#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

This one's tricky. I agree and disagree with it. I agree with him in that I definitely think it's true that the meaning of a photograph changes depending on what the viewer brings with them when viewing it. But I think it can also be true of paintings, especially abstract paintings. I don't agree with the statement that "paintings record what the painter remembers." In some cases a painting is what the painter is imagining in that instant, a painting can be very spontaneous. I'm also having trouble with the statement that "all photographs are there to remind us of what we forget." This is not true for all photography, some photography is also an imagination, a look into what doesn't really exist...there is nothing there that we could have forgotten because there was never anything there to forget. I think that his statements are accurate when referring to specific kinds of photography and paintings. For example, if he was talking about photos in which the photographer is trying to make the viewer take notice of something that is taken for granted or the images are from the past then yes we are being reminded. And if the painting is of a landscape or a portrait then yes we are seeing what the painter remembers. But this is not always the case.

 Paco Peregrin

Jackson Pollock

#9 “You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams

This I agree with. A photographer very carefully decides what is going to be in their frame when they take the picture. They are not just out there taking pics willy nilly and hoping that one will be what they want. There is a decision process occurring with each photo that is being taken and it is the decisions being made in that photographers mind that is making the picture. Much the decisions a painter makes when painting, what colors to use, what lighting, what is going to be in the painting and what is going to be left out purposefully. A photographer makes these same decisions and Ansel Adams photography is so beautiful it looks like a painting.

#8 “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.

I don't really know how to respond to this because in my mind a photograph is about both the photographer and the subject. Yes, the photographer chooses the subject and how they are portrayed but the subject is still there. I guess it goes back to the intent of the photographer. For him, if his portraits are more about him, then we should see him in each one, his point of view. And since it is the point of view that makes us all unique I can see where he is coming from...if he is saying that it is his point view that is more important than the people in this photography. I don't know though, the people are still there.

#7 Pay close attention to the types and number of photographic portraits you see in one day. Where did you see them? How do you think that the content of the portrait changes based on the context in which you see the image (news, facebook, magazine, advertisement, television, youtube, etc)? In other words, what is the difference between the portraits you see on facebook vs. those on the news? What is the difference between the “viewpoint” of the photographer in each situation? What is the difference between their “intents”?

The difference between a photo on facebook and one on the news is that usually when people post pics of themselves on facebook they are only uploading the ones where they think they look good, pics that are on the news are a bit more truthful because the news doesn't care what you look like it's just showing what happened. So the intent for those on facebook if vanity and the intent of the pic for the news is the actual event. This is the same for the other things as well. The intent for advertisements is to make the people in the ad look a certain way to sell whatever product that is featured, so the intent is the product. In a magazine there is usually a reason why the portrait is being taken; is it of a celebrity to promote their latest movie or of the latest it model in the upcoming season's latest designs? So the intent for magazines (at least fashion mags) would be subject whether it be the person or the fashion. For youtube the subject matter is all over the place but usually surrounds an event (like a person falling) or talent (a person showing off their singing abilities) or a tutorial (this is how you make a cake) but I think overall the intent is the activity taking place. The difference in the "viewpoint" of the photographer would be what they are trying to capture vanity, product, events, activities...what they trying to make us see with their picture.

#6 In your opinion, when is it beneficial, ethical, or appropriate to digitally alter photographic portraits? When do you think it is inappropriate or ethically wrong?

This is a tough question because we are so bombarded with digitally altered images in magazines and ads. (I am again coming from my background in apparel and textiles, so I am referring to mostly fashion and beauty magazines and ads.) We are so used to seeing everything look so perfect (yet we complain about it because it is unattainable beauty) that when someone is imperfect they are greatly criticized for it.

So when is it beneficial, ethical and appropriate to digitally alter photographic portraits? I guess for me always. Its part of the modern art of photography. It gives the photographer, the artist, so much more power over their image. The times when it would be inappropriate or ethically wrong to digitally alter a photograph would be when the photographer says that they haven't altered it but really have. (Or if is a photo that is being used in a investigation of some kind...it probably wouldn't be good if it were altered.) I think altering your images, even in just a small way, is just how it goes.

