Nov 30, 2008
Nov 29, 2008
Final Lab Hours
Lab will be open tomorrow from 10 am til 5 pm.
I will be at school from 6:30 pm til 8:30 pm to allow you a little more work time.
We will use Monday as a workday, and you will have regular lab hours Monday and Tuesday evening.
Hope you all had a nice break and holiday. :)
I will be at school from 6:30 pm til 8:30 pm to allow you a little more work time.
We will use Monday as a workday, and you will have regular lab hours Monday and Tuesday evening.
Hope you all had a nice break and holiday. :)
Nov 28, 2008
Statement for self-portraits
Most of the photographs I took were taken utilizing motion, especially the 5 I chose for critique. I decided to capture motion in my pictures in order to give them abstraction. I decided to give them abstraction because I wanted them to be hard to read. I wanted them to be hard to read because I feel I am very hard to read myself. I usually find that most people can rarely tell when I'm happy or when I'm depressed. Most of the time I feel I just have no real readable expressions, in fact I find it EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to smile properly without forcing one. I usually have to laugh in order to naturally smile. Same goes for when I'm sad, I'm very well with masking my pain so most people can't tell when I'm honestly just chipper and in a very good mood or when I'm torn up inside and just "in a bad way". That being said in most of the pictures I don't have my face featured, and even in pictures where it is it's blocked one way or another.
The main series I focused on are 3 photographs of myself. 1 of me lying down amidst my collection of CDs and the other 2 of my arms holding up my favorite, most treasured, guitar. The photo of me with my CDs features my face however since I couldn't really use motion to create abstraction since I was lying down I simply used my hair to block my face from view. In a way I feel this one held some sub-conscious elements just taking it in briefly. The reason behind that is I also find it very hard to make direct eye contact with people let alone keeping it for more than a second or two. So perhaps that could also be another reason why I wanted to obscure my face. That being said, I'm lying around my CD collection because music is very much apart of my life, I'd say besides caffeine the only other thing flowing in my blood, is music. Also to be noted in the photograph I have the album "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd featured above my head. I did that to illustrate a sort of light bulb type of image, like I'm enlightened. I say that because that is the one album that really made me become deeply interested in music in general. I find it to simply be a brilliant and beautiful piece as a whole. Plus it helps to both bring out my deepest thoughts and dreams but also bring me back down to Earth with its dreariness when I sit down to listen to the whole album all the way through. Anyways I'm rambling.
The other 2 photographs in the series I feel illustrate the strength and inspiration music brings me and the strength and inspiration I seem to find from within myself. During the process of this project I became extremely burnt out due to work loads and my personal life. However I think this piece is extremely powerful because of these circumstances. When taking these photos I was shaking my guitar extremely violently up and down in front of the camera, something that should have tired me out considerably since the guitar is actually quite heavy being essentially a big slab of mahogany wood. So in essence, no matter how dark and horrible my day may be or how worn out I feel, as long as I have the music flowing through me and I'm still able to lift up and play my guitar, I can see the day through. Also to be noted in all 3 photographs I also wanted to illustrate distance by not clearly showing "myself" in general. I usually feel at times I can be extremely distant, even with my best friends. It comes and goes but I always notice a distance when I interact with people in general at times.
The last 2 photographs are a bit more playful and not as deep per say as the main series. The first one was a bit of a fun one I devised. I rented this video game "Guitar Hero: World Tour", basically a music-based video game. In the game it has a create a character feature. So I used that to create sort of an ideal "Rockstar" version of me. I created abstraction in the photograph by taking the picture while I made the character rotate capturing some motion there and also from the fact I was photographing the TV screen so scan lines can be seen in the photograph creating another form of abstraction. Also I feel the idea in general of making an ideal version of myself is in a way an abstraction of its own. The last photograph was one of several different photographs of a series. This series was mainly me doing all sorts of crazy movements with my guitar. Like some photos in the series featured me doing "windmills" while I strummed my guitar, others pictures of me in the process of "smashing" my guitar against the floor (didn't go through with it of course lol), and the one I went with for the critique is one of me "shredding" along the neck of my guitar. I chose that one because this one held so much motion and abstraction in the photograph that I was pretty much unrecognizeable and the only thing in the photo that helped me remember what I was doing in it at the time was the way the neck of the guitar was positioned when the photograph was taken. So in short, although I may be a emotionally distant person I do have a very playful side still in me. And in a way that does make sense because this semester especially I've been a social butterfly, shaking off all my nerves and inhibitions. So in a way these photographs capture traits of who I've been and who I hope to be.
