Assignment 6 Written Statement

For my final project, I took portraits of people and then asked what they wanted that they did not have, or wanted to do that they could not do. One person said he wanted a car, he wanted money, and he wanted to have kids. Another person said he wanted a motorcycle, he wanted to be in love, and he wanted to be a teacher. I said I wanted to play guitar, I wanted to get married, and I wanted to be pretty without makeup.  After I took the portraits, I had each person write down these desires, and scanned them into the computer, then added them on top of the persons mouth.  I feel like sometimes people don't say what they really want, either because they aren't asked, they are embarrassed, etc. so I decided to put it on their mouth like it was something they wouldn't say.  Then I took pictures of each person "acting out" their desire.  I wanted the photograph to be more about the desire than the person, so I tried different ways of doing that (like blurring them in the background and having the object of desire in focus). I also chose to make them black and white, mostly because the original photographs that gave me the idea were in black and white, but also because I wanted it to be something "historical".  Like each person could look back years from now and see what they used to want, if they still want it, if they already have it, etc.  I found the photographs of myself the hardest to take, obviously because I couldn't do as much with depth of field and see exactly what was in the camera's vision.  I think these photographs as well as the original photographs I saw, are personal. They give insight into someone that you wouldn't see just by looking at them. I think it's important to look at the inside of someone rather than what's on the outside.

Assignment 4 Artist Statement

Part 1: In all 4 images, I was really trying to show the "kid" in my 24 year old friend. For my first image, I just had him do different things on the playground and knew I was going to Photoshop parts of the images together, so I made sure everything he was doing would be in the shot and from the same perspective. I didn't think about exactly what I wanted until we got to the playground, then used the objects that were on the playground to construct final images in my mind. In the second image, I saw this tube and thought it would be fun to make him look like he was extremely long so you could see his head coming out of one end, and his feet coming out the other. I took 2 images from the same perspective, one with his head coming out the left end, and the other with his feet coming out the right end, then I put them together in Photoshop. In the third image, I took photographs of him on the farther swing as he was in the air, and took more photographs of him on the closer swing while he was closer to the ground so it looked like he was swinging with himself. Then I put 2 separate images together.  In the fourth image, I took 2 separate photographs, one of him on the left side with a sad face, and one of him on the right side with a happy/taunting face. I wanted him to look like he was playing tic tac toe with himself and that he had lost/won against himself. For each of these images, I was thinking about other images that I've seen where someone either used the same model, or used different models in the same situation, and put separate images together to make it look like one complete image that was taken in one sitting. I wanted the images to talk about the inner child in everyone, no matter their actual age.

Part 2: Others thought my images were playful and fun.  They enjoyed my concept and thought for the most part I carried the ideas out pretty well. Some made the comment that the colors in the third image were brighter than the others and that I should choose whether I want the images to be bright or dull. I wanted the images to seem more like old photos of someone when he was a child, so I think I should change the colors on the third image to make them duller and less saturated to match the colors in the other images.  I think these images work well together as a series, but if I was to make an extension of the series, I might try going to different playgrounds or "play places" that children would go, and use different models in different situations. I do like having the same model in one situation though, to make it seem more playful.

Prompt #24

For my final project, I want to base it off of some African photography that I've seen. In my African art history class, we viewed photographs from Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe. Both of these photographers took portraits of people in Africa with objects and/or clothing that portrayed them as something they were not, or did not have. For instance, someone who could not afford or did not own a car posed next to someone else's car.  I really like the idea of making something that's fake look real, without using Photoshop or another editing program.  My goal in this assignment is to ask people what they can't do/have that they want to do/have and find a way to explain this in the images. I saw an exhibit in Paris where a person had Polaroids of people who were holding up signs that said what they wanted in life. Most of the signs were written in different languages, so the photographer wrote what they said on the bottom white part of the Polaroid. I may try to use text like this somehow in my photographs to give a better sense of what the viewer is looking at. My other idea would be to make a book online of the different images and explain in the beginning what my idea is, then for each "caption", write what it is that they wanted. I just want to show that everyone in the world has something in mind that for whatever reason they don't have or do, that they desire to have or do, and that these include a huge variety of things. Sometimes you look at a person and instantly judge them.  For instance, if you saw a football player, you might make certain judgements about what type of person they are, and what is important in their life.  But maybe that football player wants to learn how to tap dance more than anything, even if they never end up doing it. I want to show the desires that aren't always seen, as well as desires that are seen.

