Final Project

I finally know what I'm doing for my final project! It's not even that good of an idea, but at least it's SOMETHING!

For a long time I've felt that eating and sex are two of the most surreal things that people do with their bodies. We shove mass amounts of material into our mouths several times a day, sometimes for reasons other than simple nourishment. If you ever watch a person eating, I can almost guarantee that eventually you will become horribly uncomfortable with what you're seeing. To me the very sight of a person inserting God knows what--in most cases something that, one some level, was once alive--into themselves, moving their teeth and jaws in order to mash the stuff into a mushy, salivary substance suitable for passing through the gullet seems much more surreal than most people.

Similarly, sex is weird. I don't think I have to go too much into that.

Thus, for my final project, I would like to depict people eating food that evokes a feeling of discomfort upon observation. I won't do anything blatant and lame like a girl licking a Popsicle or eating a banana. I may, however, use items equated with sex in the construction of the photograph. The first thing that comes to mind is a dental dam used as a napkin. Stuff like that.

I more than likely won't be changing much of this, as it took me three weeks to come up with this.

A little tweak in my project idea

So I'm not making any major changes--but I have tweaked my project idea a bit. I'm still basing my project around various lines from Shira Erlichman's poem, but I'm planning on using them to create some sense of a person's daily life and the things they are surrounded by. The images I will include are a tree, a stop sign, a clock, shoes and a portrait. I will mount my photographs and stamp a line (or several lines) on the mounting board so that the poem and the pictures can work together to create meaning.

another update

Oopsies! I changed my idea once again. This time, it's very different from where I was going before.

During the process of shooting, I realized that I have become very interested in various textures, and showing them through close-up shots. Since I've mostly been focused on people throughout most of this semester, I want to go down a slightly different road. So here I go!

I made one change in my project. For the last picture, I am going to make a collage of 4 pictures I took for my senior year, and cut them into 4 puzzle pieces and combine them as one last picture.

FINAL PROJECT

The "meaning of life" is one subject that has intrigued me the most, what's the purpose of humanity...? I don't know and certainly not many people know. 

I want to show the sequence of human life in its natural form...first by showing a pregnant woman, where human life begins. Second, by showing a baby, and the unknown future. Third, showing a teenager, the age where thoughts are formulating but everything is so ambiguous. Fourth, showing an adult, the age at which we are supposed to decide what to do with our lives because that's what is expected, but also the age at which the process of reproduction has to occur in order for civilization to continue. That's where my sequence ends, in the repetition of the cycle, an old man holding a baby. I still don't know the meaning of life though..maybe that is the meaning, reproduction, a cycle? I might go against the cycle....

Final Project Proposal: The Journey

As inspiration for my final project, I will use a meditation from a Tarot card reading that was particularly inspirational to me during my time in The Gambia last year. The card is called Traveling and discusses the importance of enjoying the journey of life rather than rushing to a "final destination." Since my time in The Gambia, I have adopted this philosophy and try, every day, to view every moment for what it is and for what it teaches me, rather than viewing it as one step closer to the next moment. I have thought long and hard about the images that would best represent this philosophy, and have struggled to come up with anything that particularly excites me. It was not until I just pulled out and re-read the meditation that I found my inspiration- the line, "Each step on the path is important in itself...there is no need to struggle or plan too much." Therefore, I will spend my final weeks at St. Mary's photographing thing or moments that are meaningful to me while keeping this inspiration in mind. My 'goal' (even though I shouldn't technically have one!) is to find five images that form a meaningful sequence and somehow represent the idea of a 'journey' or 'steps on a path.' We'll see what happens...

Robert Frank Art Exhibit

I really enjoyed the Robert Frank exhibit. While I enjoyed the Americans exhibit, I was particularly moved by the Black, White, and Things. In that exhibit, I really liked the way the pieces were visually similar (through the use blacks and whites, as well as people, and objects) yet they contained distinct moods in each section and were conceptually deep. For example, with Black, there was a funeral procession and a procession of nuns in two of the pictures I believe, while White had more outdoor/nature scenes that were very freeing. In a way, one can think about them as life/death, black/white, inside/outside, etc. The short exhibit was able to portray a series of dichotomies through a small number of images. It strongly influenced/inspired me to use the surroundings to create visually interesting series of photographs that also convey a deeper meaning. I feel the photographs in Black, White, and Things were more visually tied together than the Americans, which was more conceptually tied together.

I enjoyed the conceptual ties between photographs in The Americans, which one can see better when they are all up on the wall, as opposed to in a book, since on the wall one could more easily see the juxtapositions of people, such as a black couple in one image next to a white couple in another. In this way, there was social commentary, and almost an element of the story as themes were carried through one image to the next, such as stars from the flag, lights, words, etc.

