The Epic Culmination Post of My Feelings About This Blog

For my last post, I decided to write my feelings about the blog. The blog was a hassle to do, but a much worth hassle. Blogging about my progress and my projects was uninteresting, and the fact that the only other persons blog i had was biancas to look at, watching other peoples progress and their influences did not go over to well. However, the blog influenced how I thought and percieved photography.
At first I blogged about the few photographers i knew, or had seen in a magazine etc. Once that ran dry I had to actively look for photographers to blog about. In doing that, I was able to see the extreme variety of works being done. It showed me how my traditional thought of photography was limiting my ability to even think in the most creative way. That is why I blogged about all the artists who were doing stuff that just amazed me. This blog forced me to look outside of what I know and absorb all types of influences that I would have never found on my own. To be able to see some of the things that are possible when it comes to photography really pushes what I try to think of. All the artists I found and looked at made me more interested in photography and expanded my mind on what photography really encompasses. This blog was a chore well worth doing.

Matt Hoyle

Matt Hoyle is an interesting artist. After browsing his different series, one caught my eye, Barnumville. In this series, Hoyle did several portraits of contemporary side show performers. Some more performers than others, He has images of surly looking clowns, sword swallowers, gentle giants, the ghost girl depicted to the left, midgets, strongmen, and knife throwers.

Whats interesting about these portraits is that they are simple headshots against a neutral background. With only the figure to focus on, their individuality and uniqueness comes through. The portrait also puts more emphasis on who they are, not what they are. You cant tell that the fat lady is giagantic from her portrait, and you can bearly tell that the siamese girls are conjoined. You do see their expression, or lack thereof, and see the person more for who they are.

The ghost girl pictured is eeriely beautiful, with giant saucer eyes and a small pursed mouth, staring at the viewer. The same goes for the siamese twins. You see their beautiful faces, with scattered freckles about, and as you examine the image, you see that there is no seperation between their shoulders.

I like Hoyle's images because he took what people might have false preconceptions of, sideshow performers, and created a more intimate and personal look at them. You see them for who they are, not what they are, not sideshow freaks, but people.

joel peter witkin

Joel Peter Witkin is one wier photographer. He does these disturbing and surreal images, many which include deformed people as the subject matter. His photographs have a macabre feeling about them, and also a vintage one. Many of his images look like they come from an 1800's medical oddities book, or a behind the scenes look of sideshow freaks.

However, Witkin is a contemporary artist, and all of his images are only a few years old. His images are pure creepshow with twisted symbolism and often head turning imagery. Many of his images could be related to that of a car wreck, uncomfortable to look at, yet you cant help but stare.

As i have said before I love disturbing images and these are beautiful in their macabre creepiness.

Bill Durgin and his torsos

Bill Durgin has a rediculous idea. He has a series called figure studies, in which he uses nude models, who contort and fold themselves to appear surreal. I first saw one of his images in a magazine, and thought it was a cool idea to make these bodies without limbs etc. I thought that his work was sculptural. Now that I see its actual figures bent and contorted, I cant beleive it. Some of his images have people legs arms and head tucked in, so it appears that all is left is a square little torso. Or hell have them contort in a way to look as if part of their bodies are stuck in a wall.

The photos are simple enough, white gray blank setting, with one nude figure. Yet it catches your eyes right away. You look in disbelief at the images, trying to see if they are real or not.

Durgin is able to confuse the viewer and suspend their belief about what they are viewing, and take it as if torsos can exist in a space without any limbs. This optical illusion is extremely successful and awesome, especially since it fooled me.

Post Mortem Photography

Post Mortem Photography is one of the most freaky and disturbing types of photography ive come across. This deathly and weird feel from these old photos is what i wanted to achieve in my portfolio. Post mortem photos was most often used with babies, to make things all the more bizzare. To take a photo of a dead child, with flowers all over its coffin, is insane. And to think that this was a common practice in Europe.