Final Project #5

Stop Motion Video

Transition Video

Prompt 23

Pick any three works by any of the photographers/artists listed on the assignment sheet. Describe how you would recreate/remake/reinterpret a work of theirs "in your own way". How would you use their work as inspiration for your own projects? For this prompt you should describe three different corresponding recreations that derive from three different works.
In general, the spatial art on gluekit.com is awesome. I really like the way that they incorporate different shapes and bright colors to make patterns and words. I also really like the ideas for the black and white photographs. The installations are very interesting and I like the use of perspective, photography, and physical objects. If I were going to recreate any of these, I would probably try to recreate ends with disaster. I think the idea is clever, so I would use something other than matches that gives the same sort of idea, and have it say "ends with..." something other than disaster. I also really liked most of Jonas Lund's work.  I especially liked the Shakespeare project (Jonas Lund). If I was to recreate this I would probably choose a song and find a place that went along with or reminded me of the song, then somehow incorporate the lyrics in that space as video. Finally, I really liked the Ipsum Planet photographs (Ipsum Planet).  I was especially interested in the photographs where the women have yarn for brains. I think it would be really cool to do that with different parts of the body, using different materials as the insides of whatever body part was being photographed, like using meat for muscles.

Prompt 22

Describe 4 possible projects (that interest you) that integrate color photography and other media. I have always really liked stop motion videos, I think they are very creative and add something different to an otherwise normal video. I remember seeing one where someone had taken pictures in a classroom and he had different people come in and sit in the seats, and at certain points had them hold up colored paper to make different patterns and shapes. I thought it was really interesting and was always curious to try stop motion.  I have taken a few 3d art classes and think that using photography with a lot of things is very interesting. For one project about cloning, I incorporated a photograph of a model and used photoshop to give it a sheep's head and have Hitler in the background, trying to comment on how "Hollywood" wants everyone to be the same, everyone to be a certain way that's "right" in their eyes. I think that drawing, writing, and painting on images is interesting.  It makes me wonder why the artist included whatever it is they included on the photograph. Sometimes photographs can stand on their own, but other times, it helps to add something to it to express a feeling, or make a stronger statement, etc. I think that advertising is a great use of photography, whether it be in a magazine, on a billboard, etc. I definitely think that it is one of the most successful fields that incorporates creativity, photography, and editing of that photography.

Assignment 5 in progress

Assignment 4: Constructed Realities

Assignment 3 Statements

Statement 1: In my first image, I was using the Urban Picturesque prompt. The original image was taken in downtown Lansing, and I was immediately drawn to the stairs on the outside of the building. After reading the prompt, I decided that I needed to do something to the image to make it seem "beautiful", so I got the building in the frame so that there was sky on top to play with. Once I started editing, I just tried different things. I desaturated the colors a bit to make it look more like an old painting. I copied the building and tried using the duplicates in different areas of the image, and what I came up with as a final image I felt seemed geometric and urban, but also picturesque and soft.
In my second image, I was going off of the multiple selves prompt. I love fall, all the colors of the trees are so wonderful, and thinking about the colors of the leaves changing made me think of myself changing. People change through life as leaves do through the seasons, but I noticed these 2 trees together, and that one was still completely green as the other changed. It made me think about how some things in my life are still the same, but others are constantly being altered. I took some images that were vertical, but decided I liked the wideness of this horizontal image just because it was aesthetically pleasing, and because of the way the sun was shining through the branches.
In my third image, I was trying to recreate an image I had already taken. We had an assignment with a large format camera, and I took a picture of this building that turned out really well. So I wanted to see if I went back to the building, I could get the image to turn out similar to the one from the large format camera. Originally when I took the image I was just trying to find something that had a lot of detail since the large format images can be so clear, so I went out at took pictures of a lot of buildings. I really liked the windows on this one, because of the symmetry, but I also liked the lamp posts and colors of the street to make the image less symmetrical.
In my fourth image, I was trying to make a statement about the things that happen in the Capitol building. I had taken an image of a man wearing a suit walking down the street, and then took a photograph of the capital, and duplicated the man without his head or hands in front of the building. I feel like most people that go into the Capitol are "just suits". They go in and are concerned with one side of an argument, they fight for it, someone wins, and they leave. Whether someone actually has strong feelings about an issue seems irrelevant, it's more about whichever side the person is on winning. I took both pictures from the same angle and in the same general area in hopes to get the same lighting.

