Post 7:

I saw about twenty portraits today. The majority of them were on Facebook. Most of the profile pictures on Facebook are used to identify a person. They show the user how they perceive themselves, whether goofy, sexy, fun or athletic. On social networking sites, a person gets to choose how they want to be seen. For example, one of my friends is going through a bad break up. To infuriate her ex and get new male attention, she posted the sexiest picture she had of herself.

I also saw some portraits on billboards when I was at home in Detroit this weekend. Some of them featured politicians. In these photographs, the men and women wore capable-looking business suits in shades of blue or black. They smiled or had stern powerful looking expressions. Everything about these images is set up to make the politicians look capable and trust worthy to the public.

Finally, I saw 360 portraits of celebrities on E!’s coverage of the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards. These images are used to judge each celebrity’s ensemble, from all angles. It’s slightly embarrassing to put the actors on display for public scrutiny.

The difference between all the photographs is the intent. Social networking sites let you decide how you are portrayed. Billboards strive to impart a certain positive emotion to the public and The 360 camera on E! sets people up to scrutinized by viewers and Joan Rivers.

Post 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?

It’s fine to alter portraits when you’re trying to alter the aesthetics of the image. By aesthetics, I mean changing the color to boost contrast, or removing a speck you see in the background. Altering is inappropriate when trying to make a person more physically appealing. Removing a pimple, enlarging boobs and shrinking a waist are very extreme changes.

Post 5

“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




I agree with this quote. Without photographs, a vast part of our universe would be lost. I think about those old pictures of the Chinese women with the curled up feet. They wrap their feet with gauze to make them smaller and desirable to men. I can talk until I’m blue in the face, about the state of those decrepit toes, but until you see photos of them, it is really difficult to understand the grotesqueness. This is just one of the many photos needed to explain man to man.

“I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.” ~Mary Ellen Mark




I suppose I understand what Mark means about taking a part of someone’s soul as you take their photograph. A piece of who that person is, is trapped in the photograph forever. I just think calling a picture part of a person’s soul is a little overly dramatic.  Honestly, I can’t take this quote seriously because it reminds me of the horcruxes in Harry Potter. The idea that someone’s soul is in a photograph gives me the impression that the person’s ghost is going to come back from the dead and haunt me, just because I have their face on my hard drive.

Additionally, I do think you should tell people why you’re taking their picture. It’s rude if you take it without asking.

The First Assignment

Consider, Kimber Bowman (2011)

Composition

·      Amount of subject to show in frame:

o   I chose to show the subjects face and shoulders, so that I could give a sense of the location, while conveying the emotions on the subjects face.

·      Photographer’s Proximity to Subject:

o   I sat across from the subject at a small table. This allowed me to put the object on the table out of focus, giving the impression that the subject is being watched.

·      Framing:

o   I felt that it was important to include the objects at the table as well as the other elements of the coffee shop. This establishes the location, while conveying the subject’s aloneness.

·      Orientation:

o   The image was shot in landscape to include the subject and his environment.

·      Sharpness and blur:

o   Keeping the subject sharp emphasizes his introspection. Leaving the background out of focus gives the idea that the subject is isolated.

·      Placement of subject in frame

o   The subject is centered, but obscured by elements in the scene.

·      Perspective and point of view:

o   By blurring parts of the image and having the subject look out of the frame, a sense of voyeurism is displayed. There is a sense that the subject is being watched.

·      Distracting elements

o   Initially, the subject commands the photo, but later the blurred item on the table grabs the viewer’s attention.

·      Lighting

o   This image was taken with the subject sitting next to the window. The natural lighting gives the image an air of relaxations.

·      Contrast

o   I tried to intensify the contrast in this photo by bringing up the blacks. This heightens the detail, drawing attention to the wrinkles in his jacket and the dark lines of his glasses. 

Motivation

When creating this image, I tried to establish a certain amount of secrecy. I imagined that the subject was being watched by a stranger, possible an admirer. While the stranger secretly observes the subject, the subject internalizes a secret of his own.

Method

I accomplished this by blurring certain parts of the photograph and coaching the subject to imagine being alone with his thoughts.

