4/19/10 Artist Post: Steve Shaw

Steve Shaw’s portrait photographs are sexy, strong, beautiful and timeless. Shaw is famously known for his easy-going manner when working with him and for bringing out the sensual side of his subjects. The fitting and easy-going style of his photographs (disregarding his high fashion photographs) is something that I am trying to imitate in my own manner. Also his use of shadows really intrigues me. As a photographer I know that we are supposed to be hyper aware of shadows that are playing within our frame. He seems to utilize shadows a lot throughout his images and it definitely helps to make them stronger. The first thing I am working on is the necessity to be able to shoot a good portrait straight-up without worrying about the frills. Then will come the time where I get to mess around with the smaller details that can be used within a photograph.

The best moment for Shaw is when he knows he has gotten the shot, regardless of whoever is sitting/standing/leaning in front of the lens. “It’s when you just know you’ve gotten something, and that makes me happy. I can see it in someone’s face, and I don’t need to take another shot. I know I’ve got it-that one picture.” This seems to be the same thing that every photographer says about taking portraits.

Website:
http://www.steveshawphotography.com/

Interview:
N/A as it appears Shaw is very secretive.

Gallery:
http://www.redbalcony.com/?gid=327

Video of shoot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXj82noo7Qc

4/15/10 Word Post: Human Bonding

Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups such as sporting teams and whenever people spend time together. Bonding is a mutual, interactive process, and is not the same as simple liking.

Bonding typically refers to the process of attachment that develops between romantic partners, close friends, or parents and children. This bond is characterized by emotions such as affection and trust. Any two people that spend time together may form a bond. Male bonding refers to the establishment of relationships between men through shared activities that often exclude females. The term female bonding is less frequently used, but refers to the formation of close personal relationships between women.

In the 4th century BC, the Greek philosopher Plato argued that love directs the bonds of human society. In his Symposium, Eryximachus, one of the narrators in the dialog, states that love goes far beyond simple attraction to human beauty. He states that it occurs throughout the animal and plant kingdoms, as well as throughout the universe. Love directs everything that occurs, in the realm of the gods as well as that of humans (186a-b).

Eryximachus reasons that when various opposing elements such as wet and dry are "animated by the proper species of Love, they are in harmony with one another... But when the sort of Love that is crude and impulsive controls the seasons, he brings death and destruction.” Because it is love that guides the relations between these sets of opposites throughout existence, in every case it is the higher form of love that brings harmony and cleaves toward the good, whereas the impulsive vulgar love creates disharmony.

Plato concludes that the highest form of love is the greatest. When love "is directed, in temperance and justice, towards the good, whether in heaven or on earth: happiness and good fortune, the bonds of human society, concord with the gods above- all these are among his gifts.”

There are many different types of bonding. There is maternal/paternal bonding, human/animal bonding, bonding between friends or siblings, classmates/co-workers bonding, etc. When living within the same quarters as another person, or animal, there tends to be some type of bonding that occurs even if you don’t get along with whomever it is that you’re living with. There are certain things that only people that have lived with you could possibly know (Where you prefer to hide your junk food and what your guilty pleasure food is. How particular you are about how dishes get put away. How often you shower or do laundry).

Levine, Jon (2003). "Secret of Paternal Bond." BBC News / Health, Tuesday, 25 February.

Latter, L. (1995). Article: “Human Pet Bonding”. Source: Animal Welfare Society – Southeastern Michigan.

Miller, W.B. & Rodgers, J.L. (2001). The Ontogeny of Human Bonding Systems: Evolutionary Origins, Neural Bases, and Psychological Manifestations. New York: Springer. ISBN 0-7923-7478-9

4/12/10 Artist Post: Andrew Eccles

Andrew Eccles has been a freelance photographer based out of New York City since 1987. Prior to becoming an independent photographer, Andrew assisted a number of outstanding photographers including Robert Mapplethorpe, Steven Meisel and Annie Leibovitz.
Eccles classically composed, technically flawless style, complemented by his easy-going demeanor has made him the preferred photographer of such celebrities as John Travolta, Kevin Bacon and Brooke Shields. He is able to ease his subjects through the awkward and often uncomfortable experience of being photographed. “It’s scary out there in front of the camera, and your subject should never be alone.”

Although Eccles' images did eventually draw me in it was originally a quote that I ran across that connected me to him. “Back in art college I gravitated more toward still life and landscape photography.” He was afraid to take pictures of people. My first semester at VCU a fine professor made us right a statement about what scared up about out photography. Mine was about how I have a hard time going up to people that I don’t know and asking them to photograph them. He then forced us to confront out fears and from then on portraits of other people is where my photography tends to lay. This is something that both Eccles and I have in common.