Statement 2: In my first image, people seemed to like the way that I put the images together. Someone said they liked the shape the negative space made. There weren't many comments, but I would say that this image worked the best to express the prompt I was using. I feel that the composition and colors work well for what I was trying to convey. I don't think I would change anything. I could try using different buildings or even just different objects to make different abstract images like this one for a series.

In my second image, I don't think anyone understood why I chose the prompt that I did for this image. However, I think more people may have commented about the theme if we had had a little more time during the critique. Someone said that they thought the colors were very nice because it obviously reminded them of fall. I think the colors work nicely, and the theme is going in the right direction. I may have been able to carry it out a little better though, and make the concept a bit more obvious. For pictures like this in the future, I would probably try to find pairs of things that were different, to elaborate on my concept of changing/staying the same or having one self that is different from your other selves.

In my third image, without being able to see the original image, I don't think anyone would understand what I was trying to do. If we could do the critique again, I would bring in the original image. I think the lighting is working well in this image, but I could work on the composition and try to brighten the colors a bit. It all seems pretty dull. For a series, I would either try to recreate other images I had taken with a large format camera, or find other interesting buildings to photograph in cities.

In the fourth image, people seemed to like the image, but no one commented on what they thought it was about. They thought that the concept of putting men walking up to the building was interesting, but that the image needed to be bigger so it was more obvious. The comment was also made that the building should be lightened up so that the black suits were more visible. I think if I was going to make a series out of this, I would choose people who had different professions and use them in the same way (take their picture and duplicate their clothing, then put it in front of their place of employment) to make a statement about people's jobs and how the jobs influence their lives.

Prompt 21

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

-You can construct your identity by finding out what is important in your life, like what makes your life meaningful; what it is you like to do, who you like to be with, places that are important to you, etc. Then figure out what order they go in, if they have any order, and this will begin to construct your identity. Even figuring out what isn't important to you helps to construct it.  In your daily life, you perform for other people, for yourself, and for no one. It could be pretending to be nice to someone even if you don't like them, telling yourself you think you're beautiful even if you don't believe it, or doing something just because you know it's the right thing to do, even if no one else knows about it.

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

-Personal culture and social environments are constructed by deciding who to be with, where to be, what you do, etc.  A personal culture and social environment could be influenced by who you are in class with, who you decide to hang out with outside of class and work, what your friends and family believe in, where you decide to go on weekends, if you decide to drink or do drugs, what you spend your free time doing, etc.

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

-For instance, in your room/house/apt., you decide where to put things, therefore you are constructing your space. Also in areas where you don't choose to put things, you can picture different things about your surroundings. By using your imagination, you can construct a space without physically changing it.

4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?
-In some ways, everything is real, but in other ways everything is constructed. You would think that the people you interact with are real, because they physically are, however they might be constructing a front to make you not see who they really are, or how they are really feeling.  The physical things around you are real, but as I said before, they may have been constructed the way they are (as well as everything being made some how). Your beliefs are real to you, because it's what you believe, however you are the one that decided to believe certain things, so you construct them in your mind.

Prompt 20

“We therefore consume images fleetingly and randomly. It takes very special pictures to grasp and hold our attention. We need to be seduced by images that outdo reality through excessiveness—as in advertising and movies” (Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler).  
-I agree with this statement. In today's society, it's extremely hard to keep people's attention. It's hard to focus for longer than about 2 minutes on one thing, studies have shown. In my Intercultural Communications class, my teacher was saying that she tries to incorporate lots of different ways for people to learn because of student's attention spans (things like watching videos on youtube that go along with class, readings, pictures, lecture slides, etc.)  So things that aren't extraordinary are hard to pay attention to, let alone actually remembering and feeling.


