Interpretation: I think others interpreted my some of my images as having an ad like quality. I think they liked the point of view of the bra and washing machine picture better, after I had taken there advice on looking at a different angle.
Evaluation: I think angles and perceptions in my pictures work well. I also think I am able to capture emotions in the moment. I think I need to work on the contrast of lights and darks in the skeleton and fashion week pictures.
Extension: I think I could use the skeleton picture as a series of capturing bars or pubs, or the mother and daughter picture as a series in capturing mothers and daughters of all different ages and classes in their "natural habitat"
Monday, February 21, 2011
Blog Assignment 6
Blog Prompt 19
Can you think of anything that:
1) should not be photographed? Why?
I think something that is very hard to take pictures of are homeless people. When I was in New York there were many homeless people and my friend brought up a good point. Some people may want to take pictures to raise awareness, but many end up selling them, making money, and where does that money go? Not to the homeless.
2) cannot be photographed? Why?
I think anything can be photographed. Photography can capture anything you can see with your eyes. With the right equipment, lighting, or camera anything can be captured.
3) you do not want to photograph? Why?
Things I don't like to photograph are feet. I love shoes but I hate feet. It makes me really uncomfortable looking at them, much less photographing them.
Blog Prompt 20 Describe at least one photograph that you could take for each of the following “place” prompts.
* An image of a synthetic “place” such as Disney World, Las Vegas, a Hollywood set, a diorama, etc.
- The Michigan State Football stadium, it's something almost everyone is familiar with, whether they have experienced it first hand, or seen images.
* An image of a fantasy/fictitious environment concocted from your imagination.
- At 21st Century, the comic book, virtual reality store, they have big virtual pods you can play in, I think there could be some great photos taken there
* An image of a placeless space such as the Internet, cell phones, e-mail, e-bank, surveillance, etc.
- A videogame, tetris, pacman, halo
* An image of a public space.
- NEW YORK CITY!!
* An image of a private space.
- My closet
* An in-between space that brings to mind one of the following ideas: nomadic lifestyles, displacement, rootlessness, out-of-placeness, boundaries, movement, expansion, etc.
- My locker at the Urban Planning Building, there is so much fabric, paper, pencils, pins, books, everything in there, representing the chaoticness of my life
Can you think of anything that:
1) should not be photographed? Why?
I think something that is very hard to take pictures of are homeless people. When I was in New York there were many homeless people and my friend brought up a good point. Some people may want to take pictures to raise awareness, but many end up selling them, making money, and where does that money go? Not to the homeless.
2) cannot be photographed? Why?
I think anything can be photographed. Photography can capture anything you can see with your eyes. With the right equipment, lighting, or camera anything can be captured.
3) you do not want to photograph? Why?
Things I don't like to photograph are feet. I love shoes but I hate feet. It makes me really uncomfortable looking at them, much less photographing them.
Blog Prompt 20 Describe at least one photograph that you could take for each of the following “place” prompts.
* An image of a synthetic “place” such as Disney World, Las Vegas, a Hollywood set, a diorama, etc.
- The Michigan State Football stadium, it's something almost everyone is familiar with, whether they have experienced it first hand, or seen images.
* An image of a fantasy/fictitious environment concocted from your imagination.
- At 21st Century, the comic book, virtual reality store, they have big virtual pods you can play in, I think there could be some great photos taken there
* An image of a placeless space such as the Internet, cell phones, e-mail, e-bank, surveillance, etc.
- A videogame, tetris, pacman, halo
* An image of a public space.
- NEW YORK CITY!!
* An image of a private space.
- My closet
* An in-between space that brings to mind one of the following ideas: nomadic lifestyles, displacement, rootlessness, out-of-placeness, boundaries, movement, expansion, etc.
- My locker at the Urban Planning Building, there is so much fabric, paper, pencils, pins, books, everything in there, representing the chaoticness of my life
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Recreation 3: Memory
This is a recreation of my memory of swimming with the dolphins. It was my senior year of high school, at Sea World, in California. I have been obsessed with dolphins as far back as I can remember and the stuffed animal I am holding in the picture I have had since I was little. I chose to do a self portrait to portray the emotions I was feeling at that time and what I feel now. Since my senior year, I have learned so much about dolphins in captivity and I am now extremely against it. I am so grateful for my experience, which is something I always wanted to do, but feel almost guilty now that I didn't know back then the detrimental effects of dolphins in captivity. This is why I posed in an almost guilty way, but I still don't want to let go of the experience I had there.