Now he absolutely loves portraiture. “It’s probably as intimate a relationship as you can have without touching someone, and it can still be quite terrifying at times in the ‘first date’ kind of way. But there are moments, the rare epiphany when everything comes together for a fraction of a second, when the subject, the light, the composition are all better then you could have imagined. It can happen accidently, but it’s almost more rewarding when the attempt was intentional.. It’s the feeling when you’ve taken a picture so beautiful, powerful, clever or funny that someone is genuinely moved to feel something that they weren’t feeling until they say the picture. Or simply when you can frame a picture, hang it on a wall, stand back and say ‘yup that’s a good one.’ “

Website:
http://www.andreweccles.com/

Interview:
http://photosecrets.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/round-up-from-call-with-photographer-andrew-eccles/

Gallery:
http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Artists_detail.asp?G=&gid=79931&which=&aid=425884147&ViewArtistBy=online&rta=http://www.artnet.com

4/8/10 Word Post:Roommate

A roommate is a person who shares a living facility, called as a sharehome, such as an apartment or dormitory. Synonyms include sharemate, suitemate, housemate, or flatmate ("flat": the usual term in British English for an apartment). In the UK, the term "roommate" means a person sharing the same bedroom, whereas in the United States, "roommate" and "housemate" are used interchangeably regardless whether a bedroom is shared.

The most common reason for sharing housing is to reduce the cost of housing. In many rental markets, the monthly rent for a two- or three-bedroom apartment is proportionately less per bedroom than the rent for a one-bedroom apartment. By pooling their monthly housing money, a group of people can achieve a lower housing expense at the cost of less privacy. Other motivations are to gain better amenities than those available in single-person housing, to share the work of maintaining a household, and to have the companionship of other people.

Housemates and roommates are typically unmarried young adults, including workers and students (the practice of sharing a bedroom is mostly limited to students). It is not rare for middle-aged and elderly adults who are divorced or widowed to have housemates. Married couples, however, typically discontinue living with roommates, especially when they have children. In the United States, most young adults spend at least a short part of their lives living with roommates after they leave their family's home.

One difficulty is finding suitable roommates. Living with a roommate can mean much less privacy than having a residence of one's own, and for some people this can cause a lot of stress.
Another thing to consider when choosing a roommate is how to divide the cost of living. Who pays for what, or are the shared expenses divided between the two or more roommates. Also, the potential roommate should be trusted to pay their share and trusted to pay it on time. Sleeping patterns can also be disrupted when living with a number of people, so it is therefore important to choose housemates wisely.

“I don't need to pay a therapist to give me crap. I have a roommate that does it for free.”
-Unknown

Taking Power, Sharing Cereal, New York Times, Jan. 18, 2007; D.C. Lawmakers Share 'Animal House', ABC News, Mar. 12, 2007; Capitol Hill's Animal House is Their Home Away From Home, Boston Globe, Jan. 18, 2007.

4/5/10 Artist Post:William Claxton

William Claxton was most noted for his photography of jazz musicians and he also photographed celebrities and models. He has photographed the famous as well as his family and friends. “Above all, my work is about friendship.” I realize that the photography world is heavily based in who you do and do not know. This statement helps summarize it all very simply. When he photographs people he is often photographing his friends, and his subjects often become his friends. This is something that I defiantly need to work on to keep connections throughout the art world.

His portraits are a demonstration of the beauty he sees in people. “I hate ugly pictures of anybody. I am dedicated to beauty. I know there is a beauty in all kinds of human beings. So, the act of finding and capturing that beauty is relatively easy for me. I am happiest when I can create a beautiful and poignant image of a subject.” I always try to find the beauty within somebody. I do not believe that somebody has to be physically appealing to hold that something special that the world wants to gaze upon. His style of portraiture is fairly simple and highly dependant on natural light, something that I want to perfect because I feel as if natural light brings out the subjects natural beauty.

As a young boy Claxton began with a Brownie box camera and a fascination with music gained from his father’s collection of big-band records. Before long, he was haunting jazz clubs in Los Angeles, wearing one of his father’s suits to avoid being asked for his ID, and always carrying a camera.Because Claxton started off so heavily based in the jazz world, he notes that is photography hadn’t caught his eye at such a young age he would have become a happy musician. Claxton says that “photography is jazz for the eyes. All I ask you to do is listen with your eyes.”

