Final Photography Project (of my college career...yikes!)

Alright, so here it is. This is my last photography project of my college career. It's definitely bittersweet.
I did this with my 4x5 camera. I mated my prints for the final critique and I was very happy with the results. Also, I printed them in the darkroom as I have been all semester.

Enjoy. :)

Artist Talk: BFA Candidates

I've been to some of the previous years BFA Candidates artist talks and I always enjoy them. I enjoy seeing the body of work they've produced and listening to them talk about it. I especially enjoy listening to them talk about the process they went through, how they dealt with problems, and how they eventually found what they were looking for. I know that sometimes we lose the passion and excitement for the type of artwork we produce and that it can be very difficult to produce any work at all when you have something similar to 'writer's block' however it was so exciting to listen to the BFA students talk about their struggle with this problem and their eventual success.

I loved hearing about how Monica struggled with what she called "museum worthy work" and what that actually meant. I think that a lot of us in the art world struggle with that. I especially loved that she ended up with a body of work, of drawings not even paintings, that she was proud of and that she loved. I liked hearing about the different aspects of her process that she planned to use when she went back to painting and how she was excited to go back to painting.

I liked how enthusiastic Katie was about printmaking and how she used her experience over the summer working with different types of printmaking, to find a specific one that she especially enjoyed. I loved the way she described her work as simply little moments in our everyday lives that we sometimes take for granted. Looking at her work, I really got a sense of that. It was nice to see an artist not so focused on creating these huge, picturesque pieces, but rather small pieces with everyday items as the subject.

I absolutely enjoyed how Kathryn spoke about her paintings with the plants and vegetables. I enjoyed how she even included some of her experiences with working in a studio with the other BFA students. I really liked the way she described being able to sit down at the table with her mom for breakfast and being able to paint her subject right there, in the midst of conversation. I got the impression that her work was not only a project for her to finish off her BFA year but a real part of her daily life.

Margo's sculptures of the stilt walkers was great. I got the impression that not only her experience seeing stilt walkers in another country but the extended period of time that she spent on crutches definitely affected her artwork. I was so glad to see her be comfortable enough to talk about her failures and not just what worked and made it into the final series. I was amazed with all the detail in her sculptures and the way in which she described why she did what was great. I got a sense that this body of work was something she was really proud of and to see her exploring new territory with the face casting is great.

I've been friends with Annie for a while now. This year I've watched her struggle with BFA and trying to impress her professors and her peers. It's hard to see someone who makes beautiful work struggle, but it's part of the process and I'm sure that she would agree, something absolutely worth it. That being said, there were a lot of things about this body of work that Annie produced that I didn't know. I was unaware she used the 4x5 to shoot some of the images and that some of them were from a different country all together. I loved listening to her talk about the sort of epiphany she had while shooting and editing and how she used that to her advantage. I loved that she found out the different meanings behind the trees she was shooting and was able to keep those meanings in mind while creating her photographs. I like that she wasn't afraid to talk about her weaknesses and her shortcomings with previous projects until she found what she was looking for.

Overall I loved listening to these artists talk about their work and the processes they went through. I think that being able to talk about your work and the struggles is part of the entire process of creating a body of work to be proud of.

Emulation!

For my emulation project, I decided to emulate Michael Kenna. Kenna does a lot of nature photography around the world using the Hasselblad, Holga, and sometimes a larger format camera like the 4x5. In light of that, I decided I would use the Bronica for this project. I'm really happy with the images I was able to produce and the ones I chose to print in the darkroom. I was especially happy with the critique I got and the ideas that were thrown around for me to do for my final project. In the past I've done landscapes and nature photography but switched last summer to more structural photography of abandoned buildings. I continued with this idea this semester in my independent study but I was really excited to get back into nature photography with this emulation project. 

Holga!

So I've finally had the time to scan my negatives in and post them on my blog. Here's my photographs from the Holga project. I wasn't too happy with the way they were coming out in the darkroom but after spending sometime in there with Michael Cardinali, I've been able to greatly increase my ability and techniques in the darkroom. I'm so thankful that he was willing to give me some tips!

