recreate these two images on a “smaller scale”.

I really enjoyed "Throne of Aphrodite" that Lauren posted and "Voodoo Queens" by Nina Chakrabarti.

I could recreate these images on smaller scales, first by using Voodoo Queens as an influence. I could take portraits of friends and family and do designs on their faces digitally, yet have the designs relate to the kind of person the subject is. To recreate the Throne of Aphrodite, I could create make a little chair out of candy and use other colorful candy to create the colorful surroundings.

B. Describe your plans for your self-proposed final project (if the plan is the same as before, paste it here again and give a bit more detail). During the final critique for Assignment #5, you will discuss/present these ideas to the class.

"A way I could create a series of photographic images is to take a topic such as childhood dream jobs and create multiple pictures to express the subject. I could create scenes in which would represent the multiple stereotypical jobs that a child would dream of doing: Teacher, Astronaut, Artist, Veterinarian, Policeman, and etc. 

If I could combine any other media with my photography, I would incorporate digital drawing. Since drawing is my hobby and passion, I feel it would be important to use this project to show the differences between the expressive qualities of drawing and the more realistic qualities of photography. I would use the idea I mentioned in Part A. "

Gathering a few friends and asking them about their childhood "dream jobs", I could use those friends as subjects and photograph them. Using photoshop and other pictures I take, I can combine them into the proper job setting. Then I can digitally draw in the rest of the project to create a scene in which the subject's childhood dream job is played out visually.

Seven Last Words of Christ (1898) by Fred Holland Day 

Fred Holland Day, born July 8th 1864, was an American photographer. He was one of the first in the USA to suggest that photography should be considered a fine art. Many of his photos included symbolic imagery and his photographs "allude to classical antiquity in manner, and often in theme". 

"Day, who was part of the late 19th century pictorialist movement that attempted to apply the characteristics of painting to the photograph, donned a crown of thorns and played the crucified Christ for his camera. He appears in a series of photographs inspired by the last utterances of Christ on the cross. 

    Crump said, "I became interested in Day when I viewed Robert Mapplethorpe's Whitney Museum of American Art retrospective in 1988. This series of pictures, which certainly influenced Mapplethorpe, inspired the subject of my second book, 'F. Holland Day: Suffering the Ideal.' "- http://www.aeqai.com/articles/102010.htm

This image, depicting the dying words of Christ, is interesting in the way it is laid out and how Christ is portrayed. I feel that the artist using his own image to portray a religion's person of interest is a bold move. Other than that, this image does not evoke much impact upon me because of religious religions, so I feel that I cannot relate.

http://www.sandyskoglund.com/
From this website, I found an image that was quite interesting. Titled Fresh Hybrid, the image consists of life-like models of people in bright colors, combined with abstract people/tree combinations and lastly, real people. The blossoms on the trees are small chicks, like the ones I used to receive on Easter. The image is suggested to give a meaning of a lost innocence. 

Blog prompt 23

1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?

I construct my identity by wearing certain clothes, dying my hair, and wearing makeup. I "perform" by acting differently according to 

different situations. In some settings, one must act more professional and respectful.

2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.

Some ways my social environments are constructed: Get togethers with friends are scheduled and we often meet at certain places. Another way a social environment are school dances. The school usually transforms the gym into a dance area and adds decorations and light fixtures. 

3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.

My physical environment/space was planned out, and is had been set up as many other dorm rooms had been already set up. We all start with the same furniture in the same areas.

4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?

Most physical things in my daily life are constructed and fabricated, so I consider "emotions and feelings" to be the most "real".

5. Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).

A narrative tableaux I could create could be a birthday party, a first date, or a protest. 

6. Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).

An idea I have for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life is using paper dolls that look like my friends or family  and have them interacting with each other or a recreation of a fairy tale with paper dolls.

In this image, I chose to do a play off of fashion photography. Like in the next image, I put the model in a weird outfit (to mimic the ridiculous outfits fashion models sometimes wear). I would like to re-take this photo because I feel the lighting did not create enough of a contrast. It would have been nice if the lighting lightened up the model, but was darker in the background.

This lighting in this photo is dramatic and high lights the face. This lighting helps to heighten the contrast. This picture is a parody of fashion photography. In most fashion photos I see, the models are wearing the most ridiculous outfits. I asked the model to bring tons of different items to wear and she chose to wear a blonde wig with a mickey mouse cap, and darkened her face with bronzer to create a clashing effect.

