Final

Looking back on this past semester and the first eight digital images that I presented, I would like to think that my photographic “eye” has improved for the better.  Bonnie Briant said it best in her article 100 Words: Bonnie Briant on a Deviated Reality, “the images are a record of what has past, the way the light felt, an afternoon, a room, or a face I might not see for a while, because in the end it does not matter what actually happened, only what I remembered.”  The digital images that I chose to present then and what I am presenting to the class today hasn’t strayed very far from that sheer idea - a record of what has past, something how I remembered it.  One thing that I challenged myself to do this semester was to break the barriers of just taking a photo of “memory” but rather how I see something at that given time or how I “see the world.”   I thought a lot this semester about the things I saw and how I “saw” them, how I was a part of a bigger picture... the picture in this case would be life; how I fit into “life” and how I could portray it through my photos. 

 

Week 11 Crit

Panorama

Week 12: Reading Quiz - Lux and Gutschow

-Reading Quiz-

How are Loretta Lux and Beate Gutschow using digital techniques to construct reality in their work? Answer for each artist.

Loretta Lux:

Loretta Lux uses digital techniques to construct reality to her work by using programs, like Photoshop, to construct images of  "children who seem trapped between the 19th and 21st centuries, who don't exist except in the magical realm of art" (Woodward).   She carefully scans her images and uses different backgrounds (her own and sometimes other artists' paintings), edits out "irrelevant details" such as "fireplaces, cats, toys -- until the children are settled in a neutral, dreamlike space" (Woodward). 

Beate Gutschow:
Beate Gutschow uses digital techniques to construct reality to her work by "constructing" ideal landscape photos.  She does this by scanning the pictures she takes with her 35-mm camera of different types of scenery and layers them together, piece by piece, tree by tree.  Gutschow believes by doing this she is "referencing this tradition to highlight an idealized version of nature" (Gefter).  Even though she is layering different objects together, Gutschow wants her landscape photos that she creates to be as real and natural looking as possible so it could look like a "ideal" landscape and not something that was constructed using her computer.  

Week 13: Reading Quiz - McGinley and Graf

-Reading Quiz-

1. What is Ryan McGinley inspired by? Why is he drawn to his subject matter?  Besides David Bowie, "Pretty much all my work is about my brothers and sisters."  McGinley was basically raised by his teenaged brothers and sister; they are people that he has come to idolize.  As a result, McGinley is drawn by emotions; "

They’re about the way that people hold themselves and the way that people feel, and I think that there’s a certain poetry to them. "

2. How would you describe the look of Bryan Graf’s images? How does he draw inspiration from the landscape? Graf is drawn to "marginalized patches of swamp and woods"  He likes to take black and white images while experimenting with different materials and processes while ignoring the "conventional rules" of photography representation.  Graf likes to revisit landscape areas on a number of different occasions as a way to capture different textures that he finds in that particular place and to "perfect a non–judgmental, non–representational style that is typically associated with this variety of landscape photography." 

Week 13: Ansel Adams Presentation

Ansel Adams: An Autobiography with Mary Street Alinder.  Little, Brown and Company. 1985

Expanding Memory: An Interview With Pedro Meyer: Reading Quiz

-Reading Quiz-

1. How does memory figure in Pedro Meyer’s process?

Pedro Meyer discuses during his interview that he has a poor memory, which explains his interest in photography.  "Instead of remembering everything in detail, I have always made images , and in the process registered the present for future reference." His pictures, even if they have imperfections, help him remember.  He uses his photographs as a way to "remember."
    

2. How does he view his work in relation to straight photography?
"All the images are about documenting experiences - not fabricating them."  He believes that the camera can see more than "we do".  During his interview, Meyer talks about a time when he took Desert Shower.  He wasn't able to capture the plane, because it was flying by, however now with the advances in digital technology, he was able to restore the picture to what his memory serves him.

Watermark Quiz

Inspiration Board - The Boardwalk, Vernon, New Jersey

Scanner Photography: Reading Quiz

-Reading Quiz-

How can scanners create compelling photographs “that require neither film nor camera”?

With the use of scanners, we are now able to create compelling photographs without the use of film or a camera.  When using a scanner, we are now able to create more of a three-dimentional image of whatever we are scanning.  We are able to get a greater sense of what the object is made out of, what holds it together and a number of other details that a camera or a lens may not be able to capture.  Texture and more rich colors are brought to the images that we can create now through the use of scanning.  As part of the 21st-Century, photography doesn't just include a camera and film anymore; we are now able to create vivid digital images using a combination of different items (found objects, textures and such) with whatever we can cut together.  Through this, we are able to bring photography to a different level and be able to express whatever emotion or sense we wanted to before including the "scanned" images. 

Week 7 - Truth and Landscape Reading Quiz

-Reading Quiz-

1. Adams writes that landscape pictures function on 3 levels- geography, autobiography, metaphor. Describe what he means by each.

Landscape pictures function on three levels....

1) geography - functions as a "record of a place".  We are reminded and able to recognize certain places based on geographic (physical) features that can be found in a landscape photo.

2) autobiography -  functions as a (personal) meaning for that particular photographer and what is seen in/taken from the photo that he or she captures by the viewer.  

3) metaphor - the photo or image may stand/represent something else.  Instead of a "landscape" photo, one may see (or feel) something else within the frame... like an emotion.

When these three things are combined one may get a better sense or meaning for which the photo stands for. 

Contact Sheets - The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus

Contact Sheet 1

Contact Sheet 2

Week 7 - Altered Landscape

 Before

After

Waywayanda State Park - Vernon, New Jersey 

Self-Portrait Before and After

Before

After

Week VI - Reading Quiz "The Man Who Makes The Picture Perfect"

- Reading Quiz -

1. What is Pascal Dangin’s job? In what ways is it creative?

Pascal Dangin's job is a digital retoucher for fashion's and Hollywood's most famous photographers.  Being a photo retoucher/editor is a creative job because "he's not someone who just pushes a button."  Dangin is able to express himself using his editing techniques through the use of his computer.   He thinks about what he does and how his "retouching" will effect the look and perception of a photo.  

2. What is his attitude about the ethics of the job he does?  

Dangin believes that the world we live in, everything is "glorified"; Everyone wants to look good.  We live in a society where a majority of what we see, has in some way, been retouched or edited.  We live in a society where everything is one big advertisement.  Dangin said "we're selling an image."   Some people believe that Dangin's job is sometimes "excessive", yet he likes to stay true to what 'the eyes can see,' since the idea of "pure beauty" is hard to find in the society we live in.     

LOOK Critique

Week 5: Black and White

- Original -

Converting this photo to black and white gave it more of an old-time photograph feel. When I look at it, the mood it presents in nostalgia or remembrance, like I am looking at tangible memory.  

This version of the black and white photo has better contrast.  I feel like it not only presents a sense of nostalgia or remembrance, but it could also be used as a post-card you find at a gift shop.  The shadows are more distinct and well-defined.  The reflection off the glass building is  not as visible as the first, however it gives the image a darker feel to it.  

Week 5 Reading Quiz - Tomatsu and Moriyama Readings

-Week 5 Reading Quiz-

1. What does the phrase “The man who said ‘I saw it! I saw it!’ and passed it by” mean in terms of photography?

The phrase "The man who said 'I saw it! I saw it!' and passed it by" means (in terms of photography) that everyday we pass streets, landmarks and objects we interact with on a daily basis and over-look them as something that can be seen as works of art (photography).  In photography, one must 'look'... just by looking the photographer faces the subject 'head-on' and learns about the subject "inside and out".  Everything that he/she comes in contact with is worth looking at, can become works of art, and can be "photo worthy", if he/she just takes the time to STOP and just LOOK.

2. Drawing on the Daido Moriyama essay and our class discussions explain in your own words how photographs can “contain the living pulse of the human being behind the camera”.

Photographs can "contain the living pulse of the human being behind the camera" based on the sheer fact that what you see in a photograph is based on what the photographer SEES.  Photographs may not tell it's viewer the 'whole truth' but rather the 'truth' or point-of-view of the one who is taking the photo.  Yes, in photography, one can focus on the lighting, the subject/object in the frame, how the subject/object is framed and a number of other techniques, however, what the viewer sees may not be interpreted the same way as how the photographer had envisioned it, yet we still 'see' the life that he/she put into it, we see their 'truth', and their connection with the subject matter, their 'pulse'.  

Before and After

Before

After