Week 15 Questions:

I made a handmade book that included photographs from my mother’s archive. This is what I wrote about it in the opening:
“I want to remember you is an arrangement of photographs that have, until now, coexisted with the portraits of my family members in my mother’s closet. The piles of photographs that my mother has collected of generations of our family history have been plastic wrapped and stuffed away for safekeeping. I unburied them and what I found throughout the huge piles of photographs of cute babies, smiling siblings and group family pictures, were images that showed the things that were considered equally as dear as the people – a teddy bear collection, a rose garden, a Christmas tree. Although the photographs in this series might not ever make it into the family photo album along side Grandpa Angelo, Uncle Marc or anyone for that matter, they are revealing appreciations toward the mundane and simple things in life worth remembering.”

I was actually very please with this book. The only thing I needed to work on was the sequence. It was hard to sequence so many pictures that were so incredibly different from eachother. My favorite part about this project was developing the sequences and making relationships.

I learned through making this assignment that is is quite possible to make books of your very own for about 4 dollars. Incredible.

Week 14 Questions:
1. Choose one Family Assignment presentation/project from each group and write a brief summary 2-3 sentences describing the work.

Group 6: Garrett used Google street view to capture families out on the street. Very very successful. I love the “imagined relationship” aspect of the project. I’d buy that book! He made nice selections.

Group 5: Tenneille had the most original idea in her group. She made portraits using objects that were similar in color and sometimes shape to recreate the portraits in a different way. The images could have been better crafted but I liked the idea, I thought it was very creative.

Group 4: My group! Charmaine did a comparison of her and her sister being raised compared to her mom and sister (if I remember correctly) being raised by their grandparents. I enjoyed the comparisons.

Group 3: Kelly showed the idea for her book. She planned to manipulate an actual printed book. The idea explore the difference between digital relationships and actual intimacy.

Group 2: Nicole did a piece were she overlayed several photos over a portrait of her grandparents. I like the idea because the two people were responsible for creating so much life. The only way it could have been a successful piece of art is if it was printed quite large, I think.

Group 11: Kristy made a pop up book with photographs and showed the patterns that were repeated within the photos from Halloween throughout the years. I actually thought this was very entertaining and I enjoyed looking at it. The photos she used were from 1986-2003 and I liked the range and the growth of the children.

Group 10: Jannelle made a cute book about her family and it was guide about how to act and perceive them. It was cute but it looked like something you’d make for scrapbooking class.

Group 9: Meredith had a great project that I was very impressed with. She made plaster pillows for her photographs to sit in and there were 3 photographs of her family. They were very beautiful objects and I appreciated the time she spent on them in comparison to some of the other peoples work in class.

Group 8: Ryan had a great project that included several composites of his friends. The idea behind the composites were also quite interesting. He explained to us that he had an identical twin that died at birth and that he enjoyed seeing himself twice in one frame because it is what it would be like if his twin hadn’t died. It was actually quite a great manifestation of the family project and I wish that he was taking Stephen Marc’s digital composting class.

2. Choose one person’s assignment that you believe to be particularly strong and write an in-depth critique of it (2-3 paragraphs).

peek a boo by Garrett Trask | Make Your Own Book

I enjoyed Garretts Blurb book very much. As I said above Garrett used Google street view to capture families out on the street. Very, very successful. I love the “imagined relationship” aspect of the project. Even if two people were walking together and you were not sure if they were actually related the family relationship is implied and I love that. The choices of images were also very nice. They were carefully chosen and kept you interested in the book.

Week 13 Questions:
1. Review Kirstin Van Cleef’s presentation as you have with the three previous lectures. Do you think it will help your group in planning and designing your Public Art / Large Art project?
Kristin talked about her position at Scottsdale Public Art. She is a project manager and mainly acts as a middle man for the organization and the artist. I enjoyed learning about the INFLUX project in more depth and I think it was very helpful in relationship to our public art assignment. The piece below is called Bear With Us by Tara Logsdon.
2. What do you think the function(s) of public art are? List some public art you have experienced.
I think the function of public art is to bring the community a sense of culture and I think it enriches the community as well. I haven’t experienced many temporary public art projects, at least not ones I have been aware of. I worked at the ASU Art Museum when they were partnering with artist to fill the storefronts and local businesses on Mill Ave.
3. Read “Is Google Making Us Stupid” by Nicholas Carr in the Atlantic Magazine. Comment. Be, as the author asks, “skeptical of his skepticism” – but also, is there any truth to this? Do you find yourself affected differently by different ways of finding information?
The internet is making us stupid. I could barely read that article because it was so long.. which ironically is what it discusses. We do live in I want it now culture and the internet keeps up with us. It is easy to decide quickly that one site doesn’t have what you are looking for and move on to the next.
4. Write a short essay question that could be on the final exam.
Please discuss the differences between photography blogs/websites and photography books.