Greater Love No Man Has Than To Lay Down His Life For His Friends

On April 12th, the seacoast community of New Hampshire, the entire state, and beyond lost a police officer. Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney was killed in the line of duty while serving a warrant in the town of Greenland. He was killed while saving the lives of injured officers during the shootout. He was a huge part of this community, an incredible officer, and someone who truly cared for his people and the town he served. He was only 8 days from retirement and unlike most people, wasn't going to take the easy road to his retirement date. The wake for Chief Michael Maloney was on Wednesday April 18th and the funeral and memorial service for the public was Thursday 19th. There was a walk down Route 1 in Hampton to Winnacunnent High School where the memorial service was held. Thousands of law enforcement officers from around the country were in attendance as well as thousands of community members. This is a link to the blog of the photographer who was hired by the New Hampshire Chief of Police Association to photograph the events for Mike Maloney's services.


Greenland Police Chief Michael Maloney

Final Project

So, I haven't taken any shots yet for the final but I'm thinking about continuing with my Emulation project because I really liked the way the images came out and I really enjoyed trekking through the woods to find interesting compositions. I'm debating between shooting with the Bronica again or shooting this project with my 4x5 because the images with the 4x5 are much more focused and with my intention of going 16x20 for the final images, the photos won't be so grainy.

Hopefully this weekend I'll be able to get out into the wild and investigate exactly what I'm looking for for this project.

Currier Museum Visit

On Thursday we visited the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester to see the exhibit: A New Vision: Modernist Photography. Although, our visit was interrupted by a fire alarm, I was able to have enough time in the museum to study the photographs in the new exhibit. There were plenty of photographers that I recognized however there were a few that I enjoyed more than others.

The two photographs that I'm choosing to compare and contrast are:

Alfred G. Buckham's "Edinburgh"

and Berenice Abbott's "Theoline"

 I think that both these photographs have great compositions which move the viewer's eye throughout the entirety of the photographs. I think that even though these are digital copies of the originals, from what I remember the print quality of both images was pretty good, especially for the age. I was amazed with how in focus the images are. It seems like both of them are in focus from foreground to background. Both images have a geometric quality to them. "Edinburgh" has the buildings and such in the foreground which are very angular and "Theoline" has lots of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines from the ship and also the cityscape in the background. Both images have a good tonal range between the shadows and the highlights. I especially enjoy the shadows cast by the ship parts in "Theoline." Clearly, the subjects are different between the two images. I think that "Edinburgh" is more of a landscape and perhaps even an advertisement type photograph for air travel but I think that "Theoline" was a photograph created with an artistic intent. I think that Abbott noticed the shadows, lines, and the somewhat chaotic scene in front of her and decided to capture it.

I can't think of the names but there were pieces of artwork in the exhibit that were not photos. They were pen and ink drawings, etchings, and some paintings. I felt like those pieces didn't fit well in this photography exhibit. I also think that some of the Edward Weston photos were the best ones they could have included. There were a few that would've been more successful if Weston had included more of the tree or excluded something things in a few of the other pictures. Like I said, I don't have the exact names or descriptions of the images because I clearly didn't read the blog requirements prior to visiting the museum.

If I could have an image hanging on my wall in my house it would probably be a Gelatin-silver print made by Ralston Crawford. It's untitled but the description includes 'wharf objects.' It's a photo of a wharf with a building on the left side, a dock going into the background with what looks like a mooring ball and some other things similar to that sitting on the pier. I'm drawn to this image because of it's tonal quality and because I'm partial to some of the more pictorial images. Even though this image isn't technically a landscape, I still feel like that this would fall into the category of Pictorialism.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to the museum. I'm glad that this exhibit was worth the time it took to drive down to Manchester because I've had experiences traveling to the Currier where the exhibit wasn't really worth my time and left disappointed. I was happy to see an exhibit at this museum that was different and more interesting than the more permanent exhibits that are on display.

Scavenger Hunt In Kingsbury

Photos from our photographic scavenger hunt in Kingsbury.

Five Self Portraits:

Harsh Light Portrait

Blue Wall Portrait

 Silhouette Portrait

Red Stairwell Portrait

White Hallway Portrait

Shaded Area Portrait

Environmental Portrait

Bird's Eye View

It's A Bird

Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes

Camera Lucida book was pretty hard to get through. I think mostly it was because it was translated from another language? But also, because it seemed as though Barthes was trying to have a conversation with me (the reader) but not giving me a change to respond to what he said. So, that was a little frustrating.


I enjoyed how in the beginning of the book, Barthes referenced how a photograph turns a subject into an object, something to be looked at and studied for a length of time. I enjoyed how around this same place in the book, he talked about how being the subject of a photograph, knowing that the lens is pointed at you, changes how you feel and act. He suggests that most people pose a certain way they know someone is taking a picture of them. A quote of page 13 gives more detail on this idea of his:


"The portrait-photograph is a close field of forces. Four image-repertoires intersect here, oppose and distort each other. In front from the lens, I am at the same time: the one I think I am, the one I want others to think I am, the one the photographer thinks I am and the one he makes use of to exhibit his work. In other words, a strange action: I do not stop imitating myself, and because of this, each time I am (or let myself be) photographed, I invariably suffer from a sensation of inauthenticity, sometimes imposture.”

A little later in the book, he talks about what attracts him to certain photographs or what intrigues him to make him sit longer and look. He defines the Latin word "stadium" as a 'general enthusiastic commitment.' This is a quote from page 26, in which he describes his attraction to photographs:

"It is by stadium that I am interested in so many photographs, whether I receive them as political testimony or enjoy them as good historical scenes: for it is culturally (this connotation is present in stadium) that I participate in the figures, the faces, the gestures, the settings, the actions.”

I believe that anyone can enjoy and appreciate photographs with which they have something in common. Whether it's a thread of a memory of which the photograph reminds them, a familiar place, or a person in a photograph.


I think what Barthes wants photographers to do is to challenge what we know as boundaries. He wants photographers to think outside the box and do things that seem weird or crazy. Go beyond what we know about photography and push the limits of the medium and of our selves. However, I think that personally it's kind of hard for me to challenge the boundaries of photography because with the increased focus on digital photography, you can manipulate images so they are totally unrecognizable which I don't really enjoy. I'm much more of a purist photographer and like to look for the interesting things that are in the world we live in, rather than create interesting things.


"Such are the two ways of the Photograph. The choice is mine: to subject its spectacle to the civilized code of perfect illusions, or to confront in it the wakening of intractable reality.” (page 119)

Lighting: Rim Lighting & High Key Lighting

Rim Lighting is a light placed behind the subject to create a subtle contrast between the setting and the subject the camera is focused upon. The rim light produces a three-dimensional look. You can use another light set to fill the subject from the front for an evening lit subject. Rim Lighting is often used to create drama within a photograph.

Example:

Diagram:

High Key Lighting is a bright light used to blow out most or all harsh shadows in an image. It uses multiple lights from different angles to achieve this effect. High Key Lighting is typically used to convey an upbeat or happy subject.

Example:

Diagram:

 I found these images by searching 'Rim Lighting' and 'High Key Lighting' through the Google Images search engine.

Contact Sheets: Holga

I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for this project. I really like landscapes but I also love old stuff. So, these negatives are kind of a mixture of both. I've got a roll of film to develop and another roll still to shoot, so hopefully between those two I'll be able to get a project put together.

Tierney Gearon "A Mother's Project"

I absolutely loved this documentary. I love when artists make a documentary that is very truthful and honest. The ones where they don't try to hide their struggles, frustrations, successes, etc. I think that Gearon went through some similar issues that photographers go through when photographing children. I think that Gearon's work is beautiful and compelling. I liked seeing her interact with her mother in many different situations. I can only imagine how difficult it can be to deal with someone who has some type of social disorder but I think that Gearon worked well with her mother and was able to capture so many different aspects of her personality. I liked how raw the documentary was and how it didn't seem like they were making the family do something just for the sake of making a good film. I especially liked that Gearon wasn't afraid to show her vulnerability, snippets of her childhood and her true working environment to the viewer.

Emulation Project

So, Julee told me to check out Michael Henna because he does  a lot of landscape photography that is similar to some of the landscapes that I've done in the past. I read up on him and viewed his website. What I really like about him is that his images are in black and white, he uses the Hasselblad medium format and the Holga for almost all of his work. His images are really in focus and are so clear. He's traveled all over the world and photographed lots of well known places but also some not so well known areas. I'm looking forward to investigating Michael Henna's work and perhaps emulating him.

Contact Sheets for Slide Presentation

These are my contact sheets for the slide presentation. My film got ruined so I got less than half of each roll of film.

Slide Presentation Finals

These are the final three that I chose to print from my slide presentation project. Because my film got ruined, I didn't have too many pictures to work with. I'm happy with the ones that I printed, but I wish that I could've seen the pictures that got ruined.

As for what I like to photograph, I like textures, nature, landscapes, and old, rusty, broken down things. I like to adventure in the woods and see what types of textures can be found in the woods.