Context

This image is of my boyfriend. I always find myself snapping photos of him whenever we’re together. At this point it’s more involuntary action than habit. Jack Radcliffe also found a muse in a loved one. He has an entire series of photographs chronicling the life of his daughter, Alison.

http://www.behance.net/Gallery/Alison/49837

 Stairway to Heaven, Kimber Bowman (2011)

Composition

·      Amount of subject to show in frame:

o   I tried to show just enough of the subject to make it identifiable to the viewer. I encompassed the strings, parts of the wood and the bolts.

·      Framing

o   I chose not to include the entire guitar in the framing of this image. This forces the viewer to focus primarily on the strings and the light.

·      Orientation

o   The image is photographed in portrait to give the photo a long and lean look. It extends the eye upward toward the light.

·      Visual design elements

o   Line is an important element of this photograph. The vertical lines of the strings and light, coupled with the low angle of the camera, draw the eye to the light.

·      Sharpness and Blur

o   The string and light, near he mouth of the guitar are in focus. Keeping the focus at the bottom of the image also helps to focus the eye upward.

·      Contrast

o   Stark contrast is created by the light streaming through the curtains. The light creates a blatant line between dark and light.

·      Lighting

o   A single light streaming through the window illuminates and brings emphasis to the strings.

·      Focus

o   Parts of the image are in focus. Keeping the area around the strings focused, leads the eye to the light.

Motivation

I woke up one morning, and the first thing I saw was my guitar leaning against the wall, near my bedroom window. The way the light hit the guitar, drove me to pull out my camera and begin snapping photos. I tried a bunch of different angles and finally created this one. The photo was inspired by the song, “Stairway to Heaven.” Music is an outlet for me and playing my guitar puts me in a almost heavenly state.

Method

I created this image by leaning my guitar against the window frame. After that, I adjusted the width of the gap in the curtains until I got the desired effect. I used a higher shutter speed and larger aperture to create a dark effect.

Context

This image has stark contrast and stretching lines. The composition of this photo is similar to a photographer by the mane of, Mr. Tibbs. He has similar photos of his own guitar.

http://www.picturesocial.com/photo/1483478:Photo:109760?context=user

The Good Foot, Kimber Bowman (2011)

Composition

·      Amount of subject to show in frame:

o   The amount of the subject shown was not planned. I actually had a difficult time capturing a steady image without a tripod. The amount of subject works, because the motion of the feet becomes the main focus.

·      Background elements:

o   While the main focus in this image is the moving feet, the background is also significant. The graffiti background creates an urban vibe, and emphasizes the environment in which the subject moves.

·      Contrast:

o   Contrast is another important element of this image. The colors of the graffiti really translate into black and white. I chose to darken the black and bring up the whites to increase the contrast. This is especially prevalent around the shoes and the graffiti in the background.

Motivations and Method

I always walk past this wall of graffiti when I’m on my college campus, and I felt that it would serve as a great backdrop for motion photography. I asked the subject the run and jump all over everything, in my attempt to capture something unpredictable. I feel that the image of this body dropping from the sky is quite unpredictable. Slow shutter speed also contributed to the emphasized motion in this photograph.

Context

This image deals with the person and with the graffiti. Another photographer who seeks to merge photography and graffiti art is Keegan Gibbs. He is renowned for his portrayal of vandalism as art.

http://keegangibbs.com/portfolio/display/graffiti/

 

“If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.” ~Lewis Hine.

Sometimes you just have to there. For all those moments, I wish would have had a camera present. This quote emphasizes just that. Words can only take you so far, and after that you have to see it.

Words work when giving information. When people need the facts, simply writing it down is sufficient. For example, when a person wants to know the stock information for a given day, a picture wouldn’t be able to contain the same depth as an article.

Photographs are used as illustrations, and give off certain emotions. During the hurricane in Haiti, it pained the world to read that thousands of people died. Then, we actually saw the devastation. When news crews showed the world images of destroyed country, it moved people to send money and actually help.

In my own experience, I saw a man walking around in ass-less chaps. I told my roommate and she snickered. Luckily, I had my cell phone camera at my disposal, and was able to get a shot just before I walked away. When I showed her the photo, she died laughing (not literally). If I didn’t have a camera with me, she wouldn’t have been able to share in the pure joy.

“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”~Duane Michals.

I disagree with this quote. I believe that the Michals is trying to say that photographs are impressions of a person’s perspective, but since everyone has different perspectives, no two photo’s will be viewed the same way.

When I look at a photograph, I believe I am seeing everything as the camera sees it. A tree is a tree, an eye is an eye, etc. What I don’t know is the intended meaning behind the image. I may not know what the photographer is feeling or what the subject is feeling, but the image is what it seems to be.

I recently photographed a picture of my guitar. The neck leads into a gap of light between a pair black curtains. This is the appearance. What the viewer may not know is that I was rushing to take the picture just before classes started, or my guitar is very important to me, because someone important gave it to me.

Recreation

 Icy Night, Alfred Stieglitz (1893)

Biography

American photographer, Alfred Stieglitz, was born in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1864. An intelligent young man, Stieglitz attended several prestigious schools, including Charlier Institute in New York, and Berlin’s Technische Hochschule for college. There he studied mechanical engineering under Hermann Wilhelm Vogel, who was a leader in photographic research. It was under Vogel’s direction, that Stieglitz developed a love of photography.  He traversed the European countryside, photographing scenes in nature and German peasants, refining his craft.

After winning several awards as an amateur photographer in Germany, Stieglitz returned to New York in 1891. Over the next few years, he started a photography business called, “photochrome.” Stieglitz demanded such a high quality product that his workers were paid an insanely large salary, resolutely, his business never made a profit. In later years, Stieglitz’s orchestrated the merger of two popular photography clubs, to create the Camera Club of New York.

Stieglitz, who had been unhappily married to trust fund child Emmeline Obermeyer since 1893, found love with a young artist named Georgia O’Keeffe. After his divorce was final, Stieglitz married O’Keeffe in 1924. During their marriage, O’Keeffe acted as a muse for Stieglitz, driving him to create more that-three hundred and fifty portraits of her. Coincidentally, this marriage was also devoid of happiness, and O’Keeffe headed to the south to continue working on her art.

Over the years, Stieglitz continued produce amazing photography. His work was displayed in several shows, and museums. Various photos of his were donated to the Boston Museum of Art, and are still part of the museum’s private collection—some of the only photographs included in the collection during that time. Alfred Stieglitz continued to be a prominent artistic photographer until his death in 1946.

Icy Night

At this point in his career, Stieglitz had returned from Germany and had taken residence in New York City. By then, Stieglitz had learned of the portable camera, and of many the photographs he took during that time were taken with this type of camera.

The photograph, Icy Night, was taken in 1893, and depicts a snowy New York evening. The photograph is framed by two snow-covered trees, which add an air of balance to the scene. Based on the illumination in the trees, it seems that the picture was lit by some synthetic source, perhaps a street lamp. There is also a heavy element of contrast in this piece. The lightness of the trees coupled with the bright streetlamps and fog in the distance, are a stark contrast to the black sky.  I believe that the photographer does this to add emphasis to the light and the trail.

The concept of this image seems to be to lead the viewer somewhere. The footsteps in the lighted trail lead to a city street ahead. The main goal of this photograph is to depict the night in the city and the photographer does this very well.

I enjoy the fact that, other than the obvious graininess, the photograph looks like it could have been taken yesterday.  There are areas of Lansing that look very similar to the city in the photo. I also like the sense of expectation that picture gives. I feel anxious wondering where the trail leads. Is it to a party? Is it to a death? My imagination runs wild with possibilities. 

Recreation 

I call this piece, Icy Morning. I sought to replicate certain elements of the original photograph, while adding in a more modern twist. Similar to, Icy Night, I attempted to let the icy trail lead to something in the distance. I also tried to emulate the twinkling streetlamps of the city. I used the lightening morning sky in place of fog, because there was no fog, and I feel that the image works. I initially tilted the camera to gain a different perspective and I ended up liking it much more than the photographs that were taken straight on. 

What Does The Word Photograph Mean to Me?

Photograph means several things to me. In one instance, it is simply a tangible representation of a moment in time. A It also, speaks on the subject. Whether an animal or an inanimate object, the subject says something. A picture is a memory and a work of art as well.

Imagine A World Without Photographs. What Would It Be Like?

A world without photographs would be a world of insufficient memories. I rely on pictures to take me back to moments that I love. I rely on them to help me remember moments that broke my heart. I have one particular photograph of myself from when I four. I was on a carousel and I'm not sure I've ever seen my smile that big. In that moment I am supremely happy, the wind is in my hair, and my heart is light. When I see the picture of that four year-old girl, I am reminded that there is happiness inside of me, even when I feel totally ravaged by anger and insecurity. Without that image, there would have bouts of continued annoyance and sadness.

In short, a world without photographs would suck.