Blog Prompt #23

This is long overdue. 

1.     In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?

        I think that people construct their identities by choosing anything specific to their outer appearance. Everyone has certain connotations associated with this everyday things, like the way hair is styled or the way make up is applied or even the clothes we wear. People have an idea of who they think they are so they try to appear to fit in that personal view of themselves. It doesn't always transcribe the way that people desire. We perform our daily lives by trying to fulfill these personal missions of what we see ourselves to be. 

2.     Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.

        I really can't think of anything further than the actual act of constructing something, like building it. Maybe its more of the way that we arrange and accumulate these items into our lives.

3.     Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.

        The environments that are constructed are usually intended to serve some sort of purpose (or even purposelessness.) They somehow serve a function, and it can be used to cater to any sort of whim.

4.     In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?

        I think the things that I consider to be real are the things that are tangible. Anything else is fabricated in some sort way, whether is natural or unnatural.

5.     Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).

        I think that it will be interesting to shoot pictures during a play. Then it would be up to the discretion of the photographer to try to capture the best moment that embodies what the play is about, or even just a memorable moment from it.

6.    Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).

        After reading this prompt I immediately thought of my childhood and how I used to play with Barbies. I would make up these elaborate homes for them. Since I didn't have all of her accessories, I would substitute items and use things that I had around in lieu of the actual licensed Barbie products. I think it would be interesting to try to reconstruct some of these sets.

Recreation #5

For my recreation, I decided to try to emulate the work of Barbara Kasten. A lot of her work involves constructing sets or altering permanent ones in an impermanent way. I decided to try it myself, and I simplified my set construction much more. I really wanted to try and pull out some shadows from the wire structure, so I added in a lamp to have more direct lighting. I also wanted to make sure there was a lot of contrast, so I used a light background to best show the darker shadows that were being projected upon it. The actual set itself was a foam core board, my glass palette, a wooden dowel, and a record holder. I wish that the glass wasn't so matte, but the backside of it is gesso'd so I guess that is all part of constructing my own set.

Barbara Kasten

Kasten was born in Chicago in 1936. She received her bachelors degree from the University of Arizona in 1959 and got her masters from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1970. Kasten has a very long and impressive list of awards, grants, and showings. The complete list is here.

Kasten photographs elaborate sets that she herself creates (along with a lighting team she recruited from the film industry.) She stages the use of mirrors, glass, shadows, and a large assortment of mixed medias. Kasten also shoots site specific photos, but she usually incorporates the use of mirrors and vibrant colors among them. She creates surreal environments that explores their alterations by juxtaposing harsh, extreme lines, angles, and forms. She was also influenced by the Bauhaus Movement as well as Constructivism.

As far as finding any sort of artist statement, I couldn't really find anything. I'm not sure as to what her motivations are, but I really enjoy her work. I find myself trying to piece together how she created some of her photos and come up short. I really like that her pieces have a simple, yet at the same time complex use of line and shadows.

These links were the most useful:
http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/kasten_barbara.php
http://barbarakasten.net/

Julia Margaret Cameron

Cameron was born in June of 1815 in Calcutta, India. Her family were French aristocrats and Cameron's father worked for the East India Trading Company. She was educated in France, and married Charles Hay Cameron (who happened to be 20 years older than her.) When he retired, they moved to the Isle of Wight off the coast of England.


Cameron didn't start photographing until she was 48. Her daughter gave her a camera for her birthday, which started Cameron's career as a photographer. She moved in with high society circles and began photographing them along with her children. Because of her location, Cameron was right next to a thriving artist community which allowed her to shoot famous people of the day. Some of them include Sir John Herschel, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Cameron also shot recreations of her favorite literary and painted scenes.


Cameron was best known for these portraits which were different than those of earlier photographs. She would slightly blur her photos by either moving the subject slightly during long exposures or by keeping the lens slightly unfocused. She also cropped the photos close to the subject, which created a more intimate look at them since they could be seen close up. Cameron had a main goal of shooting things that were beautiful so she utilized the use of soft lighting in her subjects.


These sites were useful in finding info on her:
lots of background information
photos

Blog Prompt #22

This post is in response to the video above. It was about the photographer Jim Fiscus and his process behind one of his photoshoots. It is always interesting to see another artists' work process, but I have never seen one with the likes of this. There is so many different aspects put into the work and it involves a lot of different people. It is incredible to see how the end result flows together so seamlessly.

Recreation #4

For my recreation, I wanted to do a film still. I chose Taxi Driver after I saw this image in a book, and I figured that my roommate would love to pose for this. I changed a few elements, some ahead of time, others while shooting. I even photoshopped the mirror into the background, but that was only because it sat a bit too low while shooting. During the shooting process, my roommate kept complaining about how awkward he felt holding the gun that way, and for having that particular eye closed. I just had him scrap it and hold it how he felt was more appropiate. It is still a bit weird for him since he was left handed, but it seems more natural to let him pose this way. I wish I would have had more light coming in from the front window (which was on his right) since I couldn't get a lamp to look natural enough.

Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger was born 1945 in Newark, New Jersey. She was educated at Syracuse University in the school of visual arts, and later went to study at Parsons School of Design.

She started working at Mademoiselle Magazine and was quickly promoted to lead designer, and went on afterward to work for several art magazine publications.