The main series I focused on are 3 photographs of myself. 1 of me lying down amidst my collection of CDs and the other 2 of my arms holding up my favorite, most treasured, guitar. The photo of me with my CDs features my face however since I couldn't really use motion to create abstraction since I was lying down I simply used my hair to block my face from view. In a way I feel this one held some sub-conscious elements just taking it in briefly. The reason behind that is I also find it very hard to make direct eye contact with people let alone keeping it for more than a second or two. So perhaps that could also be another reason why I wanted to obscure my face. That being said, I'm lying around my CD collection because music is very much apart of my life, I'd say besides caffeine the only other thing flowing in my blood, is music. Also to be noted in the photograph I have the album "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd featured above my head. I did that to illustrate a sort of light bulb type of image, like I'm enlightened. I say that because that is the one album that really made me become deeply interested in music in general. I find it to simply be a brilliant and beautiful piece as a whole. Plus it helps to both bring out my deepest thoughts and dreams but also bring me back down to Earth with its dreariness when I sit down to listen to the whole album all the way through. Anyways I'm rambling.
The other 2 photographs in the series I feel illustrate the strength and inspiration music brings me and the strength and inspiration I seem to find from within myself. During the process of this project I became extremely burnt out due to work loads and my personal life. However I think this piece is extremely powerful because of these circumstances. When taking these photos I was shaking my guitar extremely violently up and down in front of the camera, something that should have tired me out considerably since the guitar is actually quite heavy being essentially a big slab of mahogany wood. So in essence, no matter how dark and horrible my day may be or how worn out I feel, as long as I have the music flowing through me and I'm still able to lift up and play my guitar, I can see the day through. Also to be noted in all 3 photographs I also wanted to illustrate distance by not clearly showing "myself" in general. I usually feel at times I can be extremely distant, even with my best friends. It comes and goes but I always notice a distance when I interact with people in general at times.
The last 2 photographs are a bit more playful and not as deep per say as the main series. The first one was a bit of a fun one I devised. I rented this video game "Guitar Hero: World Tour", basically a music-based video game. In the game it has a create a character feature. So I used that to create sort of an ideal "Rockstar" version of me. I created abstraction in the photograph by taking the picture while I made the character rotate capturing some motion there and also from the fact I was photographing the TV screen so scan lines can be seen in the photograph creating another form of abstraction. Also I feel the idea in general of making an ideal version of myself is in a way an abstraction of its own. The last photograph was one of several different photographs of a series. This series was mainly me doing all sorts of crazy movements with my guitar. Like some photos in the series featured me doing "windmills" while I strummed my guitar, others pictures of me in the process of "smashing" my guitar against the floor (didn't go through with it of course lol), and the one I went with for the critique is one of me "shredding" along the neck of my guitar. I chose that one because this one held so much motion and abstraction in the photograph that I was pretty much unrecognizeable and the only thing in the photo that helped me remember what I was doing in it at the time was the way the neck of the guitar was positioned when the photograph was taken. So in short, although I may be a emotionally distant person I do have a very playful side still in me. And in a way that does make sense because this semester especially I've been a social butterfly, shaking off all my nerves and inhibitions. So in a way these photographs capture traits of who I've been and who I hope to be.
Nov 26, 2008
Nov 25, 2008
Mounting...
With mounting your prints:
You want to remove the white border around your prints if you will ONLY be mounting them. Otherwise you will have an unattractive white border around your print. This can be even more of an eyesore if the white print border is on top of off-white mounting board. You can cut down your print to desired size first, tack a corner of the mounting paper to a corner of the print, then cut down the excess mounting paper.
If you will be mounting AND MATTING your prints, the white border is not an issue. once you have matted the print, the photograph will show through the window, but the print border will be covered by the mat.
You want to remove the white border around your prints if you will ONLY be mounting them. Otherwise you will have an unattractive white border around your print. This can be even more of an eyesore if the white print border is on top of off-white mounting board. You can cut down your print to desired size first, tack a corner of the mounting paper to a corner of the print, then cut down the excess mounting paper.
If you will be mounting AND MATTING your prints, the white border is not an issue. once you have matted the print, the photograph will show through the window, but the print border will be covered by the mat.
Nov 24, 2008
Question about mounting
My prints all have borders, where you are able to see the sprockets.
When we mount our photos, I was curious if I was supposed to trim off the white border of the photo print itself, or just leave it on when I mount it on the board.
Some have told me yes, and some no. I'm too scared too mount any photos until I know for sure. Hahha.
Thanks.
When we mount our photos, I was curious if I was supposed to trim off the white border of the photo print itself, or just leave it on when I mount it on the board.
