Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Cheryle St. Onge Artist Lecture
When I heard Cheryle St. Onge was going to be the visiting artist I was very excited. I had looked at her work for the first time last year and was a real fan. I think she's a very versatile artist with a refreshing perspective and abstraction. I'm particularly fond of her "Natural Findings" recent work.
The lecture itself brought the biggest audience I had ever seen at the PCAC. I wondered if people had come because they had seen her work or if they wanted to see what it takes to get a Guggenheim Fellowship. For me, it was a little bit of both. I found Cheryle to be very relatable and enjoyed her lecture. I think her mix between the staged photograph and the 'natural findings' in her work is very successful. During her lecture she said that receiving the Guggenheim is "life changing, they are the greatest, most encouraging beings on the planet, their support amazing." She also noted "Now if my work can just possibly live up to such a gift" which I found to be particularly interesting because it shows that even highly-esteemed professionals are sometimes unsure of their work.
I also enjoyed when she described her photographic process. I found it surprising that she doesn't make her prints herself and I was a little disappointed by that. My only critique of the lecture would be that she went through the slides a little too fast and she didn't talk about the majority of them. As a photo student I really enjoy hearing professionals speak on the steps leading up to the photograph, how they frame it, why they want to photograph it. etc. I just wish she gave us more of an inside story to each image. Overall, I found her lecture to be very interesting. Below are some of my favorite images from Onge's "Natural Findings."
Cheryle St. Onge
Cheryle St. Onge
Cheryle St. Onge
Cheryle St. Onge
The lecture itself brought the biggest audience I had ever seen at the PCAC. I wondered if people had come because they had seen her work or if they wanted to see what it takes to get a Guggenheim Fellowship. For me, it was a little bit of both. I found Cheryle to be very relatable and enjoyed her lecture. I think her mix between the staged photograph and the 'natural findings' in her work is very successful. During her lecture she said that receiving the Guggenheim is "life changing, they are the greatest, most encouraging beings on the planet, their support amazing." She also noted "Now if my work can just possibly live up to such a gift" which I found to be particularly interesting because it shows that even highly-esteemed professionals are sometimes unsure of their work.
I also enjoyed when she described her photographic process. I found it surprising that she doesn't make her prints herself and I was a little disappointed by that. My only critique of the lecture would be that she went through the slides a little too fast and she didn't talk about the majority of them. As a photo student I really enjoy hearing professionals speak on the steps leading up to the photograph, how they frame it, why they want to photograph it. etc. I just wish she gave us more of an inside story to each image. Overall, I found her lecture to be very interesting. Below are some of my favorite images from Onge's "Natural Findings."
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Chapter Summaries
I guess I can't put these off any longer...
Chapter 1
This chapter explains the history of picture taking and the reasons behind it. The earliest traces of pictures are the cave paintings from forty thousand years ago. The book explains that the reason why people photograph is the "impulse to preserve-- to document and therefore commemorate specific people an events of importance." The chapter goes into describing the process that a picture is taken and how the art of photography has evolved since 1839, when Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre invented the first practical photographic process. Before completing this course you couldn't pay me to use photo-manipulation aside from color correction and straightening. The chapter also explains the different types of photo manipulation done before photoshop. The chapter also talks about the early advent of straight photography and previsualization. It was interesting learning about the f/64 group.
Chapter 2
This chapter focused on the difficult task of conveying the right message with your photography. "The principal job of the photographer is looking, which defines all photographic processes. Good photographs are made by learning to see... imagemaking is 10 percent what we encounter and 90 percent how we respond." This chapter explains the different steps that photographers go through to become a master imagemaker. I found this kind of subjective since there are so many different types of photographers. So who's to judge what's a good photo from a bad? The design principles are unity, variety, emphasis, scale, and proportion. We also learned about the golden mean in this chapter which was a new concept to me. I had already known about the rule of thirds but the golden mean was a different and interesting concept. To be a good judge of composition you must understand the importance of lines, shape, space, texture, pattern, and symbolism.
Chapter 3
According to chapter 3, "the role of the camera has been to make an 'acceptable' and recognizable depiction of the visible world based on established visual conventions." Garry Winorand observed, "A photograph can only look like how the camera saw what was photographed. Or, how the camera saw the piece of time and space is responsible for how the photograph looks. "This chapter explains the inner workings of the camera and what needs to happen to capture an image. It also defines words like 'camera' and 'lens' and explained the meaning of image resolution and pixels. The chapter also added helpful tips on picking the correct camera for you and the correct camera file formats. I found the explanation on jpegs, tiffs, and raw to be helpful. Beofre this course I didn't know which one was suitable for what event. Shutter speed and aperture explanations were also provided.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 is called exposure and filters. So as you can guess, it was about the effects of different exposures and filters have on the photograph. The technical prerequisite to the process of transforming ideas into photographs are acceptable shadow and highlight detail. Even though technology and computer software offer numerous post-processing correction tools, "it is preferable to make original exposures as accurately as possible to avoid compromising image quality." Different techniques to getting the correct exposure such as light meters, histograms, gray cards, are manual exposure helpers. Whereas the electronic viewfinder and the camera monitor are built into the camera and can easily be fooled by lighting conditions. This chapter discusses the different exposures needed for different lighting situations, 'brilliant sunlight' 'average daylight' 'diffused light' and 'dim light'. Fill flash and electronic flash were explained and what types of situations to use each in.
Chapter 5
"Seeing with Light" "Every photograph is about light. Light is a plastic medium that is the key ingredient shared by every photograph and determines the look of every photograph you make" This chapter further explains the need to match the time of day with the types of light metering. Atmospheric conditions like fog and mist, snow, rain, dust, heat and fire, beach and desert were talked about. Artificial lights were explained and the importance of the placing of light, front light, side light, high side light, low side light, top light, back light, and under light. Lighting accessories include, barn doors, diffusers, gels, reflector cards, snoots, seamless paper backdrops, and studio strobes.
Chapter 6
"Observation: Eyes Wide Open" this chapter explains the necessities in being able to have an eye for photography. The difference between artistic and scientific methods is that "art offers and intuitive approach to explain reality, while science insists on an exact, objective, rational set of repeatable methods and measurements. Since science says there is only one right answer; art says there are many correct answers" I like this quote because it really conveys what makes art special, not everyone has to agree on it in order for it to be right. There's no right or wrong in art. This is the chapter where we worked on th 'image maker as flaneur' which I took a sort of decisive moment approach to.
Chapter 7
Time, Space, Imagination, and the Camera is about the search of time, perception of time, controlling the camera's time, exploring shutter speeds. It summarizes how to make intentional blur and how to stay away from nuisance blur. It also teaches how to make those cool long exposure effects which I always tried to do with no success. This chapter also talks about a lot of in camera techniques that I had no clue was possible without software. This is the chapter where we were assigned the seven deadly sins project. This chapter was very helpful for cool effects like the photographic collage, making images look 3D, and photomontages.
Chapter 8
Digital Studio:Where the virtual meets the material world explains just what goes into a photograph that is downloaded to a computer. It talks about how many different pixels are needed for print, web, display, camera file, and life. Chapter 8 also talks about the needed resolutions for each task, I'm not going to lie, this was a dull chapter. It basically talked about different ways to view and manipulate an image on photoshop and how to make them print worthy. It also weighed the pros and cons about coated vs uncoated paper and the difference between printers and ink.
Chapter 9
This chapter was called presentation and preservation... it was also dry but it had a lot of good information. It explained the different types of presentation such as archival and the materials you need for it. Archival is the best way to preserve your print however it's very expensive. The pros and cons of dry vs wet mounting, the mat board was explained, floating a print was explained. Also, different types of frames, portfolios, books, and online presentations were discussed. This was also another chapter on printing techniques and materials. I feel like this book repeats itself a lot. One cool thing was a list of competitions to send your work to once it's all ready.
Chapter 10
Seeing with a camera, "one of the fundamental tasks of any image maker is to define what the exact subject of the picture is going to be. The capacity to compose succinctly is what gives clarity and cohesion to a maker's experience." This chapter looks at how "Sunday snap shooters" always take pictures at eye level where as imagemakers explore the visual possibilities of the scene and attempt to find a way to present the subject in accordance with a desired outcome. There are countless angles that make one picture different from the next, imagemakers learn how to explore these options. Selective focus, contrast, complementary colors, dominant colors, harmonic colors, isolated colors were all explained.
Chapter 11
Solutions: Thinking and Writing about images "visual thinking involves an imaginative and resourceful interaction between an imagemaker and a subject.. a problem is a situation for consideration. It is a question for open discussion and should not be ignored or treated as a cause of anxiety. Defining the true nature of a problem paves the way for understanding, which can lead to a successful resolution of the problem." This chapter talks about planning for images, which I don't necessarily agree with. It seems almost forced, although I like to take staged photographs sometimes, if it doesn't feel like it's there, I try not to force it.
Chapter 12
Photographer on assignment is a chapter of relevance to me because I've started getting jobs where I have to think about the customer and what they want, not just what I like. My favorite type of photography is portraiture, this chapter gave good advice on how to capture a good portrait. Such as studying other successful portraits. This book has proved to be helpful when I have questions about proper adjustments and decisions about my photography. This chapter focused on the different type of photography jobs out there and how to cover each. There wasn't a lot of information in this chapter, mostly just different assignments.
Chapter 1
This chapter explains the history of picture taking and the reasons behind it. The earliest traces of pictures are the cave paintings from forty thousand years ago. The book explains that the reason why people photograph is the "impulse to preserve-- to document and therefore commemorate specific people an events of importance." The chapter goes into describing the process that a picture is taken and how the art of photography has evolved since 1839, when Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre invented the first practical photographic process. Before completing this course you couldn't pay me to use photo-manipulation aside from color correction and straightening. The chapter also explains the different types of photo manipulation done before photoshop. The chapter also talks about the early advent of straight photography and previsualization. It was interesting learning about the f/64 group.
Chapter 2
This chapter focused on the difficult task of conveying the right message with your photography. "The principal job of the photographer is looking, which defines all photographic processes. Good photographs are made by learning to see... imagemaking is 10 percent what we encounter and 90 percent how we respond." This chapter explains the different steps that photographers go through to become a master imagemaker. I found this kind of subjective since there are so many different types of photographers. So who's to judge what's a good photo from a bad? The design principles are unity, variety, emphasis, scale, and proportion. We also learned about the golden mean in this chapter which was a new concept to me. I had already known about the rule of thirds but the golden mean was a different and interesting concept. To be a good judge of composition you must understand the importance of lines, shape, space, texture, pattern, and symbolism.
Chapter 3
According to chapter 3, "the role of the camera has been to make an 'acceptable' and recognizable depiction of the visible world based on established visual conventions." Garry Winorand observed, "A photograph can only look like how the camera saw what was photographed. Or, how the camera saw the piece of time and space is responsible for how the photograph looks. "This chapter explains the inner workings of the camera and what needs to happen to capture an image. It also defines words like 'camera' and 'lens' and explained the meaning of image resolution and pixels. The chapter also added helpful tips on picking the correct camera for you and the correct camera file formats. I found the explanation on jpegs, tiffs, and raw to be helpful. Beofre this course I didn't know which one was suitable for what event. Shutter speed and aperture explanations were also provided.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4 is called exposure and filters. So as you can guess, it was about the effects of different exposures and filters have on the photograph. The technical prerequisite to the process of transforming ideas into photographs are acceptable shadow and highlight detail. Even though technology and computer software offer numerous post-processing correction tools, "it is preferable to make original exposures as accurately as possible to avoid compromising image quality." Different techniques to getting the correct exposure such as light meters, histograms, gray cards, are manual exposure helpers. Whereas the electronic viewfinder and the camera monitor are built into the camera and can easily be fooled by lighting conditions. This chapter discusses the different exposures needed for different lighting situations, 'brilliant sunlight' 'average daylight' 'diffused light' and 'dim light'. Fill flash and electronic flash were explained and what types of situations to use each in.
Chapter 5
"Seeing with Light" "Every photograph is about light. Light is a plastic medium that is the key ingredient shared by every photograph and determines the look of every photograph you make" This chapter further explains the need to match the time of day with the types of light metering. Atmospheric conditions like fog and mist, snow, rain, dust, heat and fire, beach and desert were talked about. Artificial lights were explained and the importance of the placing of light, front light, side light, high side light, low side light, top light, back light, and under light. Lighting accessories include, barn doors, diffusers, gels, reflector cards, snoots, seamless paper backdrops, and studio strobes.
Chapter 6
"Observation: Eyes Wide Open" this chapter explains the necessities in being able to have an eye for photography. The difference between artistic and scientific methods is that "art offers and intuitive approach to explain reality, while science insists on an exact, objective, rational set of repeatable methods and measurements. Since science says there is only one right answer; art says there are many correct answers" I like this quote because it really conveys what makes art special, not everyone has to agree on it in order for it to be right. There's no right or wrong in art. This is the chapter where we worked on th 'image maker as flaneur' which I took a sort of decisive moment approach to.
Chapter 7
Time, Space, Imagination, and the Camera is about the search of time, perception of time, controlling the camera's time, exploring shutter speeds. It summarizes how to make intentional blur and how to stay away from nuisance blur. It also teaches how to make those cool long exposure effects which I always tried to do with no success. This chapter also talks about a lot of in camera techniques that I had no clue was possible without software. This is the chapter where we were assigned the seven deadly sins project. This chapter was very helpful for cool effects like the photographic collage, making images look 3D, and photomontages.
Chapter 8
Digital Studio:Where the virtual meets the material world explains just what goes into a photograph that is downloaded to a computer. It talks about how many different pixels are needed for print, web, display, camera file, and life. Chapter 8 also talks about the needed resolutions for each task, I'm not going to lie, this was a dull chapter. It basically talked about different ways to view and manipulate an image on photoshop and how to make them print worthy. It also weighed the pros and cons about coated vs uncoated paper and the difference between printers and ink.
Chapter 9
This chapter was called presentation and preservation... it was also dry but it had a lot of good information. It explained the different types of presentation such as archival and the materials you need for it. Archival is the best way to preserve your print however it's very expensive. The pros and cons of dry vs wet mounting, the mat board was explained, floating a print was explained. Also, different types of frames, portfolios, books, and online presentations were discussed. This was also another chapter on printing techniques and materials. I feel like this book repeats itself a lot. One cool thing was a list of competitions to send your work to once it's all ready.
Chapter 10
Seeing with a camera, "one of the fundamental tasks of any image maker is to define what the exact subject of the picture is going to be. The capacity to compose succinctly is what gives clarity and cohesion to a maker's experience." This chapter looks at how "Sunday snap shooters" always take pictures at eye level where as imagemakers explore the visual possibilities of the scene and attempt to find a way to present the subject in accordance with a desired outcome. There are countless angles that make one picture different from the next, imagemakers learn how to explore these options. Selective focus, contrast, complementary colors, dominant colors, harmonic colors, isolated colors were all explained.
Chapter 11
Solutions: Thinking and Writing about images "visual thinking involves an imaginative and resourceful interaction between an imagemaker and a subject.. a problem is a situation for consideration. It is a question for open discussion and should not be ignored or treated as a cause of anxiety. Defining the true nature of a problem paves the way for understanding, which can lead to a successful resolution of the problem." This chapter talks about planning for images, which I don't necessarily agree with. It seems almost forced, although I like to take staged photographs sometimes, if it doesn't feel like it's there, I try not to force it.
Chapter 12
Photographer on assignment is a chapter of relevance to me because I've started getting jobs where I have to think about the customer and what they want, not just what I like. My favorite type of photography is portraiture, this chapter gave good advice on how to capture a good portrait. Such as studying other successful portraits. This book has proved to be helpful when I have questions about proper adjustments and decisions about my photography. This chapter focused on the different type of photography jobs out there and how to cover each. There wasn't a lot of information in this chapter, mostly just different assignments.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Neverland Syndrome
So this project have evolved quite a lot over the past few weeks. Originally I wanted to emulate Annie Leibovitz, after realizing I don't have the models or money required to stage such things I kept thinking. I nanny-ed over the summer for these two little boys, Zachary and Brady. We had a great time and I always found them to be interesting and loved to observe them. So then I thought, I could do "A Day in the Life" final project and follow these little guys around. But then I thought well they're always getting into trouble, how can I capture them doing that? So I came up with the idea to have a sort of documentary style piece of mischievous little super heroes. Then I really thought about super heroes and how by dressing up like them they were emulating who they want to be when they grow up. So that got me thinking about growing up and how I really don't want to (haha). Alas, my final project idea, a surrealist style of neverland syndrome, the "i don't want to grow up" syndrome. When you're a kid you think you're invincible, your imagination is wild and that's what I kind of wanted to create. The shadow is a borrowed symbol from Peter Pan which represents his childhood. I hope you were able to follow me through this explanation of this seemingly unrealistic project. If by doing this project I evoke a memory from your childhood, of being an invincible little super hero, then I think I did my job.
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