“But the term ‘Infotainment’ also implies this: with the gradual fictionalization of even the news, the old categorical oppositions of ‘documenting’ and ‘staging’, appearance and reality gradually dissolve. They are being replaced by a variety of hybrid forms for which it will be impossible, in fact pointless, to attempt to distinguish between fact and fiction. Even the accusation that ‘Infotainment’ is guilty of continuous ‘lying’ is therefore unjustified, for it is neither ‘true’ nor ‘false’. Like advertising, movies and all other genres that adhere to the laws of fiction, it works at a level beyond these oppositions—the level of ‘hyper-reality’, where reality is ‘simulated’.” (Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler).
-I think that as long as people are aware that something isn't real, "infotainment" is a good thing. It can help turn something boring or unappealing into something exciting and new. I do however believe that there are too many photographs that people believe are real when they really aren't. So many times people look at photographs and think of them to be fact, or some sort of evidence of something. But if a photograph isn't real, it's just evidence of someone being good at editing. Editing and faking things is fine for entertainment or advertising, but I think only if they make it known that it's not reality.

Eleanor Antin

Eleanor Antin works in photography, video, film, performance, drawing, and writing. She uses history as a way to explore the present. She takes things that have happened in the past, and mixes them with things that are happening currently, normally to find humor in something that was serious. She stages photographs as well as performance art, and even performs herself.  She researches things about history, and then finds a new way of looking at them.  For instance, in her "Helen's Odyssey" series, she found that Helen of Troy is often shown in art as a "dumb blonde because she was a much hated person". So Eleanor wanted to show different sides of her, being flirtatious, angry, big as life, etc.  I really liked looking through her photographs because even though they are obviously staged, they have a realistic side to them.  They aren't just photographs that you can glance at and understand, you have to take a deeper look into what she is actually trying to say through them.

http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/blog/images/Antin-Eleanor_Constructng-Helen_2008-sml.JPG

The Lady of Shallot by Henry Peach Robinson

http://charon.sfsu.edu/TENNYSON/TENNLADY.HTML

The Lady of Shalott by Henry Peach Robinson, made in 1861 was made from 2 negatives. It is the only known photograph that illustrates the poem by Alfred Tennyson.  "I made a barge, crimped the model's hair, PR fashion, laid her on the boat in the river among the water lilies, and gave her a background of weeping willows, taken in the rain so that they might look dreary." Robinson received many criticisms about this photograph, most about it not being realistic. He was merely trying to illustrate an imaginary scene from the poem, however, this was before photography was used as an art form. I believe the concept was lost on those who only viewed photography as a way to keep records or document actual occurrences. Today, a photograph like this would not be seen as anything unusual. 

Assignment 3: Place

Urban Picturesque

 

Multiple Selves 

Reenactment of a Photograph

Social Cultural Document

Prompt 19

The only thing that I could think of that should not be photographed is naked children. I can see how some see nudity as art, but not when it comes to kids. I remember hearing a photographer talk about how she was taking pictures of her son by a body of water, and she came out with some really nice shots, but she was saying that it would have been better if he had been naked. I just didn't get it, I thought the photograph that she got was great, and didn't think it would have been better if he had been naked. I think it's only ok to photograph someone without clothes if they are a consenting adult. I really can't think of anything that COULD not be photographed. There are things that might be physically impossible to capture, such as someone's thoughts or imagination, but in the art world, people create things all the time that give an illustration of things that cannot be seen, (for example, someone in my class did a project where he took pictures of his little sister and they were about her imagination. He got some great shots and he just used costumes, props, and set up scenes to illustrate things that she imagined.)  I wouldn't really want to photograph someone who was severely injured or brutally killed.  I don't like blood and gore.  I can't imagine ever wanting to be in any situation with that sort of thing, like a police officer or a crime scene investigator, even a doctor or nurse that works in the emergency room...no thanks. I'd like to take pictures of pretty much everything else.