Some have told me yes, and some no. I'm too scared too mount any photos until I know for sure. Hahha.
Thanks.
Portfolio
Camera Co-op sells a box for the 11 X 14 mounted prints. What did you want the prints turned into you in? You said something about store bought or handmade, but I'm not sure exactly what they are supposed to be in. Appartenly there is no folder type storage available just a box. Let me know. Thanks! Wendy
Nov 19, 2008
Angled Me
With my series of self-portraits I originally wanted to emulate Alexander Rodchenko’s style of using extreme angles. On a couple of the photos I believe I successfully achieved this, specifically on the one where I am looking at the rearview mirror of my car, the one that is angled from the ground at a seated me and the one where I am laying spread eagle on the grass. For the other two, though they aren’t necessarily using extreme angles, I do believe they are my favorite of the five. This is mainly because I was able to get very good exposures on both.
So because I focused more on experimenting on the style of extreme angles I wasn’t as focused on the emotional meaning behind every photo. But I purposefully didn’t smile in each photo because I hoped it would show the state of mind that I was in while working on the photos. To make a long story short this has been a long, confusing and stressful semester for me, with the workload of my classes, the aftermath of Mr. Hurricane Ike and recently the death of my grandfather and all that goes along with that. So I guess you could say my state of semi emotional numbness came out in the photos I took of myself.
Ultimately I was very happy with results of the prints I chose to develop. All but two of them, the rearview mirror and the one where I am seated, had good exposures. For those two I did 12 seconds of extra burning to parts of the prints in an attempt to bring out more detail. I think overall my favorite print is the one where I am wearing my throwback Astros hat, seated against a brick wall with my hands outstretched towards the camera. I specifically like this picture because I was attempting to achieve a decent depth of field shot to get a different perspective on extreme angles with the hands out of focus and me in focus.
So because I focused more on experimenting on the style of extreme angles I wasn’t as focused on the emotional meaning behind every photo. But I purposefully didn’t smile in each photo because I hoped it would show the state of mind that I was in while working on the photos. To make a long story short this has been a long, confusing and stressful semester for me, with the workload of my classes, the aftermath of Mr. Hurricane Ike and recently the death of my grandfather and all that goes along with that. So I guess you could say my state of semi emotional numbness came out in the photos I took of myself.
Ultimately I was very happy with results of the prints I chose to develop. All but two of them, the rearview mirror and the one where I am seated, had good exposures. For those two I did 12 seconds of extra burning to parts of the prints in an attempt to bring out more detail. I think overall my favorite print is the one where I am wearing my throwback Astros hat, seated against a brick wall with my hands outstretched towards the camera. I specifically like this picture because I was attempting to achieve a decent depth of field shot to get a different perspective on extreme angles with the hands out of focus and me in focus.
Self Portrait Statement
Self Portraits express a variety of things to many different people, but if done right, you can send a message that everyone will get correct. Being fascinated and familiar with portraiture photography, I wanted to challenge myself and take it to the next level. I decided to do partially nude self portraits, and expose my love and how comfortable I am in my tattoo and body art.
Tattoo's and body art has definitely shaped who I am and what I've been through since my child hood. Tattoo's are a regular part of my mother's side of the family, and growing up with that side of the family, instead of with my father, I believe I am a better and more understanding person to all cultures. There is nothing better than expressing yourself through photographs, than body art, so naturally I combined the two and decided to focus on them for this assignment.
Growing up in poverty and confusion, I never knew my father and basically grew up thinking I was only Mexican. I wanted to use my standing back portrait to be placed in the middle to show this; which has my sugar skull day of the dead tattoo. My tattoo's represent the person I've become throughout life and who I want to be remembered as when I die and this is all that is left. I want to be remembered as a caring person who wasn't anything but open to everything and everyone.
This assignment was a little disappointing to me in the fact that I think I over excited myself. I was expecting self portraiture to be easy because I've done it using a DSLR and not a 35 mm camera. The results aren't exactly what I was expecting but it most certainly taught me many things and definitely opened me up to so many ideas and possibilities. Although these final prints aren't, in my mind, absolutely perfect I still really enjoy them and I am proud at myself for taking this approach. To me, they are beautiful and I enjoyed having this opportunity.
Self Portrait's Statement
"The Inner ME..."
Self portraits are either very simple or very complicated. Most traditional self portrait concentrates on the face, where a simple smile is displayed. However for my self portrait assignment in this class I choose to interpret myself through myself without displaying my face in any of my prints. I’m going to capture the inner me through my body language and old poetry I have written a while back. Each photograph will represent a single poem. The poem itself will play the memoir of each different photo or the other way around. It depends how the viewer chooses to view my work.