Website:
http://www.williamclaxton.com/noflash.html

Interview:
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0103/claxton_intro.htm

Gallery:
http://www.afterimagegallery.com/claxton.htm

4/1/10 Word Post: Living Situation

There are always different things that will effect a person’s living situation. Sometimes you have to move back to Mom and Dad’s until you get back on your again. Then there are times where you have found the perfect roommates in college that you feel you are going to live with for the rest of you life. There is the awkward ex-boyfriend/ex-girlfriend living situation where you moved in together and then broke up, but neither of you can afford to break the lease. There is the young mother/father living arrangement and the teenager still living at home scenario. Then when you get older, perhaps you are forced to live with a certain person because you have some of the same medical needs and the assisted living nurse require that you live together. The spouse that is too scared to leave their “significant other” even though they are getting abused on a regular basis.

There are more different types of living situations then I would ever be able to list. However, more often then not, whatever living situation you are in was at one point a choice. The circumstances may have changed from what they once were but it is always up to the people involved in how they want to handle how things have become.

I found a blog that asks people about their current living situations and these are the answers that the blogger received:

I live with my husband, and we share one house… although I think it would be a lot of fun to have two houses with a joined hallway. Or at the very least, two master bedrooms, as is the trend in new, big, construction.
I am an only child too! So I can totally relate to needing alone time, something that is a tad hard for hubby to figure out since he is one of five kids. The nice thing is, we each have our own office, and otherwise I know we would drive each other completely bonkers.
<3 Aimee · May 18, 02:25 PM · #

I live in a pretty messy old state house, with my crazy furniture (I have Karen walkers old board room chairs!) and artwork in a semi-ghetto part of town. But it’s mine and I love it.
I would love to move to a huge crazy old house up in the hills around wellingtons cod somewhere
<3 Sarah · May 18, 02:26 PM · #

I live by myself right now. I like it because I always have art projects and clothes scattered about the place. I do want a kitten or a sugar glider or some other pet soon… I think ideal would be having one or two friends down the hall.
<3 Katrina · May 18, 02:29 PM · #

I’ve always had an incredible desire for small spaces. I’d always find the smallest room in the house and somehow now I’ve ended up living in a house with a cupboard under the stairs that’s big enough for my bed.
I’m going to try it out when I’ve removed some shelving in there. It’s a perfect private space, everything in the room (and in small rooms before) is mattress and when the energies sort themselves out after you settle in, it feels comforting and sort of womb-y. Especially appealing in winter.
Obviously, it probably won’t work for claustrophobics, but I’m kind of the opposite so it offers me a great deal of privacy and security in a house where I have to be around people a lot.
<3 Amyz · May 18, 02:36 PM · #

I lived with the boyfriend for nearly two years and my dog for six of those. We live in a terrace in Richmond (a dream I’ve had since I was a teenager) with a tiny little yard and a pseudo bungalow/laundry. If I were going to live overseas I’d love a loft in NYC or a shoebox in Tokyo, but if I were going to live the domestic life I’d have a yard big enough for a serious veggie garden and a massive kitchen.
<3 Shannon · May 18, 02:44 PM · #

I don’t unnecessarily like big spaces; I just want one that’s big enough. I live with my husband and 3 cats. I just want enough room where we don’t feel cramped.
I actually lived in a loft in NYC, I would move back in a second, though maybe not to that exact space. : P
<3 tricia · May 18, 03:31 PM · #

Life in Tokyo can be pretty cramped. The two of us in a two story, ultra slim line apartment with dangerously twisty internal stairs can sometimes get pretty tight!
Alone time is oh so gorgeous – living together and working together with different languages, cultures and ways of doing things requires an intense amount of awareness (of course that awareness sometimes flies out the window) but there is never a dull moment.
Regular ‘Ladies Lunches’, separate shopping sprees and pampering visits to the salon make things a whole lot smoother!
Always expressing how grateful we are to each other (in any language), lots of hugs and plenty of love words help a lot too ;)
<3 tokyomade · May 18, 03:59 PM · #

I almost have that “hallway connecting two homes” thing…see, I live with my boyfriend (and his family), but I live in a self-contained unit that’s downstairs from their house. So I have my own space (which at the moment is strewn with academic texts on pornography and my entire wardrobe), but whenever I feel like it I can run upstairs and spend time with The Boy.
Being that we’re both people who need lots of alone time, it works really well.
<3 Nadia · May 18, 04:35 PM · #

I live in the tallest apartment building in aaaalll of san Jose, an art-deco style building built in the late 1920s…
I’m in the center of downtown, across from the new city hall, which is all space age and lit up at night, and I have 180 degree plus views of the city.
It was my number one choice for a place to live in san Jose and I finally got it
HOWEVER. San Jose is not my ideal city to live in! I want a beautiful Victorian with lots of bay windows near golden gate park in san Francisco that I can paint pretty colors.
<3 rachel · May 18, 05:54 PM · #

I don’t know if we’ve already mentioned this in e-mails, but I currently live with Bebop & his weeuns. In a house. In an area of the city that I don’t fancy much – very suburbish. Not ideal, as I’m not very kin to children & we’re having relationship difficulties.
I currently (JUST TODAY!) found a house that was built in the 50s/has a pool/patio/amazingness & I’m really hoping to build a little community of neat people there.
<3 mary bee · May 18, 07:12 PM · #

I live in a Victorian terrace house in England. It’s a lovely house! There’s enough space for us all to keep out of each other’s way if we need to (myself, my parents and my sister). However, my boyfriend stays round most weekdays so I hardly ever get time to myself! The only free time I have is if I decide not to go to his house at weekends.
Having someone staying in your room all the time really makes it seem smaller than it is! And I sleep in the attic room, which is massive!!
My ideal living situation would be University accommodation! I can’t wait to start a life away from home! I’m taking a gap year next year so I’ll be at home a lot longer than I wanted to be but at least it gives me the opportunity to travel!
<3 Lizzie · May 18, 08:29 PM · #

I live in my parent’s house now, so pretty much anything else would be ideal! Ha, I’m kidding… kind of. I think people move out of their parents’ homes faster in other countries than in the US, but I plan to move out after college and live la vie bohemia for a while – and that truly is my ideal because I’m not fond of anything too modern. :)
<3 Stefanie · May 18, 08:38 PM · #

“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”
-Unknown

3/29/10 Artist Post: Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was deeply influenced by the contemporary movement known as surrealism, which encouraged artists and writers to explore the meaning that lay hidden below the surface of everyday life. In the hands of the surrealists, photography became a way to reveal significance that would otherwise be invisible or lost. When captured in a photograph, a simple gesture, chance meeting, or mundane setting could convey great beauty or tragedy or humor.
Despite the spontaneous nature of his subjects, Henri Cartier-Bresson never abandoned his formal training as an artist. Each image is a complete composition within a single frame of film, and it cannot be cropped or altered without destroying the whole. This whole image can take many different forms. In the hands of Cartier-Bresson, a photographic portrait seems transparent, as if no photographer has intervened between the subject and the viewer. “We might be eavesdropping on Coco Chanel as she laughs with delight, we might have surprised Carson McCullers and her companion, George Davis, stretched out on the lawn, or have strolled unannounced into William Faulkner's backyard.” We feel that we know them, because Cartier-Bresson captures what seems to be the essence of their being, the way they look when they are most themselves. These images convey a palpable physical relationship between the viewer and the subject.

“Photography is an instantaneous operation, both sensory and intellectual—an expression of the world in visual terms and also a perpetual quest and interrogation. It is at one and the same the recognition of a fact in a fraction of a second and the rigorous arrangement of the forms visually perceived which give to that fact expression and significance.”

I hope that I am able to capture the same type of side of people that Henri Cartier-Bresson does. All of his portraiture holds a little something extra in them, in the look of his subjects and how they are so comfortable even though there is a photographer right in front of them.

Website:
http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/cb/index-int2.htm

Interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1318621
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1995/mar/02/the-moment-that-counts-an-interview-with-henri-car/

Gallery:
http://www.artnet.com/artist/3702/henri-cartier-bresson.html

3/25/10 Word Post: Interpersonal Relationships

An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on love and/or liking, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships take place in a great variety of contexts, such as family, friends, marriage, associates, work, clubs, neighborhoods, and churches. They may be regulated by law, custom, or mutual agreement, and are the basis of social groups and society as a whole. Although humans are fundamentally social creatures, interpersonal relationships are not always healthy.

We define types of interpersonal relationships in terms of relational contexts of interaction and the types of expectations that communicators have of one another.

-Friendship
Theories of friendship emphasize the concept of friendship as a freely chosen association

-Family
Family communication patterns establish roles, identities and enable the growth of individuals. Family dysfunction may also be exhibited by communication patterns.

-Romantic
Romantic relationships are defined in terms of the concepts of passion, intimacy and commitment.

-Professional Relationships
Professional communication encompasses small group communication and interviewing.

-Interpersonal Competence
Assess interpersonal effectiveness in various types of relationships and contexts.


These relationships usually involve some level of interdependence. People in a relationship tend to influence each other, share their thoughts and feelings, and engage in activities together. Because of this interdependence, most things that change or impact one member of the relationship will have some level of impact on the other member.