However, my favorite part of the exhibit was not the final images chosen by Robert Frank, but rather his work prints and contact sheets. In particular, I liked seeing the work prints since I could kind of see how he conceptually processed all the images, based on how he grouped them on the wall. Half the time, they didn’t seem to make sense to me, but it was cool to try to organize pictures when they were from so many different places, of so many different people. It was also nice, since sometimes the work print images weren’t particularly “good” in my opinion, and looked more like some of my own work prints. It made me feel better as a developing artist, since I could see that all the images didn’t come out perfectly each time. Obviously, that’s common sense, but it was refreshing to see that even a famous, well-respected photographer didn’t have a perfect picture each time.

Final Project Proposal

I officially SUCK at posting blog posts. It takes me forever to remember to do them. Anyway, here is my final project proposal as follows:

I would like to have a series of photographs involving my house (SC 14), which includes myself, Gen Goerling, Sarah Bastien, and Florence Bastien. We have all known each other for awhile (21 years for the twins, 8 years for Gen and I, and 4 for Gen and the twins, and myself and the twins). In the past 4 years, we've really learned a lot about each other, and as graduation is quickly approaching, we want to really preserve the time we have together. We are all going in our own separate directions--Gen is moving to Glasgow, Scotland; Florence is moving in with her boyfriend in Kansas City, MO, Sarah is staying here for the MAT program, and I am moving back to Baltimore for a bit until I get a job (I'm looking at the research triangle in NC, and some places here in MD). This is the first time I won't be able to see Gen on a regular basis (we went to high school together, plus living together) and she's horrible at staying in touch through email, facebook, IM, etc. Florence and Sarah haven't really been separated much (other than one semester abroad) and now they're going to be living about 3000 miles away from each other. As sisters who did everything together, this is a really big deal.

As a result, I want to photograph (and have been photographing) the four of us interacting as a group, in groups of 3, with just two of us, and individual portraits. In this way, we get our own personalities in the pictures, as well as our relationships coming through (hopefully!). One place I've been taking these photographs is the Garden of Remembrance (yes, there is meaning there...) in part because of the idea of "remembrance" with our final days together, because there is this one huge tree there that we'd go to to talk a lot (I remember those late night talks underneath it, ha!) and it also serves as a fairly plain backdrop where we all can interact with our environment in our own way, that has a bit more meaning for us than say, the studio. I mean, Gen in particular is in love with the outdoors (due to allergies, my relationship and Florence's tend to be more of a love-hate relationship, but still we tend to really like the outdoors and spring days) so I feel like we'd open up better in a spot that is very familiar to us.

Ideally, I would like the five pictures to be one of the four of us interacting, then three of us, then two, and then one, with the final picture being a single shot of the tree on its own. The decrease in numbers kind of signifies how happy/excited we were when we all met each other, but even though we are still friends, we've kind of drifted away a lot (especially Flo and I after rooming together...) which I feel would be some of us drifting out of the pictures, disappearing, etc. The tree has the representative quality of being a symbol for life, new beginnings, hope, etc. as well as a large blockade getting in the way, dwarfing you, etc. due to its sheer size.

Depending on how they come out, I might do individual portraits of each of us (reluctantly including a self-portrait...I felt so freaking vulnerable in front of the camera!) with the final of the four of us.

I took about 5 rolls of film of the four of us interacting in different ways and individual portraits, that at this point I just need to look at the pictures to decide how exactly I want to portray it. It could end up being kind of sad, with the dwindling numbers, or I could reverse it, with all of us kind of "meeting" each other there at the tree/St. Mary's with the numbers increasing. I could do portraits, or groups of two. It could be really happy/hopeful, or kind of sad with all of us leaving. I'm not quite sure of the tone I want to create out of the pictures yet.

Feedback would be helpful!

Final Project Proposal

I've decided to take a note from our textbook, "The Nature of Photographs," and focus on one of the four elements of the depictive level: time. The quote, "a photo is static, but the world flows in time" really struck me, and I'd really like to experiment with slow shutter speeds in order to display motion in my photographs. As far as the sequence, I hope to show not just how motion is seen in the individual photos, but how the project as a whole moves.

Stephen Shore defines extrusive time as "the movement occurring in front of the camera, or movement of the camera itself, accumulating on the film, producing a blur." I'd like to shoot both of these situations--whether I'm photographing something moving, or whether I'm panning the camera to create movement. While using a slow shutter speed (probably not faster than 1/60), I hope to capture some cool moments--some "discreet parcels of time." I'd also like to present the project in a way that moves as well, so I was thinking of mounting the pictures to a pinwheel type thing...who knows though, I sure things will pan out as the project evolves.

Update on final project proposal

So, I think that I might change my idea for the final 5 images slightly. After shooting 2 rolls and seeing what I have come up with, I am more interested in making the sequence solely based on how people touch, or don't touch. I don't want to limit myself to photographing only specific relationships, although touching anyone in any way does create some sort of relationship. I am also no longer looking to deal with small children, unless I come across some, or elderly folks. I am more focused on people in and around my age group.

One thing that I would like to do now is not only have a sequence of images that relate in their theme of touching, I also want to link the people I photograph to other people that I photograph, specifically by having one image of two people, another image of one person from before and someone new - and go on like that if I can. As I began thinking more about not just the images themselves, but how they will be organized into a sequence, I thought about ending the sequence with a photograph involving lots of people. I'm not quite sure what specifically I want for this yet.