I positioned myself in a corner to help convey some of the feelings of guilty innocence, referencing when children get in trouble and have to sit in the corner. I also tried to sit in a more vulnerable position, to show my naivete. For lighting, I wanted a high contrast, so sitting in the corner with a flood light helped me create this effect.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Historical Photographer: Dorothea Lange
Biography: May 26, 1895 Hobokin, New Jersey. She studied photography in New York, and the date of this creation was 1938.
Dorothea is known as one of the best documentary photographers in America. Much of her work was during the Great Depression, really depicting the hopelessness, devastation, and grief of that time period. She worked mainly in the West (Arizona and California) and in the Midwest, photographing farmers and migrant workers. To me, her work was so important and so effective because helped people view what was really going on around them. They are very honest photographs in that nothing is staged or set up, everything has a raw emotion, or sense of truth to it.
To me, important techniques she used was perspective and relationship with the subject. The was she is able to capture a glance, or a gaze, makes you feel like you know the person in the photo, or that you are sharing their emotions. The contrast in her pictures is not faked, and adds a sense of reality to the photographs as well.
The motivation behind her landscape photos is to show what effect the Great Depression was having on the people, your fellow neighbors of the United States. It was obviously an aweful era and being also being a photojournalist, she felt it was her duty to capture the world around us without sugar coating what was really going on.
Dorothea is known as one of the best documentary photographers in America. Much of her work was during the Great Depression, really depicting the hopelessness, devastation, and grief of that time period. She worked mainly in the West (Arizona and California) and in the Midwest, photographing farmers and migrant workers. To me, her work was so important and so effective because helped people view what was really going on around them. They are very honest photographs in that nothing is staged or set up, everything has a raw emotion, or sense of truth to it.
To me, important techniques she used was perspective and relationship with the subject. The was she is able to capture a glance, or a gaze, makes you feel like you know the person in the photo, or that you are sharing their emotions. The contrast in her pictures is not faked, and adds a sense of reality to the photographs as well.
The motivation behind her landscape photos is to show what effect the Great Depression was having on the people, your fellow neighbors of the United States. It was obviously an aweful era and being also being a photojournalist, she felt it was her duty to capture the world around us without sugar coating what was really going on.
Contemporary Photographer: Cindy Sherman
Cindy was born in 1954, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. She studied painting, art, and then photography at State University College at Buffalo. She now resides in New York.
Something that makes Cindy's work very unique is the fact that she often uses herself in her works, dressed up/made up as someone else. Recently, she did a series involving dolls, moving their body parts in sexual positions. I find this very interesting because it is an oxymoron of itself. Dolls are usually seen as innocent playthings, and this, puts a completely different perspective on a child's toy. She makes many of her images scary and grotesque, with things like vomit, mold, scary liquids.
Composition: balance, lighting, etc.
Sherman usually frames her subjects in the middle of the portrait. The perspective is mostly straight forward, looking directly at the subject at eye level . Some of her recreations look almost like old movie film stills, while others depict creepy clowns, doll body parts, or her dressed as a "valley girl"
Emphasis is almost always on the subject although she does have very interesting artifacts in the background at times. Her portraits are a mix of black and white and color. The black and white ones primarily being more conservative, old fashioned, and film still-ish, while her colored portraits are raunchy, racy, and controversial. The lighting is used to emphasize the subject, which is the main focus of all of her portraits.
To me, the concept behind Cindy's colored photography is to show herself as another person. Through art, you can be anyone, or anything you want to be, and that in being the photographer, you are the one who has control to how the audience or viewer perceives you.
Sherman uses projected slide backgrounds for some of her pictures, along with prosthetic body parts, body props, dolls, and makeup.
Motivations: Describe their goal/intention for creating this image/s.
She clams that she looks for beauty in the grotesque. To capture images that are not at all what they seem. Everyone can spot the ugly, extreme or disgusting, but not many can see the beauty within it.
I really enjoy the fact that she is not afraid to make herself look ditsy, gross, weird or stupid. She puts herself in her art which is very personal when it comes to critiques. I also love her film stills which have a much different style than her early works.