#5 Give your thoughts on the following quote. “Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~Edward Steichen

Being a romantic this quote really resonates with me because I think it is very true. When I see a photograph of a person, whether it be a serious or comical image, I can't help but try to interpret the expression on the persons face. What were they think at that moment in time? Especially when it is an image when the emotion of the person was the photographers intent. And the range of types of photos that this applies to is so huge. It can be said for cheesy senior photos, fashion photography, national geographic-esque images, etc. The amount information that comes across in an expression is astounding.

Irving Penn

Judith Joy Ross

"A good story in a picture is much better than being alive. Being alive is complicated and hard, but a good picture — I can get lost in it."  -Judith Joy Ross

 

Judith Joy Ross is a Pennsylvania native who "sensitive and penetrating portraits of school children, teenagers, visitors to Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., members of the United States Congress, and most recently, of Americans protesting the U.S. war in Iraq." (http://www.pacemacgill.com/judithjoyrossbio.html) 

Ross tends to make photographs in series. Between 1992 and 1994 she took a series of pictures in her hometown of Hazleton, Pa. of school age children in the public schools there. Hazleton is a small town in a former coal-mining region. "The Hazleton school series arose out of her concerns about children's welfare, and by extension, the welfare of the adults they become. "It's so silly, but I basically thought people would be willing to pay more taxes if they could just remember what it was like to be a kid," she said. "And I thought if they could remember that, they'd also treat each other better."" (www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/arts/design/02fine.html)

Recreation #2

 

Original 

William Lake Price. Don Quixote in His Study.c.1890

 

 Recreation

William Lake Price approached photography as high art, he wanted to depict reality as a kind of imagined scene. He constructed elaborately staged scenes from history and literature. He was also a watercolor painter.  He attended the Royal Academy before taking up photography in 1854. 

In the Original image he has captured Don Quixote in his study amongst a number of his belongings. The image has a sort of vignette effect to it, being darker around the edges and the figure being very highlighted. Everything in the image is in great detail giving the eye much to look at. 

I like this image because it looks very theatrical and also very normal.

I tried to recreate this theatrical effect with my image of my husband, Jared, in his "study" by adding the vignette around the his highlighted body. I also wanted everything to be in great detail so we could see what was there. This is obviously a modern take on the original since he is not surrounded by books and antiques but by electronics.

Assignment 1: Explore

 Indoor: Home

With this photograph I was trying to emulate the feeling of being comfortable and at home. These pups are at ease enough that they have laid down to relax. The composition is a little off balance, with the focus being on Tucker's (the white one) paws and we are looking at them from their perspective...the floor. When taking this, I hadn't intended for the dogs to be in the picture. I was originally going to take a picture of my dining room where all my stuff ends up landing at the end of the day. But as I was taking it the dogs wanted to know what I was doing and being the shadows that they normally are they laid down right in front of me. So I put the camera on the floor, at their level, which I think puts forth an interesting image because if you look close enough you can see the dust bunnies and dirt on the floor...which is something we don't always want people to see of our homes.

 Midday: Stillness

With this photograph I really had in mind a particular movie I used to watch all the time when I was a kid....The Parent Trap (the original one with Haley Mills.) I have the extended version and there is a scene in the beginning where the mother and daughter are "walking" along in a park and the mother starts singing and it is all very perfect. The funny thing about this is that you can totally tell that they are not really in a park, the park is just a background and to me this image looks like that background. There is very high contrast, everything is in such detail and it is so still it almost doesn't seem real. The cloud looks as if it has been perfectly placed to balance out the composition. This was taken midday day that was both sunny and threatened rain, which is why I think that cloud has so much dimension.

 Midday: Stillness

 Repetition

I really enjoy this image because it really has a puzzling effect. The emphasis at first is on the part of railing that is jutting out to the left, but then as you look at it the repetition of line moves your eye around the image. My idea for this was show that repetition doesn't always have to be perfect and in your face, that it's a bit more interesting to find it. To me this is evident in the horizontal lines of the railing and painted stripes in the parking spots. What makes it more fun is the unexpected diagonals of the part of the painted area that is going up and the jutted railing. The organic curved lines of the metal paneling along the wall also add interest. This photograph could be interpreted as a comment on decaying urban structures and the natural environment around them.

Repetition

#4 “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.” ~Lewis Hine. Write a brief reaction to this quote. Is this quote applicable to your experience with photography? What does it mean to you? Do you agree with the idea presented or disagree? Describe situations when photographic images reveal “the story” (as compared to words). Describe situations when words reveal “the story” (as compared to images).