One of the most influential models of relationship development was proposed by psychologist George Levinger.[6] This model was formulated to describe heterosexual, adult romantic relationships, but it has been applied to other kinds of interpersonal relations as well. According to the model, the natural development of a relationship follows five stages:

1. Acquaintance - Becoming acquainted depends on previous relationships, physical proximity, first impressions, and a variety of other factors. If two people begin to like each other, continued interactions may lead to the next stage, but acquaintance can continue indefinitely.

2. Buildup - During this stage, people begin to trust and care about each other. The need for compatibility and such filtering agents as common background and goals will influence whether or not interaction continues.

3. Continuation - This stage follows a mutual commitment to a long term friendship, romantic relationship, or marriage. It is generally a long, relative stable period. Nevertheless, continued growth and development will occur during this time. Mutual trust is important for sustaining the relationship.

4. Deterioration - Not all relationships deteriorate, but those that do, tend to show signs of trouble. Boredom, resentment, and dissatisfaction may occur, and individuals may communicate less and avoid self-disclosure. Loss of trust and betrayals may take place as the downward spiral continues.

5. Termination - The final stage marks the end of the relationship, either by death in the case of a healthy relationship, or by separation.

Byrne, D. (1961). Interpersonal attraction and attitude similarity. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 62, 713-715.

Levinger, G. (1983). Development and change. In H. H. Kelley, et al. (Eds.), Close relationships. (pp. 315-359). New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.

3/22/10 Artist Post: Martin Parr

“You have to be obsessive to find your passion and make photography work.”

Martin Parr wanted to become a photographer from the age of 14 and cites his grandfather, an amateur photographer, as an early influence. From the age of 16, there was never any serious pursuit of any other type of occupation. From 1970 to 1973 he studied photography at the Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University). In 2008 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University in recognition for his ongoing contribution to photography and to Manchester Metropolitan University’s School of Art.
Parr's approach to documentary photography is intimate, anthropological and satirical. Macro lenses, ring flash, high-saturation color film, and since it became an easier format to work in, digital photography, all allow him to put his subjects "under the microscope" in their own environment, giving them space to expose their lives and values in ways that often involve inadvertent humor. I find his best work to be that in which it is both fascinating and disgusting: like a social and cultural train wreck that you just can't look away from. The way that he is able to capture people as his leisure, without even necessarily disturbing them at all in the way that they act, is something that I am extremely jealous of. I am always scared that I will get in trouble somehow for photographing somebody that I do not have permission to do beforehand. Maybe this should be the next fear that I conquer…

Although his photographs always include people he only considers being a portrait photographer only 5% of his work. “A portrait is something you set up. Otherwise it is just a documentary picture, including people. Sometimes I ask permission because I photograph very close up. Sometimes I don’t.” I can picture him walking around, carrying his camera and just clicking away without ever putting his eye to the lens to see what the outcome might look like.

“You can see I’m not torn apart by guilt,” he says dryly, and he does indeed seem remarkably relaxed. “It amuses me that I have made a living from making a critique of a society that I am benefiting from.” The irony and humour, he says, are very English traits. “I regard myself as a quintessentially English photographer. Before you ask. Which most people do.”

Website:
http://www.martinparr.com/index1.html

Interview:
http://allphotographers.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/a-discussion-with-martin-parr/
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cda08fb4-bbf5-11db-9cbc-0000779e2340.html

Gallery:
http://www.stephendaitergallery.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=39

3/18/10 Word Post: Family

Family is a group of people or animals (many species form the equivalent of a human family wherein the adults care for the young) affiliated by consanguinity, affinity or co-residence. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by "blood.” It has been argued that one must understand the idea of "blood" metaphorically and that many societies understand family through other concepts rather than through genetic distance. One of the primary functions of the family is to produce and reproduce persons—biologically and socially. Thus, one's experience of one's family shifts over time.

The different types of families occur in a wide variety of settings, and their specific functions and meanings depend largely on their relationship to other social institutions. The term "nuclear family" is commonly used, especially in the United States and Europe, to refer to conjugal families. Sociologists distinguish between conjugal families (relatively independent of the kindred of the parents and of other families in general) and nuclear families (which maintain relatively close ties with their kindred). The term "extended family" is also common, especially in the United States and Europe. This term has two distinct meanings. First, it serves as a synonym of "consanguinal family". Second, in societies dominated by the conjugal family, it refers to kindred (an egocentric network of relatives that extends beyond the domestic group) who do not belong to the conjugal family.

The way that people are brought up tends to have an effect on who they would consider part of their family. I know that my mother had an open door policy when I was younger, kind of like the neighborhood mom. Because of this I feel that I am more open to accepting people into my “family.” I realize that by technical definition I only have a mother, a father and two sisters by birth. Add on my “adopted” family and it grows by three more sisters and two brothers. This is my heart family.

While photographing for this project I am showing the different types of family that you can have. By this I mean that although the people that live together might not be blood related, there is something tying them together.

“There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained.”
-Winston Churchill

Joys of A Large Family, by Rebbetzin Faige Twerski. angelfire.com

3/15/10 Artist Post:Art Streiber

Art Streiber is a freelance photographer that specializes in photojournalism, travel and entertainment-portrait photography. He has explored many facets of photography within his career. “My work varies. I do reportage, interiors, lifestyles, travel and portrait photography. I pursued portraiture because I love the challenge of visually ‘defining’ my subjects.”

His images are clean, elegant, subtle and unpretentious. He tends to have a very creative approach to his portraiture. “I am able, quite quickly, to size up a subject’s environment, and compose a portrait with a few layers of meaning. I’m capable of putting my subjects at ease, and helping them understand that the process does not have to resemble dentistry!” He jokes and plays around with his clients, it is his way of getting them to relax. That is usually the approach that I take towards the subjects of my photographs as well.

“I love a subject who ‘gives’ something to the camera, who participates in the photo shoot.” Without the outgoing participation of your model it is difficult to create an image that is welcoming to the viewer. I feel that if the subject won’t let you break the barrier as the photographer then the viewer will have an even more difficult time.

“Portrait photography has taken me to incredible places, and has allowed me to meet and talk to fascinating people.” My favorite thing about photography is how, when hidden behind my camera, I am able to now talk to many different types of people.

Website:
http://artstreiber.com/

Interview:
http://www.smashboxstudios.com/yello/?p=4820#more-4820

Gallery:
http://www.paulbettany.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=226
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/art-streiber

3/11/10 Word Post: Lenticular Printing

Lenticular printing is a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles.

This technology was created in the 1940s but has evolved in recent years to show more motion and increased depth. Originally used mostly in novelty items, lenticular prints are now being used as a marketing tool to show products in motion. Recent advances in large-format presses have allowed for oversized lenses to be used in lithographic lenticular printing. The combined lenticular print will show two or more different images simply by changing the angle from which the print is viewed.

Each image is sliced into strips, which are then interlaced with one or more other images. These are printed on the back of a piece of plastic, with a series of long, thin lenses molded into the other side. Alternatively, the images can be printed on paper, which is then bonded to the plastic. The lenses are lined up with each image interlace, so that light reflected off each strip is refracted in a slightly different direction, but the light from all strips of a given image are sent in the same direction (parallel).

The end result is that a single eye or camera looking at the print sees a single whole image, but an eye or camera with a different angle of view will see a different image.
There are three distinct types of lenticular print, distinguished by how great a change in angle of view is required to change the image:


Transforming prints

Here two or more very different pictures are used, and the lenses are designed to require a relatively large change in angle of view to switch from one image to another. This allows viewers to easily see the original images, since small movements cause no change. Larger movement of the viewer or the print causes the image to flip from one image to another. (The "flip effect".)

Animated prints

Here the distance between different angles of view is "medium", so that while both eyes usually see the same picture, moving a little bit switches to the next picture in the series. Usually many sequential images would be used, with only small differences between each image and the next. This can be used to create a image that moves ("motion effect"), or can create a "zoom" or "morph" effect, in which part of the image expands in size or changes shape as the angle of view changes. An example is shown in the image above.

Stereoscopic effects

Here the change in viewing angle needed to change images is small, so that each eye sees a slightly different view. This creates a 3D effect without requiring special glasses.

I am interested in trying to show my images like this. I still have to do the research that will make it possible for my images to be shown like this and as of yet I haven’t found anything available. But I will keep looking!!!

Oster, Gerald (1965). "Optical Art" (subscription required). Applied Optics 4 (11): 1359–69. doi:10.1364/AO.4.001359. http://www.opticsinfobase.org/abstract.cfm?URI=ao-4-11-1359.

Lake, Matt (1999-05-20). "An art form that's precise but friendly enough to wink". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E5DC1E3EF933A15756C0A96F958260. Retrieved 2008-06-04.

3/8/10 Artist Post: Michael Birt

Michael Birt is one of the leading portrait photographers of his generation, specialising in celebrity portraits. He works both in the UK and the USA taking pictures for magazines and also produces fine art prints of celebrity subjects.

Birt studied photography at the Arts Institute in Bournemouth in the early Seventies. His dream then was to be an artist and he thought seriously about leaving the college after a year to focus on art. But a senior lecturer stepped in to explain how hard it was to try and make a living from painting so he stayed the course before finding a job in London as a photographic assistant. He worked for Time Out and various women's magazines and started to build a career based on his growing portfolio of work.

“I didn’t originally set out to be a portrait photographer, but my first commission was to take a portrait of a fashion designer and I have since been unable to escape the call of the portrait.”
The quality that Birt most likes to bring out of his subjects shows his thoughtfulness and compassion. “Capturing someone’s generosity of spirit definitely helps to make a better photography. It’s important that they offer a part of themselves to the viewer.”

“Everyday I meet some of the world’s most interesting people and whether they come to me , or I go to them, I am given an insight into their lives. However brief this glimpse may be, it allows me to see the qualities that make us all individual.”

Birt’s style of photography is very unique. Accoring to him, he is sometime limited to a very short shooting period of his subjects so he must find a way to connect with them and open them up fairly quickly. All of his portraits seem to have a playful air to them, something that I can hope to have in the future. Looking at his works has made me want to go out and photograph everybody that I see, doing something crazy and yet spectacular all at once.

“Photography is a difficult method to work in. Either one captures the moment at the perfect time, or not. And if not, it is lost forever.

Website:
http://www.michael-birt.com/

Interview:
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/birt

Gallery:
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?search=as&grp=1068%3BPhotographers&lDate=&page=1&LinkID=mp58828

3/4/10 Word Post: Snapshot Photography

A snapshot is popularly defined as a photograph that is "shot" spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent. Snapshots are commonly considered to be technically "imperfect" or amateurish--out of focus or poorly framed or composed. The term derives from the snap shot of hunting. Common snapshot subjects include the events of everyday life, such as birthday parties and other celebrations; sunsets; children playing; group photos; pets; and the like.

The "snapshot camera" tradition continues with inexpensive point-and-shoot digital cameras that fully automate flash, ISO, focus, shutter speed, and other functions, making the shooting of a good-quality image simple. Such cameras are typically programed to achieve a deep depth of field and high shutter speed so that as much of the image is in focus as possible. For expert photographers, who are better able to control the focus point, the use of shallow depth of field often achieves more pleasing images by blurring the background and making the subject stand out.

The snapshot aesthetic refers to a trend within fine art photography in the USA from around 1963[citation needed]. The style typically features apparently banal everyday subject matter and off-centered framing. Subject matter is often presented without apparent link from image-to-image and relying instead on juxtaposition and disjunction between individual photographs.

I am trying to recreate snapshot style photographs. I heard a lot of negative feedback from this during my midterm critique I do not want to give up on it. I know that there are still some issues that I need to deal with but I feel like I am heading in the right direction by trying to replicate the way these images were originally taken.

The term arose from the fascination of artists with the 'classic' black & white vernacular snapshot, the characteristics of which were: 1) they were made with a camera on which the viewfinder could not easily 'see' the edges of the frame, and so the subject had to be centred; and 2) they were made by ordinary people recording the ceremonies of their lives and the places that they lived and visited.

Notable practitioners include Garry Winogrand, Nan Goldin, Wolfgang Tillmans, Martin Parr, William Eggleston, and Terry Richardson. In contrast with photographers like W. Eugene Smith and Gordon Parks, these photographers aimed not "to reform life but to know it."

Mark Jarzombek. "Joseph Agust Lux: Theorizing Early Amateur Photography - in Search of a "Catholic Something"," Centropa 4/1 (January 2004), 80-87.

3/1/10 Artist Post:Michael Franzini

Michael Franzini is the author of One Hundred Young Americans. The book is a first-hand account of youth culture in America. It profiles one hundred teenagers in all fifty states. More than two hundred images show every kind of teenager from every part of the United States, mirroring census data for gender, race, religion and sexual orientation, balanced across urban, rural, suburban and small-town locations. “Our goal was to have a balance of city/suburban/rural as well as rich/poor/middle-class and mainstream/fringe.”
“These are not candid fly-on-the-wall documentary photographs. These are images in which there is a connection between the subject and the camera.”

I really enjoy how Franzini makes each of his subjects completely comfortable with the camera. He is able to establish a relaxing environment for each person that he was photographing. “We made it clear that we understood something about their world and that we were not there to judge them, that they were the center of attention and that they were in charge of how they wanted to present themselves, what they wanted to say, where they wanted to go.” This is the type of relationship that I strive to have with each of my subjects. I used to have a huge problem getting to a personal level with subjects that I did not really know but I have since been working on that issue. Reading about how Franzini treats his subjects helps me understand the type of relationship that is necessary between the photographer and the person that they are photographing.