Artist lecture response - Delilah Montoya

After attending her lecture, I found visiting artist Delilah Montoya to be quite an interesting individual. Her presentation on Chicana artwork by women seemed like a very specific and fascinating topic to explore, and was very representative of her purpose, interests, and identity as an artist; however, I felt that the information on this topic was rather poorly presented.

The only thing that I really remembered from her lecture without looking back at my notes was one of the first artists from her "Bad Girls" show who did a performance/instillation type piece involving a huge "tree of life" sculpture hanging from the ceiling as the main focus around which the performance was based. I found it interesting how this piece incorporated sculpture art with performance art, with several dancers dressed in costumes resembling Adam and Eve performing around the hanging tree. I also thought it was neat how the performance ended with a symbolic biting of the apples from the "tree of life" that hung above them. After hearing Delilah speak about this particular piece, I was able to imagine the actual performance, and I was very interested in seeing it done.

Another striking image that I took note of was the large digital piece by Alma Lopez of the Our Lady Guadalupe that Delilah began the presentation with. I liked this piece because, while it obviously had substantial religious meaning, it also dealt a lot with the specific cultural influence that Chicana women faced. This was especially interesting because of the empowerment that this image gave the women - it clearly celebrated their courage and vision to rise up and survive against things like racism, sexism, and masogyny, with many different hidden strengths that revealed themselves in the art work. In front of a piece of similar work done by a Chicana woman sat a label that said "Please resist the temptation to touch," which is something that I think very cleverly expresses and addresses women's rights, and also playes with the idea of an actual label in front of a work of art reminding viewers not to touch.

"Women abused by someone they know cannot get police protection."

I wrote down this quote from a large piece done on a huge piece of fabric containing hundreds of clippings from news accounts of violence against women, mostly because it really stood out to me as shocking and quite disturbing to think about. It really made me think about culutural differences between what I am used to and what others have to face, and how these things are significant influences for artistic expression in both cases.

Although the lecture presented many ideas about Delilah's curatorial work with the "Bad Girls" show about Chicana art work, I really was quite interested in her own work as a photographer and digital media artist, especially because I was under the impression that a good portion of the lecture would be about herself as an artist.

Final Project- Home Sweet Home

I am not yet really sure what I finally want to do for my final project. However, even before starting the second part of the project assignment, I only wanted to take pictures of houses. There are cetain aspects about American houses that are very common here but not at all likely in Germany. I ahve always been interested in homes- from the iside as well as from the outside. Thus, these striking cultural differences are kind of exciting to me. So I went out and too pictures of houses. I will see how much further i want to go with this, but this appraoch might eventually somehow turn into my final project.

Final Proposal

For my final sequence of 5 images, I am interested in exploring ways to depict relationships that people have with other people or animals at different ages in their life - specifically through how people physically touch, or don't touch, one another.

I do not have everything planned out for exactly what I want to do - I'm thinking this will probably become more developed when I go out and start shooting more.

However, I am interested in shooting:

• children
• students/people around my age group
• elderly folks
• any folks of different age groups intermingling
• relationships that people have with animals

I am not planning on shooting with the intention of creating a specific story, however; I think that one will probably develop.

Final Project

My final project will involve road-kill. I have yet to realize the true vision for this project. It's going to be one of those things that I won't find until my picture capturing is in progress and the creative juices are flowing. It's probably going to get a little gruesome.

What I can say is that there will be a more conceptual aspect to my prints that may comment on the relationship that humans (through our use of technology) impact the natural environment in a way that, depending one's outlook, may be either positive or negative.

It's good that there is no shortage of road-kill in St. Mary's County.

Final Project

For the moment, my intentions for the final project will be to show my "brothers and sisters," in a series of five photographs.  I chose this topic because it is a really complicated aspect of my life.  My only biological brother was killed in an accident 10 years ago, actually it will be the tenth anniversary of his death in exactly one month.  My mom has become a foster mom since his death, and so I now have 4 adopted siblings.  Through my project, I want to create a cohesive presentation to unify these 5 very different people, who have been unexpectedly connected through the one commonality they all share- they are my family.  Originally, I was planning on focusing on their faces, but I think that might change.  I'm still somewhat unsure of how to present the photographs to convey the idea I am aiming for, perhaps somewhat "Brady Bunch"ish.

War Photographer

I was really surprised by how much the documentary impacted me and the amount of respect I have for photographers. Nachtwey sacrificed a lot of things in his life to photograph something he is so passionate about. It is inspiring to see someone who enjoys his work and has truly devoted his entire life to his work and to exposing the truth about wars. I have a new found respect for him because I do not think I would be able to risk my life for something that may or may not make an impact on other peoples lives.