Place Photographers Research

http://www.anthonygoicolea.com/NewAnthonySite/shelter_series/ice_storm.htm

"'Sheltered Life' is a series of digitally constructed photographs that depicts fairytale-like, timeless places inhabited by contemporary characters. All of the landscapes are punctuated with alternative makeshift living spaces that are made up of, as well as incorporated into, the surrounding environment. Many of the figures in the photos are reduced in size and are almost swallowed by their surroundings. The characters are often masked, hooded, or seen from the back in order to preserve their identity. They operate as a single unit, living in situations that simultaneously reference backyard play dates and hippie communes, as well as detainment camps and disaster relief areas. Their living arrangements and concealed identities cement their status as outcasts or refugees from society. The composed wooded scenes depicted in many of the photos are bisected into two halves and are often times seen as a cross-section of themselves. In images like “Ice Storm” or “Dead Tree Forest” the bottom half of the photo is relegated to a violent underworld of roots, dirt, rock and earth which are stratified into a multi-layered platform or stage on which scenes are acted out. The shelters that inhabit the photos range in form from tree houses, lean-to’s and caves, to cardboard forts or dilapidated barns. Their playfulness undermines the sort of desperate haphazard construction and deeper desire to migrate or live on the outside of communities. The sense of foreboding tinged with playful fantasy characteristics of many of the photographs is mimicked in a suite of complex figurative drawings on Mylar. Androgynous figures an indeterminate age float on top of and through each other in a layered composition separated by planes of semi-opaque vellum paper. The ghostlike figures are caught in free-floating, awkward, transitional states: sometimes their images are doubled; sometimes they seem like as much animal as human. As the figures migrate through the forest in small packs, they fade in and out of each other in a series of tentative lines that read like traces of pervious drawings and refer to memory and transition." 

This image creates a sense of isolation.  This group of people out in the middle of no where together, creates a bonding experience.  They have nothing else around them to entertain them and must use each other to keep busy.  I think his intention about this space was to show closeness in isolation, and also possibly a sense of comfort in an uncomfortable space.  I think this image is effective because, being from Michigan, I have seen weather like this and have gone up north with friends when it's cold and snowy.  It gives me a feeling of friendship and warmth even in an unpleasant, cold place.

Prompt 16, 17, & 18

#16- “I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” Duane Michals
I'm not sure if I would link this with photography.  Unless he is talking about something that you don't notice at first, until you see a photograph of it, whether it is physical, emotional, mental, etc. Sometimes something that you can imagine, is not something you could actually take a picture of, but I think that you can make photographs IN your imagination, we are able to see anything in our minds, possible or impossible.
 
#17- “Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” Berenice Abbott 
I really like this quote, and completely agree.  When someone takes a photograph, that moment in time can never be repeated.  People can recreate the situation, or recreate the photograph, but then it's fake.  The subject or place might continue to exist, but it will change. It can only be exactly the way it is in the present.


#18- “Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” ~Ansel Adams
I'm not a huge fan of landscape photography, because sometimes I look at photographs of landscapes and think, anyone could take that. Maybe that's why he says it's the supreme test, to take a photograph of a landscape, and see how you can make it better or different that someone else would.  Looking for specific details to capture, waiting for the perfect lighting or time of year, etc.  I could definitely understand being disappointed after taking a picture of a landscape, and not seeing anything different than they'd seen before.

Working Collage

Artist Statement 2

Part 1: In my first image, I tried to get as close to the subject as possible, while still letting the viewer know what was going on. I just told him to put his hand up and look angry, like he wanted me to go away and stop taking pictures of him, so I got his face, a bit of his upper body, and cut off most of his hand so it was just implied that he was holding his hand up. I wanted the camera close to him to reiterate the privacy and intimacy of what he was doing. I wanted to capture an image of someone doing something intimate, and when I was at my friends house, he was laying on his bed and I got the idea to have him pretend like he was sleeping.  I didn't really change anything in the scene, I just took it as I saw it.  I wanted people to be able to relate to this picture, because everyone has had someone wake them up and been upset about it, even though sleeping is such a personal thing. 

In my second image, I went around with my friend on campus and tried to find different backgrounds.  I noticed some flowers and leaves so asked her to go near it.  She was actually the one to sit down, and when i looked through the lens, decided that I really liked seeing her from above, so instead of getting down on her level, I just asked her to keep looking up.  I also tried to capture her to the side a little, because most times when subjects are right in the center it really bothers me.  I was really just trying to capture her in a place that is a big part of her.  We used to be in a singing group together, so we took these pictures outside of the music building, where I met her and spent the most time with her. This was more about my social relationship with her than anything else.

