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.

Krista's Gleaning--Annie Leibovitz

Images that capture an individual's quirks are personality are quite difficult to do. It really is quite difficult to capture something so dynamic in a static medium like photography. I think that Leibovitz has excelled at this in her portraits. It also helps that her subjects are public figures that we, as viewers, already have knowledge and preconceptions of: we tangentially know these people through various mediascapes. In this way Leibovitz's work is inextricably linked with the media, it either confirms what we already knew or it adds to what we didn't. Either way her choice to use these public figures imbues her work with a great deal of cultural value and meaning. The most interesting part of Leibovitz's work, for me, is how she chooses to manipulate or play with these public personas.

I really enjoyed Leibovitz's portraits and I would like to see some more of Leibovitz's work depicting normal or unknown individuals. It would be great to see how she uses her photographic niche without as much cultural attachments.

Playing catch up...flesh (finally)

Playing catch up...The True Meaning of Pictures

This movie was incredibly provocative. Every single person I have talked to who has seen this movie has felt very strongly about this movie in one way or another. The movie is so polarizing because Shelby Lee Adams' images and work are so provoking. Since everyone seems to take a stance on his work, it would be appropriate that I do the same. Personally, I do not see Adam's work as exploitative of his subjects because of the strong relationship he has with them. There is no way that Adams' would have been able to capture (or create) these images without such a strong bond. What I found particularly interesting about Adams' work is that he saw it as representational of Appalachian culture. He took that idea even further by claiming it as self-representation. For me, this is more legitimizing than Adams' relationship with his subjects because, he is representing Appalachia as a member of the culture and because he obtains the approval of his subjects before publishing. By incorporating his subjects into the editorial process he is allowing for a certain degree of self representation. I think problems begin to arise when these photos are presented to a population that does not share the same values as Adams' subjects. There is a simple dissonance of values between the subjects and the viewers. I think that viewers must be cognizant of this difference when viewing these images, otherwise they place too many of their own values upon the images.

happening on the frame

Stop Animation Movie (no sound)