Book Fair:
3 books from class today-
Silent Eyes by Daria Clarkson-
I loved how big they were and I think the sequencing was nice. The images are fun to look at and looking at them in book form is even more.
Name??? by Kelly McNutt-
I like the handmade book that Kelly made. The images in the book were far more important then the book itself though, they were very nice to loo
Name??? by Meredith Minne
I liked looking at Meredith’s book. I like the subtle quiet pictures.

A paragraph on one appropriated book-
One of the books (I cant remember by who!) was about the images found with the word strange. The title was really tiny and terribly hard to read. The images in the book are upside down and really disorienting. It was awesome because it plays of the word strange.

Week 12 Questions:
1. Talk generally about the books you saw today. What ones were the most effective and why?
I like the books that got more creative rather than just plugging in photos and ordering. I liked the hand made books alot. I got bored with most of them though, especially the appropriated book. To be honest I kind of just browsed through them because they were dull to me. I like the ones that had thought go into them.
2. Write a bit about your book making process.
I have to admit mine was pretty simple. I created my own template. I made custom pages in order to plug 5×7 photos into it. I used a rectangle shape because I thought it looked the best. I didn’t know about the cheap rag paper at the time but if I had to change anything I would have used that and I would have ordered a hard cover.
3. Do you plan to use Blurb or other print-to-order publishers in the future? If so, how do you plan to use it? If not, why not?
I would definitely use Blurb again. I think it is worth the money. I love books and I love making books.
4. Read Andy Adams Blog piece before the lecture on Thur. Write some thoughts and at least one question for him.
If I were to ask Andy Adams a question I think I would ask him why he hasn’t hired an assistant or someone to help him yet… Seems like ALOT of work and very time consuming and I am sure there are plenty of people who would be willing to help in order to learn. I might also ask him if he has own work? I have have not been able to find his own personal work, and I have no clue if he even makes photographs, which I find strange.
5. Write a short review of the lecture and your thoughts about what he talked about. Do you think it is relevant to you and your practice as an artist or designer or student? Do you agree with his perspective?
I think his lecture was very helpful for me as a student, and an artist. I think it is very important to be aware of the sites that expose up coming artist and it is very useful to know that the people who run these blogs are so accessible, at least Andy definitely seems to be.

6. Now that you have been given the assignment sheet for the Final Project, write briefly about what your initial thoughts/ideas/questions are about the final project.
I want to do something that involves the internet. I think it is central to the class and I want to explore its place in culture in some way.

I stole this from James Steller’s blog. Cyber bullying at its best. Classic. I ❤ http://www.collegehumor.com/

Week 11 Questions:
1. What are your thoughts regarding children privacy on the internet?
This is a tricky topic. I do not think people should post pictures of their children naked on the internet without some serious thought. I can only talk from my personal bias but if I was a parent I wouldn’t post pictures of my children naked on facebook or any other thing of that nature but if I was a photographer and my work had picture of my children naked in it I would post it on my personal website. I think also that it depends on the picture and the intended audience.
2. Sexuality on the internet. Do you think more access to sexualized images promotes more sex and or a less healthy attitude towards sex? Towards each other and other things?
I think Michael McLoad hit the nail on the head when he said that it is not sexuality on the internet that is perverted but it is our societal reaction to sex on the internet that is perverted. Sexuality is a normal part of life and it exist strangely on the internet. I do not think it is a healthy representation of sexuality. I think the discussion in class was interesting when we started to discuss how porn lower sex drive and things like that. That alone raises some questions in my mind.
3. Thoroughly read at least one article mentioned in class on Tuesday.
4. Do you think people’s fears about teenagers and the internet are well-founded? What do you think the dangers are of how we use images on the internet? What are the good aspects? How did you use pictures on the internet as a teenager, did it change as you got older? Do you think the internet is an easy place for bullying?
I think they are well-founded but the issue is so complex that it it is hard to say. I think the internet is very easy place to bully. People say things online they would neeeeeeeeeeever say in real life. I agree with the analogy Betsy used in class about being in your car and telling someone to get the hell out of your way verse walking down the street and never even thinking to say something cruel like that.
5. What are the ways in which technology could make it easier to hurt other people? Do you think this results in more bullying? Or is it just taking another form?
I think the obvious disconnection with another physical person makes it easier for people to hurt other people.
6. How much do you use picture messaging? And what do you use it for?
I only use picture messaging for taking and receiving picture of my adorable niece Jouet 🙂

Week 10 Questions:
1. Comment on Stephen Marc’s Lecture. Please write a paragraph summarizing what Stephen Marc discussed in his lecture. Write a second paragraph responding to what you heard and how it might or might not relate to ideas you might have for creating image based work?
Unfortunately I coughed through Stephen’s lecture and was hacking up a lung in the hallway but I have had the pleasure of seeing much of his work before. I love how he is so passionate about his work and how he is interested in every single little detail (which he loves to talk about). The work is so historically based that it is hard sometimes to know exactly what every little thing means with out his explanation but I think once you understand it, it is very rewarding to look at and think about.

2. What is family tradition with photography? What did you parents do when you were small? How were photos made, collected, disseminated, shared? How was it when you parents were children?
I have barely images from my childhood. It is quite frustrating. I could not imagine not trying to capture every little sneeze or movement (alright I’m exaggerating) on camera. I think the photos were kind of put aside and forgotten about. The only photographs of my mom when she was a kid I have seen are the ones she owns, which is not very many.
3. Was photography valued in your family? Who took most control over it? What do you think his/her main concerns were with the family photography?
No one in my family valued photography as far as I know. No one took the initiative to capture us girls growing up. It is a real downer.
4. How do you feel about your old family photography?
Explained above.
5. What does your family do now? How has this changed since you were small? Since your parents were small?
Everyone depends on me to take pictures of everything. My mom does have a camera now that she probably takes out every 5 months or so. I guess for good reason, because I am always taking picture of as much as I can.

My friend showed me this website and its awesome. Go there.
http://www.americansuburbx.com/

I was pointed in the direction of Chris Verene work today by a friend and I like it a lot. I enjoy the series he did called The Galesburg Series. Here are some examples of the work and here is his website (which could use some love) http://www.chrisverene.com

Lecture by Pipo Nguyen-Duy
http://www.piponguyen-duy.com/

It was a joy to listen to Pipo talk. He was enthusiastic, down to earth and had a great personality. Current project that Pipo is working on include The Garden, East of Eden, and The Presidential Palace. I think that his work is beautiful to look at.
He has done various types of work that range from playful performances to more serious portraits of the people of Vietnam.

The conversation about romanticism was quite lovely. It was refreshing to hear this dialogue between Bill Jenkins, Betsy Schneider and Pipo Nguyen-Duy. Some people were taught to reject romanticism, Pipo looks at classical romantic era paintings with awing eyes and showed many slides of these paintings, which I found very intriguing. This one below for example, by Caspar David Friedrich.

Week 9 Questions:
1. Respond to Mike McLeod’s Lecture. Please write a paragraph summarizing what he discussed in his lecture. Write a second paragraph responding to what you heard and how it might or might not relate to ideas you might have for creating image based work.
Mike McLeod’s work is quite interesting to me. I think he is successful in portraying his ideas about the internet and how it relates to people and the connection that are made over the internet. Of course, the images and work is much more complex than that but it raises very interesting questions. I like that his three bodies of work are all so different but relate so strongly to his overall ideas about connections people make.
I appreciate any artist who can visually articulate their ideas. It is a strength that some artist lack. I am currently struggling with that in my own work but am trying to move last it. He is an example of someone who does it well and I am glad that he shared his work, ideas, and process with us in class.
2. Do an image search for “family photography” –put in a modifier of your choice. Comment on what comes up first, then follow links. Find and post to your blog the 5 most interesting images you came across.