In this image, I created a composition while thinking about the prompt "Crime scene". I used high contrast to mimic the harsh flash that crime photographers use. I chose to focus mainly upon the pill bottles, rather than the "dead body" in order to show the focus was "evidence". Looking upon the photo, you assume that the cause of death would be suicide, but instead I chose to show the evidence being concentrated on heavily, which could prompt someone to wonder if it was just a set up to cover a murder.

 

 For this last image, I chose to create a movie poster. I wanted to create something scary, but at the same time get a laugh out of the viewer. This isn't the printed version, where I darkened the contrast, centered the text and changed the font. I also added a small paragraph of text underneath the title to mimic the small, almost unreadable text on movie posters that most people tend to ignore. To create this image, I went into my bathroom because I do not have a curtain on my windows. Instead, I used the shower curtain. In order to create a softer look on the shower curtain, I set up a strobe light in the bathroom with the light off. My camera was set on a slow shutter speed and I moved the camera slightly, which created a double "ghost" image and made the curtains appear softer and the fingers more bone-like. 

Blog 22

A. Series: Brainstorm various ways to make a “series” of photographic images.

A way I could create a series of photographic images is to take a topic such as childhood dream jobs and create multiple pictures to express the subject. I could create scenes in which would represent the multiple stereotypical jobs that a child would dream of doing: Teacher, Astronaut, Artist, Veterinarian, Policeman, and etc. 

B. Final Project: Your final project in this class will be designed by you. If you could tackle any photography project, what would it be? You could combine other media with photography (video, sculpture, drawing) or you could take one of your earlier assignments and expand it to create a larger project. If you are expanding an earlier project or creating an entirely new series of images, shoot for a series of at least 5 images. Describe an idea you have for your final project.

If I could combine any other media with my photography, I would incorporate digital drawing. Since drawing is my hobby and passion, I feel it would be important to use this project to show the differences between the expressive qualities of drawing and the more realistic qualities of photography. I would use the idea I mentioned in Part A. 

High Fashion Recreation

By Jason Christopher

In my recreation, I wanted to create a similar, but different image. In the first photo, it is a clear full body shot. However, a lot of the emphasize is on the model's legs. When ever I view "High fashion" photography, I feel like the large exposed area of skin is shown a lot. 

In my portrait, however, I wanted to make a more dynamic and eye catching pose. The straight on shot is almost too boring for me and I like there to be movement in my photos. 

The legs here are still the main focus, but the figure is standing in such a way that the focus goes from the legs to the upper body. I also wanted to create a higher contrast upon the subject in order to further blend it into the background. 

 

Blog Prompt #20

Blog Prompt #20

1. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “news”-related photographs.

News related photographs often focus upon the faces and persons in the event. They capture a period of time, rather than creating one. They are often dramatic and draw reactions from the viewers.

2. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “snapshots”.

Snap shots are very candid looking. Slightly blurred, weird focus and time catching.

3. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of advertisement photographs. Fashion photography? Product photography?

Fashion photography is all about the dramatic. High contrast and placed lighting help to make the pictures. Product photography often places the focus right on the product and has a medium contrast. Everything is clear and recognizable.

4. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of film or movie stills.

Movie stills are crisp and full of action and movement. 

5. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of yearbook photos and/or senior pictures.

Yearbook/senior photos are very face centralized. They are clear and put focus upon the subject. 

Blog Entry 19

Can you think of anything that:

1) should not be photographed? Why?
2) cannot be photographed? Why?

and

3) you do not want to photograph? Why?


1. There are a few things that a majority of the human population could most likely agree shouldn't be photographed. To list a few, child pornography, real life death (unless given complete consent or in the case of police work), and human and animal abuse. These things listed are not only illegal, but in most cases, morally wrong. I also believe that anything violating a human's rights should not be photographed. 


2. It's easy to say what can't be photographed. You can convey feelings and ideas in your photographs, but no one can truly capture the true emotions that a person feels inside.


3. There are a few things that are obvious I would not like to photograph, if you consider my opinions in the first question. I also would not like to photograph any kind of extreme pain or suffering because I feel I would rather be working to console rather than to capture. 

Recreation of the "Biting Pear of Salamanca"

In this image, I chose to create a recreation of a popular art piece on the internet. The art piece features a pear with large creepy teeth being photographed photographed by a small animal. I chose to do a technology parody of this by using a Ipod touch for the biting pear, with a big smiling image on it's screen, and using the memory stick for the animal. The memory stick can "capture" the files upon the itouch. My peers thought it would be nice if the background contained a little more information.