Final Prints
Stranger
I love this picture of the little boy because it was captured right in the moment. Nothing about it is posed or staged, all of the emotion is real. I was not even trying to get a picture of this boy, but as I was walking by, the subway slowed and I was able to capture the shot. After getting on the train, I saw the little boy had a hearing aid on and he was actually deaf, signing to his father. This made the picture even more special to me, because even though he was a stranger, I knew more about him than other people looking at this picture. I really like the effect of the window in the picture. The dirtiness of it, represents pieces of New York in a way. Also, the refection in the back kind of tells an unknown story, like who are those people in the background, like the theme of the photo "stranger."
This picture of strangers is completely different from the first. I never even saw the faces of the subjects. I love the way the girls are dressed up to mimic their mother. My favorite part of this picture is the background behind it. The fact that the Fashion Week sign in the back is captured with the picture makes it look like it could be a fashion ad for the event. Another detail I noticed that I think is very ironic is the sign on the taxi cab. It is advertising for an after hours gentleman's club.
Repetition
I had many angles for this shot and it was very hard picking one that I really liked. I like the unexpected angle and the fact that this is an everyday act that is now in a different perspective on an everyday task. When I printed this, I made this photo the largest print, which I think really worked. The light and dark
Background/location
I love this picture of the little boy because it was captured right in the moment. Nothing about it is posed or staged, all of the emotion is real. I was not even trying to get a picture of this boy, but as I was walking by, the subway slowed and I was able to capture the shot. After getting on the train, I saw the little boy had a hearing aid on and he was actually deaf, signing to his father. This made the picture even more special to me, because even though he was a stranger, I knew more about him than other people looking at this picture. I really like the effect of the window in the picture. The dirtiness of it, represents pieces of New York in a way. Also, the refection in the back kind of tells an unknown story, like who are those people in the background, like the theme of the photo "stranger."
This picture of strangers is completely different from the first. I never even saw the faces of the subjects. I love the way the girls are dressed up to mimic their mother. My favorite part of this picture is the background behind it. The fact that the Fashion Week sign in the back is captured with the picture makes it look like it could be a fashion ad for the event. Another detail I noticed that I think is very ironic is the sign on the taxi cab. It is advertising for an after hours gentleman's club.
Repetition
I had many angles for this shot and it was very hard picking one that I really liked. I like the unexpected angle and the fact that this is an everyday act that is now in a different perspective on an everyday task. When I printed this, I made this photo the largest print, which I think really worked. The light and dark
Background/location
Monday, February 14, 2011
Blog Assignment 5
Prompt 11.
Memory of a place: A place from my past that vividly sticks out in my mind is Las Vegas. I have hundreds of pictures from last time I was there, but as I remember it, everything was larger than life, vivid, colorful, and busy. If I were to photograph it now, I think it would be very similar, but probably bigger, with more hotels, but with the same sunshine and palm trees in the midst of neon signs and sparkling lights. I would stand on the main boulevard to get the best view of all the hotels. There is such a mish mosh of people there, from tourists, to magicians, show girls, hookers, business men, gamblers, famous people, cowboys, and security guards. I went with my family, my parents and my brother, to casinos, magic shows, the blue man group performance and even a knight joust. Every place is completely different from the next, like stepping into a completely different dimension.
Prompt 12.
A photograph from my past I remember most is a picture I have kissing a dolphin I had been swimming with. Everytime I think about that experience or see the picture I get butterflies in my stomach, it was something I had wanted to do all my life and being able to do it gave me such joy and that photography still evokes those emotions. I have changed though, after watching the cove and seeing the way dolphins are treated and captured for Sea World has now changed my opinion on the captivity of dolphins. The place has changed in the controversy surrounding Sea World after the release of that movie. I would still be thrilled as I was to be interacting with the dolphin and be near it, but I think there would also be sadness in the situation of captivity. I would look different physically, with longer hair, a thinner face, and older, and also emotionally, probably sadder, and even wiser to the surroundings of what is really happening to that dolphin.
Prompt 13.
An idea for a piece of land art I would create would be going to an archeological dig and using the tools, scraps, trash left around the site to make either a sculpture mimicking a dinosaur bones, or whatever the dig was portraying, like a mummy and tomb or pottery.
Prompt 14.