They way I plan to achieve this goal is through using transparencies that I have purchased and created in Photoshop on my own. These transparencies will contain the individual poems and a consisting display of calligraphically border.
I would like to speak a little of my choice of poetry fro this particular assignment. I choose these specific poems because they reflect on the me I keep hidden from the world around me. Anyone can tell I been through a tragedy, but what people don’t see is that my burns are nothing to me. I have came to accept what my God had brought upon me. However, a girl’s loss of her mother at young age is the real tragedy, at least in my heart that’s what I feel. Although I choose poems that display me as a lonely, depressed, and filled with sorrow person I still ended my intentional series with poem about faith. This poem is written in a way to encourage others or reminds others of the importance of faith, yet it still reflects on the person who wrote it, me, as someone who came through their hardships by holding tightly to this intangible belief called FAITH.
I believe I succeeded in achieving my goal for this project. Although I hate to do self portrait projects, I can honestly say I have enjoyed working on this project.
Nov 18, 2008
Self-Portrait Proposal
First of all, the photographs that I saw at the Museum of Fine Arts gave me many ideas of how to create a Self-Portrait of myself. The photographs that I will be taking for the Self-Portrait assignment are random photographs about me. As of now, I do not have a specific topic for my photographs. I was thinking of shooting rolls that are related to John Coplas which he made a self-portrait about his body parts, and also from Vaclav Chochola which he took his picture and inserted a transparency of him. For my first roll of film, I will take pictures of myself at the University of Houston in different poses. I was also thinking about taking three pictures of myself in a portrait as a mafia person with a bluish background and with the mafia logos on the four corners. And for the rest of the roll, I will be shooting it at the University of Houston. For the second roll, I will be taking pictures at my house also doing different poses. I will take the first ten pictures at the front of the house standing near the plants, all three vehicles, and standing next to my house. The next five pictures will be pictures inside my house. And for the last ones, I will be taking them in the backyard on top of the garage. I always wanted to take pictures of myself on top of the roof in different poses. Some of them will be about my daily activities that I do sometimes. For my third roll, I will be taking pictures of my body parts like Coplans, and the rest of them will be about many places so I can insert transparencies of myself in the picture itself.
Proposal for self portrait
Proposal for self portrait
Pochawan Calvert
This project is harder than I thought it would be. Finding our inner self, who we really are as a person is really difficult. Especially when you pretend to be someone you’re not. I’m always trying to please others, never myself. Our society is so critical; people will always judge you no matter who you are. I try to be the best person that I can possibly be, but I always feel it is never good enough. I have done a lot of things in the past that I am not proud of and I try to live my life positively, but life in general is just too hectic for me. Sometimes I just want to pack up my stuff and leave, but where do I go from here? I do have to admit, I have more good days than bad days. I am much happier now than I was ten years ago. Sometimes I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world. I must sound really crazy right now, but that’s who I really am. These are some of the feelings that I would like the viewer to see when they are looking at my self portrait. I would like to keep the images as simple as possible. I do not want a lot of distractions in the photograph. Most of the photograph will be shot in my home where I feel most comfortable being myself.
Pochawan Calvert
This project is harder than I thought it would be. Finding our inner self, who we really are as a person is really difficult. Especially when you pretend to be someone you’re not. I’m always trying to please others, never myself. Our society is so critical; people will always judge you no matter who you are. I try to be the best person that I can possibly be, but I always feel it is never good enough. I have done a lot of things in the past that I am not proud of and I try to live my life positively, but life in general is just too hectic for me. Sometimes I just want to pack up my stuff and leave, but where do I go from here? I do have to admit, I have more good days than bad days. I am much happier now than I was ten years ago. Sometimes I feel like I am the luckiest person in the world. I must sound really crazy right now, but that’s who I really am. These are some of the feelings that I would like the viewer to see when they are looking at my self portrait. I would like to keep the images as simple as possible. I do not want a lot of distractions in the photograph. Most of the photograph will be shot in my home where I feel most comfortable being myself.
Nov 17, 2008
PLEASE READ!
IMPORTANT
The school is scheduled to be closed from Nov 26th until Nov 30th for Thanksgiving Break, meaning the lab will be closed. I am willing, however, to meet you at school at some point during this break. If you all can come up with times that you would want to come in, we can arrange some unofficial lab hours where I will be the monitor. The sooner you submit requests, the sooner we can decide on a time.