This refers back to my previous post when I said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And yes I agree that if I were a better storyteller I might not need my camera as much. I am not an experienced photographer in the least, but in my experiences thus far a picture can be much easier than trying to describe an experience. For example, my husband and I went to Pestoskey for the first time last summer and it was so beautiful while we were there that although we could try to describe it there is no way we could do it justice. The pictures however tells it all.

On the other hand, I think that words do a much better job when it comes to fantastical story telling. For example, if I'm reading a book and the author is describing a scene, I want to see it my head the way I create it. I don't want to see an image given to me, I want to make the world in the book in my imagination before I get handed a picture of what its supposed to look like.

#3 “Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”~Duane Michals. Write a brief reaction to this quote. Is this quote applicable to your experience with photography? What does it mean to you? Do you agree with the idea presented or disagree?

Because I am an Apparel & Textile major and am familiar with fashion photography I tend to agree with this statement. When you see a model in a magazine with perfect hair, perfect fitting clothes, perfect everything...it's all an illusion. They have had a team of people working on them to make them look that way. Their clothes are all pinned in the back so they appear to fit perfectly. Their hair looks so amazing because it has just been let out of curlers, she hasn't been allowed to move and their is a wind machine blowing on her. So yes, the perfection we see is not what it appears.

#2: What does the word "photograph" mean to you?

To me "photograph" means frozen in time because whatever is being captured will never be exactly the same ever again. So that second when the camera goes click and takes the picture, will never be again...that instant is being "frozen" by the camera in the form of a photograph.

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

A world without photographs would be, as far as images go, like the world in the early 1800's. (in my imagination a world without photographs would also be one without videos or movies.)

Story telling would once again be the way. As they say that "a picture is worth a thousand words" I think we would revert back to the thousand words. Thus, I think stories would become much more elaborate and fantastical because no one could show a picture to prove the story teller wrong.

Portrait artists would once again be in high employment, as it would be the only way to accurately take things like a family or wedding picture.

Criminals would get away with a lot more because, again, there would be no video or photo surveillance cameras to show what they had done.

Our lives would not be as documented as they are now. Everything would have to stay alive and be told through the stories passed on to one another.

Unless fortunate enough to travel the world, many of us would never see it. We would have to imagine what the Eiffel Tower or the Pyramids or the Wall of China looks like. And we if we did get to see it in person, could we accurately describe what we saw and how what it made us feel to another, so they could "see" what we had?

We would never see what a diver looks like frozen in mid-air. Or an athlete mid-hurdle. Or a dancer mid-twirl. Or have the moment frozen in time after a big win. Or the second say "I do."

A world without photographs might be positive in some ways. We might be more productive with our time (because we would have no TV to watch or Facebook pics to look at) and more creative with our words. But it would be a much darker world, a less accurate world, and a world with more criminals.

And although I have heard the stories from my grandparents and love them...there is just something about that old black and white picture from 1955, with my Gramma and 5 yr. old Mom at the kitchen table, that can take me there with no words at all.

Recreation #1

The original image New Main Line at Duncannon, 1906, by William Rau is serene depiction of a newly built railroad and train. Rau was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1855 and in 1874 he married William Bell's daughter which greatly helped his career. After being hired by the U.S. government and traveling around the world he was assigned to be the official photographer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad in Pennsylvania. His work is well known because he was taking images of some of the first railroads in such a way that were so clean and formal that it looked as if these massive machines and railways had emerged without trauma to the land around them. He later operated a studio out of Philadelphia that was operated even after his death in 1920.

The composition of the original image is very formal, perfectly centered and balanced. It was a gelatin silver print that is now at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Such prints were once put in presentation albums, photographic exhibitions, and copied by engravers for the illustrated press.

This image is intriguing to me because it a glimpse from what it must of been like to see a train and railroad for the first time and you can feel the train coming toward you. Having said that it is definitely an image of the time and the wonder of the industrial revolution and could be more interesting.

My idea for recreating this image is to show a railroad today, like a flash forward from 1906 to 2011, demonstrating how we have lost that wonder of the railroad. The image was taken at a run down part of Lansing that has an abandoned train station, railroad car and GM plant.