“Dysfunctional Family Photography” is what I typed in.
3. Attitudes towards family photography– that of others and how you consume it. What is your opinion. When if ever do you enjoy looking at family photography of others. What is the context and the form? When do you find it unappealing? Talk about the form, content and function of these images.
My attitude towards family photography is that it has the ability to transform past its original function. There are old photographs of my sisters and I when I was growing up that I love looking at not only because of the bazaarness of seeing your family in a different time and space but because of them are actually beautiful photographs. They were taken to capture the family in a way but they turn into more than that. I loose interesting in family picture that everyone is looking at the camera and smiling.
Here are some of my own personal family photos that I find fun to look at.



4. What do you think the function of family photography is in general?
It depends on the family I suppose. Or the photographer.
5. How does digital dissemination of family photographs change the way they function? Does this present any problems that you can see? Do you have personal or political concerns?
I think it is scary that images of your family can be found when someone types “dysfunctional family photography” into google, like I have above. Once it is on the internet it is out of your hands.

Week 8 Question:
1) What are the things that you think are working well about this class, in general? For you specifically?  What would you like to see addressed that hasn’t been addressed?
I think what is working well about this class is that there are so many relevant examples shown. Since the internet seems to be infinite and full of information, we would like to think anyways, it only seems appropriate that the tool be used to demonstrate its own capability. I enjoy the assignments that are given as well. They allow us to practice first hand what we learn in class. For example Lara showed the class various examples of different photography books and then we were assigned to go make one of our own. I have always been of fan of hands on learning.

2) There will be two more assignments until your final project. Begin now to brainstorm ways in which you might approach the final project. What is interesting to you? Consider the artists we have seen and the concepts we have touched on. Would you like to create an object? An experience? A portfolio of images? Or would you prefer to set up a website or write a paper? You do not need to decide for several weeks, but begin to brainstorm here.
I love the idea of a photobook. I am sure I will do an additional one for the final project. I love books in general and especially photobooks. I want to be able to hold my creation in my hand.

3) Post 3 pictures. Any pictures from anywhere. Tell us why you chose them.

Alfred Stieglitz
The Steerage, 1907
This photograph changed my entire way of seeing photography (I mean, yeah, it change almost everyone else’s in the 20th century too but this is about me :p ) The first time I saw this photograph was in Understanding Photographs class. When I took this class with Bill Jenkins in the beginning I was absolutely in awe with what I had been taught and asked to think about and the wheels have been turning ever since.

I chose this because I think it is a stunning photograph by Robert Frank (top). Also when I saw our professor Betsy Schneider’s work (bottom) for the first time I thought of this photograph.

I chose two photographs by William Eggleston. I love his photographs.

Assignment 8
Finding Good Photobooks, Photos and Artists

Abigail, by Andrew Spear | Make Your Own Book

This book is very personal and I love it for that. I enjoy looking at it. Some of the images are very nice but some are not but I still enjoyed the book thoroughly.

 

http://www.blurb.com/books/2324317

This book is beautiful.

Assignment 7: Picture Essay

Here is a link to my blurb book:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/2066701/66bd2baa1a68c6653bc411fa2b83c772ce75ea67?ce=blurb_ew&utm_source=widget

Week 7 Questions:

1) What do you see as the societal advantages of digital creation and dissemination of images? What do you see as disadvantages? (List three each):

2) What do you see personally as advantages/disadvantages? (Consider things like your personal, familial, social and artistic practices):

3) How do you personally use the internet to disseminate your imagery? Describe the function it server for you–personal, artistic–List all ways (Facebook, webpages, email):

4) Consider and discuss your idea of the meaning of “aura”– re-read Benjamin if necessary. Are objects imbued with value–Do you value objects for qualities beyond their more immediate function?

5) Find at least 3 Art Photography Blogs and evaluate their quality:
http://beautifuldecay.com/
This one is not entirely photography based but I enjoy looking at it from time to time. I think their is a nice variety and they always give a brief description of the artist or work and link you to their personal page.
http://youmightlikethis.com/
This is a mix between a blog that is trying to show artists work and show funny things they found surfing the web. Also really random pictures of cats…. awkward..

http://zero1magazine.com/blog/
I just found this one. I like it a lot. I enjoy when these people do their homework and there is clear variety. When I photoblog has a certain style they like and they only post things that fall into that category it is dull.