In the third image, I was actually going for the same thing I had captured in another image. I went on study abroad and took a picture of my friend where he reached towards the camera, and I really liked the way it looked. So when trying to think of things for my subject to do, I thought about that image, and decided to try to recreate it.  I didn't want the viewer to see all of his hands, but for the image to imply that he was grabbing for the lens. For me, this image was about trying to recreate something that I had done before in a completely different place. The other picture I took was outside when the sun was bright, and in Paris right next to Notre Dame.  The image I took for this assignment was in my friends basement with the lights on.

In the fourth image, I just told my friend that I wanted to take pictures of him. He got really excited and said he loved to set up scenes. So he set things up in his room, and it was his choice to take off his shirt and pants, but I thought laying the sheet over his boxers was necessary.  His room was very dim so I plugged in a couple green lights he had and pointed them towards him.  I thought the sunglasses were a good idea because it keeps him more anonymous than if he didn't have them on. I feel like what he's doing in the image could get him in trouble, so anonymity is a good idea. I had more pictures with his entire body in them, but I liked the images closer to his face because without seeing his whole body or the whole room/bed, you see what is going on in that one area, but it makes you curious as to what has happened to make this scene.

Prompt 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15

#11- A place I remember is standing on a dock up north.  My friend Jenn and I went to her Aunt's house about 3 hours away, and we got there at night.  After we took our things inside, we made some food, then went out onto the dock on a lake and talked.  I don't have any pictures of this, but if I had taken a picture it would be dark.  The stars would be bright, and light would be coming from other houses that were around the lake, and reflecting off of the water.  The picture would be Jenn and I sitting on the dock with the water, houses, and dark sky behind us.  We would probably be mid conversation.  If I went back there today, I don't think much would have changed, besides her and I looking a little older.  There would not be much color in the image besides the hues of the sky and lights, and possibly the color of our clothes.

#12- A picture that comes to my mind is a picture of my mom, brother, and I sitting on a couch in our living room when I was about 4.  We were dressed up for something, maybe going to church on Easter? My mom is laughing and grabbing my brother's shirt, my brother is starting to get up and walk away, and my face is scrunched and smiling.  If we took this picture now, the couch in the living room would be different, but the living room would be the same.  All of us would look much older, and my brother probably wouldn't even agree to reenact it. Thinking about this photograph makes me remember a time when things were simple and family came first.

#13- I am always interested to see these while driving, I would take a picture of a landfill.  From far away they look like huge hills, then when you get closer you see it's a hill made of garbage.  I think even just taking some trash and putting it in nature, making your own hills or whatever, could be interesting.  I would want to make the image look like it was something that was beautiful and natural, and then maybe have another image that showed the garbage for what it really was.

#14- In a picture of a familiar place, it might show that there has been something that has happened here.  For instance, a deserted house may be empty now, but there is proof that someone once lived there.  Whether it's the house itself, or things that you might find inside of it.  I would want to take pictures of things that were inside.  In a faraway place, I would imagine something that had no proof of anyone being there.  I would imagine a picture where all you saw was the landscape, like a picture of the ocean where all you can see is water.  Obviously the ocean is used by humans all the time, but I wouldn't want anything leading the viewer to know that.

#15- I would take a picture in Florida, and a picture in London.  I lived in Florida and worked for Disney for about 6 months when I was 19.  I hated it, and just wanted to come home to my family, friends, and boyfriend.  Then last summer I went to London and absolutely loved it.  While I was there, it felt like it was home.  I didn't ever want to leave but obviously had to.  I would like to be able to put images of me in each of these places in the same image, to show how differently I felt about each place. Also to show that "home is where the heart is", my heart was definitely in London, and it felt so comfortable. Also I feel that this image would show the growth I've had in the past few years, physically, but it would imply the growth that has happened mentally as well.

Prompt 8,9, & 10

#8- “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.
I think in a way photographs in general can be more about the photographer than the subject. The photographer is the one who chooses who or what they will photograph, how they will photograph that subject, and why they are photographing that subject.  If you look at an image, you can see what is there, but you can't always necessarily see the meaning behind it.  Most photographs are personal to the person who took them, and by seeing their images, sometimes it's like seeing into their mind and heart.

#9- “You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams
I feel like people who take pictures are definitely making the image, as I said in the last prompt, they are the ones who choose what, how, and why to make a photograph.  A photographer can set subjects up in a certain way, use certain lighting, etc. to get it to turn out the way they want it to, so they are making the scene, as well as making the physical image.  However, in some cases (like photojournalism), I would say that photographers do take photographs.  If someone photographs something that is going on in life without being altered or set up, they are literally taking an image of something that is already occurring without their help.

