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