Some of Nachtwey pictures were so powerful, and I had no idea how much conflict is going on in other countries other than ours. However, I was a little bit appalled when he got in grieving peoples faces . They were still very powerful but I don't agree with him photographing a persons grieving over a loved ones death. I know he has permission from these people. I can see where he is coming from by showing the world the pain people are experiencing, and shows us things that the media doesn't have the guts to show.

I really liked his quote, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." You have to get right in the action to get the true emotion of the subject so you can see the power of the photograph, and feel the emotion that the subject is feeling.

Delilah Montoya

Delilah Montoya gave us a virtual tour of her show, "Chicana Bad Girls" celebrating the empowerment and courage of Chicana women.  She was curator, choosing pieces from 18 different artists, with the intention of raising awareness about the maltreatment of Chicana women, as well as depicting Chicana women as empowered/strong/bad girls.  There were a couple of art pieces that stood out to me.  The opening performance really interested me.  A woman created the "tree of life" and hung it in the middle of the front room of the museum.  Dancers dressed in snake-skin fabric came down the stairs and performed an erotic dance, followed by a man and a woman as Adam and Eve.  The end of the dance involved handing out apples and everyone taking bites.  I enjoyed how the "bad girls" show began with "sin."

Another artist had a series of charcoal drawings that incorporated self-portraiture and comic strip style art.  The self-portraits depicted herself as a stripper (she stripped her way through art school).  Each portrait had a comic book-esque element to it; a cartoon dog that she is holding, etc.  She created a play on words, making a comic "strip" (get it?...like take off your clothes...haha).

Prior to this lecture, I was really looking forward to hearing Delilah Montoya speak about her own art, since I always find it fascinating when an artist describes his or her thought process.  I was disappointed when she talked about other people's art--which it seemed she knew little about.  Honestly, I wasn't expected a virtual tour an art exhibit, and came away from the lecture uninspired.

Final Project

For my final project, I would like to Photograph my basketball team. I would photograph each class together (i.e the freshman, sophomores,juniors,and seniors.) I also wanted to show a transition between the classes, kind of like a transition into their next year. So for example if I were to photograph the sophomores, I would have the freshman poke their heads into the edge of the frame and the same for the portrait for the juniors and seniors. Each of the classes have their own different personalities, so I really want to show that in each portrait, and I don't want them just standing their posing and being stiff in front of the camera. For my 5Th picture I am going to take a team picture. Everyone would be wearing the same thing in each of the photographs. I am then going to mount the team picture and cut it out into puzzle pieces and put it back together with a some space in between them so you can tell its a puzzle piece but you can still see the picture as a whole. So it's like a bunch of individuals coming together as one.

Final Project

As I was conceptualizing my idea for the final project, I knew that I wanted to incorporate my time here at St. Mary's into my motif.  Since I love photographing people, especially one's I'm close with, I've decided to photograph five individuals who have had a profound impact on my St. Mary's experience.  Each of these people has brought out/helped me develop different sides to my personality--which I want to convey in my photographs.

My first photo will be of my freshman/sophomore year roommate.  It will be a photograph recreating my favorite freshman year memory.  There was a huge storm at the end of freshman year, and we decided to shampoo our hair/dance/run around outside in the rain.  I plan to photograph her outside of our old room, in her bathing suit, shampooing her hair.  She brought out my spontaneity.

My second photo will be one of my housemates.  We were best friends freshman and sophomore year, but in two years--we've grown apart.  She is an extremely strong willed person, and the conflict in our friendship helped to shape me into a stronger person as well.  I want to photograph her by the water.  I'm not exactly sure what I want her to be doing yet...but I want to convey a sense of empowerment.

My third photo will be of my boyfriend.  I'm a very weird person, but he brings out the super creepy weirdness in me.  I want to take a picture of him in bed...since we spend a lot of our time being weird and goofy in each other's rooms.  I want this photo to be a candid.  He is the first person I've fallen for--so I also want to convey a strong degree of intimacy.

My fourth photo will depict two of my closest friends here.  They embody what I consider to be caring/warm/honest people.  This past year, the three of us have gotten extremely close.  I want to photograph them in the same picture--possibly one pushing the other one on the swings behind the library.

The last photograph will be a self-portrait.  I plan to take a whole roll of reflections and choose from my favorite.  I ideally want to capture my reflection in the St. Mary's River or in the garden of remembrance pond, but I also want to see where this roll takes me around campus.  I may try to incorporate elements from the other photos into this final photo to represent the reflection of my friendships within myself.

I haven't decided on my presentation style yet.  Part of me wants to create a collage of the photographs onto a large heart, with song lyrics and memories intertwined throughout the collage.  I may also want to create a cardboard tree...and hang the photo's from it, like the shoe tree.

Final Project Idea

For my final project, I’d like to do five prints that center around images present in the poem “Letter home to Base Untranslatable” by Shira Erlichman. This poem deals with a lot of different topics, but, to me, its main focus is on capturing a sense of the issues of the modern world as we move further and further away from natural life. It deals with the absurdities of modern life and is a piece that has so many vivid images (which is why I chose it as the poem I wanted to base my final project on).
I have a lot of different ideas for the images I want to take (such as a stop sign, landscape, a clock, a 7-11 or Walmart, people being intimate in some sense etc.). I’ll decide which of the images from the poem to use based on what I think captures the poem best. When presenting, I want to have the focus of the project be on the computer screen playing Shira reading her poem. I plan string the pictures surrounding the computer. I don’t want to say too much more about it because I don’t want to give too much away, but I want to have my images be able to capture the message of the poem on their own, rather than be dependent on the poem to have meaning.

"The Americans" Exhibit Response

I had never heard of Robert Frank before taking this course, and after Colby showed us Frank's image of the people of the bus, I was immediately struck by its composition. It not only brought new meaning to the way of framing a photo, but it also told the story of segregation in the south. I was amazed by how one photo could accomplish that. So when I found out that this was one photo from many displaying Frank's perspective American life--and that we'd be going to see his whole exhibit--I was pretty excited.

It was great to see Frank's progression as a photographer, from a novice trying to be published in Life Magazine to finally the work he produced in "The Americans". I was really struck by his early work as well; the photos from his "Everyday People" should have won the Life contest in my opinion. I was particularly interested in the photos from his travels through Europe and Peru as well as his "Black, White and Things" project, which was conceptually very well done. I'd love to travel through Latin America one day, and Frank's photographic interpretation of the Peruvian people and their lives was certainly intriguing.

Once we got to "The Americans" part of the exhibit, the first thing I gravitated towards was Frank's letters to Jack Kerouac about writing the intro to his collection of photos. The letters were friendly, and I think that Kerouac's quirky writing style mixed with Frank's "off the beaten path" photos were a great match. Like everyone else, I loved seeing Frank's contact sheets; it made me feel like a legit photographer to see that I go through the same process of elimination that famous photographers do. During the tour, I felt like the curator was moving too fast, because I wanted to hang around and really look at the photos! I was particularly struck by how close of a proximity Frank got to his subjects--I remember the one he took at a funeral where he literally looming over the coffin--which reminded me a lot of Jim Natchwey's style. Frank captures very "fly on the wall" moments that truly represents different aspects of American life. To think that he traveled for two years across the country and took 28,000 photos still amazes me--but I am absolutely sure that the project wouldn't have been so effective if he had not put so much effort into it. Also, the way in which Frank groups some of his photos (like the five Colby presented to us in class) is definitely inspirational to me as I consider what to photograph for our final project. I think that "Looking In" is a very appropriate title for Frank's exhibit, not only were we looking in at his work, but we were looking into his methods behind what made his work so remarkable.

Final Project

As I thought about what I wanted to do for my final project I knew that I wanted to do something about my experience here at SMCM, and how I have changed throughout the four years here. People where many "hats" in life, which shows the different sides of them, or their personality. I literally can think back year to year, and think of a hat or scarf or other head garment I wore each year, which represented me at that point in time. Each year I also had a specific part of campus that represented that year for me. I either spent a lot of time at that place, a special event happened at that place, or I " found" myself, or an important answer to a question I was asking at that place. For my junior year, when I was studying abroad, I also had a place on this campus that I longed to be, and actually looked at a lot in pictures or on the St. Mary's webcam.

I plan on taking a series of five pictures with these different head garments and the place that represented each year for me. I am not going to be present in the first four pictures. The first one will be of my green head scarf and Queen Anne ( freshman year where I lived), my SMCM hat and Kent ( sophmore year, when I decided on my major and associated more with being an SMCM student ), my red headband near the anchor by the waterfront ( where I looked at when I was homesick, and also, the anchor represents a lot to me), and then I am going to take two for this year. For last semester I am going to take a picture of my Obama hat near WC because the election was a big part of last semester for me, and the place I live, and the final picture will be around sunset down at Church Point with me, reflected in a circular mirror,wearing my gradution cap. The sunset represents the sun setting on my time here, the circle mirror, repsresenting how I feel like a lot of things have come full circle in my life, and experiences I have been through have gone full circle. The fact that I am going to be present in this picture, through my reflection, will show that through college I have found myself, and I will show the world ( in which is also reflected) that self.

I am planning on mounting these on a large board with a quote that really touched me by Rainer Maira Rilke about asking questions and living life.

War Photographer: James Nachtwey

The documentary portraying famous photojournalist, James Nachtwey, changed not only the way I view journalistic photographs, but truly the whole way I look at the world. To me, this was one of the most influential films I have ever seen. Perhaps because I used to want to be a journalist, or because I love to travel and explore the world; or perhaps out of my new-found respect for photography, this movie really inspired me to make a difference. The work Nachtwey does is incredible for so many reasons. Not only are his photographs amazing, but the way he lives his life, so incredibly devoted to his subjects and the field of photography, is awe-inspiring to me. I'm not at all saying that I could live a life like this, or even that I admire those who do; but I am saying that I am so glad that there are people in this world who are strong enough and devoted enough to do the work that the rest of us are not cut out to do.

