Lecture #6

4-13-09

Derick Holt


Derick Holt graduated from VCU in 2001 from the Graphic Design department. His work is extremely inspired by vintage prints, old maps, etc. After graduating from college, he started working in a restaurant, and ending up designing advertisements for them. That's where his inspiration for vintage started; from researching old restaurant menus, and what not to get ideas. This also helped him open the doors into advertising in general. Looking at his work, you definitely can feel the vintage inspiration.

His work feels extremely layered, and placed; and yet at the same time very organic. Each image feels complete. With graphic design, I usually think it's not as involved with the artist's touch... I feel like a lot of graphic design work is very detached from the artist's hand. However, with Derick, you can see his hand, his signature touch, in all of his work. Overall, it was interesting seeing a lecture from a department outside of photography/film. Seeing and hearing the way a graphic designer thinks, gets inspired, and works was very interesting because it is so different from the way I think.

Topic Entry #14

Color


“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.” - Georgia O'Keefe



"Light and Color in Photography" Photography.com, http://www.photography.com/articles/color-light/light-and-color-in-photography/

This article explains the use of color in photographs. It explains color as perceived by a viewer, as well as color changes at different times of day, as well as natural light vs. artificial light.

The use of color in my photographs has become more and more important over the past several months. At first, I didn't think the color scheme was as important; but the colors in my photographs have become a huge factor in the placement of my work both as pairing images for the diptychs, as well as placement on a wall for viewing. There's a bright contrast in the imagery with color; from bright, vibrant, bold colors as compared to more dulled down colors. I think the colors in the imagery help speak for the several different aspects to the lives of my subjects.

Artist Entry #14

4-20-09

Jocelyn Lee

Jocelyn Lee is a photographer living and working out of Berkley California. She has stated that "I photograph because I am interested in people, what it means to be alive, and how we make sense of the world. " She photographs people in the place they live confronting that place and the situation they find themselves in. She has drawn most of her work from her Maine, and they show how important the enviroment is to portraiture. You can see the trust her subject put in her, most of them being completely nude. Her workis very graphic and informative. She has very raw images of her subjects, even including a women giving birth. The light in her portraiture is always very strong, but natural.



Artist Gallery
http://www.pacemacgill.com/

Artist Website
http://www.jocelynlee.com/index.html

Artist Interview
http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/feature/interview_lee.html

Topic Entry #13

4-16-09

Deadpan Photography

"Engaging yet ambiguous, deadpan photography provides a refuge from emotion in a time of worry" - Greg Cook





Cook, Greg; "Here's Looking at You"; http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/11/04/heres_looking_at_you/


This article talks about the rise of deadpan photography in contemporary art. He writes about Claire Beckett, who says that her deadpan asthetic came about from her use of a medium format. She says that with the time it takes to set up the camera and get the positioning right, the subject has warn off the nervous feelings and becomes in a neutral state. He describes deadpan as cool, matter of fact, detached imagery.

The deadpan asthetic has come up in my work; also I think because of my use of a medium format camera. However, I did want to produce some of the imagery very straight forward, with the subject left completely as is. I used this asthetic more with objects and spaces rather than people. I felt that the spaces needed to be read exactly how they were, untouched, because of the stories they produce by just being looked at.

Artist Entry #13

4-13-09

Alec Soth







Alec Soth is an American photographer born in 1969. He is a traveling photographer who has documented many people traveling around america. His work has been in multiple solo and group exhibitions. In Sleeping by the Mississippi, he traveled around Minnesota, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri and shot with an 8x10 camera. He shot dead pan portraits and stale, lonely still lifes. His work has given me a lot of insight and reminds me a lot of what I'm going for. He's really good at capturing details and portraits of lifestyles.