Zoom
In this photo, the viewer is gazing up at the corner of a building, and the angle abstracts what they see. My peers liked the composition, but felt that I could darken the bottom and create more of an dark to light effect going dark on the lower part to a light on the higher part. 

Landart indoors

In this image, I create a landart piece indoors. Whenever I walk down the staircase to the door, I always see piles of leaves that have been blown inside. I decided to use this to my advantage and arrange a few of the leaf pieces into a heart and leave other pieces on the ground to create a blowing effect, which helps to lead the viewers eye across the page.

For this final image, I photographed branches in front of a cloudless sky to create a very high contrast picture. I left the thick parts of the branches up top, in order to lead the viewers eye down the branches and to the bottom left of the image. My peers liked the way that the gradient in the background went from dark on the left to lighter on the right.

Gabriele Basilico

Gabriele Basilico is a Italian photographer and was born in 1944. He studied architecture in Milan. He photographs mainly cities and industrial landscapes.
In a majority of his photos, Basilico positions himself high above his landscapes. His photos are crisp, with a high contrast that holds onto your focus.
In Napoli Vesuvio, the above photo, there is a heavy contrast between the sharp crowded city, and the fuzzy mountain and sky. What I assume is a long, white building, captures my attention and move my focus from the bottom of the photo to the top of the photo.

Blog Entry 16, 17, 18

“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” ~Ansel Adams

Landscapes are often some of the hardest for me to photograph. When I was in Austria, there were so many beautiful surroundings, but my camera did not do them justice. It is hard to capture the true experience of landscapes with a camera lens. Another factor is that the photographer gets to experience the view in person. Though the resulting picture might appear breathtaking to others, it does not always remain breath taking to the photographer. The picture could pale in comparison to the real view. 

“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” Arnold Newman

Pictures taken are always composed. The subjects within them might be acting natural, and even unaware of the camera, but the photographer places them within the frame and decides the moment to snap a picture. The photographer is also able to control the focus of the photo. 

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” Berenice Abbott

Even if the subject within the picture is supposed to be set in the future, it was still a place, person, props that sat in a moment of time. 

Memory- Passage of time

The memory behind this piece was my first date with Michael. The bowling alley was always a place me and my friends would go to when we were tired of going to movies and wanted something else to do. Me and Michael chose the bowling alley because we felt a first date should be doing something where you're interacting with each other. I chose to have the subject blurry while having the bowling lanes crisp in order to show motion. The next thing that shows the passage of time was the two remaining bowling pins. Rather than show the image where they are all standing, it shows 8 of them knocked down.

Posts 11-15

#11____Memory of a Place: Try to imagine a place from your past. Do you have pictures of this place? Describe this place as you remember it. What might a photograph look like of this place if you were to go back and photograph it? What would it look like in the past? What would it look like to you today? Where are you standing in this place? What other items are in this place? What colors do you see? Are there other people or are you alone? Make a “written photograph” of this place using words/description.

My childhood back yard: Im standing in the middle enjoying everything. The smell of freshly cut grass, a swing set in the back near the woods. Bees and other insects flying about, especially near all the wild flowers.  If I were to go back to my childhood back yard, it would be overgrown and neglected. The swing set is long gone, but the insects still remain. The greens are still as vibrant, and the wildflowers have grown in number. It looks much more natural now. No more standards, just free to be how it pleases. 

#12____Memory of a Photograph: Which photograph from your past do you remember most? Describe this photograph. Describe how it makes you feel when you remember/think about this photograph. How have you changed? How has the place in this photograph changed? What would a reenactment of this photograph look like? Would you act or look differently if you reenacted this scene today?

Emma's christmas party in middle school. It was all just a group of close girl friends. We were joking around, as all teenagers do, and had stolen one of her bras. I was looking off to the side at Emma, grinning and giggling, as I held her small white bra to the camera as she play threatened to tackle all of us down. I was small and petite. If I were to reenact this photo now, the tables would have probably turned as we ganged up on another one of our close friends: Jamie. She was always quite well endowed and me and Emma were frequently reminded on how small our chests were. This time, this silly act would have been performed at Jamie's house, with Emma being the main suspect in the crime. Good friends doing stupid things. 

#13____Human-Made Space: In the past, photographers who were interested in how humans impacted the natural landscape grouped together to form the New Topographics. “"New Topographics" signaled the emergence of a new photographic approach to landscape: romanticization gave way to cooler appraisal, focused on the everyday built environment and more attuned to conceptual concerns of the broader art field.”http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibTopo.aspx

In addition, at the same time in history artists created (and still do create) “land art” in which they use materials found in the landscape to make sculptures that remain in the landscape. Many of these works now only exist as video recordings and photographic documents.

