Final Project Reflection: Pixel Pollution

I found the final project to be the most satisfying and thought provoking. At least for myself it was thought provoking, I'm not sure if the viewer took as much out of the images as I would have liked. For me the process brought up a lot of questions in terms what it actually meant to have the workflow that I did. This, in turn, brought up a myriad of questions about what exactly it means to live during a time of image saturation, where virtually all members of our society carry a camera of some form on themselves at any given time, and where we create virtual projections of ourselves through electronic images amassed on internet sites like flickr, facebook and myspace. This project pushed me to think about these things in depth and I had to consider what it meant to take unflattering portraits of people with a cell phone. Ultimately, I concluded that by creating the photo shoot from hell and capturing overly candid portraits, I was making a statement about this saturation of images. By taking these unflattering images that normally only exist in electronic form and giving them physical form I was eliminating the agency that people have come to recognize in projecting themselves through images. They could not simply untag or press a delete button. While this sort of image selfconciousness did exist before the rise of the digital camera (people simply deleted or destroyed undesirable photos of themselves), it was not as ubiquitous nor quotidiary as it is now; we hardly give a second thought the choices we exercise in representing ourselves through images. I don't view this as necessarily negative, but I did want to call attention to this phenomenon in my work. Because I beleive that the physical form of my photographs is crucial to their meaning, I've decided not to publish them on my blog as I prefer them to exist outside of the internet.

Mydan Gleaning

I feel that the commonly used phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" takes its roots from photographers like Mydans.  His pictures truly are a testament to the decisive moment approach to photography.  Each one of his images seems to capture an essential amount of information to convey to the viewer.  For example, the earthquake image in japan is captured at precisely the moment when the women's foot lands between two cracks in the asphalt as she desperately flees from the smoke and fire.  There is so emotion much captured in this image it is virtually impossible not to feel empathetic.  I think this holds true for all of Mydans' work, even his portraits of McArthur and Churchill are decisively captured to make a statement about their respective personalities.    

Panorama Reflection

This project was a really great way to explore photoshop. I almost wish we had done this project earlier in the semester, because this project really forced me to explore (and learn) the intricacies of photoshop. While I did enjoy learning about the capabilities of photoshop, I feel that I really enjoyed my image before I started modifying it. Nonetheless, my modifications brought a lot more narrative and interpretation to my piece and in that sense I am glad that I did it.

Also, while I do understand the framing critiques mentioned in class, I don't think I would go for a perfectly framed photo if given another chance. Simply put, it's not my style. Although my subject matter is obsessively compulsively ordered, I am not. I'm pretty much the antithesis. For me, this photo was all about the disconnectedness of a super market aisle with the rest of the world. There are hundreds of bottles on the shelf, but only one shopper. Cleaning items often promise natural and pleasant smells through decidedly unnatural combinations of chemicals.

Again, so even though I see how a more orderly frame could exploit this ocd feeling, I don't think that's necessarily what I would want. At the end of the day, I would be happy if my unusual framing of a quotidian scene caused people to pause and think about all this "xtra" stuff in the shopping aisle.

panorama

Elizabeth's Gleaning

For me these two readings both touch upon the same idea; identity as a performance. Rather than being born with our identities we are constantly tweak and act out how we want to be perceived. We constantly perform our gender, race and class in everyday life. The way I dress and act intimates something about all three of these. Thus from this I can see how an image and photography is crucial in constructing identity. Smith's article is a great example of how race and eugenics were performed through the use of photographic images. Images of healthy babies and genealogies reaffirmed people's middle classness and race by creating visual 'proof' of these characteristics. The sense of peril of losing the anglo saxon race further enforces the performative aspect of identity and it was the women, as the bearers of the race, who were the ones most involved in acting this identity out. Bell's reading also speaks to this performance when he describes how the camera allowed the black community to take charge of their identity and image. The camera allowed the black community to dispel the subordinate image presented by "salt shakers, cookie jars and pancake boxes."

Simply put, the image and the camera are a powerful weapons for creating identity. A modern example of this would be facebook, where each individual's profile contains images representing a person's "identity." These images are actively chosen by the individual, which shows how people are agents in creating, or performing, their own identities.

Gleaning

Riefenstahl's images are epic. That is the best way I would describe them. They turn her subjects into heroes. I can see how these pictures could easily be placed in a propaganda setting. Again, this speaks to the power of the image in influencing people, much like I discussed in the Errol Morris gleaning. These images are very compelling, but I can see how the historical context and controversy put a very unfavorable light on them and Reifenstahl. To me, it seems as if Reifenstahl was just trying to forward her own career, which meant that she got caught up in the Nazi regime. I do not believe she was whole heartedly a Nazi, since the New Yorker article describes her reaction as negative to the first jewish extermination in Poland. I think that things are not completely black and white in Riefenstahl's case, but I do not think that her images should suffer for it. They describe a certain period in history and even though it was a dark time, they should not be simply ingored or forgotten.

reflection free shoot/stop animation film

Looking at my freely shot images was a great exercise. It was a slightly strange experience to look at the connections that you have semiconsciously created with your images. While I was aware of what I was doing while creating individual images, I was completely unaware of an overarching trend. I feel that this was a great exercise in that it helped me learn more about my individual style, which helps me in creating future images.

The stop animation film was a very interesting process. While I am happy that I collaborated a good deal with my partner, it also became apparent that collaboration has its drawbacks. Specifically, I really wanted to reshoot the final scene, but ultimately did not because of my partner's wishes and time constraints. The timing and organization of this project could have been better, but we were the guinea pigs and it was an exciting experience. I would recommend, at the very least, a meeting with the music class at the beginning of the semester just to touch base and get ideas flowing early. I think that this would help ease this frantic rush to get things done at the end. But I did think that this was a great project, it has been my favorite project so far. Given that collaboration had some drawbacks, it was very satisfying to see my partner and I's vision come together synergistically.