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:

3 Bryces!

Double double double

zoom!

Panoramic Fiction

Staring at the sun

Response to Leni Riefenstahl

After reading the New Yorker article, I have come to dislike Riefenstahl. Partly, perhaps due to how the New Yorker portrayed Riefenstahl as seemingly seeking art for the sake of making money. It seemed as though she was good at what she did, there didn't seem to be an objective behind it, except to make money - as New Yorker notes the money machine lovers that financed her films, selling photographs that weren't necessarily ethical of the Nuba that allowed her to take photographs of them, but "when they didn’t, she used a telephoto lens." She seems to be the very definition of deception, as she lied seeing the living conditions of prisoners to lying about her age to be certified for scuba diving. Furthermore, her frustration at Muller for not filming her being pulled from the helicopter crash is another sign of her obsession with personality, and not art.

It is interesting however, how in the end, it was the Americans who opened their arms and praised her and her work, despite the past controversies. I think it is something to be said that they were (by and large) unaffected by the period of when Triumph of the Will was filmed, and that they see her for her art, rather than what she stands for.

The author questions her "genius" in the end, and it does seem so - was Riefenstahl just a pretty face that got by because of her beauty, was she just at the right place at the right time, or did she truly make a work of art? I don't care much for her work with the Nuba, it is no different than the work of an anthropologists', except she lacks the very basics of ethics - by photographing the tribe when asked not to. Though she seems to have learned about the tribe, there does not seem to be much other research or opinions, other than what she has observed.

Response to Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz's work is famous, brought on by the fact that she chooses to shoot popular and famous subjects. Her portraits suggest things about the person that the viewers, by and large, seem to already understand, and then there are some that seem to shed new light. I've read in the past that she thrives on having some sort of relationship with the subject, and it is that understanding of the relationship that really carries through the photograph. For example, the photograph she took of Yoko Ono seemingly as one with the tree, is something that the public is aware of - the peacefulness, at-one-with-the-nature was largely publicized in the media, but the photograph of John Lennon and Yoko, where they were shot together, but Lennon was naked and clinging, where as Yoko was not, seemed to paint a completely new picture of the couple that the public may never have known.

It's also interesting to note the difference between the photographs she took of celebrities vs. the photograph of Susan Sontag, her supposed lover. Sontag's photograph was very pure, it didn't seem to characterize her with any of her works. Leibovitz has succeeded in bringing a form of art in an otherwise much criticized artless world of commercial art. She does really bridge the gap, with her subjects being the main reason. 

Animation and Free Shoot Response

I really enjoyed the animation collaboration, and thought it was a great way to explore concepts and focus on how I look at things. It especially forced me to think about how I wanted to photograph, before I did it, which is something that I don't necessarily do often in the class shoots. In the class shoots, I normally look or construct something that is fitting with the theme. However, with the animation, my concept developed over time, and I think that is something that I want to clearly map out before I make my next animation.

I would definitely like to make another animation for my final project, but I think without so much of a narrative this time. I really enjoyed piecing together all the photographs and constructing something out of it. I have been thinking about the idea of making photographs to music, and possibly making a music video. But I'm also intrigued by exploring spaces and especially time with animation.

I really enjoyed the class shoots, mostly because it gave me something tangible to work with. But I was always very happy when we got to do free shoots, because it was almost like a vacation of not having to work under any constraints. I think I would have liked to have a more equal mix of both. I felt like my work was a bit more concrete when the subjects were less abstract because then I could only focus on taking the photographs, whereas I felt like with more abstract concepts, I didn't have time to come up with ideas that I would be able to photograph well.

My other idea for the final project came to me by mistake today. I accidentally printed two photographs in the same side of the sheet and thought it would be interesting to layer two photographs and see how the colours would come out.

Prints

Castle in the Sky

Stop Motion Stills