April 2010
5 posts
Six Photographs for Project 5
Alec Soth: Kenny and Bill, Bad Newz, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, 2002
This portrait illustrates the balance I would hope to achieve with my photographs; the subjects are centered formally, staring directly into the camera, their expressions blank. However the subtle details of the picture; the industrial kitchen setting their matching blue T-shirt and jeans and their postures reveal tons of...
Ideas for Project 5
I can’t help but be somewhat nervous about the final quality of my photographs for this project. In my opinion, people are the most elusive, temporal, and difficult subjects in photography. The formal portrait has become an almost subconscious social norm: when a camera appears, most people smile, posture, and stare dead-center into the lens as if it were a reaction as natural as...
Portrait Photographer: Jim Marshall
Jim Marshall worked within the relatively limiting field of “music” photography, taking portraits of countless musicians at the height of the 60s rock revolution. It seems difficult to achieve truly unique portraits of famous individuals, as the disconnect and lack of comfort between subject and photographer often produces stilted, cliched, or simply unnatural pictures. Similarly,...
Project 4-Final Photos
Starting with several different interpretations of the trace, I unified them into a multi-layered idea, centered around the idea of objects as traces of a person’s interaction with and impact on the space around them. Initially, the possibilities of long exposures captured my imagination, and I experimented with the ability of extended exposure to create “literal” traces. I wanted to...
Project 4 Post-Crit Response
After critique, I found myself paying much more attention to the arrangement of my photos and to the interplay between each photo. In my case, much of the criticism focused on the issue of consistency of each photo. My strongest photos created visual interest with the surrounding objects and framing; thus, the photos that lacked this interest—the pillow and table photos—detracted...
March 2010
8 posts
Six Photographs/Photographers for Project 4
Pelle Crepin, from http://www.pellecrepin.com/ (Personal section)
In this photograph, Crepin demonstrates the notion of light as a trace. Using what appears to be a long exposure, Crepin transforms the street lights into diagonal rays emanating from their source. The bizarre lines of neon green and red in the background suggest the trace of the unexplainable and mysterious.
John Divola,...
Ideas for Project 4
At this point, I am working with several different concepts of the “trace.” First, there is light, which when photographed correctly, appears as traces or rays emanating from the original source. Similarly, shadows are traces of forms, created when light shines in just the right direction. Also capturing my imagination is the notion of traces in the form of objects in a space. When...
Project 3 Post-Crit
Given the difficulty of the project, I came into the critique with the expectation that people would be as critical as I had been to myself. Instead, I left the critique with an overall increased confidence in my photos. The two photos that I felt were the most successful—stair acquaintance and working men—elicited significant discussion. This did not surprise me: stair acquaintance...
Project 3--Final Six Photos
Crooked road
Hazy cubes
Sterile illumination
Working men
Stair acquaintance
Red trampled
Project 3--6 Examples
Philip-Lorca Dicorcia. New York, 1996.
Dicorcia’s ability to capture action at the right moment is seen in this photo, making it a good example of street photography. However, his use of dramatic lighting and flash creates a “cinematographic artifice” that questions reality.
Andy Morley-Hall
http://lvps212-241-196-151.vps.webfusion.co.uk/AndyMorley-Hall/gallery/70
Not...
Project 3-Ideas
Because this project calls for frozen motion and dynamic energy, I am shooting subjects that reflect this motion—crowds, people going through their day-to-day lives, vehicles, anything that is in motion. So far, I have captured people walking to and from class, biking. I want to shoot more interactions between people, freezing conversations or body language in a way that brings out details...
Project 2-Post-Crit
Perhaps what surprised me the most was how many responses to my photos aligned with my own opinions. I entered critique expecting the photos to not evoke a complex sense of peacefulness for everyone, but many people observed how my techniques of color and light contributed to creating stillness and thus peacefulness. Others pointed out undertones of abandonment and loneliness—both feelings...
Project 2-Final Four
To best express and evoke peacefulness I focused intensely on light and color. After studying six demonstrative photographs—especially the work of Laura Letinsky—I decided that natural light and solid colors were particularly effective at creating peacefulness. The soft and neutral qualities and white color of natural light all carry associations with peacefulness. In two...
February 2010
7 posts
What makes a great photo?
The answer that most resonated with me came from Zoe Strauss, who said: “for me, what makes a photo great is the ability to evoke a strong reaction that prompts thought into the mystery of why an image can deeply affect someone, and yet you still can’t spit out what makes it so great.”
This photograph by Edward Burtynsky captures for me what Strauss’ states. The photo...
Six Photographs for Project 2
Laura Letinsky. Untitled, 2003. From I did not remember I had forgotten.
http://www.houkgallery.com/letinsky03/letinsky2.html
Again, I turn to Letinsky for inspiration. This photograph evokes peacefulness brilliantly. The soft light illuminates an arrangement of everyday objects that feel abandoned and frozen. Greens dominate the color scheme, with only the objects interrupting them.
...
Project 2 Ideas
My second project revolves around evoking or expressing an emotion; for me this emotion is peaceful. My subject matter will vary, but I have decided to focus largely on shooting indoor still life scenes along with scenes at dusk—exploring how both the fleeting natural light and artificial light from windows or street lamps can evoke a sense of peacefulness. Regardless of specific subject...
Emotion Analysis
My assigned emotion is peaceful, which can be defined as motionless or calm; tranquil, placid. This is a rather vague definition, but fits the ambiguous nature of the emotion. Peacefulness is often associated with an almost zen-like notion of transcending suffering and other worldly concerns. This notion of peacefulness is often expressed in photography with pictures of tranquil natural scenes,...
Project 1: Post Crit Reflection
After critique, I found that some of my opinions about my work reinforced and others changed. I always felt that the photograph of the wall was my strongest of the four; it seemed to be the photograph that drew the most attention from people and elicited many comments. However, I was surprised that many of my classmates were drawn to the picture of the kiosk. While I personally liked the chaos...
Project 1: Final Four
My first photograph is of an alleyway behind Neese theater. The alleyway itself was unimpressive, however I was struck by how the half-lime green, half-concrete wall played along with the pipes protruding out from the fenced area. The interplay between the wall and the pipes creates a design element of the photo; the horizontal line separating the two sections of the wall seems to...
Four Photographs in Smith--The Depective Level
This shot of the Smith building’s ceiling is transformed by an active frame. I tilted the camera at an angle to cut off different parts of the ceiling, guiding the eye from the outside to the center and around. The white wall is in the center, thus keeping the eye moving.
I was attempting to create some sort of sense of frozen time, however I did not achieve the smoothness I was...
January 2010
2 posts
Six Photographs for Project 1--Inspirations,...
Wolfgang Tillmans, Chaos Cup, 1997.
http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/tillmans_ham.html
This photograph is a prime example of a good close-up: the coffee cup takes up most of the photograph’s frame, drawing our attention to the stunning reflection of a bare tree in the coffee.
Robert Frank, Fourth of July—Jay, New York
http://www.lensculture.com/frank.html#
One of...
Project 1 Ideas
Because this project calls for close-ups that fill the frame, my subject matter is restricted to whatever I can get sufficiently close to with my camera. So far, I have largely shot various objects and settings across the campus. Given the intimate nature of the close-up, I would enjoy incorporating people in some of my shots if possible. That said, I would like to get comfortable with taking...