If you come in during regular hours and the monitor is not present, PLEASE CALL ME. When the monitors do not show up, you are inconvenienced and I would like to report them to the monitor coordinator.
Lastly, please look at the final assignment on the blog.
For the sake of time, you will be required to MOUNT ALL 10 PRINTS.
If you do MOUNT AND MATT all 10 prints, you will get extra credit on your lowest grade this semester.
I hope this helps!
The school is scheduled to be closed from Nov 26th until Nov 30th for Thanksgiving Break, meaning the lab will be closed. I am willing, however, to meet you at school at some point during this break. If you all can come up with times that you would want to come in, we can arrange some unofficial lab hours where I will be the monitor. The sooner you submit requests, the sooner we can decide on a time.
If you come in during regular hours and the monitor is not present, PLEASE CALL ME. When the monitors do not show up, you are inconvenienced and I would like to report them to the monitor coordinator.
Lastly, please look at the final assignment on the blog.
For the sake of time, you will be required to MOUNT ALL 10 PRINTS.
If you do MOUNT AND MATT all 10 prints, you will get extra credit on your lowest grade this semester.
I hope this helps!
Nov 15, 2008
the lab...
I regret to inform you all that the lab has been said to be closed until Monday. We will now do a mounting and matting demo Monday, and have critique on Wednesday. I apologize for the inconvenience, but will allow the extra time to compensate.
Nov 13, 2008
lab tonight....
I will be in the lab between the hours of 7pm nad 9 pm this evening. If you need me to answer questions about prints, etc..., feel free. If not, see you Monday for critique!
Nov 12, 2008
Lab closing
I just saw a post that the lab was closed this weekend and now it is gone - what the heck?? Is it closed - can they do that?? I repeat - what the heck??? I have to reshoot pictures, process negatives and print out at least two more prints - how can the lab be closed?? I'm hoping it was just a cruel joke and you are taking it back!!
With regard to the final portfolio - can the new prints be anything we want and can there be more than 5 new prints?
With regard to the final portfolio - can the new prints be anything we want and can there be more than 5 new prints?
Upcomming Openings
Diverse Works
Thrive
Notions of time play through the work of 16 notable artists from Houston in Thrive, an exhibition organized in conjunction with a conference at University of Houston: "Gender, Creativity and the New Longevity." The exhibit and accomanying programs are a co-presentation of DiverseWorks and Women's Studies program at University of Houston. Artists include Elia Arce, Laura Bennett, Ellen Berman, Suzanne Bloom, Joanne Brigham, Kathy Hall, Roberta Harris, Rachel Hecker, Mary Jenewein, Lauren Kelley, Charles Mary Kubricht, Lynn Randolph, Debra Rueb, Toby Topek, Kelli Vance and Dee Wolff.
http://www.diverseworks.org/?pgid=3&subid=6&cid=169
_______________________________________________________________________
Lawndale Art Center
November 21, 2008 – January 10, 2009
Opening Reception Friday, November 21, 2008, 6:30-8:30 PM
Artist talks at 6:00 PM
Pleasing Punch | AJ Liberto and Jesse Robinson
Personal Panopticon | Cory Wagner
Once Removed | Ann Marie Nafziger
Flowback | Mequitta Ahuja
To Whom It May Concern | Emily Sloan
NIMBY | Kevin Curry
http://www.lawndaleartcenter.org/events/upComing_front.html
Thrive
Notions of time play through the work of 16 notable artists from Houston in Thrive, an exhibition organized in conjunction with a conference at University of Houston: "Gender, Creativity and the New Longevity." The exhibit and accomanying programs are a co-presentation of DiverseWorks and Women's Studies program at University of Houston. Artists include Elia Arce, Laura Bennett, Ellen Berman, Suzanne Bloom, Joanne Brigham, Kathy Hall, Roberta Harris, Rachel Hecker, Mary Jenewein, Lauren Kelley, Charles Mary Kubricht, Lynn Randolph, Debra Rueb, Toby Topek, Kelli Vance and Dee Wolff.
http://www.diverseworks.org/?pgid=3&subid=6&cid=169
_______________________________________________________________________
Lawndale Art Center
November 21, 2008 – January 10, 2009
Opening Reception Friday, November 21, 2008, 6:30-8:30 PM
Artist talks at 6:00 PM
Pleasing Punch | AJ Liberto and Jesse Robinson
Personal Panopticon | Cory Wagner
Once Removed | Ann Marie Nafziger
Flowback | Mequitta Ahuja
To Whom It May Concern | Emily Sloan
NIMBY | Kevin Curry
http://www.lawndaleartcenter.org/events/upComing_front.html
Nov 11, 2008
Show in Blaffer leaving soon! Don't miss it...
Damaged Romanticism
Blaffer Gallery
Through November 15.
The pathetic aesthetic returns? Former Blaffer director Terrie Sultan, critic David Pagel and critical theorist Colin Gardner use the work of fifteen contemporary artists to illustrate "an aftermath aesthetic" and the "recognition that virgin births are fantasies, that blank slates are not found but actually involve lots of often violent erasing, and that starting fresh is more like starting over." With a global spread of artists Including Richard Billingham, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Edward Burtynsky, Sophie Calle, Petah Coyne, Angelo Filomeno, Jesper Just, Florian Maier-Aichen, Mary McCleary, Wangechi Mutu, Anneè Olofsson, Julia Oschatz, David Schnell and Ryan Taber/Cheyenne Weaver, it promises to be an eclectic mishmash of styles and media, filtered through a thick critical sieve.
Blaffer Gallery
Through November 15.
The pathetic aesthetic returns? Former Blaffer director Terrie Sultan, critic David Pagel and critical theorist Colin Gardner use the work of fifteen contemporary artists to illustrate "an aftermath aesthetic" and the "recognition that virgin births are fantasies, that blank slates are not found but actually involve lots of often violent erasing, and that starting fresh is more like starting over." With a global spread of artists Including Richard Billingham, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Edward Burtynsky, Sophie Calle, Petah Coyne, Angelo Filomeno, Jesper Just, Florian Maier-Aichen, Mary McCleary, Wangechi Mutu, Anneè Olofsson, Julia Oschatz, David Schnell and Ryan Taber/Cheyenne Weaver, it promises to be an eclectic mishmash of styles and media, filtered through a thick critical sieve.
Myself
For my self portraits I would mostly like to borrow Rodchenko’s idea of using odd and sometimes extreme angles. His piece that originally grabbed me was the piece called Chauffeur where the picture is taken from the perspective of the rear view mirror. So I ultimately would like to try to play around with this idea and a few cool ways.
Nov 7, 2008
Medium Format Camera
I am planning to continue on as a Photography major. Does anyone know if I will need a medium format camera for later classes. I have the opportunity to buy a used one for a really good price and was wondering if I should jump on it. Let me know!! Thanks! Wendy
Nov 5, 2008
Self Portrait Proposal
First - sorry I was late this morning!
I am not a big fan of pictures of me for obvious reasons!! Anyway, I got a few ideas at the museum. I am going to attempt to do a transparent image like the one where the guy was in the street. I am also going to try to do one with a black background with just faces - Maplethorpe??. My other idea is to try using a reflection in a mirror. I am waiting on a couple of props to come in the mail this week and will be shooting this weekend. The pictures I tried to day may be too washed out. I still like the idea, but may have to reshoot.
I am not a big fan of pictures of me for obvious reasons!! Anyway, I got a few ideas at the museum. I am going to attempt to do a transparent image like the one where the guy was in the street. I am also going to try to do one with a black background with just faces - Maplethorpe??. My other idea is to try using a reflection in a mirror. I am waiting on a couple of props to come in the mail this week and will be shooting this weekend. The pictures I tried to day may be too washed out. I still like the idea, but may have to reshoot.
Self-portrait proposal
I think what I want to do will be a bit challenging. I love the idea of overlapping negatives, but I kind of felt deterred when I saw what a difficult time my classmates were having with their photographer project. I was wondering instead of negatives, could I somehow utilize photogram techniques in this? I want to go in to the more graphic direction again... If my images had to have a theme (do they have to have a theme? I wasn't sure about that), I am thinking of making them about body image & appearances. I'm also interested in fashion photography poses and incorporating those into my images. (I'm a huge fashion fanatic and fashion photography is my favorite kind) Oh! And also lots of props and crazy compositions. One particular image I want to do is me standing with my ribs sticking out in all their glory, hands on hips, with an overlay of graphic skeletal ribs. Is it possible to print the ribs on transparencies and overlay them onto my image in the printing process? Like say, my image takes 18 secs, so at 12-15 secs I put the rib transparency on top of the image and for the rest of the time flash the light.
Nov 4, 2008
James P. Blair
Zack Leal
Shannon Duncan
Fundamentals of Photography
The photographer I decided to emulate is James P. Blair. Blair is well known for his work featured in National Geographic however these weren't the pieces I was drawn to. The body of work of his that interested me was actually his private work. This work is mainly comprised of photographs of graffiti, distressed walls, and other things people might find to be eyesores. However I find his photographs to be extremely fascinating as he always manages to also capture a perfect view point that makes it seem as if you were looking at the object itself exactly from the same point of view he took the picture from. So combined with the dingy but raw expressive quality of the pieces he captures I must say I was extremely enthusiastic and interested in trying my hand at taking photos in the vein of his style.