I love images that can disturb you. Certain emotions are easy to get out of people through imagery like peacefulness, happiness, humor, horror. But to get deep emotions out of people, like enlightenment, sorrow, and disturbedness requires you to get to the center of the person and touch on values beliefs, morals and conventions. The image is creepy to those who view it, but to those who were related to the person in question, they would feel a sense of love and loss, not wierdness. Images that have the ability to move people are the most successful of all.

my photographic tastes

Whenever i have to do i new blog, i tend to just search online through images until i find one i really like, and then go to the artist from there. Regardless of the images, i am always pulled towards surreal photography.

i think my preference for surreal photography comes from the fact that i cant seem to comprehend the thinking and ideas that go into those images. My photos are bound by what my definition of what i can accomplish is. Therefore, when i see images that i just could never begin to think about, im immediately drawn to it. This is especially the case when it comes to combining elements to create an image. Building negatives, using props, digital images, drawn and painted pieces, all combining to create a photo.

I tried to do this in my last portfolio set, and i am surprised and pleased as to what i was able to do.

Julia Fullerton Batten

Julia F Batten makes some pretty interesting images. One series that caught me was a series called Teenage Stories. In it, she takes pictures of teen girls in city scenes. However, the girls in each photograph happen to exist in each scene as 500 ft tall people. Using detailed scale models, Julia builds sets, and then has the model exist in the scene, creating an akward image that compliments and conflicts. Some images look relatively correct at first glance, but then once you realize a girl is standing next a suspension bridge instead of a footbridge, the problem is realized.

The concept behind the images tells of the akward life of teens, and so by relating the size of the girl to the surroundings, the akwardness is visable. Some images are humorous, and some are a little disturbing, such as a girl discarded under a bridge with a deer. Or a girl on the side of a highway who was in a bike accident.

I especially like these images because at first i thought they were all digitally created, until i was able to look closer and realize that the scenes were in fact manufactured, and the girls photographed inside them. This just goes to show that there are very concrete ways of creating images, without having to be dedicated to working with all kinds of files and heavy editing.

How images influence art

Interestingly enough, just doing that last post made me see a mirrored path that is interesting and positive to me. I made a painting based on the viet cong execution photo, in a graphic style humorous way.

which i based off of a famous photo

and Ludak told me about this image

which just so happened to be also used as inspiration for a piece by my all time favorite artist Bansky

I had seen the bansky image before, yet i had no idea of its relivance until professor ludak mentioned that photo, having never seen it before until this point.

This coincidence makes me quite happy

photos that change history

I dont recall when the first time I saw the execution of a viet cong photo by eddie adams, but i always remembered it vividly. Its such an unbelievable and powerful image. Professor Ludak also commented on this famous image and then asked if I saw the Napalm girl image. This i had not and upon just looking for it, i realize how one image can become an iconic piece of history with more power to it than any story could. In looking I stumbled across a website that began collecting these images, and there just so unbeleivable. So, below i decided to put some of the most moving to me, images that just reflect so much information and sentiment, and really stir the person who views them.

Nick Ut

Malcolm Browne

Stuart Franklin Magnum

Yevgeny Khaldei

Bob Adelman

new project

SO, after completely tossing aside my other intended project, I haphazardly attacked the internet with a vague idea in my hand. after I aquired several old timey photographs, which i feel are eerie enough, i decided i would use drips of black ink to push the creep factor to the top, and make this images seem uncomfortable and weird. I resized all the images and printed them out onto left over acetate from last semesters project. then armed with a blow pen i shot black ink all over a new square of acetate to strategically place etheral caustic looking black spatters and drips coming out of people's mouths, seeping from edges, and coming out of their backs like misshapen wings. Then, during a 2+hr session of scanning, i aquired all the images in their digital form, and in another 2+hr sesh, i manipulated colors and inverse images etc. Now i have a collection of over 20 images to finally crop choose and print.






great success

Levi Van Veluw

Levi Van Veluw is awesome. He does all his work himself. His work is self portraits, and he uses his face and head as his canvas. The majority of his work has him applying things to his head and face to create his concept. By far, his most interesting series is his landscape series. He covers his head in model grass and trees, shrubs and animals. Another series he uses surface transfers. This means surfaces one would walk on, carpet, wood, and even gravel.

His concepts are so unique and awesome. There are so many individual aspects that go into each image, its hard to even say that he is a photographer. I dont even understand how he could do all this work himself. Not only that, every portrait looks near identical, making it seem like hes working with a manequin.

Whenever I see an artist that I blog about, There is always one thing in common. Theyre doing stuff that I wouldnt even be able to think of. All of their work is beyond my scope of imagination. When it comes to photography i cant seem to break out of a linear train of thought. Thats why all the artists I admire are doing things that are just plain unthinkable to me.

old portfolio concept

So my old portfolio concept came partly from Bianca's non stop graffiti attack. I took the idea and went similiar by photographing blank walls and then putting my own graffiti on it. But because of my school and work schedule, and the horrible weather, it has been impossible to be able to get the shots i want, and the time was shortening. After I finished my post photo editing project I realized that I could not settle on what i wanted to do, and the graffiti project would be even more time consuming. So, I have decided to drop this project, at the worst possible time, and move on and try and blow out a completely different and unrelated project.








here we go.

hit the wall

Im so tired of school. My scheduling for my last year is not working out, and i really dont want to do anymore painting or photos or any other project. I dont care about that anymore. I dont want to paint paintings or go searching for that shot, or picking up a pencil and trying to come up with an idea. I go to school and work and cant get anything done, nor do i want to. This semester is ending soon and its going to be hard since I dont care about anything I have to do.

Alessandro Bavari

Bavari is a surrealistic, horror/fantasy photographer who uses heavy editing and various techniques to create images that are just beyond the scope of my understanding of photography. As soon as I saw one of his images I had to check to see if it actually was a photograph and not a painting. His pictures are dark, disturbing and welcoming. He uses various components like tar glue, bones etc to collage his items to create his images. Then he uses photoshop to pull everything together. I didnt even know anything he does could ever be achieved using photoshop. His work blows me away. I wish I could paint like him, and even conceptually be like him.

Seeing his approach to photography just blows all the preconceptions and definitions I had of photography. I can only think in a linear thought, trying to see what photography will let me do, while Bavari seems to do what he thinks up, and makes the methods he uses work for him. His approach and style is something I could only hope to emulate.

the barbie girls of alex kliszynski

Alex Sandwell Kliszynski is a wedding photographer with an interesting side project.

He takes nude photos and edits them to appear like plastic jointed desexed dolls. This whole series creeps me out. By adding the joints and that awkward way dolls legs join to their pelvis, these images are surreal and bizzare. Why theyre so bizzare to me I dont know. However, this seems to be the artists only gallery of images on the website. I dont know if he is an artist starting down this path, or if this was just something he wanted to do, but I love it. Especially one image, in which the model has he legs seperated slightly from her "pelvis" allowing to see inside the hollow leg joints.

This series is just so surprising and intriguing, I really enjoy it.

Irving Klaw - Pinup photographer

Irving Klaw was one of the pioneer pinup photographers. Im not so interested in his work as I am modern pinup style artists, but since he was the beginning I decided to talk about him. His work is raw, and racey, often pornographic, but he created a concept that many followed in his footsteps. One of his biggest subjects was the famous Betty Page, whom got her stardom from her modeling with Klaw. His images are often gritty looking, and even seedy, as if no one should even be aware of the images. however, He used his style to launch his own mail order photo business selling these pinup shots.

This style is what is the most interesting. Its erotic, yet nostalgic, and has been seen everywhere from the nose of airplanes, to that old wrinkly veteran's arm, inked into his tanned skin. Pin up photography exploded during the time of the war, and many of these images were the posters that every soldier had in their locker. Not only that, it also was used to sell everything from cigarettes to automotives. Klaw started it all. I can only image the opposition that would be around to these images in the late 1930s. This style is still here today. the models change and so does their appearance, but the style lasts.

current work

For my final project and my portfolio i decided to use two ideas i had for the third project. one idea involves taking images of everyday situations and people, and then physically drawing on top of the people or setting characters like monsters or cartoony people. So if i take a picture of a guy pushing a shopping cart, ill draw over the guy to make it look like a creature is doing that. Hopefully that wont prove to be a unneccesarily tough task.