After viewing the film, I was left with more questions than I started with and I would love to have an opportunity to sit down with Nachtwey (even though I'm sure he would have no interest in sitting down with me!) Although I do not believe that everyone who views War Photographer will become a photo journalist, I do hope that this film will inspire others in the way it has inspired me to be consciencous of our world affairs and make a difference in the little ways we can. Nachtwey says, "It's our responsibility, because if we don't, who will?" What a powerful film.

Visit to "The Americans" exhibit

Although I've been to many art museums throughout my life, I don't think I've ever gone with the specific intention of viewing a photographer's exhibit. I really enjoyed our visit to the National Gallery in D.C., as it gave me a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only see a famous photographer's work but also get a personalized tour from the curators of the show. I'm also really glad that I saw this exhibit after learning about and experiencing photography in a photography class. I think it was much more meaningful to me to view Frank's work from the perspective of someone who understands even just the basics of photography than it would have been otherwise. I was able to appreciate the photographs as more than just "pretty pictures" which is how I may have viewed them before taking this class.

In terms of the exhibit itself, I really love the perspective Frank took in his portrayal of America and American people. He was an innovator and decided to take a more realistic approach by photographing "real" people rather than the glitz and glamor of American life. I wish more artists would take this perspective even today, especially in the media. I'm glad Frank took the initiative and fought for the value of his artwork. I greatly admire his work and am grateful to have been given the opportunity to see it first-hand.

War Photographer

War Photographer--

I just realized that my post never posted for whatever reason...


This film was very eye-opening for me. We see it everywhere, the news, magazines, newspapers. The war is everywhere, you flip through a magazine and you see the pictures, but most of the time, lets be honest, we normally skip right through. We don't look at them. We don't see them, we try to ignore it. It is important to note the work that goes into getting these "simple" photographs that we surely take for granted. People put their lives at risk.

What I find important about Natchwey's work is that he finds the "truth" in war. He shows what the television dares to not show. What I found amazing about him as a person is that he gets right in the middle of all the action and his prescence seems invisible almost. The people around him in these situations are so accepting, so unknowing of his prescence, he meshes with the people. His friends even said that he has been hurt many times, but it doesn't seem to phase him, he even said he didn't know what he does what he does, he just does it because someone has to.

The film begins with words I clearly remember, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough," this is Natchwey's goal, to produce excellent, close-up pictures of real-life happenings. The work that he does in countries well-priveledged than ours is something that should really be focused on more. The story he captured about the one family that lived right next to the railroad tracks was the most memorable for me. The family came together even though they literally had nothing. The father lost a leg and an arm, and yet he loved his children, this is captured in Natchwey's photographs perfectly, without thought. He is bathing his children in the water and Natchwey is right there with them in this seemingly private moment, it's beautiful.

Like I mentioned, the film was very touching to me and helped me with the portrait assignment, and hopefully all my future work, you have to get close to the action if your pictures are not what you want them to be. You have to become part of the scene, and this is what makes Natchwey so unique.

Robert Frank: "The Americans"

Going on the field trip to the exhibition of Robert Frank’s The Americans in the National Gallery in D.C. turned out to be a really interesting experience. After having done several photography projects in class, I have learned how to take, develop and print pictures and developed a better understanding of how much work photography is and how many possibilities to express oneself it comprehends. To combine the knowledge that I have gained in class with the exhibition of pictures of a famous photographer lets me experience the exhibition from a different point of view than if I had seen it without this class.

It was interesting to see not only Robert Frank’s enlarged final pictures but also his contact sheets and work prints. I think that made his exhibition a lot more accessible for us students as we can see the photographer going through a process and taking the same steps as we do in class. It also helped me a lot to have gotten a little insight about his work before going to the exhibition and during the tour. I think it is very impressive that he actually photographed inconspicuous day-to-day situation of his time in quick moments, but by capturing and presenting them the way he did, he gave these circumstances importance, attention and a critical voice, that speaks to us even more than half a century later. I especially have the picture in mind that shows the bus and its passengers sitting in a racial seating order. But also very other picture conveys his attitude on society back than to us nowadays.

Robert Frank--The Americans

Initially, I was just excited to be going on a field trip to see a renowned photographer's work, but as I learned more about Frank's work, it became even more exciting. As you enter the exhibit these words are displayed against an entire wall, “I am always looking outside, trying to look inside, trying to say something that is true. But maybe nothing is really true. Except what’s out here. And what’s out there is always changing.” This quote by Frank made me consider his work on a deeper level, but also, mine as well. The quote left it to open to the imagination, the world is always changing, but what you can convey, is the photograph as you see the world.

Our guide told us that Frank's work on the Americans was not well-liked at first. His work showed America in a light that had never been showcased before. He went places no one dared to, he stepped outside the limits. This is what made him a fantastic photographer. He traveled over America from coast to coast to REALLY get the sense of the country.