I tried my best to have both of those elements (grafiti type pieces and personal point of view) in the photographs I shot. Nonetheless this experience helped me to broaden my horizons for subject matter as even the mundane for some may be exotic and refreshing to others. Another thing is I feel I'm developing even more of an intimate connection now with the photos I take as all 4 of the final photos I decided to use encompassed a variety of experiences whether it was in finding the subject, actually taking the photograph, or in the process of making the prints. I now also feel that perhaps Blair must also feel this intimate feeling with his works as he tries to capture his photos in a way to best express and show how he found his subject matter in order to share that same experience with those viewing those photos.
Shannon Duncan
Fundamentals of Photography
The photographer I decided to emulate is James P. Blair. Blair is well known for his work featured in National Geographic however these weren't the pieces I was drawn to. The body of work of his that interested me was actually his private work. This work is mainly comprised of photographs of graffiti, distressed walls, and other things people might find to be eyesores. However I find his photographs to be extremely fascinating as he always manages to also capture a perfect view point that makes it seem as if you were looking at the object itself exactly from the same point of view he took the picture from. So combined with the dingy but raw expressive quality of the pieces he captures I must say I was extremely enthusiastic and interested in trying my hand at taking photos in the vein of his style.
I tried my best to have both of those elements (grafiti type pieces and personal point of view) in the photographs I shot. Nonetheless this experience helped me to broaden my horizons for subject matter as even the mundane for some may be exotic and refreshing to others. Another thing is I feel I'm developing even more of an intimate connection now with the photos I take as all 4 of the final photos I decided to use encompassed a variety of experiences whether it was in finding the subject, actually taking the photograph, or in the process of making the prints. I now also feel that perhaps Blair must also feel this intimate feeling with his works as he tries to capture his photos in a way to best express and show how he found his subject matter in order to share that same experience with those viewing those photos.
Nov 3, 2008
Jerry Uelsmann
Kirk Ehlig
Shannon Duncan / Fundamentals of Photography
Jerry Uelsmann
The photographer that I attempted to emulate is Jerry Uelsmann. I was drawn to Uelsmann because of his great surrealistic eye for art. But what specifically drew me too Uelsmann was his ability to take seemingly normal photographs and turn them into one mind-bending surreal print. From what I read on a couple of different websites is that Uelsmann would use several different enlargers with different negatives in each. He would then go to each developer exposing his paper to with the next negative while burning and dodging when needed. Uelsmann is seen as an innovator in photography because he ventured away from the normal documentary style of photography and priniting to his more surreal style.
What I attempted to emulate from his style of printing is how he would use several different negatives. I was drawn more to his techniques than the conceptual ideas behind his prints themselves. Being a graphics major, learning how to do some of his techniques (i.e. dodging and burning to blend different negatives) has helped me gain a greater appreciation for what I can do somewhat easily in Photoshop and Illustrator.
Uelsmann must have spent hours or weeks per print when he first started his style of printing because I spent three to four hours per each print and went through probably 25 pieces of paper. When Ueslmann would use up to 12 enlargers so he could easily move from one enlarger to the next, I used one enlarger with two different negatives. Though it wasn’t quite the easiest thing to do it was manageable. Ultimately I would like to try to attempt to more prints like Uelsmann in the future.
The info I found on Uelsmann is from:
http://www.eyeconart.net/history/photography.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Uelsmann
Shannon Duncan / Fundamentals of Photography
Jerry Uelsmann
The photographer that I attempted to emulate is Jerry Uelsmann. I was drawn to Uelsmann because of his great surrealistic eye for art. But what specifically drew me too Uelsmann was his ability to take seemingly normal photographs and turn them into one mind-bending surreal print. From what I read on a couple of different websites is that Uelsmann would use several different enlargers with different negatives in each. He would then go to each developer exposing his paper to with the next negative while burning and dodging when needed. Uelsmann is seen as an innovator in photography because he ventured away from the normal documentary style of photography and priniting to his more surreal style.
What I attempted to emulate from his style of printing is how he would use several different negatives. I was drawn more to his techniques than the conceptual ideas behind his prints themselves. Being a graphics major, learning how to do some of his techniques (i.e. dodging and burning to blend different negatives) has helped me gain a greater appreciation for what I can do somewhat easily in Photoshop and Illustrator.