#10- “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
 I'm not sure if I would agree that photographs are the opposite of paintings, but I would definitely say that they are different.  Even the best painter probably could not make an image that is EXACTLY like the actual occurrence, however I've seen paintings that have gotten it extremely close.  But I think that the meaning for either can change for different people, because both can record what the person making it remembers.  A painter and a photographer may choose to focus on specific things that happened, while another person who was there at the time may not have even noticed.

Assignment 2 Options(2)

 Desaturated

 Film Still

Intimate

Assignment 2 Options

 Flash Lighting

 Midday Light

Light/Shadow

Short Presentation

http://angelastrassheim.com/workpages/family/family_12.html

This image is by Angela Strassheim under her "Family Study" Photograph section.  I could not find much information about her, but I really like this photograph.  She is known for using vibrant colors, and taking images of objects and figures. She identifies with the middle-class American family. She is interested in forensics and in this image she shows the ropy veins of the woman's hands. Each of the photographs in this section had something to do with family, so i'm assuming this is her mother, or a grandmother in the family. I really like the vibrant color and the detail in the old woman's hands. I also like the composition, how her body and hands are to the right and not centered.  I think she was trying to show the detail in the woman's hands, and get an image to remember this woman by, without necessarily including her face.

Prompt 5,6, &7

#5 “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


.  I think to a point being direct and honest with someone that you're photographing is important.  For instance, you shouldn't take a photograph of someone and say that it's for your own use and you are the only one who will see it, and then post it all over the internet. I think it's important to have the consent of the person you are photographing to use their image how ever you actually plan to use it.  It's also important to be honest about how the person will be conveyed. For instance, there could be an issue if you took a photograph of a girl without makeup for "test shots", then had her put makeup on for the "real photos", then used the photographs without makeup without her knowledge.  However, if someone is trying to make some sort of statement and they think it would be better that the subject not know exactly why or when the photo is being taken, I think it's fine.  For instance, many of the greatest photographs have been taken of people when they don't know they are being photographed. I once read something about it taking at least 6 minutes for most people to act naturally when they know someone is taking a picture of them, so if a photographer wants to get someone in their own environment, it might turn out better if the photographer does not ask for their permission.  Obviously this is to the discretion of the photographer, and they should know that by not being completely honest with someone about what they are doing, it could cause problems.

#6 I think as long as the person being photographed know what will be done with the pictures, it is always ok to digitally alter photographs.  For instance, if you took a picture of a person that hated Obama, and you went in and added a picture of Obama with his arm around them, that might not be ethical.  However, if you explain to the person what you will be doing (even just changing colors) I think that any altering of the image would be fine.

#7 In a given day, I can think of a lot of examples where I see portraits.  Examples such as facebook pictures, advertisements, wedding pictures, mugshots on the news, posters people have in their houses and apartments, etc.  With each photograph, I feel that the photographer was trying to express something differently.  In facebook pictures, most people are just trying to capture themselves in a good, funny, or interesting way to show their friends.  In advertisements, photographers are trying to help sell something.  In wedding pictures, photographers are trying to take the best photographs of the people involved with the wedding so that those people can look back and remember how good they looked and how special the day was.  In mugshots, photographers are trying to get an image that distinctly shows what someone looks like so that the public will know what they've done, almost to make a spectacle of them, or even to tell the public to keep a look out for the person.  In most peoples houses and apartments, I've seen a lot of posters of famous people, where the photographer is trying to capture the star in a certain way either to sell the photograph or to sell the person posing.  Portraits are definitely a huge part of photography, and of our world.

Assignment 2(0): Recreation

 

I wanted to use another photographers' image to give me an idea, but not completely take their photograph.  So I changed the composition a bit, and tried to focus more on the face rather than the whole body.  I took this image because of inspiration by photographer Marketa Luskacova.  A lot of her work deals with people and portraits. Here is her image. 

