Artist Inspiration: Nan Goldin
Though I liked the physical and depictive aspects of Nan Goldin’s snapshot-style photographs, I was more drawn to the actual meaning of the pictures, and the messages they were sending. Goldin portrays and depicts transformation, intimacy, and subculture in her photos. She photographs her friends, during daily activies, over periods of time, and in times of vulnerability. Goldin photographs at the most intimate level, her life is her work and her work is her life. What particularly interested me was the way in which she was able to portray her own self through her photos of her friends and family. We saw her world through her eyes as it was, raw and uncensored. Throughout Nan’s snapshot “memories” we are able to get a sense of her as a person, what is important to her, and what values she holds. This style of portraiture is inspiring, and I wish to mimic it in my final project.
Project 4-The Trace: Post-Critique
I was happy with the way my photographs were viewed. The feedback I received was good for the most part, but there are definitely some things that I would change if I had the opportunity to go back and re-shoot. Although all of my photos shared a common theme, distortion of reality, there wasn’t much else involved to connect them as a series. So, as a group they did fit together, but since the subject matter and color palette of each photo was so drastically different from the next there was not a strong connection between them. The way I used reflections and shadows to convert the mundane into something unique was appreciated, and the framing and camera angles I used were complimented. I was most happy with my picture of tree branches reflected onto water. The angle at which I took the photo and the cropping I did afterwards distorted the picture in a way that made the simple reflection of the tree branches almost unrecognizable. The actual branches and their trace did not match up, and the water was still enough that the reflection almost seemed like the actual thing.
Project 4-The Trace: Inspiration and Ideas
When we were first assigned this project, “the trace,” the first things that came to mind were shadows and reflections. It was a pretty basic idea of the trace. Just some sort of sign that something was left behind. I took lots of pictures of trees casting their shadows against different surfaces or reflecting off of some sort of watery surface. What was I getting at with these pictures?? Beyond the fact that they were pretty reflections and shadows there wasn’t much else to them. I wanted to keep my original idea of the trace, but I wanted to do something to make my pictures less simple. When I was looking through my photos I noticed one of a tree casting its shadow against the grass in front of it. The framing of the camera and the angle at which the picture was taken made the shadows sort of morph into something almost unrecognizable. This gave me an idea, I could incorporate some sort of illusion or sense of distortion of reality into my photos to make them more interesting. I looked at multiple photographers for inspiration. I noticed that some of the most important aspects of capturing this sense of illusion or distortion was framing and camera angle. If the camera was tilted or flipped and the frame was maybe more tightly cropped then it seemed to work better.
World Unseen by Azzam Merchant: http://www.flickr.com/people/azzammerchant/
This photo by Azzam Merchant captures a young girl jumping over a stream of some sort. Her body is reflected into the water for a second as she soars through the air over top of it. The picture freezes her in the act, and her reflection. The angle at which this photograph was taken makes the girl’s reflection appear as if it is upright and leaping. It is quite dissorienting, but makes the photo much more interesting.
BMW Daydream by AmsterS@m(blog): http://www.flickr.com/people/amstersam/
This photo captures a BMW relfected into a puddle on the street. The patchiness of the water against the street make it appear as if the car is lost within a flurry of autumn leaves. The framing of the photo also makes the reflection in the puddle appear real, it seems that the picture is a straight on shot of the BMW, not just a picture reflected within water.
Bridge Illusion by Vision~A i r y~(Blog): http://www.flickr.com/people/visionairy/
What makes this photo more interesting than every other picture of a sunset reflected onto water, is the way that the water contrasts with the hill the people are on and the angle at which the photograph is taken. The arc in the puddle of water creates an illusion. It appears as if the land is creating a curved bridge and the people are walking across it. The reflected sunset in the water just seems like it is the remainder of the sunlight peeking through the bottom of the bridge. This illusion keeps me interested. It takes a second to realize what is actually being photographed.
Sneaker Shadows by Sam Cornet: blogs.targetx.com/pbu/Sam/2009/03/
This picture of sneakers by Sam Cornet creates an awesome optical illusion. Although four pairs of shoes are the only things being photographed, the shadows that they cast somehow appear to be the shadows of actual people. What is strange about these shadows of people, is that there are no legs connected to the shoes. Normally if you saw a picture like this with full body shadows you would see part of the person that is casting the shadow. All that is shown are empty, ghostly pairs of shoes. I still have no idea how this illusion was created.
Master Hands by Russ and Reyn: http://www.russandreyn.com/#/portfolio/portfolio/9
This photo “Master Hands” by Russ and Reyn, a photography team based in NYC, plays with the use of set lighting and blows things out of proportion, casting shadows that look gigantic. In this image the shadow, a hand, has a life of it’s own. It appears to be plucking a woman off the ground by her jacket. This creatively plays with the use of shadows and proportions, it creates the illusion that either a giant hand is picking up a normal sized person, or the normal hand is picking up a tiny person.
Balloon Reflection by Timothy K: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/244646885/
This photograph by Timothy K pefectly reflects hot air balloons across water at what seems to be some sort of a fair. The evening light mixed with the colorful glow of the bustling fair creates a sense of mystique. Reality is seen in the picture, but the wide eye lens allows you to see this reality in a new way, and the photograph begins to seem unreal. It almost appears as if you are looking into a kaleidoscope. It amazes how something as simple as an image reflected onto water and a wide-eye lens can morph the ordinary into unoridinary.
Project 3-In Limbo: Post Critique
After hearing my photos criticized I now have new ideas about what I should have done differently when photographing and what was generally liked. The angles I shot from (the ground, below the subject, and from up above) were interesting ways to capture things, especially when they were in movement. What I found to be the case was the pictures that were shot from a low angle tended to capture motion better. The subjects were clearly moving in the frame. The pictures that were shot from above didn’t capture the movement quite as well. Even though the subjects were moving when I was shooting, the pictures makes it seem as if there was little motion. I also wish that my series of pictures were better related. Beyond the fact that they were all taken on Beloit campus, there was little relationship between them. I should have paid more attention to creating an actual series of related photos that captured movement.
Project 3-In Limbo: Inspirations and Ideas
For our third project we were assigned to capture motion. We could convey this motion in many different ways; shadows, expressions, actions, etc. I first just simply thought about ways in which I could capture people while they were in action. I took pictures of my friend dancing around with her scarf twirling and blowing in the wind. From my window, I took pictures of people biking and walking through the quad. I then thought about what I could do to incorporate the surroundings with the motion of the people. I paid special attention to shadows and lines (from tree branches in particular). I photographed at times of the day where the sun wasn’t directly overhead so stronger shadows were able to be cast. Unlike most of the street photography pictures I chose for inspiration, my pictures were not in black and white. They were brightly colored. I also played around with contrasting colors, I photographed subjects with bold, bright colors against dull, brown tree branches. This contrast allowed the subjects to pop out more and placed emphasis on them and their movement.
http://www.noise-to-signal.com/
This color and shadow in this picture are what make it so interesting.
http://www.usefilm.com/images/4/5/8/1/4581/1172781-medium.jpg
I really like this point-of-view shot it makes a great perspective. The tones and contrast are perfect. The shadow also adds a lot to the picture.
This is another photograph by Stephen Wright. I like the contrast between the spiral floor tiles and the striped doggy sweater, it allows your eyes to move across the entire frame. The cropping of the photo is interesting also, it emphasizes the dog even though it is dramatically smaller than the human who is also in the picture.