Kruger is best known for layering thought provoking text over consumer images, such as magazine ads. She juxtaposes text that conflict with the message or purpose that the ads themselves may have. Her text plays with feminism, classicism, consumerism, and questions desire. Her trademark is to place white text over a red background. 


She continues to work as a designer, and has taught at several colleges throughout the country.

I was actually drawn to her work because of a parody of it. One of my good friends and I love the Golden Girls, so I was drawn to that image. After looking further into her work, I liked the social commentary Kruger brings up.

Lee Miller (historical photographer)

Lee Miller was born in 1907 in Poughkeepsie, New York. She started out as model, but at the age of 22 went to Paris. While there, she worked with the infamous surrealist artist, Man Ray, and soon after started her own studio. After a few years, Miller went back to New York where she opened another studio, and was very successful as a fashion photographer and portraitist.

After two years, she closed it when she wed a wealthy Egyptian businessman. They moved to Egypt where she photographed the desert landscape. They were together until 1937, when Miller met her next future husband, Roland Penrose. She moved in with him in London shortly before World War II.

In 1944, Miller became a correspondent for the United States Army. It is probable that Miller was the only photojournalist to follow the troops in WWII. While in Europe, she shot many memorable and shocking moments, including dying children in Vienna and peasant life in Hungary. After the war, she married Penrose and helped him develop biographies for many surrealist artists of the time. She was probably best known for her photojournalism during the war, also for her surrealist images.

                                       

Final Four (five) Images

Backlit Oak

I used natural lighting in order to capture this shot. The concept behind it is more of a personal memory than anything. The oak tree is very memorable for me since my grandparents have one in their backyard. I have many happy memories of that place, and I wanted to show a different side to a happy memory. The angle I shot the tree in makes it seem like it is reaching out in an almost spooky way. The trunk and the branches are silhouetted against the setting sun and are almost black. I like this shot, since it kind of creepy and beautiful at the same time.

Chelsea with the dogs

This was taken with natural lighting. I wanted a lighter, playful look at an every day task. The task itself is letting my two dogs out into the backyard. I like how the expressions of my sister and the dogs are both different, as my sister taunts me while the dogs try to figure out who is looking at them from the car. (Which is where I shot it from.) They have a serious, attentive look, which directly contrasts my sister's look. Its funny as the irony of it is that their roles are usually reversed, since they find the joy in going outside and my family finds it to be a mundane task to let them out everyday.

Chelsea the hair monster

This is another playful shot that I took outdoors. I took this as my sister, Chelsea, walked up to my car when I picked her up from school. I was taking pictures of her the entire time she was walking up to the car, but it wasn't until she got close to the car that she noticed what I was doing. That's the reason why she covered her face with her hair. I was frustrated at first with her lack of enthusiasm, but when I reviewed my pictures later, I was drawn to this one in particular. It is not really anything you see everyday, and I find it to be almost surreal. It is almost seems like her head is hollow, and that her hair is just a covering for it. 

Andrew texting while crossing

Since I took pictures of my sister walking up to my car, I allowed the same courtesy to my brother as he came up after school. It took him much longer to notice my camera, but that is due in large part to him texting throughout his walk to the car. This is him as he is WALKING ACROSS THE STREET, NOT LOOKING FOR CARS, but texting. Texting. I saw him glance before he crossed, but I do not think it was enough. The light to the right of him is where many high schoolers and parents turn on once school is out, so it is always full of traffic. I think that it is interesting that he puts his awareness out so that he can remain focused on texting. Its ironic since he was apparently texting my sister (who was sitting next to me in the car) as she was warning him that I was taking pictures of him. 

Pigeons on a streetlight

This shot was completely spontaneous. I happened to be driving over to my dad's house when I noticed these pigeons perched on the light. The prompt for the inclusion of nature and man came to mind so I snapped a few shots and came up with this. I like how other-worldly the image looks, so I decided to keep it. The lighting is natural, and fortunately there was not a glare coming from my windshield. 

Blog Prompt #21

A. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “news”-related photographs.

They are generally clear and have a particular sharpness to them. Generally, they are meant to be as straight forward as possible in order to give the audience the desired message.

B. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “snapshots”, including family photographs, cell-phone shots, photos posted to facebook,

They are sometimes candid, and are often a little blurred. Sometimes there are multiple shots posted as the photographer tried to get the best shot possible that the subjects all agree on.

C. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of advertisement photographs, including fashion photography, product photography, etc

Product ads are usually shot close up. The angles of the product shown are usually centered, and may show it from an unusual side in order to gain interest. 

D. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of film/movie and television stills.

Stills are usually of a memorable part of the film. They are meant to trigger thoughts about whatever it is a part of and bring it in the most interesting light possible.

E. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of yearbook photos, senior pictures, and team/club/sports group shots.

These kinds of photos are generally well lit, and may not be extremely flattering to any or all of the subjects. These are typically the first and only shot, so the subject does not have the opportunity to adjust themselves favorably after seeing how they look. But that is also just the discretion of the subject, anyway.

F. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of stock images.
Stock images are usually simple, and keep the subject as the central image within the picture.

G. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of fashion photography.
Fashion photos are usually shot on good looking people, in order to sell the clothes and the desired lifestyle that the company builds around it. They are attention grabbing and relate to current trends.

H. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of paparazzi shots or celebrity photographs.
Celebrity photos are generally candid and unposed. They are quick and hurried, and the subjects usually aren't cooperative.