Second idea is taking photos of blank trucks vans walls etc, and then adding graffiti to the objects in a believable way. I took this idea because i saw bianca doing all types of graffiti stuff. So since i like to do graffiti, and am lazy, i can now make miniatures and do them up.

I dont know if im going to leave the photos in color or draw on black and white ones to really put emphasis. that will come later on.

fresh progress

SOOO, posting has not been one of my priorities. First up, we have progress. The second project for impossible imagery went by with moderate difficulty and success. Difficulties included the fact that i needed time and space to set up a tripod in order to keep everything perfect, while running into the shots. So because of that, two problems arose. Bad lighting, because the LCD display on my camera made the images seem brighter than they were, and poor focusing. Due to the fact that the camera has no ground glass lens, focusing became difficult, especially since i couldnt focus on myself at the same time. The auto focus provided blurry images, as well as the manual focused ones. however, once in photoshop, all the images were similar enough to make splicing a breeze, with the handy clone stamp.

as for the next project and portfolio, my ideas keep changing. I originally intended to continue the impossible image series for the portfolio but with the difficulties ive had before I decided against it. As for the third project, I planned on taking portraits and then drawing on them day of the dead style faces, but getting people and suitable lighting is not going to make things work well so I decided against that project as well.

Atiba Jefferson

ATIBA

Any skateboarder knows who Atiba Jefferson is. Many just know him by Atiba. He is the fore runner in skateboarding photography, as well as a largely popular photographer in the sports and music scene. Pick up any skateboarding magazine and there is a guarantee that at least 2 images in it will have been shot by Atiba. He uses big pan shots, close angled shots, and depending on what hes shooting, fish eye lenses. The fish eye lens is one of the staples of skateboarding photography, and also a nemesis of other modern photographers. Many photographers HATE fish eye lenses, but when shooting close up action shots involved in skateboarding, the fish eye allows you to get the subject, and the background being dominated.

At Atiba's point in his career, every skateboarder wants him to photograph their session. It is basically a right in passage of being a pro skater. Atiba can guarantee to make you look good in your shots. It helps that he is so versatile in his skill. He can get right up in a shot, or pull back and get huge panoramic shots, making the skating gaps huge. Now that he already is popular, everyone else wants to be shot by Atiba, whether its Kobe Bryant or the Neptunes.

Atiba shows that you can go from photographing your friends tricks, to being a highly demanded photographer in the skating scene.

A Work In Progress

As of this word >here<, I am 1/2 way done with my first project. It started out a tad rocky but has been smooth sailing so far, knock on wood. My diptych on criminal secrets is going well and the imagery has been compliant.

My second project concept is still chugging along, where all the impossible images are me against myself, basically me myself and I. The idea is basically sayings like, getting ahead of yourself, putting yourself down, torturing yourself etc. So it will really be me torturing myself.

ALSO my mommy just won a Pentax K10 D-SLR on the eBay, so now I have my own D-SLR coming in the mail to shoot with.







word.

The Ludak Experience

Recently, Professor Ludak had his work displayed in the Ice House and gave a presentation on his personal photographic journey.

The Presentation:
Ludak's presentation started out with his days of learning and ended up where he is now. However, there was so much in between. The amount of work Ludak did during his career is amazing. He traveled the world, getting images for political coverage, journals and magazines, and even companies like Apple. I was blown away by his travels and employers, and personal experiences. He really is lucky in being able to allow his photography to take him to so many places, even political hot zones. Not only that, he was maintaining his outside photography career as well. Those were only his hired gigs.

