Idea Post -- More on the Altars

 

At this point I'm pretty confident that I'll be using altars in each of my images.  I'm actually struggling with calling them altars because I think that's a pretty loaded word but I don't know that there's really anything else to call them.  I want them to represent some kind of loss for the sitter, not necessarily a loss from the reality of the model but one that I am projecting onto them. I also want to toy with having the altar on its own in the space but with room around it so that a person could inhabit that space. I think that might have some interesting implications.  I'm also still toying with the idea of shooting outdoors but maybe scrapping the idea I had before about the tree in the field (although like I think I said before as well, I may just make the image to get it out of my system).  As far as the outdoors goes I was thinking again with domestic spaces such as front and backyards.  I don't want to stray too far from the home because I think that's where the mourning/honoring process mostly takes place (with the exception of public ceremonies that occur at places like cemeteries but as much as I love cemeteries I think it would be wise to stay away from them).

I've been doing a lot of looking around for the pieces that I want to use within the altars and have been looking back at the list that I made.  I found a couple artists that I will be doing blog posts on who work with assemblages, kind of in the vein of Rauschenberg.  I think that would be the best way to go about the altars but I'm concerned with making them the main focus because I really like having people in my pictures.  I want the assemblage to reflect the sitter in some way. I've got a lot to think about still.

Images courtesy of Google Image Search

Artist Research -- David Lynch's "Blue Velvet"

So today I watched David Lynch's film Blue Velvet (1986) and was really excited about the whole thing.  It was very engaging and although it was two hours, the story flew by effortlessly. Although I'd been told to watch this movie before, and actually I already had it at home courtesy of netflix, Jeff had recommended that I watch it.  I'm pretty sure he said to pay attention to how David Lynch uses oddities in his work and figure out why its successful in his context.

One thing that was clear was that the oddities didn't seem random, but rather meticulously thought out. It lends to the narrative in terrifying and unsettling ways. The viewer is made to feel awkward -- as if they are not meant to see what they are seeing (i.e. Dorothy Valens undressing then dropping to the floor and inhaling the carpet, also getting up and stumbling down the hallway trailing her hands along the walls. We are made to feel what Jeffrey Beaumont must be feeling). They also only seem to happen in connection with Valens. When she isn't involved in the action everything is seemingly normal.  In fact, as the film progresses, the pieces of the film that are a little off kilter become normalized (i.e. Ben bursting into song -- "Candy Coated Clown") and doesn't seem at all out of place.

What makes all of the weird moments successful though, is that they don't have to justify their existence within the film, they can just be.  I don't need to know why Frank inhales with that little plastic mask, all I really need to know is that he is one messed up guy that is causing grief for Dorothy and Jeffrey. They become part of the narrative and necessary for the story to progress because of the tension that is created which is what definitely drives the story.

So as far as my work goes, I think what I need to do is make sure that the weird elements that I add to my images have to be necessary for the images to work. I'd also like to create a tension between my subject and the weird bits in order to really bring the images together.  I've gotten some good thoughts from this and I'm excited to put them into action.

Idea Post -- Word Association?

bird cages
meat
mold
cat tails
hard boiled eggs
oversized things
shadowy figures
altars
candles
flowers
long exposures?
darker lighting?
reflections
disconnect
eye contact
no eye contact
porcelain dolls -- full and in parts
baby doll parts (hands)
cats cats cats cats cats
record player/victrola
monocle
opera glasses
gloves
feathers
gears
keys
antlers
teeth -- anatomical dental models and smaller teeth
milk
light bulbs hanging from cords
antique cutlery
dead pan
candid
posed
lower camera angle
hourglass
playing cards
top hat
long cigarette filter
knives
meticulous placement of items
ABC blocks
virgin mary candles
horse bit
reins
ribbons
bruises
orb mirrors
palm reader's hand diagram
cameras
old images (victorian, memento mori)
x rays



I really felt like I needed to sit down and do that.  With that said, I think it was very helpful.  I prefer to do a lot of thinking before I actually DO things, which includes the sketches that Jeff suggested I do before reshooting the pictures. Today I went with Ms. Hobson to the library and I made out with a nice stack I think, so hopefully this will satisfy the idea requirement for now. I really like posting in here I think it's helping me sort my thoughts out which is a good thing.

Artist Research -- Robert Gober

 
One think I'd like to mention first about Robert Gober is that all of his work is hand crafted. All of it. And that is something I really appreciate about his work.  In his work, there is an exploration of the domestic and the body and how they interact with each other but with an absurdist twist, which is something I will be delving into in my work as well. There is something both sexual and unnerving in his work that gets under the skin and stays there.  Since Jeff showed me his work on Thursday I can't seem to get it out of my head and I'm sure that it will have a definite influence in the language of my senior portfolio.


I'm also considering more and more the possibility of creating my own pieces to put in the room/space with my models.  The more thinking I do, the more likely it is that I'm going to think up something that just doesn't exist (and probably with good reason).  Some of my AFO training is probably going to come in here in that I'm going to come up with some creative solutions, especially if I end up using that vase of cat tails idea that I mentioned earlier because really, I don't want to use real cat tails... not that I think I'd be able to find enough real severed cat tails to fill a vase. 


In Order of Posting: Untitled, beeswax, pigment, cotton, leather, aluminum pull tabs, human hair, cast gypsum polymer, paint, 2007; Untitled, 1990, beeswax, human hair, pigment; Untitled, willow, wax, and hair, 2000

Idea Post -- Altars/Locations

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I could include within my pictures and I'm thinking some kind of altars or shrines in each image. Maybe not all of them, but some, and not necessarily religious altars.  I plan on researching altars a little more, but I think that maybe in one or two images having an altar of absurd objects might be interesting.  I also had the random thought of having a vase of cat tails in an image. Not the plant but actually cat tails.  I'm not sure how I'd pull that off, but I think it may be something worth pursuing.

I was also thinking of maybe shooting some non-domestic scenarios as well.  I was thinking of a picture (and I think this maybe is what I'm not supposed to do but here's the idea anyway) where I have a model in a field and in the distance there is a tree but there is something/someone lurking around/in the tree while the model is somewhat unassuming of the presence behind them.  I think this might be straying from what I'm going to end up doing, but I think I may make this image to get it out of my system. I don't know I feel so reinvigorated and apparently it shows as Ashleigh told me the very same thing today.

Both images found through Google Search.

Idea Post -- Or is this a lack of Idea post...

I'm struggling.  I did a shoot with my friend Michael to kick off my people in their rooms series but looking over the pictures something just felt missing.  I think what was missing was me.  Not to say that all the pictures were horrible, I like them just fine but there was only one I felt anything from which was this one:

Test Image, Michael's Room, 2009

I'll post the others tomorrow in my meeting post but this was the only one that really said anything to me.  Maybe that means that this is the direction that I should go in within the series or if it's just further proof that I'm just drawn to darker themes.  I was talking to Sara about my dissatisfaction toward this series and how I feel like I need to focus on myself instead of other people.  She mentioned how it might be worth going back to what I was doing with my concepts project where I was focusing on what I'm dealing with in regard to the effects my step-father's abuse is having on me now, after the fact.  

The only problem there is, I'm not sure where to go with it.  I just feel completely uninspired and I'm not sure what to do about it.  Last week I felt full of excitement and motivation and ideas but now I just don't know what happened.  I feel like I need to have something awakened in me and I don't know what to do to awaken it. So much for an idea today.

Artist Research -- TJ Proechel

As his artist statement says, TJ Proechel has been living in Minnesota for the past 4 months fixing up foreclosed homes.  His series "Dream Homes" focuses on the foreclosure crisis and the people he has met while doing this work.  Although he doesn't come right out and say it, his work is really taking a look at the things that people own and what those things mean to those people. Here, these people have worked hard to achieve their goals and to earn their possessions only to have these things taken away.  As far as my work goes in similarity, Proechel is exploring the underbelly of what I am looking at. I'd like to learn why different people feel the way they do toward their rooms and their personal spaces. I want to know what these things/places mean to the person(s) that inhabit them and why it's so important or not important to them.

My favorite images from the series are the more dead pan images where the subjects are confronting the camera and therefore the viewer or if there is no person in the image, the viewer is faced with the ruin of the foreclosed home and the abandoned possessions. This confrontation, I believe, really makes the viewer focus on what they're looking at. It takes a very aggressive and straightforward stance and demands some kind of contemplation.

All Images from the series Dream House. No apparent titles.

TJ's Website

Idea Post -- Call and Response

I know this wasn't posted before 9, but since I had just done a critique blog and I wasn't sure that I really had anything else to say.  I've had some time to ruminate on some of the comments that I was faced with, and I think I have some answers to them.

I was asked why anyone would care about my work.  And the only thing I can think of is, "Why would someone care about anyone's work?"  I know my work isn't going to appeal to everyone, and I don't expect it to.  I think this question also kind of goes with, "Where is my voice in this work?" and "What keeps this from being a blog post?" I read a lot of blogs.  And as anyone who reads blogs know, a lot of times there will be a picture accompanying the text.  I think the reason Tom brought up this comparison is because I'd like to have a write up from my subject on the wall with the image of them and their room.  Some blogs will snap a picture to go along with their post without much concern for how the picture is taken. In other situations, the blogs will find images that go with their post, or, the images will be around first and the post will be based around the blog.

Liquor Store Bar, 2006

In my case,  I am taking a picture that I am thinking about and considering in many ways. Donna Ferrato's 10013 project that she is working on right now, aside from the name attached to the work, why would anyone care? Why do I care about the goings on of Tribeca? I'm not from New York. I'm not immersed in the culture.  I hope my thoughts here don't appear as a cop out, because I really have thought about it.  I'm not done thinking though, but I did need to get a blog post up. I think my voice is going to come through in the way that I take my photos and subsequently display them.  And I think that my vision for my work as well as the content and story of the subjects that I photograph will keep my audience engaged. My vision and how I go about actually making the work is what will keep someone else from doing my work.

Artist Research -- Artists working in Alt. Processes

Palma Allen
http://www.palmaallen.com/

Portal 2 and Risen

Palma Allen was looking to create a new body of work within she (I think this is a she...) could explore and add a different dimension. By using infrared film, she says that she opened up a "new visual world" in which she was not experienced which provided her with a challenge.  The infrared film actually directed her toward graveyards because of the mysteriousness that surrounded both.

Will Dunniway
http://www.dunniway.com/

Yosimite Falls framed through trees and 'Twin' and Friend

When Dunniway was younger, his mom would by Civil War books for him. The photographs stuck with him and when he was older he decided to pursue the creation of images similar to those in the war books. He only uses original equipment, which keeps certain qualities from older photography present in his current works. Because he is a history buff, this medium proves to be his favorite:

For Will Dunniway, collodion photography represents the perfect combination of history and art; the perfect interplay between the past, present and future; between old glass, wood, chemicals and the weather; between luck and sweat. "It's what makes me who I am," says Will. "When I found collodion photography, I knew I had found what I wanted to do."

Tina Maas
http://www.tinamaas.com/

Lina 2 (Liquid Emulsion on Wax) and Stairs (Polaroid Emulsion Lift)

Born in Germany to a mother who pushed her children towards the arts and a radiologist father, Tina was naturally pushed toward photography and to exploring its boundaries. After taking a class at Parsons in NY focused in alternative processes, Maas realized how unique she could make photographs and she was attracted to the rule-breaking and unpredictability that is inherent to alternative processes. 

Photo Critiques -- Part 5

Something that I think is very important to an image is the ability to tell a story.  I don't believe it's necessary for the story to be exactly what the artist intends or had in mind while producing the image(s), the importance is in whether or not the image stays with the viewer and touches them somehow.  That is my main goal in my images. I don't care if the story is ordinary or fantastic. I just want my image to stick around in a person's mind and keep them arrested.

Joel-Peter Witkin - Leda and the Swan

I like that this image is just as much of a photograph as it is a painting.  The elements that Witkin added with his own hand add another dimension to the image, a tension and franticness that is reflected on the model's face.

Eleanor Hardwicke - from the A Secret Place series

http://eleanorhardwick.com/

Admittedly, this image comes off as more of a fashion shot than a fine art piece, but there are still things that I think are worth noting.  I like the delicacy of Hardwicke's image and this image is no less delicate than the one that I posted previous.  I also think that wardrobe is very important in creating a successful image, at least when it comes to constructing the image rather than stumbling upon it.  She looks as though she's just noticed something in the lake and I expect it would be something small and magical.

Nick & Chloe - from the Loewe Strasse 25 series

http://www.nickandchloe.com/

The expression on the face of this woman seems to be a mixture of great relief as well as one of deep thought.  Her features look both serene and intense at the same time, causing a tension in the image that pulls the viewer in.  The haze from the bath house makes the harsh tiles soft, which compliments her vulnerable state.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard - Lucybelle Crater and Her 15 Year Old Son's Friend

There is a strangeness in Meatyard's Lucybelle Crater series that is very appealing to me.  As anyone who is familiar with my work knows, I love masks. I love the way the obscure the features and create an ambiguity between the viewer and the person who they are viewing.  Masks also make an image whimsical and "other" almost by default.

Rebecca Rijsdijk - from the Stiletto Paradoxes series

http://rebeccarijsdijk.com/

The intimacy shown here is palpable and soft, much like the color palette and the florals on the girls' dresses.  There is a tenderness that is expressed by their body language and echoed by the sea and sand as well as the grey sky.  I feel like I'm intruding on a very private moment between two people who love each other very much and have been missing from each other's lives for far too long.

Thomas Macker - Natalie as Ophelia

http://thomasmacker.com/

The concept of an ophelia image has been one of those ideas that I've loved thinking about, but I'm too afraid to attempt it.  Maybe a series of Ophelias would be interesting. Just like in many of the other images that I've posted, the Ophelia is delicate, somber, and beautiful -- all of these are things in an image that I love.  If I were to pursue and Ophelia series, I think I would need to play with the ideas that are associated with an Ophelia in order to make it successful.

Photo Critiques -- Part 4

I've been thinking more and more about the whole bedroom thing and I'm thinking this is the direction I want to go in. I got comments on my first meeting blog from Ashley Selbe and Kerry McDonnell and they did get me thinking.  Kerry brought up a good point that just taking portraits would probably get a little dull for me and everyone else as well.  So I want to add another layer in that I would have people write something about how they feel in their rooms and I would have that framed with the person on their bed.  The picture I have of Michael (and another of Malaika that I have not posted) are both so powerful to me.  I really like the deadpan aesthetic (which I know I'm not supposed to talk about here, but I will address why I like it further below, it's more than just the aesthetics) and I think it will work perfectly.  By doing these portraits, I think that I would get the viewer making their own story out of the image, as well as getting a more pointed direction from the passage written by the sitter. This idea has been floating around with me since I took the pictures of people in their rooms last semester so I'm really thinking this is going to be the avenue I take.

However, Ms. Selbe planted an idea in my head that has been tugging at me since I read her comment.  She said that my fairy tale images from Location Photography (some of which can be found here ) were something that I seemed to excel at (at least that's what I gathered from the comment) and that maybe I should continue in that vein.  The only thing that's keeping me from that is that the tug isn't as strong as the bedroom portraits.  That, and I haven't thought of a good fairy tale that I could adapt. I'm also not feeling heartbroken as much as I was when I made that series, and a lot of that pain of heartache went into that which I think gave the piece a soul of its own.  With that said, as much as I would love to do more fairy tales, I don't think that now is the time.  I'm not morose enough at this point, although I'm sure come winter....

Mehrdad Naraghi - from the Obscured series

http://www.mehrdadnaraghi.com/

In this image from Naraghi's Obscured series, I like the soft focus/fogginess that creates a desolation of the landscape.  It's a very haunting image, which is something I'd like to achieve with my own work.  One thing that I believe should have become obvious by now is that I am really affected by feelings more so than opinions in artwork.  Although I don't want to work with landscapes so much, this mood here definitely sticks with me. I also like the low contrast of the image, it's so dark an hazy and cool (temperature wise, I mean) and I would love to just take a walk though this plain and breath in the still air.

Poppy de Villeneuve

http://www.poppydevilleneuve.com/

This is a great example of snapping the shutter at the perfect moment.  The everything about this image is perfect to me, the framing, the color palette, and the moment. Above all things, the moment. I feel like a hundred stories could be made up for this woman, sitting solemnly on this motel room counter, deep in thought.  She's just so expressive! I think I repeat myself a lot in these descriptions but maybe that was the point of this exercise, so I can really pick out what I like and be able to define it.

Shannon Taggart - Jennifer

http://www.shannontaggart.com/

Deadpan.  Aside from aesthetics, there's a different sort of mood that's set.  It's more confrontational. "Here I am.  This is me. Deal with it."  That's the sort of thing I want in my bedroom portraits -- "Here's my room.  Period.  Any questions?" Even if a person is at ease it dead pan just gives images a certain attitude that I really enjoy.  I also think it would be necessary in the bedroom portraits since it's such a personal topic. I would be coming into people's sanctuaries and photographing them which is pretty invasive, really, so why wouldn't the subject be confrontational toward the invading camera?

Photo Critiques -- Part 3

Before I make these, I try to do some thinking to focus my idea a little further. I did some shooting today so I would have kind of a rough draft of sorts to show for Tuesday. Because I want to do portraits, I thought it would be wise to invest in a good portrait lens for my digital so I'm looking forward to getting that on Friday.  I'm also shooting with my Mamiya if only because I love pretty much all of the portraits I've taken with it.