One thing Brittany and I discussed while working our way through the showcase was the general wonderment of How in the world he was accepted in all of these places? How did he get so up close and personal with these people that he shared nothing in common with? How was he accepted as one of them? Frank ventured many places that, I would think, would be considered private. There were several pictures of Frank right in the midst of funerals in very close distance, these were private gatherings for mourning families that he made very public by publishing these photographs. There was only one photograph in which the subjects seemed to really notice Frank's prescence, this photograph was known as his favorite because he had it was like this awkward moment where you know you got caught.

My favorite picture was the one of a black woman holding a white child, there was just something completely gravitating about the picture. It was fascinating. I loved seeing Frank's contact sheets and his work prints, it showed how much he had to work with and the process of figuring out which images made the cut and which ones didn't. His choices were chosen for a reason important to him, and as I am getting more knowledge in photography, I am realizing how many choices the photographers have. I felt like with my knowledge, I could really appreciate his work more by looking at details such as the depth of field and positioning of the subjects, everything comes together to make his pictures what they were.

As we left and continued on to photograph outside, I felt less afraid to get close to people. I felt like I would do what it took to get, what I saw, the perfect picture.

Nadja Groener

Vince Massincupp

Allie Snyder

Megan Seeman

Lindsey Sitz

Courtney Teed

response to Robert Frank's "The Americans" exhibit

Robert Frank's The Americans exhibit allowed me to see a famous photographer's work in a way that no other photography exhibit as allowed me to do before. Not only was I able to see so many of his final prints from the series up close and in detail, I could also see a bit of the whole process that Frank went through during and after his travels around the United States in the 1950s in such a way that I could relate to as a photographer. I started the tour by getting to look at some of the artists and photobooks from various time periods that both influenced Frank's life and work and also helped to shape the concept and meaning of the photobook over time. This was especially interesting because I was able to learn a little bit about how photobooks are put together in different ways.

I was especially excited to be able to see some of Frank's work prints and contact sheets because you don't usually get to see the working process of famous photographers. Looking at his process behind The Americans final series allowed me to relate personally to Robert Frank. It's almost like it helped break down the barrier between Frank, a famous photographer who is especially well known for his controversial post World War II photography, and myself, a relatively new photographer who is still developing her own creative voice, to see that all photographers work through incredibly similar processes to create such polished final prints for their viewers.

"The Americans" Response

Going to DC yesterday to see the Robert Frank exhibit, I was kind of reminded of why I took photography in the first place. While I enjoy art exhibits of all kinds, I am particularly drawn to photography because it is less of an artist’s imagination or perception of a world and more of his/her pursuit of capturing a moment in time in a particular way. I think what really draws me to photography is that you as the artist are able to take control of what you are saying about a person, a setting, or whatever your subject may be. With the camera in your hands, you are able to reveal yourself to the audience by the ways in which you photograph.
I was really intrigued by the quote with which the tour “The Americans” started. I wrote down Robert Frank’s words that, “I am always looking outside, trying to look inside, trying to say something that is true. But maybe nothing is really true. Except what’s out here. And what’s out there is always changing.” Frank’s words fascinate me because they convey a sense of wonder about the world—a sense of questioning everything he thinks and being an active participant and observer of a constantly changing world. I think too often people fall into routines and forget to look at the world as something that is very present—we think a lot about the future and the past but not always enough about the fact that our surrounding will never be the same as they are now. I think Frank’s work captures this idea because in his photographs, one can see that he is always looking to say something about what he perceives as true, but one never gets the sense that he feels his perception of truth is accurate. By looking at his negatives, for instance, I got the sense that he saw his photographs as bits of life rather than masterful revelations of a moment in time. His writing on his negatives is sloppy, his organization isn’t very precise. These things together gave me the sense that when creating his work, Frank was looking for the pieces that he felt best reflected his sense of what America was during the time, in terms of both what was in the public eye and what was not. He was not looking to create a neat , clean cut view of the world.
I think the first image in “The Americans” reflects what I really liked about Frank’s photographs. The color in his images seems bold and expression. The prints he chose seem telling. At the end of the day, what looking at Frank’s photographs left me feeling inspired. I hope that in the photos I take for the rest of the semester, I can think precisely and carefully about what I’m trying to capture. I’m learning more and more that photography isn’t simply about snapping a picture, it’s about constructing an image.

The trip to the National Gallery was really informative and made me think about photography on a deeper level than I have before. This is the first time going to a museum to view pictures since taking this class, and I could tell how my knowledge, even though still limited, has helped me gain insight into the pictures I was seeing.

To begin, it was a very unique experience to go the exhibits with the people who put them together. The first tour I was on was the photbook one. Honestly, if it wasn't for the tourguide and my new interest in the layout of photos, I would have walked through this room ver yquickly, and wouldn't have gained much knowledge from it. The woman was very thourough though, and helped me think of the world that photography was taking place in. The way pictures are taken not only shows a way of life, but also gives an insight into cultural and social phenomena that were taking place at the time. The differences in angles and lighting were being experimented with, as well as taking pictures cross culturally and comparing them. The pictures that stuck out to me were the ones of children playing in the U.S. and Japan. This showed evidence ( of fact as in a picture... even though that statement can be debated) that all children, regardless of location, are children, and enjoy playing. I also enjoyed the U.S.A. book, which was a more modern looking layout for places to see across the United States. The last case stuck out to me for several reasons. First of all, the sunset strip idea was very simple yet unique because all the building on the strip were photographed, and then arranged as a strip. The negative and positive image of the woman also showed me how one photograph can be altered in many different ways. I couldn't help but think how I could develope one of my own photos like that.

