Progress

I was interested in photographing the process of things. I wanted to look at motion and the way the body moves when in motion. I also wanted to look at this from different vantage points. At first, I was obsessed with the idea of voyeurism, and shooting it accordingly. But, as I was photographing, I realised that there were photographs that just didn't make sense for a voyeur to look at. So, I then focused more on the action rather than making it look creepy. This project really pushed me to look at things differently, to think before I shoot and to understand which vantage point works best. Before I took each picture, I would think of the different angles and also shoot the same motions in different angles (if what the subject was doing allowed me to do so). I think if I were to continue with this project, I would focus more on the content. Perhaps I would split it into two - dissecting simple motions (i.e. walk, run, dance) and dissecting private moments. 

Carl Mydans

"Unlike, say, Smith, who planned his pictures in sequences and fought over how they would be laid out on the page, Mr. Mydans specialized in getting one picture that told the story by itself. As a result, he proved most useful to Life's editors when space was tight and news was breaking." - NYT Carl Mydans' Obituary

Mydans photographs capture a lot in one photo, I think this is very true. Though, I felt that perhaps there were certain reasons for that, one being that he did not exactly go to the country with an agenda of taking a collection of photographs. Rather, he was captured and took photographs of his stay there. In that way perhaps, there was less thought and more about getting the moment. In a way, I felt that he had incredible moments in his photographs, like the one with the French woman who was accused of sleeping with Germans and thus had to have her head shaved while other people looked and laughed. That picture was incredibly powerful.

Mydans doesn't try anything tricky, only captures raw human emotion and I definitely got that from his photographs. I think this is an incredible quality to have as a war photographer -- it's not necessarily about the angle or the lighting, but simply about the human's emotions.

"Mydans has said that he has always been a people-watcher, looking at posture and the telling gesture which might reveal something of the person. He would watch mouths and look for falseness. As he began to understand this unspoken language and interpret what he was so carefully observing he wrote, 'I had found a source of stories as wide and as varied and as captivating as the human race.'" -- Marianne Fulton

Response to Sexualized Google Searches

The first thing that came to mind was how perfect all the bodies were. They were mostly all tall and lean. I kept thinking about the shoot from last year, that was exhibited at Fort Andross, where students took nude photographs of Bowdoin students - playing frisbee, running on the treadmill, etc etc. What I most enjoyed out of that exhibition was the fact that the photographs weren't sexualizing these people. They weren't focused on the breasts or the penises, but on other parts of the body as well. Though I do have to say that the searches were about human sexual behaviors. 

One thing that really struck me was how uncomfortable and indifferent I felt about these photographs. Indifferent because I'd seen these...we have a very traditional view of the human body, and seeing them alone doesn't strike me as anything different anymore. This is why I found the exhibition last year so striking - it was about breaking this idea of nudity, and being able to  be comfortable with your body with other people. The individual naked body is hardly surprising. On the other hand, I felt uncomfortable with a few of the photographs, specifically the BDSM and fetish ones (I assume). As it is not a lifestyle that I partake in, I find it difficult to understand. I also see it more as pornography, with its intent being to sexually arouse the viewer. Personally, I find it difficult to understand pornography as art. I've battled this back and forth in my head as I looked at the photographs - but if art is to elicit some sort of emotion in the viewer, and pornography is to elicit a sexual emotion in the viewer, then shouldn't it be considered as art? Yet, I feel as though art is up for grabs - it is open for interpretation, but pornography is vying for one interpretation. Secondly, a few photographs put in the powerpoint argues the point for many feminists against pornography - that it objectifies women. Though, we may not know if the woman wanted the photograph to be shot as it was, that she had control in her poses and concept, this is something that can be taken from it. 

Lastly, I found the video games photographs to be interesting as well. I've read that pornography has been the technological forefront. Pornography has been credited behind the driving forces of DVDs and other technology...which makes perfect sense, as the better and faster the technology is, the easier and more discreet pornography can be made and received. Thus, what I found interesting is that, even though there is better technology to make pornography more discreet to use (i.e. Google's Chrome invisible window), it is at the same time being pushed in the forefront of different types of media (i.e. video games).

Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange - Takes on Japanese Internment Camps

I looked at Ansel Adams' photographs first. I have to admit that I don't know too much of the history of Japanese internment camps and the issues behind that, so I felt like I was looking at the photographs with fresh eyes. It was interesting, because not knowing the background, I would have thought that the Japanese were living a comfortable life. In fact, there are some photographs where you wouldn't even be able to tell where they were. For example, Mrs. Naguchi and two children are photographed in front of a house. Mrs. Naguchi looks perfectly happy standing in front of a house with her children. The house looks like something you might find in Japan. Another one is Mrs. Nakamura and family buying toys, where they look perfectly content choosing puzzles with the Japanese shopkeeper. That being said, Adams does bring in subtle differences and implications. In the one with Mrs. Naguchi and her children in front of the house looked like it could be anywhere, but upon further inspection, you notice the barracks in the background. 

