Monday, December 24, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
B&W/Color ------ Film/Digital
As I wrote in my blog post at the beginning of the semester, I have indeed "learn[ed] to appreciate taking color photographs." I feel like black and white photographs are often interesting simply because, being not in color, they show us a world that is not what with see with our eyes. In a color photograph, there is so much more to examine and appreciate. If I were at a gallery or museum, I think I would spend more time looking at a color photograph than one in black and white because are there are more details to look at.
While working on my final project, I viewed my digital camera as a tool to help me sketch out ideas. Before photographing with the plastic camera, I took ~10 or so shots of each person with my digital camera just to make sure I liked the setup and the way the colors looked on the lcd screen. Obviously the colors on the film were much different than on the digital screen. However, I think working with the digital camera to make "sketches" was really helpful. Also, it's way more exciting to get negatives than to see digital photos uploaded to the computer.
For now, I'm most interested in taking color non-digital photos.
I still don't really know how to explain what makes a good photo. Maybe one that is unique and portrays the subject of the photo in more depth than one would get from looking at / being near the subject for a short time? I think uniqueness is what is most important. Often, I like a photo just because I have never contemplated taking a photograph like it or seen something like it before.
While working on my final project, I viewed my digital camera as a tool to help me sketch out ideas. Before photographing with the plastic camera, I took ~10 or so shots of each person with my digital camera just to make sure I liked the setup and the way the colors looked on the lcd screen. Obviously the colors on the film were much different than on the digital screen. However, I think working with the digital camera to make "sketches" was really helpful. Also, it's way more exciting to get negatives than to see digital photos uploaded to the computer.
For now, I'm most interested in taking color non-digital photos.
I still don't really know how to explain what makes a good photo. Maybe one that is unique and portrays the subject of the photo in more depth than one would get from looking at / being near the subject for a short time? I think uniqueness is what is most important. Often, I like a photo just because I have never contemplated taking a photograph like it or seen something like it before.
Final Project
I really enjoyed being able to work on an independent project for a few weeks. It was also really nice having so much class time to work on the project. My project was meant to show the progression of time for each person (between the old photograph and them today) as well as the progression of time through the different styles of photographs (black and white, color tinted, different sizes, etc). I think that idea comes through clearly in the final product.
My initial idea for this project was to make pairs of portraits. I wanted to photograph a close-up each person's hand's holding a photo of them and then photograph a simple portrait of each person as they are today. However, because the Diana+ camera was unable to focus for a close-up shot of someone's hands, I ended up doing just one portrait for each person. I'm really glad that I did one portrait for each person instead of two because it's nice to see more than just the individual's hands. Also, having two photos of each person may have been tedious to look at.
The photos work well together because the details in each are different but the basic idea is the same in each. I purposefully photographed everyone in a different location. I photographed about half the people in their rooms, and the rest in places that would provide a fairly simple background. Using different locations really helped to add variety to the prints. Because the viewfinder and lens are different, I accidentally cropped out the tops of many peoples faces. I also underexposed a few of the shots. This led to a wider variety of photographs which I think made the series more interesting. The combination of natural light coming in through the windows in some prints, and lamps for others also added to the variety among the prints.
I had trouble printing the photos with the vibrant colors I had wanted. If i were to reprint, I would try to make brighter prints. If I were to continue with this project, I would photograph people other than my family and maybe even strangers. However, I'm not sure if the results would be as good because I like how comfortable everyone seems in the photos, and I think that may be partly due to them all knowing me well.
My initial idea for this project was to make pairs of portraits. I wanted to photograph a close-up each person's hand's holding a photo of them and then photograph a simple portrait of each person as they are today. However, because the Diana+ camera was unable to focus for a close-up shot of someone's hands, I ended up doing just one portrait for each person. I'm really glad that I did one portrait for each person instead of two because it's nice to see more than just the individual's hands. Also, having two photos of each person may have been tedious to look at.
The photos work well together because the details in each are different but the basic idea is the same in each. I purposefully photographed everyone in a different location. I photographed about half the people in their rooms, and the rest in places that would provide a fairly simple background. Using different locations really helped to add variety to the prints. Because the viewfinder and lens are different, I accidentally cropped out the tops of many peoples faces. I also underexposed a few of the shots. This led to a wider variety of photographs which I think made the series more interesting. The combination of natural light coming in through the windows in some prints, and lamps for others also added to the variety among the prints.
