What does the fox say?

I WILL kill you

I'm in a book!

Artist Presentation: Lalage Snow

 For my presentation I chose the photojournalist Lalage Snow.  Traveling the world Snow focuses a lot of her work in the Middle East looking at different human aspects of wars there.

Alexander, Janet. "Artist of the Week 2/13-2/19: Lalage Snow Gives a Voice to the Faces Behind the War." Global Art Laid Out. 15 Feb 2013: n. page. Print. <http://www.galomagazine.com/innerviews/artist-of-the-week-213-219-lalage-snow-gives-a-voice-to-the-faces-behind-the-war/2/>.

Rybus, Greta. "Powerful Portraits of British Soldiers Before, During and After Deployment to Afghanistan." Feature Shoot. 05 Nov 2012: n. page. Web. 28 Oct. 2013. <http://www.featureshoot.com/2012/11/powerful-portraits-of-british-soldiers-before-during-and-after-deployment-to-afghanistan/>.

Snow, Lalage. "Lalage Snow." n.pag. Web. 28 Oct 2013. <http://lalagesnow.com/>.

Ring around the Rosey

O'dark hundred

Recap

I try to keep up with posting daily images, and I'll admit I'm mostly unsuccessful.  Last week was especially hard for me mentally and emotionally, and I really didn't keep up with much of any of my work.  I did take photos, just didn't post them.  So here's last week...

 10-15 And then she died...

 10-16 Rock Lobster

 10-18 Playing DJ

 10-20 I got it stuck... again.

 10-21 My uncle is a nerd!

Remodel

Break what Break?

Leaving Home 10/7

Roll my Windows Down 10/8

Night on the Town? 10/9

A rare breed 10/10

Project 4 second proposal

I am still very interested in using the photos I took from the State theater back home.  However after spending time at home and taking many photos I am interested in using the theater photos in combination with others to tell a story.  It still is the story of old and new, but with more ambiguity.  Living in an old southern town not everything is high tech, most of the town is just 'upgraded'.  There are modern amenities however the population does not feel the need to be on the cutting edge to live happy.  I want to tell that story of 'upgrading' through different places/objects I have a connection to.  Using 3 diptychs I want to tell a combination story of 3 places, I still want to experiment with what photos I want to use and if I will cross the different locations between the diptychs.

Chapters 2 +3

I really enjoyed Cotton's chapter on storytelling, titled "Once Upon a Time".  She talks about the use of narrative in contemporary photography that makes references that society understands.  The first section of the chapter looks at how a single image can show a whole series of events without necessarily using multiple images.  Wall's 'Insomnia' was a great example because he used the placement of objects around the kitchen, in combination with the figure's disheveled look to explain the man's final placing curled up on the floor.  Cotton went on to talk about photographers who use certain 'set ups' to inspire "storytelling in the viewer's mind" (pg51).  I was drawn to Hunter's "The Way Home' which discusses the use of historical symbolism in modern art, and affirms that art is a place for fables and stories to chronicled.  Cotton closes the chapter looking at the use of architectural spaces as the story.  I was really interested in how these spaces disorient the viewer, especially when explained.  The Casebere piece really seemed to be a schoolhouse but with such a cutesy element that made it look like a dollhouse, reading that it was a model made of an boarding school added to the surrealism and total creepy sense the image gave.

Cotton's third chapter discusses the intricacies of deadpan photography.  In reading this chapter I was focused on the idea of emotional detachment that is present in these photos.  The discussion on Gursky was important in understanding how deadpan works, and I was interested in the idea that he places the viewers far enough from the subjects so one cannot become immersed but rather has to be a critic.  This idea really helped my understanding of the many artists who work with landscape, architecture, and interior deadpan photography.  Burtynsky's work on the oilfields seemed to break the emotional flatness by hitting viewers in the gut with 'fact-stating' photos that viewers may not want to believe.  The photographs seemed to put the viewer in two distinct positions, one as the critic, the other as a viewer who may have to give into realities they are not comfortable with.  Deadpan is almost a statement of fact, but behind it is a lot of intrigue.  Photographers use their colour range, subject matter and focused details to create discussions on meanings behind the flat image.  Ruff's portraiture really captures this; he voids the pictures of visual triggers only to trigger questions on his sitters character.

Old back space

Round Robin

Working out ideas for the next project... Turned into an interesting daily image

In Class 2

Project 4 Proposal

I like the idea of combining different views of locations, from old to new, different vantage points, and different spacial elements.  Using multiple images helps give places character and tell a story.  I want to do either a combination photo or diptych to tell a story about a theater in my home town.  It's called the State Theater and it was built back in the late 1930's, then restored in 2012.  I think it would be interesting to try and create a 360 degree view through combining images.  However I think I am going to use images of the marquee, the stage, and the seating from different vantage points to tell the theaters history.

Fall Flower