Artist Website
http://www.alecsoth.com/index.html

Artist Gallery
http://www.npg.si.edu/

Artist Interview
http://seesawmagazine.com/soth_pages/soth_interview.html

Topic Entry #12

4-9-09

Diptych

“It is clear that this point is the ‘peripety’ or reversal of the action, and that the play falls into the form of a diptych, the first half tragic in direction and the second half comic.” - Northrop Frye

Xu, Denise J., "‘Diptych’ Finds Depth in Duality", 10-14-07, The Havard Crimson, http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=520048

This article is a review for a play called Diptych. The play was modeled after the traditional presentation of art; having two actors, a stage set with two wooden frames which the actors were placed, and having the actors conveying the same emotions but in their own individual ways. This play was as if it was a diptych piece of art brought to life. Diptychs are usually two separate images that are displayed together. Sometimes completely different images that relate to one another, and other times to separate images but when placed next to eachother make a larger image.

I have decided recently to try out using the diptych presentation with my work. I feel as though some of my images are strong enough on their own; but I think they're real strength relies on being displayed with one another. I want the viewer to be able to view multiple images at the same time and relate them with one another to have a more complete story.

Anderson Gallery Submission

Lecture #5

"Carnival Within- An Exhibition Made in America" - Gregory Volk

This was a really interesting lecture. It covered an exhbition, from the initial idea for the concept of the exhibition, to picking out the artists, to the set up of the space and finally showing the actual show. He and his crew were asked to put on an "America" show in Berlin Germany. They decided on trying to do a play on a traveling carnival show. To build inspiration, they looked through artists like Andy Warhol, Diane Arbus and drew up connections to their work and carnivals; and were then able to more clearly select artists for their show.

Then ended up having the show in an empty factory with which they set up like a carnival. The artists they chose all had relations to carnivals/carnival culture in their work. One of the artists even had a set up carousel. They had a former VCU sculpture student in the show with a sculpture of a skeletal superman hanging from the ceiling. They left the space relatively free and open for people to walk through as if they were at a real carnival. The video instillations were set up out in the open, rather than hidden away in seperate rooms like they normally are, so that you could see them from across the exhibition space like you would see an attraction from across a carnival, and it draws you to it. I think they did a really good job of taking this initial idea and carrying it out through the final show.

Artist Entry #12

4-06-09

Vladimir Birgus



Vladimir Birgus was born in 1954 in Czechoslovakia. He is a member of the European Society for the History of Photography. He photographs strong, colorful graphic images from all around the world. His images have rich natural light and interesting subject matter; the locals of all of the different countries he travels to.

Artist Website
http://www.birgus.com/

Artist Gallery
http://www.phpweb.cz/en

Artist Review
http://www.amazon.com/Photographic-Avant-Garde-1918-1948-Vladimir-Birgus/dp/0262025167

Lecture #4

Julie Sanders
Senior Art Producer at Martin Agency



Julie Sanders gave a lecture today for hopeful photographers. She is the head Art Producer for the Martin Agency, so all of the photographers who hope to work for them go through her first. She then handpicks the photographers for each campaign. In this lecture, she explained what it is that art producers look for in photographers. She said that the best way to start moving your way up in the business is networking; networking is key. The second top thing to do is constantly rebuilding your portfolio. Agencies don't want to keep seeing the same work over and over, they're interested in change and the growing of a photographer.
She then gave us tips on how to get yourself noticed. First of all, she reccommended studying up on whoever is the person you're trying to get hired from, and to keep in touch. If they mention something personal about themselves, like a sick dog or something, to remember it for the next time you call and bring it up to them. She said it's very important to make yourself seem like you're genuinely interested in their lives as well. She also mentioned sending out monthly mailers to job hopefuls; and to make them noticeable. She showed us the huge stack of mailers she gets every month, and explained which one's really caught her eye and why. She then ran us through a basic job; from the estimates, to the preproduction, actual shoot, and post.

Topic Entry #11

4-2-09

Intimate

"Passion is the quickest to develop, and the quickest to fade. Intimacy develops more slowly, and commitment more gradually still." Robert Sternberg



Crowe, Roewan "Luminous Gestures of Intimacy: The Photographs of Sarah Crawley"

In this article, Crowe critiques the intimate photographs of Sarah Crawley. In her work, she photographed images of herself and her lover in an abstract way. Part of her inspiration for this intimate work was thinking back on obsession and her childhood memories. She went home and told her lover all these stories, they then stayed up all night and shared stories with eachother. It was this that inspired her to portray that intimacy through her work.