Pay attention to the number of ways in which you encounter humans’ interaction with nature and the physical land. Write these down. Using these as inspiration, describe an idea for a piece of “land art” that you might create that would be documented by a photograph. Describe an idea for a piece of “land art” that you might make in a man-made landscape that would be documented by a photograph.

Remember when you were a child, playing in the woods, making forts and playhouses? I would create more forts and playhouses within woods and capture these images to relive my childhood and encourage others to remember theirs. I would also create forts and playhouses, made out of sticks, in the middle of a busy, well traveled place, such as on campus. Imagine a wooden fort in the middle of the engineering building.

#14____Unknown vs. Familiar Space: When photography was invented, it became a way to document and reveal the specific aspects of both familiar and faraway places. Imagine a familiar place. Imagine a faraway place. How would you use photographs to convey the difference? Can you imagine any places that have been “touched” very little by humans? How might you photograph them?

Using photographs, I would capture the free and natural faraway place, barely touched by humans. This place has been free to grow without the interference of humans. I would also capture the disturbed familiar place, showing the ways that humans have affected the area. I could photograph the faraway place with a fast shutter speed, making it crisp and touchable, while I would photograph the familiar place with a short shutter speed, blurring it and making it seem faraway.

#15____In-Camera Collage: Collage brings together two or more items that were previously separate. The resulting piece usually visually references the fact that they were once separate entities. Imagine an important place in your past. Imagine an important place in your present. Imagine who you were in both of these past and present places. Describe how you might use a slow shutter speed and/or double exposure to capture two moments in one image that tell a new narrative about these important places and how they relate to who you are and were.

An important place in my past would have to be my childhood bedroom. That is where I grew up, dreaming of being older and playing make believe with these thoughts. I had no care in the world and did not have to fear growing up. I was allowed to be a child. An important place in my present is my current bedroom. It is a small dorm room that I share with another girl. My homework is sprawled all over my bed and my laptop is seated on top of it. The laptop is open to various homework pages and Facebook. My thoughts no longer are dreaming of adulthood, but of the deadlines I have for my life. Putting these two places together, I would use a slow shutter speed to capture my childhood. Light, bright and airy. I would use a fast shutter speed to capture my current place. Dark, busy and hectic. In order to connect these two images, I would have the stuffed cat I had as a child and still have today laying on my bed. 

Critique write-up

In the first final image I chose, Half of the face lit by a flashlight,  the interpretation I got from the viewers was interesting. They claimed his smile looked approachable, but there was something off about it. They described it as "ominous and serene". The viewer's felt the placement was working for the photo and that the way his face was harshly lit did well for it. How they felt I could use the image for a jumping-off point for a larger project was interesting: We discussed having hands come from behind him, almost reaching for him in a frightening manner.  They viewer's felt that this image was portfolio worthy.

In the second final image I chose, Monarch butterfly, others felt like it was an image they would find when opening a "National Geographic". They described the image as "very exotic" looking. They felt that everything was working in the piece, except they would of liked to see the "tail" in the bottom left covered. To use this image as a jumping off point, I could paint more animals and insects upon peoples faces in the same manner. In order to make it portfolio worthy, they felt if I covered up the "tail" the image would be fine.

In the third final image, Pills, others interpreted this image as "happy, wanting/pondering over the pills". They felt the image was fine, but would have liked it if I blurred the background a bit. Using this image for a series of photos, the viewers thought that more pictures of the effects of the pills could be taken and placed together in a timeline. They felt that blurring the background would make the picture portfolio worthy.

In the fourth final image, Cote sitting in a tree, others described my image as "calming, painting-like, and relaxing". They felt the image was working well, but they would crop off the left part of the image, the image extending past the tree. There was not really any recommendations for using this image as a jumping off point. Suggestions to make this image portfolio worthy were the same as what they felt I could fix within the image.

In the first image, I used the harsh lighting from a flashlight in complete darkness to illuminate half of the subjects face. I didn't ask the subject to make any certain faces, so I left it up to him to decide. I wanted his head slightly off center in order to create a bit of a difference to keep your eye focused there.

In the second image, using props, I created a blurry focus point that would than push your eye to the subject's eyes. I did not really brainstorm for this image and I was just about to take my medication for the day and the idea popped up in my head. I wanted the bottles on the edge to balance out the bottom half of the image.