Uelsmann must have spent hours or weeks per print when he first started his style of printing because I spent three to four hours per each print and went through probably 25 pieces of paper. When Ueslmann would use up to 12 enlargers so he could easily move from one enlarger to the next, I used one enlarger with two different negatives. Though it wasn’t quite the easiest thing to do it was manageable. Ultimately I would like to try to attempt to more prints like Uelsmann in the future.
The info I found on Uelsmann is from:
http://www.eyeconart.net/history/photography.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Uelsmann
Jerry N. Uelsmann
At the beginning of this project I chose Martin Brent, but I soon found it difficult to imitate the types of pictures he captured in his photo. So, I decided to change my famous photographer. I begin searching in Google for famous photographers and I stumbled on a personality test to see which of the famous photographers I am most compatible with. That’s how I ended up with Jerry N. Uelsmann as my famous photographer.
The reason I stuck with this artist was because I was captivated by his photos. They had a graphic look in them which I found to be quite interesting. The fact he was able to accomplish the graphic effect just by printing photos is amazing. It’s pretty easy to achieve it with a computer, but by my personal experience I realized it is very difficult and a time consuming job to achieve perfection.
Being a graphic major I found his work fascinating in the aspect that is very similar to what we do in graphic arts. I didn’t know that you are able to create work by using more than one negative. Just like doing it in Photoshop we use different layers to create a close perfection to a master piece. In Photoshop is easy to overlay different picture in different lighting, to burn and dodge, or even erase. On the contrary, developing photos in the same sense, not so easy. It was a challenge to get the pictures to look half descent to be viewed. It was easy to come up with a technique to get the work done but to apply it in reality was most difficult.
Although I found this artist fascinating, imitating the way he developed his work was very exhausting and not really fun. I concluded from this project that choosing a graphics major instead of photography was the best thing I did for myself.
The reason I stuck with this artist was because I was captivated by his photos. They had a graphic look in them which I found to be quite interesting. The fact he was able to accomplish the graphic effect just by printing photos is amazing. It’s pretty easy to achieve it with a computer, but by my personal experience I realized it is very difficult and a time consuming job to achieve perfection.
Being a graphic major I found his work fascinating in the aspect that is very similar to what we do in graphic arts. I didn’t know that you are able to create work by using more than one negative. Just like doing it in Photoshop we use different layers to create a close perfection to a master piece. In Photoshop is easy to overlay different picture in different lighting, to burn and dodge, or even erase. On the contrary, developing photos in the same sense, not so easy. It was a challenge to get the pictures to look half descent to be viewed. It was easy to come up with a technique to get the work done but to apply it in reality was most difficult.
Although I found this artist fascinating, imitating the way he developed his work was very exhausting and not really fun. I concluded from this project that choosing a graphics major instead of photography was the best thing I did for myself.
Nov 1, 2008
Geoff Winningham
Proposal
My famous photographer is Geoff Winningham. I chose Geoff as a photographer because the gallery attracted my attention. He was also known as a filmmaker, and a journalist. His work of photography is different to other photographers. His photography dealt with all characteristics of Texas and most of them were taken in the 1970’s. This includes rodeo, high school football games, wrestling, livestock show and and majority of sports. I always wanted to shoot rolls about sports, and events. The majority of his photography was all black and white and using the 35 mm camera. Some of his printing styles were high in contrast and some of them low in contrast. Geoff Winningham’s work has a lot of meaning into it. I liked his way how he used his ideas, and his creativity to capture all of his images. By looking at all of his galleries on the Internet, I learned about Geoff Winningham.
My photography work will be about events in the Houston area. This work relates to Geoff Winningham’s photography work, but using my creativity and ideas to create this type of work.
My famous photographer is Geoff Winningham. I chose Geoff as a photographer because the gallery attracted my attention. He was also known as a filmmaker, and a journalist. His work of photography is different to other photographers. His photography dealt with all characteristics of Texas and most of them were taken in the 1970’s. This includes rodeo, high school football games, wrestling, livestock show and and majority of sports. I always wanted to shoot rolls about sports, and events. The majority of his photography was all black and white and using the 35 mm camera. Some of his printing styles were high in contrast and some of them low in contrast. Geoff Winningham’s work has a lot of meaning into it. I liked his way how he used his ideas, and his creativity to capture all of his images. By looking at all of his galleries on the Internet, I learned about Geoff Winningham.
My photography work will be about events in the Houston area. This work relates to Geoff Winningham’s photography work, but using my creativity and ideas to create this type of work.
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