As we moved on, and went into the main exhibit, I enjoyed listening to the stories and reasonings and meanings behind each of Robert Frank's pictures. I especially liked the contact sheets and work prints. I would not have known what these were before, and it was intriguing to look at the actual pieces of paper and the steps that Frank went through to develope each picture. Like me, and all of us in this class, he went through the same "old fashioned" steps. I liked seeing this in a museum setting, as we usually only see the finished product. I also thought a lot about what people thought of this influential book, and it made me realize how important art is in society. The differnet layouts of the ooks across the years definitely had an impact in the message of the books, and little changes can do that. The last picture of the car stands out to me, as he spent most of his life on the road, and with his family. This seemed to show his love for both, but also his separation from his family because of his work ( since he was not in the car with them.) This picture seemed to indicate that this journey would continue.

As I left the museum and walked around D.C. I was inspired to not only take pictures of the monuments, but also people. There were many peopel to photograph as it was crowded, and I seemed to walk past a lot of photo opportunities, but I felt uncomfortable getting up in people's space. It made me think about what Frank must have gone through to capture these people. I realized that these pictures are special not because of what is depicted, and the "realness" in which it is depicted, but I realize how difficult it is to aquire most of these pictures. If it were me, all my pictures would end up like Frank's favorite ... of the man glaring at him!

Vote for Top 5

Please look at Portraits in Hall Walls, and make your TOP 5 choices by choosing 5 folks from the Poll to the right. Voting will be over by Wednesday, April 8, midnight. I will tabulate the top 5 vote getters, then repost a poll for Top choice. Winner gets a pack of 11x14 fiber paper to work on their final with.

War Photographer

I particularly enjoyed this movie. I liked getting to see a photographer working in the real world. I knew in the back of my head that the photographs taken during wartime are actual people in those moments taking the photographs, but we tend to ignore the photographer and the impact that war may have on them. It made me really think about the construction of the photograph. Natchwey was physically there amidst the turmoil, dodging bombs and bullets to create his photographs. Too often, we tend to get caught up in the images portrayed in the photographs and forget that they are constructed images by real people. Frequently, Natchwey referred to his work as wanting people to see the truth of war, but at the same time, he was constructing the images in such a way to get people to care about the wars and stir up desires for peace in the viewers. In this way, while photography will reveal truths about the world around us through the preservation of a moment on film, but can be constructed to play on people’s emotions and elicit a response.

I also found it interesting that people let him photograph them during those moments. My initial reaction when he photographed the old woman at the beginning was surprise. I thought she would get annoyed with him following her and try to make him go away, but she sat there, resigned, not caring. I would expect people to have been more irritated, angry, and upset at being photographed in those moments. However, he described it as having a good relationship with them, because they understand that his photography gives them a voice to the atrocities that are happening to them. He can bring attention to their plight and gain them sympathy from the rest of the world. Because they have been beaten down by war and poverty, they no longer care about presenting for the camera, or hiding from it. I found that extremely interesting. I liked how his presence and the presence of the camera almost did not matter to them, and the camera didn’t really change the relationship between Natchwey and his subjects. They did not become shy or change their behavior because of the camera. After the portrait assignment, I find that very impressive.

War Photographer: James Nachtwey

I always thought that the job of a war photographer must be really hard, since they are in the midst of danger every second, but I never quite experienced so vividly the adrenaline these photographers experience until I saw the documentary about James Nachtwey. I felt like I was there in the same place as Nachtwey. So, even as a viewer I can feel all types of emotions, can we even imagine what Nachtwey's body and mind goes through everyday in a war zone, or even along the railroad tracks? It's impossible unless we are physically there and doing his job. But the physicality of his job is just one part of the requirements, what he leaves behind, his family, friends, comfort of the familiar, everything, is just another heavy weight Nachtwey has to learn how to deal with in order to achieve his goals, professionally and personally. 

One point he made is very true as to what the media wants to publish and what not. Our society has come to appreciate more what cosmetology means than what humanity means. It is true that companies are more willing to publish aesthetically pleasing photographs such as of a model than a photograph of a man with one leg and one arm along the railroad tracks. It will make them more money, because that's what we as the audience approve. Nachtwey's job is impressive not just for the risk taking, but for the awareness that he aims to promote with his images. 

I think the camera is a very interesting tool. It's not only useful for documenting events, peoples, etc, but I think it acts as a mediator between the person, object, situation, being photographed and the distant viewer; the people looking at the photo in the newspaper or a gallery.