In the third image, I was taking candid photos and I liked this one. I used natural lighting from the windows. My subject, my roommate, was waking up from taking a nap, so I just talked to her as I snapped pictures. I cropped the image in order to create a focus on her blurry fingers with the ring. The motion of her hand then brings you to view her expression.

7, 8, & 9

“My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.

When taking a picture, you are choosing the lighting, the composition and the subjects. Every detail is up to the photographer to manage. Everyone has a unique style of photographing. This also ties into the quote "You don't take a photograph, you make it." by Ansel Adams. The subject is placed into the frame and the photographer alters the scene to his/her thoughts.

“All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.” ~John Berger


Photographs are a piece in time, while paintings are bits and pieces of memory or imagination. One can look at a picture, of let us say...a girl blowing out candles. This can trigger our own memories of birthdays and celebrations. When you view a painting, you cannot always relate to what is painted because it does not always exist in reality.

In the first image, I wanted to create a contrast that would bring the viewer to focus their eyes on her face and the image on her face. I painted the monarch butterfly on her face with makeup. Her face is off centered and placed at the bottom left of the picture. For lighting I used a lamp and I placed her in front of a dark backdrop. 

In the second image, I used a more candid approach and just took pictures as I sat with my subject on the ground. The lighting is indoor lighting, so it does not create a high contrast within the picture. I blurred the background in order to create more of a focus on the subject in the foreground.

For the last photo, I had the subject climb into a tree and sit on one of the branches. The lighting outside was quite dark, so I had to lighten up the photo in order to make it more viewable. The subject is placed off center at the left of the image. The viewer follows the subjects gaze which continues across the page until it leaves the frame. The viewer is left to wonder what the subject is looking at.

Kanoko Sasaki

Kanoko Sasaki (Born 1976 in Japan) created a series called Wanderlust. In this series she creates her own "floating world". Her photographs are quite vividly colored and the subjects are often isolated in a dreamlike image. Viewing these images brings me back to my childhood when I would play by myself outside.

This image above is her piece called "As a leaf". As her photographs in Wanderlust are from another subjects view, it makes me wonder if perhaps the view is supposed to be from the subjects, being a leaf, view as it floats down from a tree.

http://kanakosasaki.com/projects_d.html?xml=projects005

Blog Entry 5, 6 & 7

#5 Give your thoughts on the following quote.
“I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.” ~Mary Ellen Mark





It is important to inform a person of the reason you're photographing them because the feeling that is expressed through the picture taken can be dramatically changed when the subject is informed. If you just take a quick photo of a person standing there, it is not necessarily going to capture the personality that is unique to the subject.

#6 In your opinion, when is it beneficial, ethical, or appropriate to digitally alter photographic portraits? When do you think it is inappropriate or ethically wrong? 


It is beneficial to digitally alter photographs when the lighting used negatively affected the quality of the picture. It is also beneficial in portraits such a senior pictures, for clearing blemishes or wisps of hair. It is inappropriate to alter a photograph when you are trying to capture a moment that is important to be presented, such as a historic moment in time like a speech or a tragedy.

#7 Pay close attention to the types and number of photographic portraits you see in one day. Where did you see them? How do you think that the content of the portrait changes based on the context in which you see the image (news, facebook, magazine, advertisement, television, youtube, etc)? In other words, what is the difference between the portraits you see on facebook vs. those on the news? What is the difference between the “viewpoint” of the photographer in each situation? What is the difference between their “intents”?


The majority of photographs I saw today were in the hallways of my dorm. The context you see the image changes the content dramatically because each photo is taken in either a produced or natural way. Portraits on facebook are produced pictures where the subject's intent is to create a picture. Portraits in the news are meant to capture a moment in time in a natural way. The difference between the "viewpoint" of the photographer in each situation is also large. When taking a portrait for a facebook picture, you are not necessarily a "witness" to an event, while on the news the photographer IS a witness to an important event. The news is meant to inform, while facebook profile pictures are just meant to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

Sheila Pree Bright

"Bright has said of the series that it “[shows] how the cultural icon of the Barbie has become human and we’ve become plastic.”"
http://www.burnaway.org/2010/07/sheila-pree-bright-at-sandler-hudson-gallery/

Looking through my choices, I found Sheila Pree Bright's photographs especially eye catching. When recreating one of her images, I tried first to make the barbie-like parts using makeup, but I found it did not look as unnatural as I had hoped. So instead, once I uploaded the picture, I digitally altered the face. In Bright's images from "Plastic Bodies", she uses a black backdrop. Her images are also very colorful looking, so the total effect of plasticity is not as prominent in my re-make as it is in her collection. I did try to recapture that unnatural feeling by applying a high contrast to the image.