I want my photographs to feel intimate, not in the sexual connotation of the word. I have a more intimate relationship with these people than do other non-immigrants do. I feel as though I started out an outsider, but over the last year have built a relationship of trust that I hope to portray through my imagery.

Artist Entry #11

3-30-09

Alexey Titarenko











Alexey Titarenko is a Russian photographer who was born in 1962. He continuously worked through the fall of the Soviet Union, and captured this huge event through the city of St. Petersburg. He uses prolonged exposures to create ghostlike figures wafting through the city; they really showcase the mood of the area in the early 90's. He has dubbed his unique style "metaphorical photography". His work has been exhibited all around the world.


Artist Gallery
http://www.davidgallery.net/Artist.cfm

Artist Interview
http://www.lensculture.com/titarenko.html

Artist Website
http://www.alexeytitarenko.com/

Topic Entry #10

3-26-09

Tableau



"The simple tableau is so rich with meaning that whether represented on the mantelpiece or in the mind, it seems suspended, complete unto itself, somewhere in eternity." - Lucinda Franks

Cotton, Charlotte; "the Photograph as Contemporary Art", Chapter 2 "Once Upon a Time"

This is actually a chapter of a book that my former teacher had us read to illistrate each movement of art photography that we had photo assignments on. I specifically remember this chapter on Tableau photography. She delves completely into tableau photography through the big name photographers over the last century. She talks about the storytelling many contemporary art photographers use, some referencing fables, fairy tales, etc; and others simply creating a photograph that has a story for the viewer to come up with from the imagery given. She also shows how though most of the photographs come from a fuller body of work, they are able to stand alone as well.

I want to start shooting in a way that I can tell a story, like the tableau style. I have so many stories that I've seen, heard and experienced, and it's been hard trying to capture all of those things in a single photograph the way many photographers are capable of. I hope to be able to translate the stories more effectively in my work, and hopefully the body of a work as a whole will translate.

Artist Entry #10

3-23-09

Olivia Arthur








Olivia was born in London in 1980 and grew up in the UK. She studied mathematics and photojournalism in college. She was invited to live in Italy for a year, where she shot the series " the middle distance" (which the images I've posted are from), which covers the wide range of women who reside in the middle of Europe and Asia. She's received many awards at such a young age, and continues to travel and shoot around the world. Her work is very inspiring to me, and has the quality that I'm striving for with my work. She is fantastic and really catching the mood of the space, and pays very close attention to all of the little details that make a photograph special. She continues to work on a long term project on women caught in the East vs. West divide.

Artist Website
www.oliviaarthur.com

Artist Gallery
http://events.magnumphotos.com/taxonomy/term/158/0

Artist Review
http://vervephoto.wordpress.com/2008/04/07/olivia-arthur/

Topic Entry #9

3-19-09

Documentary

"I believe that documentary photography is a form of art... Somebody wrote that one of the most general explanations of art is that art is an expression of the human soul. That is exactly what documentary photography is. Otherwise it is not documentary." - Rob Hornstra




James Curtis, "Making Sense of Documentary Photography," History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web, http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/Photos/, June 2003.

This course really goes in depth into documentary photography. From the history, to how to analyze the photographs, to modern documentary photography. He talks about how photographs are used for history, and how people assume that they are reality. He fights for the viewpoint that photographs should not be simply illistrations, and accompany historical texts; but should rather be investigated as history themselves.

Documentary photography is the route I am taking with my images. I don't want distort the reality of my subjects at all. I'm very interested in catching moments without posing, and trying to capture what is the reality of these people.

