Montage Exercise

Steven Miesel

On the flip side, there's fashion photography. I never thought I'd be taken by such a genre, however, this artist brings to light the dangers, ironies, and quirks that are fashion, the fashion industry, beauty, and 'women.'

WeeGee (Arthur/Usher Fellig)

These images are shocking, but funny to me because they expose what society wants to cover up. They show us for what we are. They also mediate between the two different worlds (crime, night vs respectable society "day-workers").

Revised Ideas for Folio

I realised during my research that I am actually interested not so much in self portraiture, but conceptual photography. While trying to look up artists who made statements using objects I keyed in self portraiture, abstract portraiture, abstract photography. Then while browsing flickr I noticed a photographer who interested me and was exactly what I was looking for http://www.davenitsche.com/ .

So obvious, but it alluded me! My self-portrait, which did not include my own image, was a pre-designed concept. I wanted to capture an idea of myself using an arrangement of objects. Which, my research is making clearer, is what conceptual art/photography is all about.

Re-View

I visited the NGVI on the 1st of April to view the Re-View exhibition. A small collection of photographs spanning the 170 year plus history of photography. Amongst this collection was a Talbot, an Adams, a few Man Ray. This collection held many genres and themes, which included street photography, portraiture, landscape, abstraction, conceptual, and still life photography.

I read the comments and analisese under each photo that appealed to my interests. I found these most interesting. Here are some of my thoughts regarding these descriptions and the photographs:

Frano Fontana 1978.

A photograph of the landscape, once stripped of its recognisable attributes, becomes a familiar abstraction.

Lee Friedlender NEW YORK 1964.

He captured “people and people things.”

Roger Mayne YOUNG SMOKERS 1956.

He captured the feel of a place. In this case his favourite street.

Man Ray NO TITLE (STUDY FOR BOOK COVER) 1933

This is a self portrait sans the naked image of the artist. He presents himself as a cast head alongside the reflections of some of his belongings.

Paul Strand MAN, FIVE POINTS SQUARE NEW YORK 1916.

This candid photo of a dishevelled pedestrian was captured using a concealed camera.

Adolph Braun NO TITLE (FLOWER STUDY) 1854.

Intriguingly soft but clear contrast. He stated that he used small stops, and exposed the film for half an hour, with the flower arrangement sitting in direct sunlight.

Julia Margaret Cameron JULIA JACKSON 1864.

A portrait of a woman in period dress, her face averted from the lens and turned to the dark, only her neck and ear are touched by the highlights.

Boyd Webb PLACEBO 1989.

The information panel below this photograph of a highly staged and plastic composition of toy ducks on ‘water’ spoke of the ‘tyrannical’ effect modern humans have on animals.

Martin Parr COMMON SENSE 27 1997.

An image of candy pigs hung above Parrs admission that photographers were all “exploitative, voyeuristic, and biased.”

I enjoyed this exhibit and have now been inspired to visit the Centre for Contemporary Photography.

In Class Assessment for Week 3

During class in week 3, we were asked to use RAW to enhance some of our photographs:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccafg/4444204973/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccafg/4444229381/

We were also asked to resize images to an appropriate, web-publishable size:

Link to Blogger Post.


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Ideas for Final Folio

Having thought about capturing an image of myself, without using my own image, was a very pleasant challenge, if not egocentric.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed it so much I'm thinking of developing the idea further, insofar as using objects, and elements of art to encapsulate parts of me. I noticed during my week or so of contemplation that there are many objects that can represent me, and an infinite number of ways to capture them.

I noticed my karate belts, snakes, the sun, the trees, soil, scales, death, amalgamation, white, oblivion, self hatred, pain... among many more (I'm sure), can be used to speak about what I am.

Now, I'll have to consider how I want to approach the topic. Do I want to be abstract? Do I want to highlight narrative? Do I want my images to be super staged? What kinds of effects might I implement? Will I use collage? How heavily do I want to edit? I suppose I'll go searching for more inspiration from other artists (not exclusively photographers).

Self Portrait

City Incursion + Family Breakfast

I have worked with these images in PhotoshopCS2. I've played with exposure, filter, calculation, contrast, hue/saturation, and level settings. I've also cropped all of these images from their original composition.

Images That Have Been Resized

Musings

I find I can take photo of something interesting, or I can take an interesting photo.

This is annoying because it means I need to have MUCH more skill to make my 'photo of something interesting' an interesting photo.

Before Class

Here are some Photos I've taken over the past 4 or 5 days.