Monday, September 29, 2008
preview of my pseudo-magazine photo shoot from the marathon
in which we attempt to be stereotypically:
romantic...
edgy...
preppy pop (flash!)...
one day it will be all compiled...
free shoot: rainy rainy days, sunny hours, leaves
my red tree
silly cat waiting in a jungle
yellow...
(have to love that face)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Landscape Photography
Preparing for Kent Island
considering...
What is a landscape? Typically I think of an image of nature, vast and inspirational, a sweeping dramatic view. Something like a painting from the Hudson River School comes to mind; the painting is realistic, romantic, and there is only a minute presence of human life. The format of landscape would seems to be by default horizontal. But consider the landscapes of Chinese scrolls, in which the distance increases as you travel up the painting following all the way to the tips of mountains. Tiny figures travel through the landscape, but are on the same category as the people of Hudson River paintings: not the focus. In addition, I would say that a typical landscape has a foreground, midground and background, creating a sense of dimension and unlimited space. But these qualities do not appear in all landscapes.
Consider Ray Metzer whose photography does not adhere to these descriptors. There are no wide-open spaces or dramatic geographical features. I am struck immediately by the square format so atypical of landscapes. This adds to the feeling of confinement brought on by the obscuring branches and lack of distinctions. Branches move in and out of focus, meshing with the shapes behind them. There is such an overwhelming amount of gray that the photographs seem like ink wash or charcoal drawings. There is abstractness about the image, brought on by the shapes and tonalities that leave me a bit mystified. And yet I am not bewildered, a sense of calm floats over me and I forget trying to make distinctions.
Arno Minkinnen takes a completely different approach to landscape although his work too is imbued with serenity and abstraction. However, he focuses on the placement of the human figure, and solely that without clothing, in relation to spaces, often outdoors. The photographs could be read as either a study of shape or as portraits exploring their subjects in unconventional ways. In any case, the landscape does not exist without the human in Minkinnen’s work. This is in contrast to many artists’ approaches where they eliminate the human figure from tainting the natural beauty and even godliness of the scene. I find Minkinnen’s photography engaging, disturbing, sensual and personal. Despite the absence of faces in many of his images, the weight, tangibility, and intimacy shines through.
Finally John Pfahl’s work could be considered a much more “traditional” approach to landscape in that he is focusing on nature in open spaces, but often he explores the manipulation of landscapes. It could be changes inserted by himself or created by other human hands, such as in “extreme horticulture” or “power places.” Color is also an important element and in some of his series seems essential, like “bali suite” or “smoke.” I am not drawn to all of his work. In fact, a great deal of it seems ordinary in the category of grand landscapes. But I do find a few of his inquiries interesting. “Picture windows” is intriguing because it examines the way people have framed their views out on the world - the “picture” they see every day, but may not consider a landscape or even beautiful.
The paintings of Frederic Church, such as “Heart of the Andes” (1859), were so exacting in detail and realism that viewers chose to look at it through binoculars from a distance and imaged themselves actually in the landscape. Can you imagine something so funny today? It just goes to show that the genre of landscape has change vastly over time, but for me it is often the more offbeat approach that attracts me most.
Reflection on Making vs Taking
Having never used color slide film, I enjoyed experimenting with it, learning how to develop it in the dark room (vs. black and white) and how to transfer it into a digital file by scanning. The openness of the assignment really let me have fun with color; because the focus was purely on color I could explore what I found interesting in such as vivid and rich hues or subtleties, including in whites. I’ve never really focused on the varieties of white before, but color film really lets you pick them up. I also like compositions made up of single colors but in varying textures.
Finding objects to scan and pair with photos was both fun and challenging. I discovered that the best way for me to make comparisons was to look around in places such as a grocery store where there is just a huge variety of materials to work with. I was hoping to find some cherries to place next to the leaves because I thought they would mimic the stems and colors of the leaves as well as bring up thoughts of summer turning into fall, but it was too late in the season. Instead I used chili peppers, which worked out well because they too have stems and similar colors (red, yellow, orange with pops of green). The corn and blue door diptych did not form until later. I realized that the subjects were contrasting colors, but it wasn’t until after some experimentation that I got the result I wanted. I was aiming to echo the scratches and color variations in the door with another material, but I didn’t want it to be just another image of a flat surface. The corn and millet proved to be good materials to work with because they were nuanced in color and texture and flowed well to make a pattern.
If I could do something differently, I would maybe explore more humorous compositions with subtle color comparisons, such as with the balloons with melons. I found the lettuce and blue ruffles color combination pleasing, but the white diptych has more to think about after first glance. Then again, though straightforward, the vividness of the leaves and chilies is pretty satisfying and the image feels very tangible.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Enough Already
Response to Remember This?
Not that it isn’t impressive and indicative of power of technology today, but my god, who wants to know everything about their life, let alone someone else’s? I am all for seeing beauty in the mundane, but the excessive documenting of everyday happenings seems overwhelming. I would even argue that it could dull the splendor of a moment by losing it in a sea of others. Isn’t the fun of memory in the remembering? We embellish, embroider, dismiss, misinterpret, misremember, and misplace memories because of what is important to us. No doubt with all of my conversations and transactions recorded I could go back and prove my mother wrong on several occasions or tell my friend that they owe me six dollars and twenty three cents. But some things are meant to be forgotten.
Like Bell’s son, I see this project as an egocentric one, but probably the egocentric, eccentric and ebullient nature of Bell’s character is what made him the perfect candidate for this investigation. His exploration into how we can record our pasts and presents will be useful in this age when everything is switching from the physical to the digital. But isn’t something lost in this transformation? I don’t want a picture of my old tee-shirts, my ticket stubs, worn out ballet shoes. I want to keep them in my closet dammit. Seeing and hearing is not the only way to remember. The tactile makes a memory feel more real. Even smell can evoke a moment or place. Of course it would be wonderful to have all my photos organized any way I’d like, to have all my documents in one place. But nothing can replace the real thing or the human touch.
Aren’t we all just a bit egocentric, especially with the rise of internet? Consider sites such as facebook, myspace, youtube and blogs. We are sharing with everyone the thoughts and images of our lives. And we are projecting to them what we want them to see. I put up a picture of me as a kid because I think, “Heck, wasn’t I cute?” And maybe my friends care because it’s interesting to see a snip from the past, but they don’t want to see all my family albums and the rest of the world certainly doesn’t. In conclusion, this type of documenting may have some of the practical uses that Bell mentions, but the reality of knowing every moment of my life seems unnecessary. We are drawn to the idea because of out self-interest, but really, I have enough already.
(an example of a facebook profile picture of someone
who shall remain nameless for the sake of dignity)
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