In showing a difference between faraway and familiar places, I think there are many different effects one could use. Angle or point of view could be effective, like using straight on shots for familiar and angled for faraway, making it seem more distant and disconnected. Another tool could be zoom, directly using close ups to be more personal. Color can also make a difference, whether black and white or color, depending on shadows and light can add to the personality or story of a photograph. I would love to take pictures in a rainforest. Somewhere where no trees have been cut down and no animals are endangered and really capture animals and plants in their natural habitat.
Prompt 15.
Job-wise, in present, I work at American Apparel, and in the past I was a lifeguard at home for 4 years. These both are/were important to me because they provide means to stability, supporting myself, responsibility, and people skills, which are all very valuable to me. I would like to use slow shutter speed to capture me jumping in to the water with a long flowing blue skirt from American apparel to show the two moments.
Memory of a place: A place from my past that vividly sticks out in my mind is Las Vegas. I have hundreds of pictures from last time I was there, but as I remember it, everything was larger than life, vivid, colorful, and busy. If I were to photograph it now, I think it would be very similar, but probably bigger, with more hotels, but with the same sunshine and palm trees in the midst of neon signs and sparkling lights. I would stand on the main boulevard to get the best view of all the hotels. There is such a mish mosh of people there, from tourists, to magicians, show girls, hookers, business men, gamblers, famous people, cowboys, and security guards. I went with my family, my parents and my brother, to casinos, magic shows, the blue man group performance and even a knight joust. Every place is completely different from the next, like stepping into a completely different dimension.
Prompt 12.
A photograph from my past I remember most is a picture I have kissing a dolphin I had been swimming with. Everytime I think about that experience or see the picture I get butterflies in my stomach, it was something I had wanted to do all my life and being able to do it gave me such joy and that photography still evokes those emotions. I have changed though, after watching the cove and seeing the way dolphins are treated and captured for Sea World has now changed my opinion on the captivity of dolphins. The place has changed in the controversy surrounding Sea World after the release of that movie. I would still be thrilled as I was to be interacting with the dolphin and be near it, but I think there would also be sadness in the situation of captivity. I would look different physically, with longer hair, a thinner face, and older, and also emotionally, probably sadder, and even wiser to the surroundings of what is really happening to that dolphin.
Prompt 13.
An idea for a piece of land art I would create would be going to an archeological dig and using the tools, scraps, trash left around the site to make either a sculpture mimicking a dinosaur bones, or whatever the dig was portraying, like a mummy and tomb or pottery.
Prompt 14.
In showing a difference between faraway and familiar places, I think there are many different effects one could use. Angle or point of view could be effective, like using straight on shots for familiar and angled for faraway, making it seem more distant and disconnected. Another tool could be zoom, directly using close ups to be more personal. Color can also make a difference, whether black and white or color, depending on shadows and light can add to the personality or story of a photograph. I would love to take pictures in a rainforest. Somewhere where no trees have been cut down and no animals are endangered and really capture animals and plants in their natural habitat.
Prompt 15.
Job-wise, in present, I work at American Apparel, and in the past I was a lifeguard at home for 4 years. These both are/were important to me because they provide means to stability, supporting myself, responsibility, and people skills, which are all very valuable to me. I would like to use slow shutter speed to capture me jumping in to the water with a long flowing blue skirt from American apparel to show the two moments.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Blog Assignment 4
#8 “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.
Being an avid follower of Richard Avedon, I can understand where he comes from with this quote. When looking at a collection of Avedon photographs, it is easy to recognize his aesthetic and personal photographic style. To even be able to take a photograph, one must have a vision or a creation in mind in order to create that art, or that photograph. Portrait photography is a way to not only express the person being viewed in the photograph, but the photographer as well. Like a journalist, they are the one in control of making the viewer see the object in whatever context they would like to portray.
#9 “You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams
My interpretation of this quote is that one cannot stage emotion. To really be able to capture that essence of photography expressing more than words, one must consider all surrounding factors of the picture. Especially in today's technological world, we have lighting equipment, digital cameras, photoshop, etc, all these different pieces of a giant puzzle that becomes the end product of this whole concept.
#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
In my opinion, this is the best summary of photograph. Through personal experience, when I look at a picture, it always reminds me of something, especially if I was the photographer, at the place of the picture, or in it especially I can always recall certain emotions, smells, textures, stories, thoughts. No painting is able to give me that same effect unless I am the painter. In a sense, paintings can be more impersonal because usually less people are involved in it's undertaking. It is much easier to have 100 people as subjects or involved in a photograph than in a painting. Also the fact that photography can be instant gratification, and that we forget quicker than we remember.
Being an avid follower of Richard Avedon, I can understand where he comes from with this quote. When looking at a collection of Avedon photographs, it is easy to recognize his aesthetic and personal photographic style. To even be able to take a photograph, one must have a vision or a creation in mind in order to create that art, or that photograph. Portrait photography is a way to not only express the person being viewed in the photograph, but the photographer as well. Like a journalist, they are the one in control of making the viewer see the object in whatever context they would like to portray.
#9 “You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams
My interpretation of this quote is that one cannot stage emotion. To really be able to capture that essence of photography expressing more than words, one must consider all surrounding factors of the picture. Especially in today's technological world, we have lighting equipment, digital cameras, photoshop, etc, all these different pieces of a giant puzzle that becomes the end product of this whole concept.
#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
In my opinion, this is the best summary of photograph. Through personal experience, when I look at a picture, it always reminds me of something, especially if I was the photographer, at the place of the picture, or in it especially I can always recall certain emotions, smells, textures, stories, thoughts. No painting is able to give me that same effect unless I am the painter. In a sense, paintings can be more impersonal because usually less people are involved in it's undertaking. It is much easier to have 100 people as subjects or involved in a photograph than in a painting. Also the fact that photography can be instant gratification, and that we forget quicker than we remember.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Writing Statement Part 2
I feel like most students agreed the angles, lighting, and textures in my photography. I think things that are working in my image are the contrasting lights and darks. Also I think I am able to make everyday objects look abstract. Something I know I need to work on is framing, and clarity of my images. I think the bra picture could definitely be a jumping off point for a series, abstracting everyday images.
Scott Schuman
Contemporary Photographer: Scott Schuman
Birthday: Unable to find
Country/State of Residence: Born in Indiana, Graduate of Indiana University, he graduated with a degree in Apparel Merchandising. He was the director of a fashion showroom for years, and after leaving in 2005, he began carrying a camera around and studying photography.
Significance: Scott Schuman, also known as “The Sartorialist” is a street fashion photographer. His photography blog, “The Sartorialist” features people and places he sees as fashionable as he travels the world. He has become extremely popular as blogs have gained popularity covering fashion shows for Conde Naste Publications, for magazines like GQ.
Composition: Most of Scott’s pictures focus on a main person, blurring the background with clarity on the subject. Usually his objects are centered in the frame, posed, or in action. Lighting is also almost always in daylight or natural lighting.
Concept: Scott’s concept is to show different perspectives of fashion around the world. Some pictures are candid and some are posed, but all are of people in their “natural environment”
My Opinion: In my opinion, I love the sensation that his blog and his style of photography has created. His blog started in 2005 and as blogs have become more popular, so has his style of street photography. Photographers like Tommy Ton and Yvan Rodic with their blogs “Jak and Jil” and “Facehunter”
Birthday: Unable to find
Country/State of Residence: Born in Indiana, Graduate of Indiana University, he graduated with a degree in Apparel Merchandising. He was the director of a fashion showroom for years, and after leaving in 2005, he began carrying a camera around and studying photography.
Significance: Scott Schuman, also known as “The Sartorialist” is a street fashion photographer. His photography blog, “The Sartorialist” features people and places he sees as fashionable as he travels the world. He has become extremely popular as blogs have gained popularity covering fashion shows for Conde Naste Publications, for magazines like GQ.
Composition: Most of Scott’s pictures focus on a main person, blurring the background with clarity on the subject. Usually his objects are centered in the frame, posed, or in action. Lighting is also almost always in daylight or natural lighting.
Concept: Scott’s concept is to show different perspectives of fashion around the world. Some pictures are candid and some are posed, but all are of people in their “natural environment”
My Opinion: In my opinion, I love the sensation that his blog and his style of photography has created. His blog started in 2005 and as blogs have become more popular, so has his style of street photography. Photographers like Tommy Ton and Yvan Rodic with their blogs “Jak and Jil” and “Facehunter”
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