Assignment 2: Portraiture

Nan Goldin

"The Ballad of Sexual Dependency"

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/Ballad_of_Sexual_Dependency.jpg

Nan Goldin is the artist behind this photograph. She was 15 years old when she was first introduced to a camera. Her first show on her own displayed her works through the homosexual community. Later on she moved toward the new punk music scene. But she was especially drawn to the "hard drug subculture." This lead to her famous work, "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency."

Her intent behind this photograph was to show drug use, violent relationships, and "autobiographical" moments. The title of this piece was take from a song in Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera. The sad truth is, most of her models and friends that she photographed died by the 1990's due to overdose or sexual diseases.

I find these subjects to be interesting and sad. I like this photo, you can see so much fear and anger at the same time in the womans eyes. The bed and the cigar tie everything together. The man's body language basically says "I don't give a shit." You can really read into this photograph, it has a statement to make, and it succeeds at getting the point across.

Facebook vs Cosmo

Probably the first place I saw photographic portraits today was Facebook. You log on to that one website and instantly hundreds of profile pictures fill your screen. Then I began to notice other photographs around me, like the pictures of female models in my Cosmo. I noticed a huge difference between these two placings of photos. One of the major ones, most Facebook profile pictures are more natural. You see smiles of normal teenagers with zits! Believe it or not. In my Cosmo you see flawless models being photographed from professional angles, catching only their "good side." The intent of Facebook is to give you a sense of someone's personality through their profile picture. In Cosmo, most of the time the producers are trying to sell something. Natural is more interesting if you ask me, but again that is only my opinion.

Photographic Scandal?

In my opinion it matters completely on what the photographer wants. The only time I think it is wrong to digitally alter a photograph is when you change the photo to make someone look bad. Such as celebrities, leaders, and any other person that walks on this earth. That is just mean in my eyes, and unnecessary. When changing photographs for artistic reasons however, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Photoshop, Illustrator, and Bridge were made to be used, so why would you waste the technology. You don't have to like it, but you don't have to take other's joy of using it away either. My personal preference when it comes to pictures are the completely nature ones. Those to me stand at the top. This is my opinion though, that is looking through my eyes. The real challenge here is to look through the eyes of another.

Picture Perfect Photography

“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 whole heartedly. Photography is one of the more spectacular arts, it shows life. It can show the truth, but at the same time be decieving. Photography is a way to show someone what you are talking about. It is a picture to your words. It captures color, and emotion. It also has a tendancy to make you think.

“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 believe that if someone comes up to you and straight out asks, "why are you photographing me?" Then you should answer them honestly. If you can help it however, I think when people don't know they are being photographed, or are caught off guard, those pictures turn out to be the best. The raw emotion, the toothy grins, the eye crinkles, the furrowed brow, the crossed arms, the tense shoulders, the arched eyebrow, the curve of the mouth, the twitched nose, and the eyes. The eyes can say it all in just one shot. This magic is harder to catch when people are posing though. Yes, you are taking a part of their soul...but tell them that after you get the shot.

Nick Knight and Wendy McCurdo

Nick Knight

Remake

Wendy McCurdo

Remake

Nick Knight is a professional photographer that shoots a lot of celebrities. He is well known for his creativity. The picture here was actually in the New York Times. I took a liking to the face paint and contrast. So in my remake I had a black backdrop with one light. I experimented with the lighting and contrast.
Wendy McCurdo is a photographer who's work concentrates on the relationship between technology and identity. I found this photograph and fell in love. I like action shots a lot. I had my friend who knows martial arts pose for me. In this remake I concentrated more on contrast. I thought i would have like it to be more crisp, but then I realized I liked the blur to it, giving a sense of motion. 

Camera or Story Telling

"If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera."

I believe there are two different kinds of people in this world. There are the people that know how to share things through simple, descriptive words that literally can paint out the story in you mind. Then there are the people not so good with words that would rather have a captured moment on paper to share. There are the people we know as photographers. So really this statement depends on the person telling the story. When you have a picture about a story there can be positives and negatives attached. It can help your viewer understand, but there is also the possibility of misleading your viewer. Then again so can words and expressions. Its all based on the individual and what works for them.

Smiles

Composition: This picture was kind of taken by chance. The framing and perspective was following the style of my previous photos. I was supposed to use indoor lighting for this particular picture, but I wanted a lot of light for more contrast so I used the window. After some light cropping the balance was better as well. 

Concept: What I captured in this picture is just pure, unexpected reality. I love the joy that you can see. It's one of those pictures that a model can't give on cue. So I take this photo to be about happiness and laughter. It's there to pass on the smile to someone else. 

Method: I took the flowers from my room and used the windowsill in my dorm hall. Grabbed my boyfriend and my camera, and just started shooting. I shot from a lot of different angles, climbing stairs, and laying down.

Motivations: Originally with this photo shoot I was trying to capture a boy that looked caged. In thoughts and in reality. But things turned, I said something that made him turn towards me and laugh, capturing a moment in time. 

Context: This picture was taken from my own inspirations and ideas. I really wasn't looking at anyone before I took this photo.

Interpretation: I didn't recieve much deep interpretation from this photograph. Others seemed to think of it as

pure happiness and it made them smile.

