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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Reading- Portraits and Persons

Cynthia Freeland

I really liked how Cynthia started this chapter off by stating the three key things needed for portraits. I agree with all three of the ideas she lays on the table. She says a portrait needs to recognize physical body along with, an inner life, and the ability to pose or to present oneself to be depicted in a representation. This was not only useful information but it made me want to read more because I knew this would help me with my assignment. Then she explains the four functions that a portrait needs to fulfill. This was also very helpful in order to start my persona assignment.
I also liked how she explained how portraiture has changed over the years because it gives me a solid foundation to build my work on. She also talks about the portraiture in paintings rather than photography. This gave me a different look on portraiture. I feel like you can manipulate and change portraiture more with a painting than in a photograph. You can't change how someone's actual body parts look or are in a photograph but in a painting you can use your imagination and make the persons body look how ever you want. This concept has made me think more about this and how important it is to capture a good image. I love the human body and the different forms that our body can make. I love that in photography( without photoshop) , you get what you get when you take a photograph. Thats why it is so important to have perfect lighting and know what is inside the frame when snapping your image. This reading got me really excited for this assignment and it gave a lot of useful information!

Reading- Sexual Personae

Camille Paglia

I went into this reading knowing that it was going to relate somehow to our persona projects. Therefore when I started reading I was searching for things that would relate or help me with this project. In the beginning it is a little dry and hard to relate to because it is more the history of what the word persona means and what sexual personae is. I am glad that the author stated what persona meant a long time ago and showed how the word has evolved since then. It stated that persona is a latin word for the clay or wooden mask worn by actors in greek/roman theatre. This definition is not what I would think of if I was asked, "what does persona mean?". Then persona more broadened its meaning to include the actors role and then a social role or public function. The definition it says it now is, " By late Latin, persona became a person as we now understand it, a human being apart from his social status."
The ending of the reading is where I saw the most relation to our class and this reading. She talks about how she photographs and what is most important to her. She gives many helpful tips. She really shows her passion that she has for art in the last couple pages.

Criticizing Photographs: Chapter 3

Harry Callahan, Eleanor, 1947

   This chapter thoroughly discussed everything that has to do with interrupting photographs. There are many ways to interpret a photograph. Everyone is going to have a different perspective or way of looking at an image. There are many questions you need to ask yourself when interpreting a photograph. For example, Does it affect my life? , What does it mean to me?, What is it about?, and How was it made. These are just a few of the many questions that should be running through your mind when looking at an image.
   This chapter gives you many things to think about. I know I don't usually give as much time as I should when looking at a photograph. There is so much to think about and you should always relate a photograph that your looking at back to your own work. I feel like this will make a stronger photographer. I need to work on analyzing my work and others work more intensively and thoroughly.
   This chapter mainly gave me the knowledge that the purpose of interpretations is to allow the viewer to understand the meaning of a photograph. This is very important in photography because EVERY photograph has a meaning but it can change from viewer to viewer.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Criticizing Photographs: Chapter 2

Richard Avedon

I feel like this chapter was very hard to read because I knew a lot of the information that was being given. This chapter mostly explained description and the different ways to describe photographs. I actually got the most out of this reading at the end when it explained the importance of description to readers. This paragraph really showed me why description is very important for critics because it is the time for "getting to know" a piece of art.

My favorite quote in this chapter and what really stood out to me was: "Describing photographs and reading descriptions of photographs are particularly valuable activities because people tend to look through photographs as if they were windows rather than pictures". I completely agree with this statement. I feel like people take photographs for granted sometimes and just look at and image as a whole instead of really breaking it down and describing all of the different aspects that are going on. Every time someone looks at a piece of art they should be analyzing the style, medium, form, and the subject matter. And really looking deeper into the photograph.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

This is my favorite photograph I took out of the series of 24. I really like the way the lighting hits her back and the angle on the image.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Photo shoot with sophia!!

[I took all of these photos]

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Project #1: A day in My Life!

So i decided to take 12 photos on friday and 12 photos on saturday instead of doing the straight 24 hours. This project was very fun and interesting. My camera never left my side. It was definitely hard at times. For example my pictures were not as good when I woke up to take a picture during my nap...

DAY ONE: