Recreation Numero Dos

Blind Woman (1916)

Paul Strand

Born: October 16, 1890

American Photographer and Filmmaker

-       Along with fellow photographers Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston established pictures and photography as an art form of the 20^th century

-       Strand began a movement known as the era of modern photography

“First valid synthesis of contemporary themes and artistically mature vision appropriate to the photographic medium”

History

-       During World War I

o   Strand believed there to be a great deal of unrest in America

o   He began portraying anonymous human beings on the streets of New York City

§  Strand was not concerned with creating a sociogram of New York City

o   He sought everyday characters drawing simple people to the center of his work

§  He wanted them to be the unconscious ‘object’ of a psychological investigation

Method

-       Used specially fitted cameras in order to photograph without being noticed

o   Initially side-mounted objective

o   Later with a prism lens

-       Goal = Striving for the greatest degree of objectivity

Strands work is pure

Strand work is brutally direct

Strands work is a direct expression of today

Personally I truly enjoy the work of Strand. I like the realness in his photos. I like that his subjects are not posed but rather completely unaware of the picture being taken. Being able to achieve the sense of rawness is incredible not only for his time but for today. Some photographers still struggle with capturing raw emotional portraits and Strand was able to do without the subject even realizing what was happening. 

My Recreation

When doing my recreation I had a little bit of trouble with it. I wanted to recreate this picture with a more comical feel to it. Strand was known for portraying the pure and directly brutal photography of his day. While I truly appreciate and admire his work I wanted to put my own spin on his picture. And it is very difficult to create a recreation when the original was a candid the woman didn't even know was being taken.

Balance...It was difficult to get the background the way I wanted. As you can see in the original the background is a bit crooked and through my pictures I attempted to subtly turn them in order to create the background as in the original. You can see in my recreation that the background is actually crooked the other way which I ended up really liking. I thought it fitting having the background opposite along with the lights and darks in the photo. 

Contrast...In the original the woman along with the scene behind her is very dark. But I attempted a more light hearted take on the original so I thought brighter would be more fitting. 

I wanted to keep their faces very similar. I liked seeing the contrast of the colors while still embodying the Blind Woman of New York City. But I also included another picture that definitely depicts the light hearted expression to go along with the theme of the recreation. 

Recreation Numero Uno

Karl Struss

Born. November 30, 1886.

Died. December 15 1981. (Age 95)

Occupation. Photographer and Cinematographer.  (1920s-1950s)

Karl Struss was believed to be one of the pioneers of 3-d film. Struss was part of the Pictorialist which took place in the later years of the 19^th century. Karl was also believed to be more of a pictorial photographer rather than a fashion photographer.  The challenge for Struss was always to express a mood, to tell a story through his camera to find in nature what expressed the emotions of man. Pictorialists were known for photographing landscapes, figure studies, and portraits.

“I never got bored, never wanted to photograph something different after I’d done it.” (Karl Struss)

Low Tide. Karl Struss.. 1912.

This picture depicts the East River Crossing. Struss used this picture as a metaphor for the conquest of nature by human intelligence.

Personally I like the image. I like the way that it’s not a close-up shot but it reveals a sense of emotion and feeling that a shot so far away is hard to do. I like that the people on the bridge is more background noise and a distant blurred object than the focus of the picture.  The structure is the main focus of the picture as with many pictures taken by the Pictorialists in the later 19^th century. I took this picture as more of a representation of life and how our structures and what we buy and our material possessions is what really represents us whether we like it or not and our personal being is more of a background blur.  

Recreation Image:

Recreating this image at first was daunting due to the fact that there was so much going on in the picture to begin with. I first started with the lighting. The picture Struss took has darker lighting with an almost gloomy feel to the picture. I wanted to portray that same part of the image in my recreation. Along with recreating the lighting of the image I also attempted to recreate the blurriness of the image.