6) Write on two of the four artists discussed in class today. Write your reaction to their work, their process and your critical analysis of their work:

Elijah Gowin- I don’t have a problem with the fact that he appropriates images in some of his bodies of work but out of all the images this was the only one worth looking at in my opinion..

Doug Rikard – I feel the opposite about Doug Rikard. I think the images are nice to look. But I think the voyeurism is so far disconnected from the people he is spying on I do not quite understand.

Week 6 Questions:
1. Choose five words and do you own Google Internet search. Can you predict what kinds of images come up? What kinds of images tend to dominate each word? How do you think the words relate to the images? What are some of the more absurd connections?
Photograph– Surprisingly a lot of black and white images have pop up. I expected more people holding physical photographs, but instead there are just a lot of random pictures. There are some classic photographs which I kind of expected.
Bed– These were images I mostly expected. There were a lot of advertisement shots of beds. The cooler ones though were the ones with the unique designs. What I didn’t expect were the pictures of bed bugs… ew.
Phone– More product photographs. I didn’t expect all of the cartoons of people on the phone.
Happy- Whoa totally not what I expected. I thought it would be a bunch of people smiling fakely at the camera, but instead it was a lot of yellow smiley cartoon icons. Ahhhhh creepy…..
Heart– Predicable. A lot of pictures of drawn hearts and some animations of real hearts.

2. Do a Google image search using an image–perhaps an image of yourself? Describe what happens. In what ways are the results similar to the image you searched? In what ways are they different? What do you think the engine is programmed to recognize?
I think the program is definitely looking for similar color scheme and compositions. I had no clue you could do this and I think it is amazing! I could probably sit on here all day and do that!

3. Write about how your group is functioning –If you don’t feel comfortable posting this, please email these messages directly to Lara AND myself. Let us know whether you meet regularly and whether you are working together well. If not, what could we do to help.
My group is awesome and productive! 😉

Week 5 Questions:
1. War Photography. Do you read the news? Do you look for photos? Were the photos from the past 10 years familiar to you? The past 20? The past 100? How do you get you visual information about current wars? Do you pay attention?
I listen to NPR probably about 4 times a week. Surprisingly, I do not see a lot of news photos. I do not watch TV and barely ever get on http://www.bbc.co.uk/ or CNN.com to see a story I want to know more about (which in that case I’m normally searching for imagery as well).  The photo’s were all familiar to me, except the one of Abu Ghaaib photographs I have never seen and they make me sick. I hate seeing people being terrible to each other and thinking they are justified in their actions. I would say I do pay attention, NPR keeps me in the loop.

2. Do a Google Image Search for Abu Ghaaib. Comment on the kinds of images–both real and parody– that you see. Describe them. Choose one that you find particularly interesting/powerful/upsetting and explain why you chose that one.
I think this image is the most disturbing and really quite interesting. When this was shown in class and talked about it made it even more complex. The physcological battle this girl had and the actual image are so different. When I see the google images I can tell these people were condemned for their behavior but the fact that before the photographs they weren’t upsets me the most. Without these photographs this place would still be functioning in this terrible way. Makes you think. And the you see the mockeries and it is so bizarre how people try and reenact these kinds of things.

3. Choose one of the artist mentioned in class this week and explore his/her work in some depth. Give a brief analysis of his/her work.
I think that Robert Capa’s image of the moment of death is fascinating. Robert Capa was one of the founders of the Magnum Photographers. The Magnum photographers were a group of photographers that formed the first photographic cooperative.

4.Choose one of the links below and read it and comment.

Flowchart

My Photosteam on Flickr

Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights

Very interesting!

The 15 most expensive pictures ever taken

Hmmmmm wouldn’t have guessed some of these.

