Recreation 5

I based this recreation of constructed reality off of my contemporary photographer Milan Kunc. I really liked the idea of collaging photographs and having almost cartoon-like features incorporated. I mainly focused on the idea of the daisy photograph, using the grid picture of the wall to mimic the lines of his picture. I used an extra light pointing up from the floor and focused in on the closer leaves of the plant. I googled images of rainforest animals and pasted them in to my photo. I then used a filter to make it look more cartoon-ish.

Historical Photographer: Gertrude Kasebier

Gertrude was born in 1852 in Fort Des Moines, Iowa. She attended Pratt Institute for the Arts in Brooklyn studying drawing and art before moving to photography. She furthered her education in Europe and became best known for the motivational career pushing pictures of woman, portraits of Native Americans, and narratives of motherhood. I really like the feminist push behind the pictures of the women. They are very classy, elegant, feminine and almost glamorous. The lighting is really effective as well, the bright over-exposed or really dark, they work to set the mood and tone of the photograph.

Contemporary Photographer: Milan Kunc

Milan Kunc was born in Prague in 1944. In the mid 1960s he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts. After moving to New York, he became an "originator of East Pop" He works with painting and photography. Most of the works I found involved collages of painting and photography. I really like the almost Roman-like statuesque figures that he uses as the focus of the subject. I think the colors that he uses really make the pieces pop, I understand why he is the originator of pop art, it is very Andy Warhol-ish.

Final Assignment 4

I tried colors in this picture numerous ways. Black and white, sepia, color, I finally decided to keep it color. I really like the bright reds contrasting with the more monotone greys. I also believe this presents a story, the chili necklace he is holding is part of the Chili cookoff festival this was shot at. I think its a very playful shot I could picture being in a community newsletter, which is why I chose the prompt, photojournalism.
I like the composition of the cropping, for example, the bottom wagon wheel, it gives the illusion of pulling off the children off the picture.


I really love this picture because of the story behind it. Everyone I was with kept making fun of me for taking pictures of such "pointless" objects, but after seeing this one, it ended up being everyone's favorite. I took this with a flash, which really changed some of colors in it. I love the contrasting colors with the cool greens and warm reds and oranges. It almost looks like a fire is burning behind the hydrant, which I think is fitting symbolism.



I love this image because I feel that it could be high fashion. I also like it much more in black and white than I do in color. It is much more cohesive, originally, the glasses had a green tint to them, which took away from the reflection I was trying to capture. The natural sunlight in the top corner of the picture really makes the picture and allowed me to have that feeling of deep contrast. It was a natural overexposure that I think worked really well. I wish I could have captured more of the mountains in the reflection of the glasses, but I think it still conveys that the picture was taken in a foreign place. The hardest part about this was capturing that light in the corner without washing out her face, and getting the reflection in the glasses without capturing my refection in them. The other part I think works well are the contrasting textures. The actual texture of the smooth glasses, with the rough terrain in the lenses, combined with the smoothness of her hair, and the scaly headband.



This picture is one of my favorites because I was able to capture it in the moment. This little boy carrying a huge suitcase in the airport, really focused on what he was doing, while everyone else around him is blurred and in a hurry. I think it really captured exactly what was happening in that moment and the mood I wanted viewers to feel when looking at it. I used a slower shutter speed and focused in on him, using a table as my make-shift tripod. It was such a coincidence that his sweatshirt almost exactly matched the chairs around him and I really like the boldness of the orange. I tried photoshoping out that juice container and was not able to do it neatly, so I tried blurring it a little more instead so it would not be as distracting.

Blog Prompt 23

1.I construct my identity everyday by the clothes and accessories I chose. From crazy snake headbands, to leather jackets, to studded boots, I look at my clothing as costume for how I want to be perceived that day or how I want people to view me. This is also a type of performance. And depending on what you are wearing, you can act differently. If I am dressed nicer, I act more confident than I would if I were wearing sweats.

2. I think social environments are constructed everyday based on technology and social networking. The computer and photoshop make it very easy to construct a totally different person based on pictures and personality. People can be whoever they want to be on the internet. Even celebrities, being such a big part of our culture, construct their reality everyday, and we are constantly surrounded by that, in blogs, on TV, and in magazines.

3. Physical environment is constructed just based on where you are at, it's interior design. If you are in a video game arcade, there are lights, flashing, and nose. If you are in a library, it is constructed to be duller colors, quite, books. It can also be constructed based on region, if you think in terms of houses. The West has tiles on roofing and are usually made of stucco, where as the midwest is usually all brick houses.

4. I do not think there is really a straight answer to what is "real" and what is "constructed." I guess real would be, in that particular moment, like photography, catching something that is candid, like when people don't know someone is watching, I think that is the only way to capture something real. Once someone knows people are watching, it is impossible to know if they are "constructing" something because they are being watched, or if it is genuine emotion.

5. I would really like to do a futuristic/space fashion shoot. I would like to do it somewhere with lots of neon and lights and have girls dressed up very Jetson-ish futuristic, with neon makeup and slicked back hair. I would like the men to be dressed up with gas-masks or space men and have the girls look more alien-ish. Almost like having Amazon-women in space.

6. I think that it would be very interesting to do a shot with soldiers in the desert, surrounded with G.I Joes and toy tanks. It would give the impression that this war should not be happening and they are real people fighting, not just toy soldiers.

Blog Assignment 22

The Unfortunate Moment of Misunderstanding

This video is very interesting to watch to grasp the concept of an intensive photoshoot. When looking at certain photographs, sometimes it is not easy to understand all of the effort that goes into it unless you see the preparation that goes on behind the scenes. I personally adore the whole concept of this shoot. The space, the idea, and especially the clothing. It is hard for me to grasp how many parts they had to shoot this in and all the layering used for the 3d effect. I cannot image how much time and precision it must have taken to turn models into wood, to get the placement correct, and angle of shooting. There are also many people behind this shoot, not just the photographer, who usually gets the recognition. This video really shows the actual ACT of photography as an art, not just the resulting picture.

recreate 4

Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie May Weems was born in Portland, Oregon in 1953 and is not only known as a photographer but a videographer as well. Weems moved to Califonia to attend the California Insitute of Arts after she graduated high school.

She focused on African Americans to bring up topics such as gender, politics, and identity. Weems believed the best way to display her photography was through storytelling. She was known for her photography work in politics before art.

Alexander Rodchenko

Alexander rodchenko, also spelled Aleksander Rodchenko, was born December 5, 1891
St. Petersburg Died December 3, 1956 (aged 64)
Moscow. He studied at the Kazan School of Art and the Stroganov Institute in Moscow.

The Russian artist was not only known for his photography, but also his sculpting and grapic design. Rodchenko was best known for his work in founding Constructivism-"characterized chiefly by a severely formal organization of mass, volume, and space, and by the employment of modern industrial materials. Compare suprematism." (Dictionary.com)

Photography came later on in his career, beginning in 1924, in which he focused on odd angles of subjects to delay viewers ability to recognize the subject of the image. One of his famous quotes, "One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again." depicts his ideals in this subject.