History and Practice of Photography Fall 2013: October 2013

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Surrealism: You can't tell how to live my reality.

Title: "Hey dude, remember that dream I had about giant robots attacking and you were in the army; and for some reason we jacked someone's convertible to get away...."

Title: Murderous Mustache on the Loose!

Title: Internal Conflict

Surrealism: Conversations with Myself

Surrealism: Defying Laws of Physics

Water Pouring...Or Is It?

Leaning Against The Floor

Upside-Down Shadow

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Friday, October 25, 2013

Homage to Henri Cartier-Bresson

Dad's Footsteps

If Today

by; Mayumi Gellada Amargo

Thursday, October 24, 2013

The Shift of Art to Exhibition Value According to Walter Benjamin

In Walter Benjamin’s exerpt of his essay "In the Age of Mechanical Production" he discusses how art’s authenticity and aura, or cult value, has degraded and become less used because of arts technological development and mass reproducibility. With this development, a new mode of communication through technological developments is used in art. This is exhibition value, and has become the core relationship of how photography and film have impacted the with the way viewers receive the image or film. Benjamin argues that we have shifted from an emphasis of ‘cult value’ to this ‘exposition value.’ He states, “photographs become standard evidence for historical occurrences, and acquire a hidden political significance” (47). In other words, society has transitioned art from remembering loved one’s faces in early photography portraits, to an incorporation of photography and film as political and visual evidence for the masses.The photograph I choose was of a black and white 1950’s drive in theatre. The eye is drawn to the two actors on the screen waving and smiling. We do not know the plot or even the movie title; there is no caption. Below the movie screen 1950’s cars are parked and the eye moves to a convertible with two people’s heads staring up at the screen. As an observer of today, we see how this photograph captures a time period and serves as visual evidence of the past, but not apart of the time and space, the photographer, or even film. This therefore demonstrates Benjamin’s idea of how film and photography both use exposition value to entertain the masses, and simultaneously as evidence of how aura and authenticity is decaying where as exhibition value is the new wave of art.

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/184358.html

Is authenticity compromised with reproduction?

According to Walter Benjamin, writer of “Extracts from the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction,” authenticity is compromised with any form of art reproduction. Photographical reproduction of paintings and other works of art are inauthentic because these replicas lack the “presence of the original” (Benjamin 1935). He witnessed the rise of mechanical reproduction in the 1900s and claimed that it had “cause[d] the most profound change in impact upon the public.” The most traditional forms of art were then (and now) starting to diminish from the popular culture because of the widespread duplication. Perceptions of the artworks also began to change overtime due to the variations in size, color and clarity in all the replicas.

According to the author, authenticity can never be reproduced because “even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.” This topic related back to our class discussion about photographic truth, but in a different context. Are these photographic replicas of paintings or other photographs as truthful/genuine as the original one? Will the viewers feel the same way when they view both the original work and a reproduced copy? Take this image as an example. It is a photographed version of Michaelangelo’s “The Last Judgement” found inside the Sistine Chapel. This photo is sold as postcards all over the world, most especially in the Vatican. This postcard is nowhere near as impressive as the original piece. Yes, you can see most of the elements of the painting, but you do not get the same effect as if you see it in person. Many people believe that keeping a copy of this postcard will remind them of the magnificence of the masterpiece. Well, I strongly disagree. I concur with Benjamin when he claimed that reproduction continuously depreciates the quality and value of the original piece. All the postcards being distributed all over the world is compromising the authenticity of Michaelangelo’s work.

--By Kimberly Martin

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Walter Benjamin's essay on Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction mentions the use of reproduction in Art and what that does to the work of Art itself. He states that for paintings, there is an aura that can be captured which cannot remain in reproductions. For Photography, however, Benjamin Walter states that there is no sense of aura to the photo because it is unlike a painting and has no real aura as it is simply a copy of something in real life. Yet, if he states that there is no aura to a photograph, does that mean that if there are reproductions of an image, it will not affect the photograph?

The photograph here is titled, "U.S. Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima" (1945) The photograph was taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945 and depicts five marines and one navy corpsman as they raise the flag on top of Mount Subirachi during World War II. What is beneath them is unclear, however, it depicts U.S. marines striving to raise the flag on top for the fight for freedom and the representation of the United States. The marines seem to be struggling to raise the flag but are determined. The weather behind them appears to be cloudy and it seems to be windy by the way the flag is moving in the wind.

I chose this photograph because it is one of the most popular and known photographs to ever exist. Since its publication, constant reproductions have been made from sculptures depicting the scene, to over a thousand reproductions made throughout the years. The image became so popular and significant that it even won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography. My question is, however, does a Photograph such as this depiction of war, which has become so renowned, lose it's significance after so many reproductions? Or does it instead strengthen its significance?

Friday, October 11, 2013

Photojournalism and the Photographer's Eye

According to Henri Cartier-Bresson, the Photographer’s Eye is the photographer’s ability to see and to show the audience something in a special way; the ability to see an image and the potential behind it at first sight, not just the image. Cartier-Bresson states that “the photographer's eye is perpetually evaluating,” constantly examining things and our surrounding. In everyday life when trying to find a photo subject we find and focus on specific subjects within our perception of reality with our eyes. When taking a photograph the camera’s only task is to record the image on film. At any given moment, in any time or place, there are countless opportunities for a photographer to make an interesting photograph. The “eye” is the ability to "see" such photographs in our mind before they are made.

I found the photograph above in a digital photography contest website. It was taken by an artist by the online alias bspurgeon. The photograph is titled “Skipping to Nirvana.” The photo is of two little girls skipping through a brick tunnel. It is a black and white photograph with high contrast. The high contrast enhances the dark shadows and intensifies the bright light at the end of the tunnel. This high use of contrast darkens the image of the little girls creating a silhouette like effect while creating a vignette as well. The title of this photograph “Skipping to Nirvana” strongly relates to the photo composition itself. In the photograph the two little girls are skipping away from the camera to what appears like the end of the tunnel. The end of the tunnel is very bright and lit up which emphasizes the idea of a place of complete bliss, delight, and peace; Nirvana. The fact that the silhouettes of the young girls appear so small and far away from the camera show how the photographer stalled or waited until his subjects were close to the end of the tunnel in order to modify the perspective. By doing so he was able to capture the decisive moment that adds both form and life to his photograph. Even though there is movement implied in bspurgeon’s photograph he was able to seize the one moment at which the elements in motion were in balance. bspurgeon was able to capture the excitement and joy of skipping freely like a child through the drastic tilt of his shot.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Photographic Reportage by Eric Spencer

What is Photographic Reportage exactly? Henri Cartier-Bresson seems to deliberate his thoughts regarding what this concept means. He writes "sometimes there is one unique picture whose composition possesses such vigor and richness and whose content so radiates outward from it, that this single picture is a whole story in itself." Henri Cartier-Bresson wrote with such eloquence, he is essentially satin that the picture one uses to report with has to be self explanatory. Anyone who has experience viewing famous pictures from the Vietnam War can recall the picture of the vietcong soldier getting executed or the naked girl running down the street. These pictures are examples of photographic reportage. In either of the pictures it is very clear what is occurring and the photographer by whatever faculties manages to instill a kind of out of body experience that the subjects are experiencing. It is not readily available to recognize how much skill and courage the photographer needs to capture this moment in the way that is most effective for viewing.

Here is this unpleasant image of the vietcong prisoner being executed. It's a horrific picture however it gets the point across. Bresson said "the picture-story involves a joint operation between the brain, the eye, and the heart. It's true that when a normal person looks at this image a symphony of affective responses occur between all the aforementioned human faculties. The executor looks like this task is trivial as he stands with militant bravado. A soldier in the background looks stressed out for he will witness a human being executed for the however many-ith time yet even so for him watching death never gets easier. We can tell business is not usual, that marshal law is being enforced as there is no commercial/day-to-day living activity. There is debris in the street so it is presumable that people aren't doing so great monetarily and most likely emotionally as well. Lastly plaid shirt id just about to be dispatched forever and his flinching communicates that he is stressed out as well. there is nothing calm or serene about this person; this is real life.
The reading talked about when the photographer works the amount of precision has to be sufficient or else the reality of the situation wont be as effectively portrayed. Not only is the photographer interacting with the reality of the situation the photographer has to know which material is essential and which material is not. Bresson talks about how there is an over abundance of "shootable" material and the good photographer is the one who is able to discern good content from great content. Let's just try and be less violent as a population so photographers can photograph other things.

Photojournalism and the decisive moment

"I believe that, through the act of living, the discovery of oneself is made concurrently with the discovery of the world around us, which can mold us, but which can also be affected by us." -Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a lifelong French photographer that started first taking pictures at the turn of the century. Going through his own collection of photographs one day, he had the idea that pictures can convey a story. And by 1947, he and a group of freelance photographs began creating what would be the world's first real attempt at photojournalism. Taking pictures of events to later be sold to foreign magazines and newspapers. "Photo-reporting" is unique in that it combines shooting things as they are but as a photograph being able to introduce your own heart, eyes, and brain. This raw style captures truth and messages that can be conveyed across multiple languages despite country of origin. The decisive moment as Cartier-Bresson refers to is the click; the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of it's elements represented. Photos can tell us many things about truth but can reveal new mysteries entirely.

The photo above was taken January 4,2013 by the ISS Crew Earth Observations: 34th Expedition above the Pacific Ocean near Japan. The International Space Station provides astronauts and researchers a unique chance to perform experiments in zero gravity as well as collect and survey data about our planet from a (space)bird's eye view. Reporting from this vantage point we can collect a true sense of what our planet is like in terms of scale and consistancy. This is an ariel photo taken while in orbit of stratocumulus clouds rolling over the ocean. From this height we can see the curvature of the Earth as well as space surrounding Earth.The cloud formations are a result of warm air moving over cold ocean water. The mixture of hot and cold air causes the clouds to swirl and rise into the patterns shown. In the edges of the photograph we can make distinctions on which areas of the planet are receiving more light than others. We can also make out the atmosphere of the earth as well as a thin layer of pollution.
-C.Taylor