Response to "The Photographer's Eye"

 The Photographer's Eye by Szarkowski delves into the history of photography and the common aspects that successful photographer's share. Szarkowski explains that the photographer's eye is aware of five separate issues associated with the trade.

The Thing Itself

The photographer has an appreciation and understanding of the things around him; what he is capturing. The photographer would also acknowledge that an image of something and the thing itself are completely separate, and that a photograph is capable of removing that which is realistic and possibly unique to the original object.

The Detail

The photographer knows that photographs typically do not tell narratives as well as paintings. A photograph documents a certain event, though it gives the viewer no indication of the details behind that event or following it.

The Frame

The photographer can give new meaning and establish new connections among objects and people through the frame that he shoots. The frame can be adjusted to show guests at a big event but can also be adjusted to show new relations among people (i.e., taking a photograph among those guests of two people that don't even know each other).

Time

The photographer knows that a photograph only gives representation for that particular time period. Photographs were later then manipulated to show time through the quick, blurred motion of a running horse, the falling of cloth, and so on.

Vantage Point

The photographer has multiple viewpoints available to him when shooting a photo. He can capture the image with extreme foreshortening or from a flat, 2D type of space.

The ability to show time, the ability to show different perspectives. All of these aspects are used to create a successful photo. For this project, many possibilities are at our disposal.

Response to "Ways of Seeing"

“Ways of Seeing”

Psychological Aspects

         Ways of Seeing is a short series detailing the various means of interpretation in different images, particularly paintings. In this episode, we discover different techniques used to distort or rearrange the intent or moral of popular works of art. Through inclusion of music and focusing on one certain aspect of the painting as opposed to another, the painting's meaning can be manipulated.

         Prior to mass communications, paintings were regarded as having a single purpose: to impose a certain feeling or story upon the viewer. The narrator states that there was little room for interpretation; every painting held a particular meaning. An example would be The Last Supper by Da Vinci. At full view, you can see that the painting shows Christ dining with his 12 disciples. However, if you cut away from the painting as a whole and focused on one particular subject, say, the first few disciples at the table, you might think that it was a simple dining portrait. When such images became popular and easily transmittable, it became easy to manipulate these aspects of the painting.

         Another means of changing the meaning of a painting comes from the inclusion of music. Adding music can easily change the dreary mood of a painting to one that is calm, cheerful. This technique can also be applied to The Last Supper. By adding a moody violin piece, you may interpret the painting as one of sorrow, Christ's last meal. By adding a happy, bouncing piece, you may interpret the painting as being one as a gathering of friends eating over some friendly banter. 

Response to "Masters of Illusion"

“Masters of Illusion”

         In the documentary Masters of Illusion, we look back on early techniques used to show 3D in a 2D space, primarily through linear perspective.

         Prior to the Renaissance, many paintings were particularly flat and lacked the depth that could make anyone see it as anything more than a painting. Linear perspective describes everything you see to merge at a single point, called the vanishing point, to show 3D space. As things move closer toward the vanishing point, the object appears to shrink and shorten. This is known as foreshortening. During the Renaissance, painters began to take advantage of linear perspective to add depth to their paintings.

         One of the earliest examples of linear perspective comes from the painting by Massacio, The Trinity. You can perceive the space behind Christ and the saints. Other painters took advantage of linear perspective to paint strange figures that, when viewed at a particular angle, took on a more recognizable form.

For this project, the class is expected to arrange multiple views of a location of our choice to show depth and space. By piecing these different photographs together, we get a product that shows the object as a whole rather than a simple view. 

More Pictures, Ideas for Project 1

Today I went to downtown Lawrence to find extra locations/items to shoot because I haven't been able to access my previous ideas (in Overland Park).

I went into Coldstone Creamery and took 100 photos of their candy stash, haha. The only problem I have with this idea is that it seems a bit too flat. Maybe I'll try to find something with more shape to it. I really liked my original idea of the gumball machines. I'm sure there is a shop somewhere here in Lawrence that has them.

1st Project of The Spring 2012 Semester - Photography

For this project, it seems the class is arranging a number of small photo prints to form one big location. Sounds somewhat time-consuming, but I'm looking forward to it.

The only thing I can complain about is the chunk it is sure to take out of my wallet. Today I bought a number of 4x6 prints for my 4 prototypes. 35 or so prints for 13 dollars....*sad face*. I'm not too sure how much this project will cost me in the end, but considering the final product needs to be between 75 to 100 4x6 prints, we can see that it definitely won't be cheap.

-Carly