I had trouble printing the photos with the vibrant colors I had wanted. If i were to reprint, I would try to make brighter prints. If I were to continue with this project, I would photograph people other than my family and maybe even strangers. However, I'm not sure if the results would be as good because I like how comfortable everyone seems in the photos, and I think that may be partly due to them all knowing me well.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Sebastiao Salgado
The fact that Salgado's photos are aesthetically nice doesn't bother me. What bothers me more is the mysteriousness of the photos. If Salgado is attempting to keep the subjects in the photo mysterious, than he is an a way being exploitative because he is photographing them more for the sake of beauty and art then to inform people about what is going on throughout the world. If Salgado's photographs were accompanied with the stories of the person or people in each image, the photos would be a lot less exploitative. The story could either be in the words of the subject or written by Salgado himself.
The fact that Salgado is taking photographs in locations where cameras, museums, and photo books are uncommon means that the individuals in the photographs likely don't know what will become of the photographs. Salgado must be making a lot of money from his photographs. Does he give some of the money back to the subjects or to organizations that help the people in the countries and places he photographs?
Looking online, I saw the Salgado changed professions from development economist to photographer early in his career. Also, it appears that he does include writings and captions that tell about what is going on in the regions he portrays. He doesn't write about the specific individuals he photographs but rather about the places he photographs and the situations in the countries he photographs. This makes me think that his photos are beautiful and informative, and may influence the viewers of his work to effect change in positive ways. And his photos are exploitative but they are not as exploitative as I first thought. Just because someone lives in poverty or a war torn area doesn't mean they shouldn't be photographed beautifully.
The fact that Salgado is taking photographs in locations where cameras, museums, and photo books are uncommon means that the individuals in the photographs likely don't know what will become of the photographs. Salgado must be making a lot of money from his photographs. Does he give some of the money back to the subjects or to organizations that help the people in the countries and places he photographs?
Looking online, I saw the Salgado changed professions from development economist to photographer early in his career. Also, it appears that he does include writings and captions that tell about what is going on in the regions he portrays. He doesn't write about the specific individuals he photographs but rather about the places he photographs and the situations in the countries he photographs. This makes me think that his photos are beautiful and informative, and may influence the viewers of his work to effect change in positive ways. And his photos are exploitative but they are not as exploitative as I first thought. Just because someone lives in poverty or a war torn area doesn't mean they shouldn't be photographed beautifully.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Daniel Weiss
I liked this gleaning because it was interesting to see contemporary photos by someone our age and I agree with Weiss that film photography and working in the darkroom is much more gratifying than digital photography.
In many of the street photographs that appear to be of strangers, you can see some sort of interaction between the subject and the photographer. For example, the overweight man on the bench with his hand up seems to be saying “stop, don’t photograph me.” The man with the red guitar also doesn’t appear thrilled that he’s being photographed. In some of the other street photos, the subject seems to be looking suspiciously at the camera. Does Weiss ask permission to photograph the people he doesn’t know?
A few of the photos seems like still from a comedic film or TV show. In Weiss’ black and white photo of two men, it looks like the man in the hat and sunglasses is acting or telling a joke and the man on the right is either very sad, confused, or in disbelief. I have no idea what is going on in the image but the overexaggerated facial expressions and makes it seem like its two actors.
In many of the street photographs that appear to be of strangers, you can see some sort of interaction between the subject and the photographer. For example, the overweight man on the bench with his hand up seems to be saying “stop, don’t photograph me.” The man with the red guitar also doesn’t appear thrilled that he’s being photographed. In some of the other street photos, the subject seems to be looking suspiciously at the camera. Does Weiss ask permission to photograph the people he doesn’t know?
A few of the photos seems like still from a comedic film or TV show. In Weiss’ black and white photo of two men, it looks like the man in the hat and sunglasses is acting or telling a joke and the man on the right is either very sad, confused, or in disbelief. I have no idea what is going on in the image but the overexaggerated facial expressions and makes it seem like its two actors.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
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