Artist Entry #9

3-16-09

Rob Hornstra







Rob Hornstra doesn't consider himself a photographer, but rather a documentary maker. His main interest has been in documenting the post-soviet countries after the fall of communism. In his work for "101 Billionaires" he tried to disprove the idea that Russia was flourishing and rich since the fall of communism, and showed a stark, honest portrait of the country with his stills and portraits. I was particularly drawn to a quote I read in an interview of his.. he said

"People are reading less newspapers and magazines and, because of that, less articles about difficult or far away subjects. Many people are only watching crap on television, or they read gossip magazines. I believe that if you know more about different people, different regions, different countries, different cultures that your consciousness will be higher and your prejudices towards others will be lower, which will lead to a better world."

He said this after being asked about his documentary work and the risk of sacrificing it's depth; and I agree with him wholeheartedly. He is currently living and working in the Netherlands.


Artist Interview
http://www.jmcolberg.com/weblog/2008/11/a_conversation_with_rob_hornst.html

Artist Website
http://www.borotov.nl/

Artist Gallery
http://www.natmus.is/english

Topic Entry #8

3-12-09

Subculture

"No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive. “ Mahatma Ghandi



Subculture, http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Subculture

This article explains all about subcultures.Subcultures are groups of people with some underlying similarity, whether it be race, religion, or interests. It says that the study of subcultures is a lot of times crossed with the study of symbols attached to the members of them.
On the outside, a regular person see's this group of people as foreign, different, and often view them with thinking of certain stereotypes. My approach to showing my post-soviet subculture, is not to stereotype, but to open this community to the outside world to view, relate, and experience.

Artist Entry #8

3-8-09

Henri Cartier-Bresson






Henri was born in France in 1908. He is known around the world for his exploration of the "decisive moment". His images captures subjects right about to carry out, or readily in a certain action. Many of his images seem to carry the same tension within the photograph, and are details of human life. He was a snap shooter, and always used available light. He stopped taking photographs in the 70s, and devoted the rest of the time to painting and drawing.

Artist Website
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/bresson.htm

Artist Gallery
http://www.moma.org/

Artist Interview
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/3615

Topic Entry #7

3-5-09

Decisive Moment



"the decisive moment, it is the
simultaneous recognition, in a fraction
of a second, of the significance of an
event as well as the precise organization
of forms which gives that event
its proper expression." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Unknown Author, "Henri Cartier-Bresson", http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/bresson.htm

This article is written about one of the founders of the photography concept of the "decisive moment". It talks about Henri's approach to photography, the snap shots of street life, and trying to catch moments in life and preserve them. They show the beginning of an action, right in the middle of it, and when the subject usually has no idea what they are doing is of any importance at all.
I am working to be there to capture these decisive moments within my project. I'm trying to have my camera ready and with me at any and all outings to try to catch them. I want some of the images to carry that mood, where something is in the process of being done, an action is being carried out, or right about to be carried out.

Lecture #3

3-4-09

Amy Stein





I was extremely impressed with Amy Stein. I had seen her work, oddly enough, years ago when I was in high school as an aspiring photographer. I saw her image of the child with american flag socks on the beach as a contest winner, and remember loving the image, and wanting to submit my work into contests, and wanting to see my work published. Her two series, Stranded and Domesticated were both absolutely captivating.
I was more drawn personally to her Domesticated series. The serene scenes of wild animals in these strange, normal neighborhood enviroments. I love her use of stuffed animals. The poses they are in seem so real, but the lighting is so perfect you can tell they were set in the same pose for a long time. I completely admire her drive to get the images she wants, and to really get out there and do whatever she could to get the shot. Like for the Stranded series, driving around for hours hoping to find someone broken down on the side of the road. Overall her images all have the same great quality, and eerie lighting, and all carry the same serene mood.

Artist Entry #7

3-2-09

Nan Goldin






Nan Goldin is probably the queen of the snapshot aesthetic. She is world renowned for her images of New York subcultures. She completely immersed herself in these cultures, sucked into the life of drugs and drinking, and just snapped photos of her friends. The images are extremely raw and honest, and show a live of drugs and sexuality that really wasn't shown in the public before her. She currently works and lives in Paris and New York.

Artist Website
http://www.artnet.com/artist/7135/nan-goldin.html

Artist Gallery
http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/goldin_nan.php

Artist Review
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE2D71531F93AA35751C0A9679C8B63