 During critique, others interpreted this image as being more whimsical than the original photo, but giving off the same idea that the original presents. The hard darkness of the colored eye works well against the subjects soft, light skin. The subject's hair however is covering part of her other eye, preventing a comparison between the two eyes. If I were to change this image, I would take another portrait with both eyes showing and I would use more lighting for the right side of her face, showing the eye even more. Perhaps it would be a good idea to even have the subject open her real eye, so one could compare both the drawn on and the real eye.

Original Image

"Plastic Bodies Series ",
9 in w. x 11 in. h.
Silver Gelatin Print
2004

Three Photos

 I wanted this piece to show movement, but at the same time contain it within the picture frame. I tried maintain focus mainly upon the players. The concept behind this piece was football and the unpredictable events that happen during a game. It is hard to focus on just one player and viewers are constantly shifting their focus from one to the next. Instead of creating the scene, I went to a football game in the town I graduated from. This photo is supposed to mimic the excitement that the fans feel and the importance of the game within the community. 

 Instead of asking my nephew to pose for me, I decided to just watch him while he played with his toys. My family enjoys gathering together and watching football, so it would only be natural that he would become a fan at a early age. I tried to capture an image that would lead the viewers' eyes to my nephew's focus on the football. I left the lighting natural because I did not want such a moment to feel staged. This piece is just simply about a child's play.

I wanted to use outdoor lighting (daytime) for this piece in order to create a dark shadow. This shadow mirrors my subject.  This piece is supposed to make you feel like the subject is running away from something, but in the process running towards  it. Perhaps they are running from themselves? This piece is more of an internal psychological conflict. 

Blog Entry #3 & #4

“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”~Duane Michals. Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Why?

I fully agree with this quote because though you can capture a scene with your camera, when taking a portrait you cannot tell the true thoughts going through a persons' mind. They may be smiling, but only the subject knows whether or not this smile is true or not.

  “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.” ~Lewis Hine

Do you agree or disagree with this quote? Why? Describe situations when photographic images reveal “the story” (as compared to words). Describe situations when words reveal “the story” (as compared to images).

 I agree with this quote because I am a very visual person. When hearing a story, it is much more enriching to me if I am provided pictures of parts of the event. Whenever I hear a story about a person in my community who has passed away, it's hard for me not to look up their facebook or their pictures. If I don't, it's harder for me to connect with them. I find it's easier to feel emotional about someone you can visually see.  

I find that when words reveal "the story", it is because the story is internal and not something you can visually see. For example, I'm sitting here in class typing on my blog. You can visually see me typing, but you cannot hear the voice in my head organizing what I am about to type next. Because you have read what I just typed, you are able to understand what the story is, compared to if you just saw me typing on this blog. 

House

Photo taken by me.
Recreation of "The Damm family in their car" next scene.

Mary Ellen Mark created the image "The Damm family in their car (1987)" while spending a week with the family. The Damm family were a homeless family comprising of a mother, a step-father, a brother and sister and their Pit bull.

I used this assignment to fast forward in the week that Mark spent with the family and stopped at a moment in time where Crissy, the daughter, was drawing a house.

The next paragraph is an except from the magazine "Life" and was written by Annie Fadiman.

Crissy draws a picture of a house on a paper bag. There are four faces at the windows and a four-legged figure in front. "Look at my house, Mommy," she says. "We can put furniture in it when we're rich." (http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/life/905W-000-031.html)

Original 

By Mary Ellen Mark

The Damm Family in their car

The word "Photograph"

To me, a "photograph" is a snapshot in time. The subject in the photograph exists within the world and the photograph captures a moment of its existence.  It is not the photographer that makes the photograph, it is the subjects being captured. Each photograph has a story behind it, whether one may think it is interesting or not.

Imagine a World Without Photographs

Before photographs, the world relied on artists to render their portraits and capture the beautiful landscapes here on Earth. Without photographs, Exotic and far away places would be left to our imaginations, instead of taking only a click of the computer mouse to show us a snapshot. Masses moved by pictures of orphans in third world countries would instead be left ignorant. 

Photographs enable us to experience events over again or even for the first time. They let us save the memories of a babies first steps or a child's new achievement. They allow us to capture important moments in history, the good and the bad. Without photographs, the world would be further separated and unaware of the beautiful cultural diversity within each continent.