 

1. Cindy Sherman, Untitled #96 (1981)

Sold for $3,890,500

 

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Week 4 Questions:
1. Write a few descriptive and analytical sentences about each presentation. Here are some suggestions as to some questions you might want to address (?). List one thing you noticed while looking at these images.
Group 1- Colin- Digital design vs. photographic imagery, Group 2- Amanda- Blurry photos of advertisements, images accompanied by graphic text, Group 3- (Name?)- Day in the life style images, Group 4- Charmaine- Like flipping through a magazine, a lot of young females in advertisements, Group 5- Ashley- Working at Starbucks, Group 6- Garrett- Library and baseball game, Group 7- (Name?)- Classwork, Group 8- Amy- employee at an ad agency, used to seeing a lot of ads and more conscious of it, Group 9- Meredith- Actively searching on google, Group 10- Treye- Working at Target and getting in trouble, Group 11- Christine- Photos of food and working out.
Overall I thought it was interesting how they were mainly all advertisements. As a photographer it is shocking to see the medium is used in this may so frequently. It kind of makes me sad.

2. Discuss the overall impression you get after watching these presentations. Do you feel overwhelmed? Talk about the differences between the ways in which people addressed the assignment.
I was completely overwhelmed with all of the photos people took. I could hardly stand looking all the blurry, cropped off, enormous images on the large projector in class. Some of them were very fun to look at though. I love seeing peoples family photos and google searches but all the advertisements made me throw up in my mouth. I think the differences in how people approached the assignment was in where they went during their 24 hour period. Personally, I enjoyed when people were at home, I feel like I had more of a clue what they were like (…if it is possible to define someone by what they see as Betsy discussed in class).

3. Talk about the way you approached the assignment and how it was similar/different from others. What was the effect on you of creating the assignment and observing others?
At first I made the mistake of photographing every image I saw and then later realized I was only supposed to be photographing photographic images. The difference of my approach and others is I kind of played it safe. I would never take the chance photographing at work. I work for an art installation company and people would be very upset if I went in their home and started photographing their art collections. My boss would also never allow it because some of our clients are very private people. Although I did start at work it was after I knew I wouldn’t be out install, so I have some office shots. I was glad to see Treye rebelling against his employer, I guess I was living vicariously through him in a way.

24 hour project

Week 3 Questions:
1. How was the 24 hour project? What did you discover? What did you discover looking at your images all together? Did you enjoy it?
The 24 hour project was fun to do. I discovered that I look at a lot of art and photography. I enjoyed documenting what imagery I look at everyday. For the most part it is very calm and I found that I didn’t see any violence or anything vulgar within my 24 hour span, I think this has to do with where I photographed. I photographed at home, work, and school. All family friendly places as far as imagery goes. Below was my favorite image, the first taken, of a Rodney Roscona printout taped to the wall with as much importance as my bosses daughter Emma’s doodles. Her doodles litter the walls in his office and I love looking at them and I love that this is in the middle of them. It is a fairly depressing photograph but Emma is too young to know or care and taped it up with her doodles.

2. Briefly discuss the ways in which the design of cameras has affected who uses them.
The portableness of cameras today is very convenient for consumers. If there were no advances in the photographic process/camera then it would still be limited to the privileged few who could afford to spend money on complicated toxic materials and heavy view cameras. Since the range of camera sizes and the range of camera qualities varies the operators also varies. There are small user friendly point and shoots for the weekend shooter as well as fully manual complicated cameras (complicated depending on who you ask) for the professionals.

3. What do you think are the most significant differences between film photography and digital photography? Support your choices.
The look of the final print is ultimately what is different (the process is a huge difference as well). How the light is translated is what I think mainly looks different. Negative vs. sensor. It is really all up to the photographer and which one is right for their specific work. Below is an example of film vs. digital (from the internet). I think the colors have much more range naturally on the film image (left) then they do on the digital image (right). But, the color can be altered in photoshop on either, so does it really matter? Some would argue absolutely, some would argue no.

4. Do you personally shoot film? Have you ever? If so how did/does your experience with film differ from you experience with digital?
I currently do not shoot film. I have shot both 35mm and 120mm film and enjoyed both thoroughly. I find it more accessible to shoot with digital but I still am drawn to the quality film has and its ability to capture light so beautifully.

5. Choose one of the links below, read the article and discuss why (or why not) you find it relevant to this weeks class.
http://photomuse.org/chrono.html
This is relevant to this weeks class be cause it shows the rapid development in photography as a medium.