I've also been thinking about how to narrow down my ideas, and there are two things that I keep coming back to. For one, I like the idea of how people interact with their rooms.  For two years I haven't really been able to decorate my room the way I've wanted to, and that, among other things, made me completely miserable. There's something about waking up to a room that isn't just white walls and cluttered floors but is actually decorated and made the way you like it. It's comforting and really has an impact on how the rest of the day is going to go, at least that's how I feel on it.

The other thing I come back to is how people cope with hardships they've had in their lives. I know how I've dealt with mine but I know that's not the only way to do things, or at least it's not the only positive way to solve a difficult situation.  I'd really like to get to know some of the ways that people have come across milestones in their lives because I don't think that when we see people on the street, in a store or restaurant we consider that they are people with lives and stories. They are just passers by, people who cut us off, people who took the last good looking apple in the pile.

Rebecca Rijsdijk from the Stiletto Paradoxes series

http://rebeccarijsdijk.com/

This picture is obviously staged, but there is a tenderness about it that is breathtaking.  The way that the girl in white reaches out to the girl in the tub is so tentative and gentle.  It's as though the girl in the tub is there incubating or healing and the other girl is checking her progress, making sure she is ok in her vulnerable state.  I also like the surrealism of the image, but the emotion evident in the face of the girl in the white dress is so convincing that I almost believe that this actually happened.

Sarah Faust - Lace Dress and Chaise

http://work.colum.edu/~sfaust/

Here is another example of how you don't need a person's face to really feel emotion.  Just looking at the woman's hands, you can tell she is tense or anxious.  She may even be anxious about getting her photo taken.  I love the framing of this image as well. The lines of her limbs as well as those of the chair keep my eye moving all around the image. The woman's anxiety is also contagious. As I look at the image I find my breathing becoming a little labored the longer I look at it and I'm forced to look away for a moment before I can continue to look at it.  It's this kind of transference of emotion that I'm really looking forward to relaying with my images.

Thomas Macker - Girl Lying on the Grass
http://thomasmacker.com/

I find that the framing of this picture is very engaging as well. I like the voyeuristic feel of peering through the window at this girl in the grass, it's a bit like Nabokov's Lolita in this way.  I'm planning on playing with this kind of framing where obstacles are used as a literal frame for the subject.  There is an interesting contrast in this image as the darkness contrasts the light both literally and figuratively. The foreground is literally dark, but there is also the since of something sinister lurking around in it.  Conversely, the brightness outside the window and the girl laying outside have a light and innocence that is highlighted by the roses growing just outside the window. I like these subtle hints that would push a narrative along.

Photo Critiques -- Part 2

Here is part 2 of my critique series. I don't know that there's much more to say as a preface since I basically said it all in Part 1. Although I will point out something that is pretty evident -- I have a concern for the human condition in a way. My focus here is on the people that inhabit the photographs and the emotion that the emit to the viewer.

Richard Avedon - Marilyn Monroe, actor, New York, May 6, 1957
http://www.richardavedon.com/

Vik Muniz has said that this is "a picture of Norma Jean, not Marilyn." I don't think it's hard to see why he would say that. This is one of those pictures that haunts me. The look on Marilyn's face, she's not on. She's not there. Or, she is there, but only internally. Something is weighing on her mind and Avedon has captured her contemplating it. It is such a stark contrast to the Marilyn that is remembered in posters, on t-shirts, notebooks, stickers, and more. This is the real Marilyn, and her vulnerability in this photo shows that she was a real person and not just something lovely to look at.

Larry Sultan - Mom Posing for Me

Here is another picture that I find myself thinking of often. There is a gentle sadness that resounds throughout the image and comes to an apex on the face of Sultan's mother. It's almost like one is taking a peek into their daily life, even though the image is clearly posed. The husband watching TV, his back to his wife and son (although I'm aware that at this point Sultan was no longer living with his parents), the wife standing strong behind him trying her best to act unaffected as the son watches on from a distance.

Eolo Perfido - Fallen Angel
http://www.eoloperfido.com/

In this image, the face of the man pictured is hidden, but that doesn't mean that he is being any less expressive. His face is turned away from the camera and his arms are propped up against the wall a bit awkwardly (I'm not using awkward in a bad way here). I imagine that he is so overcome with some great grief that he can not bear to hold himself up anymore and it is only a matter of moments before he slides down the wall. There is a posed kind of quality about this one that throws me off a little bit. I know that both Avedon and Sultan's images are posed as well, but only to an extent. This has more farce in it but what might be throwing me off is having it shown with the previous images where the focus is so direct and authentic.