The Work:
The images Ludak presented were so simple, and yet unbelievably strong. He explains that hes never out to get a shot, he just stays observant and ready for the shots that arise, and from the amount of pieces he creates, he clearly has eyes like a hawk. All of his work is straight foreward with out manipulation or heavy reliance on editing. His result are these clean images that immediately catch the eye. One of my favorite images is one he shot in asbury, where a yellow curb complements a yellow building. I have seen and drove and skated on that very curve of road, and it has never looked as interesting as when Ludak had presented it.

Ludak's work and history was very surprising and interesting. His personal backstory was also quite surprising and the whole presentation was a great sucess.

JR

JR. That's about it. All I can say is that as soon as I saw his work in a magazine recently I was amazed. at first I thought his work was digitally done and did not exist as I saw it but I was wrong. Hes a pseudo-activist criminal photographer anonymous. He originally started out by finding a camera on the subway. He goes by JR because much of the work he does is illegal. He started with regular prints and was not interested in them, and realized he could make huge black and white prints in a cost effective way. He then goes out at night alone or with friends and "installs" these works. The majority of pieces are installed in high traffic public areas. The majority of images he uses are head shots or segments of the face. He uses these abrupt images to make a social commentary.

Some of his most awe inspiring work is the large faces he did on the Apartheid Wall called face 2 face, in addition to an image series using women's eyes on slum houses in Rio de Janiero, as well as women and children faces in Kenya. The Kenya installation makes a giant face divided up and posted on the roofs of the slum shacks, that get completed when a train with the rest of the face posted on it passes through.

In the Rio installation, he stayed in this favela, which is known for horrible murder and is run by guerillas, and interviewed and photographed the women, as they told their stories of hard lives and desire to live. Then he posted faces and eyes of these women on the house sides. When you view the acending favela from ground level your eyes are met with the stares of dozens of hardened and burdened eyes.

His work is so intense and amazing that I can say as of right now, he is my favorite photographer.



cool beans

Annu Matthew

The subject of this installment is Annu Matthew's exhibit. First off, her presented work in the 800 gallery was ingenious and conceptually great. The use of the lenticular prints was such a clever idea, even though it wasn't part of the initial concept. From her personal talk, it seems like as she began to work, little details that happened by chance aided her efforts. One concept was using large lenticular pieces rather than smaller ones, with less image line spacing. This then made the viewer have to stand back and physically move left and right to see the change, much like the subjects themselves moving back and forth between their personal lives.

In addition, the presentation she gave was an impressive addition to her already interesting work. My personal favorites were the satirical Bollywood movie posters. Not just the posters, but her employment of actual movie trailers and public ads on buses and walls are extremely clever. To be able to have people be able to see this art unknowingly, outside of theathers was a great idea. In addition to the posters, the time lapse images she presented at the very end were quite interesting and very creepy. The slow change of features and adding and removing of people was a very ghostly visualization.

In summation, the presentation and work presented by Annu was most impressive, and having the ability to view the gallery with her without others was a great addition.

Great Job!

frustration

So far, everything has been frustrating. I am constantly changing my ideas, and Im constantly changing them because Im not sure what is expected of the projects. Apparently I am still stuck in an analog way of thinking, because my solutions to both projects are basically point and shoot.

For the first project I was going to do harmless things with unknown dangers that could be associated with them, but the analog vs digital aspect seems to be lost and only approached as how the picture is taken, instead of it adding to the concept as a whole.

The second project I want to do situations in which I am every character in said situation. For example, I would be robbing myself or about to really hurt myself while I sit by and watch helplessly, Or me, myself and I stuck in a mexican standoff. Another idea is a wholesome dinner served up by me in an apron and oven mitts while I sit at the table reading the paper and little me plays on the kitchen floor waiting for dinner. I like this idea and feel it can be really interesting depending on the situation, but once again, it is basically point and shoot.

So with photo class tomorrow I am unsure as of what I'll be doing or what I even need, not to mention I have yet to hear from Anne about said proposals and lack of understanding.







Oh shucks.