The image Struss took was taken in 1912 so I attempted to photograph a more updated version of the bridge by picturing the new art museum going up on Grand River. I added my own touch by focusing in on the foreground of the picture while blurring the background. I wanted to portray the gloomy aspect of the image blurred and dark as Struss represented it. 

The only thing I attempted to accomplish but could not through my recreation was the background colors. I was hoping for a more lightness in the background as in the original piece rather than the recreated look portraying a darker background than intended.

Corrine Day

Corrine Day

“In photos, we’re usually laughing and happy and having a good time. We don’t normally see the other side, when we’re not having such a good time.”

Birthday: February 19, 1962

Death: August 27, 2010

-       On August 7, 2009 an article was published reporting that Day had been diagnosed with a severe brain tumor

-       Although through much trial research Day eventually died on August 27, 2010 in her home of England

Day first appeared on the scene as a model.

July 1990

-       8 page fashion story for The Face

o   Pictured Kate Moss in Moss’s first published fashion photographs

o   Entitled “The 3^rd Summer of Love”

Documentary Photographs

“The sad contrast intensified between their reality and the affluent arrogance they were paid to project.”

-       Her photographs were referred to as documentary something that had never been seen before in the fashion world

-       Day proved that the fashion world didn’t have to be a world for just the privileged and perfect

-       Day was a self taught photographer that taught the world that photography in the fashion world can be different

-       She opened up all new doors

o   Photos became known as grunge (style)

o   Coined the term “heroin chic”

§  Kate Moss was in a bare apartment wearing childlike underwear helping coin the term

o   “waif look”

§  Shaggy almost druggy youngsters dressed in vintage clothing

Method

“The photographer always made me into someone I wasn’t. I wanted to go in the opposite direction.”

Day wasn’t so much about lighting, balance, contrast, but more about emphasis. And Day kept an emphasis on the reality of life. She found people’s most interesting moments intimate.

She wanted natural.

She wanted the person to bring themselves to the camera.

She believed that there was more to beauty beyond sex and glamour.

She felt having her most personal and vulnerable moments pictured put her in control.

Her recent work:

-       Diary

o   Consists of 100 photographs

o   Taken over 10 years

o   “raw and unflinching look at Day and her friends.”

Personally I love all that Day has come to portray in her photography and her work in general. For me photography isn’t about the lighting or the contrast the Photoshop and the models. It is about how I see the world and the reality I am surrounded with each and everyday. I sometimes think that through programs like Photoshop we are losing the rawness of photography. Through Day’s work and after perusing every work I could find of hers she made me realize once again why I had fallen in love with photography. There is a rawness to her photographs that I hope to portray with my work. There is a realness that is often times lost in current photography that Day never failed to represent.

http://www.corinneday.co.uk/home.php

Numero Quatro

Blog Prompt #8
“My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon
This quote made me realize that pictures are not depicting what the model or persons being photographed it's representing the photographer themselves. It's about the work of the photographer and the person standing there is more of a prop than anything else. What is the photographer attempting to portray through his models and through his work rather than what the person pictured is trying to portray?
Blog Prompt #9
“You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams


A photograph isn't just the clicking of a button. It's a process, it's time consuming and long and requires more hard-work than one really understands. A photographer wants to display their work with pride and pride is only achieved when hard-work and time is placed into a photograph. Clicking a button is a step in taking a photograph and you construct and make the scene in which this photograph will be taken! Editing is also a major part of photographs and without the editing, the lighting, the models, the time, the work and everything else there would be no photographs in this world. 

Blog Prompt #10

 “All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.” ~John Berger


There are a lot of points to address in this quote. First of all I completely agree that a photograph is much more objective than a painting. A painting is artwork and a display through the eyes of the beholder. A photograph on the other hand is a true representation of real life. While yes editing may take place and a scene may be set-up, a photograph cannot change and will not change what is being pictured. A picture will stand the test of time and will never change. While a painting is through the eyes and hands of the artist this results in the artist putting a lot of what he/she thinks, morals, ideals. A painting is a representation of the artist. While a picture is a representation of what real life is and cannot be altered. Those viewing a photograph can decide for him or herself what this means the them and what he believes the picture to be because it's not through the artists subjective eye. 

Gillian Wearing

Numero Tres

Blog Prompt #5

“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~Edward Steichen




Without photography nothing would be documented nothing would be remembered with such accuracy and/or precision. A photo can last forever the emotion of the subjects face will never be forgotten the body position will forever be positioned this way. As previously stated in a blog there are too many situations in which words aren’t an accurate representation of emotion or an event or even reality. With a picture all this can be captured with the click of a button and within seconds clarity is achieved.

“I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.” ~Mary Ellen Mark




Pictures are a mirror into the soul. A picture is worth a thousand words and those words are not just words but they are who we are as human beings. Don’t ever lie about the purpose of a photograph because a misrepresentation is captured for forever and the look the representation the picture of this person’s soul will forever be remembered this way.

Blog Prompt #6

To be honest I have never even thought of altering a photograph was either ethical or not. I have always thought of it as a part of the progress. The progress of taking pictures and in my opinion this is just the next step.

I guess thinking about it now puts in perspective that while it may be a pretty typical next step, altering a picture and misrepresenting the subject is not only morally wrong but cruel. A drawing misrepresenting another is one thing because those pictured can claim the artist drew and misrepresented but a picture is much more real and what many don’t take into consideration is that much like a drawing a picture is easily changed.

Blog Prompt #7

Not only do I see numerous amounts of pictures everyday but I see different types of pictures which can be confusing considering that a picture is a picture is it not?

A picture on facebook is meant to portray a much more social aspect of someone’s life. While some may portray a more serious tone on facebook the majority portray a more social and almost “fun” tone. Now facebook is the major source of pictures in my everyday life.

While magazines and the news are a close second these pictures are much different. While magazines are more similar to facebook the pictures portrayed on the news have a whole different set of emotions and purpose behind them. These pictures are seen by the majority of the country and must represent a professional tone. These pictures are intended to have a purpose not just a picture of best friends on the beach. The pictures are meant to portray an emotion to the audience whether it be sad or happy or anything else for that matter. The photo is meant to conjure up a reaction from the viewer. The photographer is thinking what photo will affect the audience and make a difference rather than what picture do I look best in in order to set it as my default.

Numero Dos

Blog Prompt #3

“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”

~Duane Michals

            Regarding the quote above I completely agree that pictures can sometimes not appear what they seem to be. Photography is a tricky thing if you think about it. A picture can mean one thing to you and then a completely different thing to the person standing next to you. It depends on who you are, your morals your ideals your history and because not a single one of us are the same the possibilities are endless in regards to the meaning of a photograph.

            That is why I fell in love with photography in the first place being able to tell a story through my pictures rather than my words. A picture can mean a thousand different words to a thousand different people and I love that about photography.

Blog Prompt #4

“If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.” ~Lewis Hine.

I have never heard/seen this quote before and it is one I will never forget. My experience with photography is more of a relationship that anything else. It is my way of expressing myself through pictures rather than words because you will soon learn through these blogs that words are not my forte. I use my photos to tell a story, a story about my life or someone else’s. Now some people may not agree and think a picture is worth a thousand words and I also believe that to be true but sometimes I just cant seem to find the words. For example there is a picture of my nanny who is in essence my second mother on her wedding day with almost sepia toned coloring taken immediately following the “I do”. Every time I see the photo it leaves me speechless I have no words to describe that kind of joy and happiness I feel every time I see it let alone what she feels when looking at the photo herself. While of course there are situations like those there are plenty of pictures that require a back-story or a history if you will in order to project what you wanted the picture to say.

            When reading novels sometimes a picture can’t describe the way something feels or how something tastes and the use of words and details in the telling of stories either in a book or around a campfire is one instance when using words is much more useful than a simple picture.