We also have the same tendency in our photographs that there is eye contact between the subject and the camera lens. When asked why he always has people make eye contact when photographing them he responded, “I believe you can learn more about people by looking into their eyes and interacting with them than you can by watching without being noticed.” I have always felt that by looking directly into somebody’s eyes you can see a part of them that most people avoid. I have noticed that it starts to make people uncomfortable if you hold their gaze for too long and they will break eye-contact.

Gallery:
http://www.phhfineart.com/michael_franzini.html

Website:
http://www.michaelfranzini.com/mf-main.html

Interview: (REALLY GREAT INTERVIEW!!)
http://www.ypulse.com/ypulse-interview-michael-franzini-100-young-americans-2

2/25/10 Word Post: Change

–verb (used without object)

1. to become different: Overnight the nation's mood changed.

2. to become altered or modified: Colors change if they are exposed to the sun.

3. to become transformed or converted (usually fol. by into): The toad changed into a prince again.

4. to pass gradually into (usually fol. by to or into): Summer changed to autumn.

5. to make a change or an exchange: If you want to sit next to the window, I'll change with you.

6. to transfer between trains or other conveyances: We can take the local and change to an express at the next stop.

7. to change one's clothes: She changed into jeans.

8. (of the moon) to pass from one phase to another.

9. (of the voice) to become deeper in tone; come to have a lower register: The boy's voice began to change when he was thirteen.

Over time everything is bound to change from the way people look to the way that they act. Some have held that change is a consistent process, and rendered so by the existence of time. Others have held that the only way to make sense of change is as an inconsistency. I am trying to show that these inconsistencies can be used to show how people change over time.

“Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix.”
Christina Baldwin

Mortensen, Chris, 1985, “The Limits of Change,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 63: 1-10.

2/22/10 Artist Post: Gillian Wearing

Gillian Wearing's series "the Album" is the series that intersts me the most.

“The Album photographs are a continuing series, begun in 1993, featuring Wearing posing as members of her family. Costumes, wigs and meticulously crafted silicone prosthetic masks go into recreating, in detail, the snapshots and portrait images on which her photographs are based. The results are spooky and raise questions around loss, the passage of time and disintegrating identity.”

“However, it's an expensive process (each mask costs more than £10,000 to produce, followed by up to 40 rolls of film to capture the perfect image of Wearing inside it). Until recently the series consisted only of parents and siblings, two self-images and an uncle. Now there are two new additions to the album: Wearing's maternal grandparents.”

Inevitably, the further Wearing extends Album to include previous generations, the more her own position seems like an end point; the final name at the bottom of the family tree. "That's true - how to take it forward? I don't have any children, but if I did, I probably would use their pictures in this series. It's made me think about how people in years to come will be lucky, because they'll have photographs that go back through generations and generations of their family."

That last quote is shows how her work relates to mine. The photographs that I am recreating are of important meaning (first day baby came home, first time going to pick a pumpkin for Halloween, first prom, etc.). These photographs are ones that will be passed from generation to generation and it has been an interesting adventure to go back through generation after generation and see the same types of photographs.

Website
N/A

Interview
http://www.mattlippiatt.co.uk/Gillian%20Wearing.htm

Website
http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/wearing_gillian.html

2/18/10 Word Post: Environment

–noun

1. the aggregate of surrounding things, conditions, or influences; surroundings; milieu.

2. Ecology. the air, water, minerals, organisms, and all other external factors surrounding and affecting a given organism at any time.

3. the social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or a population.

4. Computers. the hardware or software configuration, or the mode of operation, of a computer system: In a time-sharing environment, transactions are processed as they occur.

5. an indoor or outdoor setting that is characterized by the presence of environmental art that is itself designed to be site-specific.

In general, environment refers to the surroundings of an object. The environment in these photographs have changed drastically over time. Although it is just shown in the background it is still an important part of the image. Where people choose to take a picture says something about both the people in the image and the people that took the image. Going back to these same environments to see how they have changed over time is another part of this project.

“You see, it's never the environment; it's never the events of our lives, but the meaning we attach to the events - how we interpret them - that shapes who we are today and who we'll become tomorrow.”
Tony Robbins

“We begin to see, therefore, the importance of selecting our environment with the greatest of care, because environment is the mental feeding ground out of which the food that goes into our minds is extracted.”
Napoleon Hill