Evaluation: As for somethink I could do different in this photograph. I could add a tad more contrast, and work with the composition a little because there were a lot of vertical lines.

Extension: To make this into a bigger project I've been thinking about trying to capture other people in my life with their natural smiles on, and make a collage of them. 

Freeze

 Composition: This photo is off balance, but that is how I planned it. The picture has a lot of contrast, as well as movement. 

Concept: Sometimes in life you just need to freeze, take a step back, and look at what is going on around you. 

Method: There wasn't a strict method to the production of this photograph. I decided to just go out with a fellow classmate and start goofing around. I did move her into the shade so her white skirt would stand out more, and I convinced her to jump even though she didn't want to.

Motivation: My motivation came from freedom and playfulness. At the time it was taken I was out of class and I wanted to be outside. So I made the picture work outdoors. 

Context: Again I wasn't looking at any other photographers before I took this picture.

Interpretation: Again not a lot of interpreting other than it looked like she was frozen in time. People seemed to enjoy the contrast and elegance of the photo.

Evaluation: I love the contrast of her black tank and white skirt. I love the movement, but if I was going to work with something I would probably have chosen a different background. Looking at it now however, I don't hate it as much as I did when I first looked at the photo, so its growing on me.

Extension: I could join it with other images of the same model doing different activities throughout her days. Then have a write-up/story on the meaning behind each photo.

Jump for Friendship

Composition: My framing was central, and my perspective was from head on. It used outdoor lighting around mid-day, very balanced, and uses contrast. 

Concept: My image is about friendship. I had everyone join hands, united together. 

Method: I have always been big into jumping pictures and when I had my four friends together, we all went outside to play. It wasn't really planned, except for the fact that it was outside, providing lots of light for contrast. 

Motivation: My goal was to use some of my closest friends and capture their personalities in a photograph, depicting our friendship.

Context: The inspiration for this photo came from my love for jumping photos.

Interpretation: People seemed to really enjoy this photo, the goofiness, and the happiness displayed. The contrast was also said to be measured well.

Evaluation: I love this photograph. I wasn't originally planning on using it as one of my final photos because it had more personal meaning to me, and I didn't think people would like it as much as I do. I don't think I would change anything about this photograph.

Extension: I would like to blow this picture up and make copies for the people that are in the shot. I think it would be kind of cool to do a write-up on each of their personalities as well, and display that next to the picture.

Photo Appearances

"Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what appears to be."

In my opinion this statement has some truth to it, but not completely. Some photography is exactly what it looks like. Usually this will apply to wildlife photography. These photographers don't have a hidden meaning behind their photos. There goal is more to capture the beauty and serenity of their surroundings. It's more based on what the human eye views as pretty, such as; sunsets and baby animals.
However other types of photography follow this statement down to the wire. There can be so much meaning behind a single snapshot, but the viewer has to be able to completely open their mind to see the possibilities. Some photographs are clearer to read than others, but it really depends on who the photographer is and what they are trying to get across. All photography is different, and that's what makes it so unique.

Christian Vogt Recreation

Christian Vogt is a Swiss photographer that produced the picture Untitled Metaphysical Scene, in 1972 right before he entered his 'blue period.' This is where he began producing pictures within another picture.

When I first saw this picture I had no clue what was going on, and immediately decided that I was going to go with my other photo choice. I happened to take another look at it though, and what I saw caught my interest. I realized there was a man wrapped in a sheet, or what looked like to be a pillow case. When you look at the photo, you can't tell it's a man wrapped up until you happen to see the shadow the figure creates. It forms the shape of a person jumping with their knees slightly bent, and facing upward toward the sky.
I took this to mean that things aren't always what they seem.

So for my recreation, I continued with the shadow effects to show how something can look one way, but when put in the right light can come out as something totally different. I decided to use hand puppets, because when you put your hands together in a weird form, you don't always know what you are creating. But when put in the right light, something that makes more sense appears. Hence the clear bunny rabbit shadow, compared to the tangled fingers.

A World Without Photographs

When I imagine a world with no photographs, at first glance nothing really changes. We would still have our eyes to take in the beauty around us. One thought that flashed through my mind was the world could be better this way. I believe that sometimes people tend to focus too much on life through the camera lense. It is good to take a step back every once and a while, breath deeply, and just soak in your surroundings. Slowly but surely the negatives of life without pictures started flowing in. My life personally, would be sad. I always enjoy looking back at pictures from the past, even on those awkward middle school years. For me, one simple picture can bring back a million memories. When I think about the entire world without any pictures, I get chills. All the history and information that can lie in one photo, would be gone. We wouldn't know about the world around us unless we could go out and see it ourselves. So much knowledge would be lost. A world without photographs is a world without its past.

Definition of Photograph

The dictionary states the word photograph to mean; "an image or an object, person, scene, etc, in the form of a print or slide recorded by a camera on photosensitive material." My definition elaborates on the obvious, I see photographs to be a style of art, and each one tells a story. They are very similiar to paintings. What the word photograph means to me the most is memories. When I see a photo of mine, there is always some kind of memorable story laying behind it. I see photographs as a sense of escape back to the past. A source of reminiscing, and a story of ones history. Without my photographs a lot of my memories would be lost to the dark corners of my mind. Photographs are simply doors to another time, another world, and another universe.