Is it also ironic that the website that hosts these photographs is the Library of Congress, American Memory?

I had a slightly different reaction when I saw Dorothea Lange's photographs. Her photographs are darker, focusing on the details instead of the landscape like Adams. She captures the loss of homes, displacement, and boredom that the Japanese felt. But, what I got out of both of these photographs were the importance of titles. Reading the NYT article before really looking at the powerpoint, I already had the impression that she was somewhat darker, and more "truthful" than Adams. Yet, when I looked at her photographs, I didn't get the sense of darkness in some of them, and it was only when I read the captions that I changed my mind about it. 

Your Personal Moon

"Some Russian designers have started a production of a big, moon-shaped light-box calling this project a "Your Personal Moon". Now anyone can get his own moon right in his apartment or his backyard. via www.englishrussia.com

Panorama Fictions Response

I had a pretty clear space and idea that I wanted to pursue in this project. I was interested in exploring the playground structure by the elementary school, as I was intrigued with connecting the architecture and numerous visible lines at the playground and thought that would be fun to work with. At first, I did different scenes with the playground, using photo merge. But it didn't really work for me, as I felt like the subjects were all on the foreground, not exactly interacting with the structure. I didn't want to make it all about the subject. So, I decided that the best way to do this was by free-handing it. And instead of doing different things with the playground, I focused on one thing, the cliche playground bully type story. At first, I wanted to focus just on the fight, and then pan out to see the space that they were fighting in. Kind of like a "stuck in a moment" type panorama. But then, after a few comments and critiques, I did realize that it was a bit confusing to have such vast space. So, by adding the people jumping on the trampoline, it seemed to me that it in some ways answered the question of wanting my subjects to subtly interact with the playground. If I were to do this again, I would definitely work more with the narrative of what's happening beyond the fight, as well as work more with the structure on the right, adding a bit more details in the playground structure. All in all, I had a ton of fun working on this panorama, and I felt like working with the fight scene in the left of the panorama gave me a lot of satisfaction. I was most pleased with that part because it came out the way I wanted and intended it to be.

Baby's Pictures

I've always thought about my baby pictures, or rather the lack of. Contrary to Elsbeth's reasons, I contributed mine to the fact that I was the fifth, and last child. The first couple of kids are always exciting and new and you want to capture each moment, then it gets kind of old and tiresome. I saw the same thing with my sister's children. The oldest one was the first grandchild of both sides, and they sent out welcome photographs to family and friends, whereas the second one was kind of shafted. (Shame cause my younger nephew is way cuter).

Though I'd like to have more baby pictures of me, it doesn't bother me too much. Partly because I've never had it before, so I don't really know the sentimental value of it. And partly because I live in such a digitized world, that the internet can look up my genealogy, as well as keep pictures of me and my family from years past.

I do have to say that the reasoning behind photographing baby pictures as a way to document biological histories is something that still carries on today. Perhaps it is as much of an implication as saving the anglo-saxon race, but if it does not raise some sort of understanding about our biological bodies, then it is about revving certain nostalgic emotions. Bell Hooks' story brings up a more emotional side. She raises a point when she sees a rare photograph of her father's young self, that her and her sisters' "experience of this image is shaped by [their] relationship to him, to the world of childhood and the images that make [their] life what it is now." It seems that looking back in our history, how we feel, even of people that are close to us, is very much influenced by what has happened since that image was taken. Hooks moves on and becomes nostalgic about an image of herself when she was younger, and I find this to best capture what most people may feel, but not realize, when seeing a younger picture of themselves. "My favorite childhood snapshot then and now shows me in costume, masquerading. And long after it had disappeared I continued to long for it and to grieve. I loved this snapshot of myself because it was the only image available to me that gave me a sense of presence, of girlhood beauty and capacity for pleasure."

At the end of the day, images prove something. For Hooks, it proves that there was a time when she was innocent and pure. It proves that blacks were there, and they were able to participate in creation of art. It proves that racial features. It helps them remember that there was that certain moment, that it happened and they were there.

In light of baby pictures, here are a few of mine that I dug up this past summer:

I plan to submit this one to one of those websites where you find an old photograph and re-create it in the exact same pose, background, clothing, etc.


This is the one where I look like a manatee: