Aesthetics

1.  Most news photographs are either candid images of events or posed images like portraits, but not as worried about making the subject look good as snapshots or traditional portraits.  It's about trying to portray the truth, or the truth that the newspaper wants to show.

2. Snapshots also portray what is, though usually a personal memory not an important event.  They are usually light-hearted with little or no thought put into the formal issues of the photograph.

3.  All sorts of fashion, ads, and product photography are trying to sell you something.  They create a world that their product is the center of and make it seem as if it's a necessary item.  They are normally very focused on the product, highlighting is good points.

4.  These are also creating another world, whatever world the movie is making.  The exact aesthetics vary dramatically from the different genres of movie, but it normally focuses on an important or interesting moment in the movie.

5.  Yearbook or senior photos are for the sole purpose of remembering a person.  Because of this they are very focused on the person and their different aspects.  It's often, though not always, a plain or unfocused background to place emphasis on the figure, which they try to make look as good as possible.

Final Images: Place

 In this image I wanted to emphasize the tree, but not center it.  The  large amount of empty space places that emphasis on the tree.  I've always loved this tree, it feels very old and majestic, like it's seen a lot and I wanted to sort of portray the tree in the manner.  I obviously didn't do much construction, just used natural lighting.  I just walked around it looking at it from all angles to find the one that suited my goal the best.  To me this shows a certain respect for nature, as this obviously very old tree is coexisting with the building behind it.  This puts in the context of how we treat nature, what we leave and what we destroy, and maybe brings up questions about how to coexist more with nature.

Part Two:  I wasn't exactly told how this was interpreted, though someone said they were confused by the angle.  The general consensus was that the angle was odd and wasn't very effective, almost accidental.  I suppose from here I could just experiment with angles.  I like diagonals, so I would like to work on them until they are more effective. 

 This images main focal point is the bike in front, you then notice the one on the left and maybe after a little looking see the one on the right.  The three bikes make an almost even triangle.  Again there was no construction in this image.  My goal was to capture all three bikes in one picture to show kind of the state of the river.  The concept shows something old worn out, forgotten and discarded.  In terms of context, this shows pollution and the destruction of nature in a way that student here can easily understand.  We all know the state of the river and this just pushes the concept more.

Part Two: Again, no interpretation, though everyone thought it was funny how many bikes were there.  This one some people also didn't like the diagonal.  Again, I'd just like to work on diagonals more to make them more effective.

 This image has a very diagonal wedge like composition, that gives the river a nice movement.  To me it feel serene, and shows the changing in season.  With this image I wanted to do something almost the opposite of the bicycle photos, even though this was taken maybe five feet away.  I wanted to show the beauty inherent in all of nature, and things like the changing of the seasons.  Again, no construction, only an experimentation in framing and angles.  This fits into our culture here at msu by showing the beauty of a river that is generally thought of to be dirty and disgusting.

Part Two:  I don't think I really got any interpretations about any of my images, but everyone thought the angle in this one was more effective.  Maybe it's because there's isn't any single strong diagonal like the other two?  I would like to use this to explore angles more.

Again, this is another  bicycle image, though this focuses on the one wheel in the river, with a very off center composition.  The darkness of the wheel and it's man made shape contrasts most of the rest of the picture so that the emphasis is on the wheel.  This image is similar to the other one in that is shows something lost and abandoned, but this one feels almost more forlorn to me because only the one is visible, making it feeling alone in it's forgotten state.  I personally wanted to show the oddity of there being a bike in the river, and to raise questions of how it came to be there.  In this way it also brings up questions about what to do about it which goes back to the context of pollution and how to deal with it.

Part Two: Someone commented on the oddity of the bike, and how it doesn't belong but not in the context of interpretation.  One person mentioned that they would have preferred it to not have an odd angle so that the only odd thing in the picture is the bike, which would place emphasis on the bike.  Others said that the angle in this one was much more effective then the angles in the first two.  I wonder if it's because it's not as severe and not as prominent.  In terms of taking this further I still just want to experiment with angles.

Should Not, Cannot, Do Not Want

I guess things you should not photograph all boils down to your morals.  There's not much of anything that I would feel just should not be photographed, unless the subject is adamantly opposed to the photograph and it's uses.  As for cannot be photographed, I assume the only things that fall into that category is ideas vs. solid objects, though that's where the "concept" part of conceptual art falls.  Every day artists are finding ways to visually represent something that is not visual in nature.  And if we're speaking about physical things that are unable to be photographed because of their nature, I'm sure someone will come along with some technology that will make it possible.  And as for not wanting to photograph, there are many subjects I'd just prefer to avoid.  I tend to enjoy shooting more natural things, as they are, though I never feel the need to go to the lengths of shock art. 

Place Artist: Uta Barth

Gallery

I chose to do Uta Barth, a photographer that was born in Berlin.  Most of her images have an interesting use of focus.  This one is an untitled piece and it has more focus than most of her works do.  Many of them have no foreground, very very little of one.  They create abstractions of places instead of completely spelling out the details.  They give a great feeling of memory or nostalgia to me, like trying to remember a place but never quite being able to pull all the details together in your mind.  I don't know much about the intent of these images but they really appeal to me because they take longer to understand.  I feel like you could spend hours looking at one trying to understand it.

"Photography can only represent the present."

I'm not sure I understand this quote because it goes on to say that once the photo is taken the subject becomes part of the past.  This part I agree with, but wouldn't that make it more correct to say that photography can only represent the past?  It represent things that were, that used to be.  It used to represent something that was the present, but now what is picture is in the past.  I think I'm confusing myself now.

"...our own private world."

This is another quote I agree with.  Some photographers try and photograph the world as it is, with no editing and to show how things are.  While I find this admirable I also believe that it's completely impossible.  A photo is contained within it's borders.  Everything beyond the edges of the picture plane is unknown.  This means that every time a photographer chooses to leave something out of the frame they are leaving out information.  Even unintentionally there are edits to the reality, in which the artist decides what is the most important information.  These are personal decisions and in making personal decision they make their own world.

"I believe in the imagination."

First of all I love this quote and completely agree.  Our imagination is what we use to change the world around us.  If you lack imagination you can never see anything more than what's in front of you and you can never even fathom possible ways of changing, or expanding on what you see.  Imagining gives you a way to influence the world.  If you just see, you can do no more than live in the world you were given.

Recreate Memory

This image recreates when I first moved out of my mom's house and into my apartment.  Boxes imply storage, and moving.  Through that they show the time change from my old home to my new.

Portraits Final Images

II: This image was well received, it was many peoples favorite image.  It was interpreted as kind of a thoughtful image, sitting daydreaming and having a smoke.  There where very little suggestions on improvement as most thought it was a successful image.  For extension, it was suggested that I may do a series exploring the use of smoke in images.

II: This one was also thoughtful, but less relaxed, though I believe.  The image was well received and it was agreed that the lighting was nice as well as as the reflection in the glasses which gives another aspect because you can see what he is looking at.  To take this further into a series some people suggested focusing on the glasses and reflections.

II: Many people liked this one and his expression, they say it as kind of surprise or confusion, like he just realized his photo was being taken.  They also liked the lighting in this one.  One person suggested doing a series focusing on this subject and his various expressions.

II: Many of the comments about this one were that it feels real and honest, like she is in the room with the viewer or trying to speak to them.  Again, they liked the lighting though some questioned the composition, like the couch in the background and the center-ness of the figure.  After finding out that this is a picture of my roommate right after she woke up, it was suggested that I go around, wake people up and take their picture.

All of these images were made in mostly the same way, so I feel I can pretty much write a general statement about all of them.  They are all candid shots, as candid as you can get with the person knowing that you're taking photos of them.  When my roommates and I were sitting around talking I just started shooting them.  There was very little direction, almost none at all.  Lighting from all except the first was inside with daylight coming in through a sliding door.  The first was taken outside on the balcony.  Th idea behind these was just to grab a little piece of who these people are in everyday life.  I wanted something that felt real which is why I just sat down and chatted like we do every day.

"...remind us of what we forgot."

I'm not sure exactly what to say about this quote, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it.  I suppose the part about the paintings confuse me the most.  Yes photographs do record things, so you often look back at things and remember something you had forgotten, but I feel a painting can work the same way.  You can forget what is in a painting just as much as you can forget what is in a photograph.  I also feel that paintings are more often open to wide interpretations than photographs are, because you're trying to see into someone's mind.  With a photo you are still seeing that person's intentions but they're represented in something that you recognize, not with images that where invented in the artist's mind.

“You don't take a photograph, you make it.”

This is very true in many ways.  Photographers often set up scenes to convey the message that they want.  Even when the scene isn't constructed the photographer makes a conscious decision of what to put in and what to leave out of the frame.  In this way they are still editing the scene in a way and making the photograph and scene match what they envision.