Artist Statement

In the first image, I only used a small section of the faucet and tried to focus more on the drops coming out of it, and wanted the lighting to be soft.  This image is about stopping something in time, and the way that the drops are literally frozen in the image shows that time has stopped.  I constructed the scene by turning on the water and snapping shots at random times to see how each drop from the faucet looked. I first used slower shutter speeds, and then made them progressively faster, as well as using a flash.  My goal for this image was to get the drops stopped on the way from the faucet to the sink. I once saw a blog with images of colored paint dropping into other colored paints, and really liked the images where the drops hadn't completely hit the other paint yet.  It intrigued me and made me wonder how many different compositions you would be able to make with this idea.

In the second image, I was basing it off of a painting called "The Kiss". I tried to use similar lighting and composition, and framing, while changing what the subjects were wearing to make it more recent than the original painting.  I constructed this scene by showing the subjects the painting and guiding them where to stand and what to do with their hands, arms, and legs.  My goal for this image was to get the composition and lighting as close to the painting  as possible, while changing the wardrobe to make it seem current.  The artist that was shown as an example for taking a painting and making it into a photograph was what intrigued me about this particular assignment. I think my interpretation was a bit more literal than most of the photographs from that artist.

In the third image, I used the ballerina on the right side because I prefer when things are off-center, and I thought the deep red background helped to balance the almost white image of the ballerina.  My image was about capturing the ballerina moving and making the blur part of the image to represent the beauty and fluidity of ballerinas when they dance. I had someone hold the string of the ornament and make it spin and I took pictures with a very low shutter speed.  My goal for this image was to capture all movement the ballerina had in the 20 seconds that the shutter was open for.  I have seen artists who go for the "blurry" look of a slow shutter speed, and like their images, I feel that my image is more like a painting, rather than an actual photograph.

Assignment 1: Explore

This image was part of the "flash lighting" section.

This image was part of the "balance" section. I chose a painting called "The Kiss" by Francesco Hayez.

And here is the actual painting.

This image is part of the "color in motion" section.

Prompt 3 &4

# 3 “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 agree.  Today with all the things people can do to edit their photos, you never know what actually took place.  You don't know if a person changed the colors or the brightness or contrast, or if they added or deleted a part of the image.  Photography can deal exquisitely with appearances because images appear a certain way, but the viewer has no way of knowing if this is a real image, or if it has been changed.  


# 4 “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 to an extent. An image can tell a story in a way that words can't. But at the same time, words can tell a story in a way images can't because of people's minds and imaginations.  For instance, a person could be talking about a place they visited. By looking at an image, they can see exactly what the place looked like.  They can see that at that moment in time, who the people were around the place, and what they were doing. "I studied abroad and we went to Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower.  Here is a picture of the day we went so you can see what the weather was like, how many people were around, and what they were doing at the time the picture was taken." But if a person is talking about a place they visited and tell a story that goes along with their visit, a person can imagine what happened by using knowledge that they have about the place and knowledge in general. "I studied abroad and we went to a show that was part of the Fringe Festival in Scotland. The show was really funny because it involved 4 guys who were mostly talking about their lives and making jokes about things they had been through." I could tell some of the things that they had said, but I wouldn't be able to show someone with an image what all happened during the show.
 

Prompt 1 & 2

Imagine a world without photographs. Describe what this world would be like.

No one would be able to have an actual record of anything that happened.  People could write about things, or draw things, but neither of those things are actual proof.  Now with Photoshop, pictures aren't necessarily actual proof because things can be changed and altered, but in general, a photo gives more of a realistic explanation of something that has occurred. Also, pictures help trigger memories.  When thinking of something that has happened, a person can normally remember certain aspects of the memory, but when looking at a picture a person can be reminded of things they did not remember at first.  Finally, print and digital media would be boring.  Some people like to read, but for those who don't, or those who are more visually stimulated, reading an article in a newspaper or looking through a magazine would lack something special.

What does the word "photograph" mean to you?

To me, the word "photograph" means keeping a record of something that has taken place.  I am very interested in photo journalism and catching things "in the moment".  Photography is about being able to take an object, place, or person, and artistically or "journalistically" save an image of something that was occurring. 

Jill and Polly in the Bathroom

The original image is by Tina Barney.  There are 2 women standing in the bathroom.  My thought was that the mother just caught her daughter with a boy in the house, so I shot a photograph that would capture him running away from the house. This picture is part of a series where the photographer wanted to capture friends and family in their houses in the moment.

Michelle Banaszak