Photography "My Life in the Time of Covid-19"

Ultimately my series for the final project is going to be in the subject of Covid-19, so my hands were strongly tied for this series. I decided to put a focus on things my family bought for us to more easily survive this pandemic. The first photo is of an adjustable dumbbell we bought days before the store that sold them closed. The only things that I could show in that photo was the adjustment labels, so I took the picture from overhead. The second photo is of the toilet paper that we bought. In total I think it is 150 rolls. I had to ensure that the entirety of the rolls were visible in the photo. The last photo is the best one, albeit imperfect. Its of the box for the Nintendo Switch that we bought. The Switch itself is not the interesting part. The interesting part is the effort that it took for me to get the switch. I had to watch a stores website for days waiting for them to go on sale (and they would sell out in less than 1 minute). I then had to drive an hour each way to go pick up the Switch. All of that isn't shown very well in the photo itself, however I did tilt the box such that the curbside pickup sticker and Switch logo are clearly visible. Since this was a documentary series and the subject was more what we bought instead of why we bought it there was less of a conveyable message through photographic techniques. I have a really good series coming up that is much more comprehensive of life with Covid-19 so hopefully that one is better.

Week 10 Exhibition Analysis

I chose Karen Knorr's Gentlemen.

1. These photographs are taken for those who aren't conservative members of the white male, upper-middle class in England. The point of these photographs, is to put a spotlight on the beliefs and standards of said class. The beliefs are presented in a way that makes it seem as if a member of that class is explaining their values to a young one who they want to be like them; this is of course presented in a tongue-and-cheek manner.

2. This was taken in the 80's so it is difficult for me to label this type of masculinity since I haven't encountered it much. However, the men in this series appear to be representing a time much earlier than the 80's. Sure, they are older in these pictures, but the time period the appear to be dressed for, and the time period represented by the rooms they are in look to me more like the 30's and 40's. Reading the captions reinforces this idea because they are heavily focused on things like honor and pride. These ideas don't hold very strongly amongst men these days.

3. Some of the other series showcased masculinity in ways that I had never associated with masculinity. Almost none of the photos were of men doing manly things. It was as if they were showcasing femininity dressed like a man. For instance, one series used the clothes of the men as the primary way to showcase a person's masculinity. Masculinity has nothing to do with the clothes someone wears, it is the differing perspective that men have that makes it masculinity. Clothes cannot properly represent that.

4.
       i. Rotimi Fani-Kayode

a.  Something that is notable here is that the background is left in focus. I don't know what the meaning behind this picture actually is, but I can tell this focal choice allows the subject to be compared to others in the background, along with making it easier for the viewer to gauge a time-period for the photo.

b.  Based on the content of other photos by the photographer (which include men who don't adhere to norms), I deduct that he is LGBT. Given the masculinity subject of his photographs, I think the overall message might have to do with the fluidity of masculinity, and that you can be masculine while doing unmasculine things and exhibiting unmasculine behaviors.


       ii. Richard Billingham, Ray’s a laugh

a.  This photo was taken with a wide-angle lens, despite one not being necessary to capture the subject. This was done as much as is possible without cutting off part of the subject of the image. The photographer also took the photo on the level of the subject, despite him being on the ground. These two choices frame the subject well. One other think I will note is the use of the colour blue. Every photo had bland colour, except for something being sky blue.

b.  This photo does an amazing job of conveying the disgusting nature of his fathers' alcoholism. He is wearing a suit, and slumping on a broken toilet. The toilet, in my opinion is the dirtiest one I've seen in my life. This shows how bad the situation is in the eyes of the photographer. The other photos in the series were also dirty, but this one was by far the dirtiest.


       iii. Mikhael Subotzky Prisoners sleep in an overcrowded cell

a.  Obviously the biggest choice here was taking the photo from above, as opposed to face-on. This choice allows the photo to highlight the overcrowded nature of the prison while also showcasing each individual as a person, instead of a prisoner. Aside from that there is some use of colour here with the blue clothes of the prisoners.

b.  The photo appears to have be trying to bring attention to prison overcrowding, along with advocating for the decriminalization of crimes that really aren't crimes in order to alleviate this. Additionally it comments on the condition of the prisons, the prisoners appear cold and underdressed here. The photographer might be a former prisoner.

Week 10 Activity 1

Top left photo:
1: This photo likely represents the refugee aspect of the article, since multiple people are shown traveling. Amongst the 4 photos this one does the worst job of representing the article.
2: The photo supplements the idea that the refugees were poor, and struggled when they were traveling.
3: It shows some malnutrition for the people who are affected. The techniques used do not emphasize this, however.
Top right photo:
1: This photo if of a child who has arrived at an aid camp. He appears to be sick in some way and is being treated by a physician. This explicitly visualizes the last bit, almost to the letter.
2: It doesn't make a comment. It verifies what the article is saying. The kid is clearly sick, by the looks of it from malnutrition.
3: It shows how much the refugees are affected. Whatever the nurse/volunteer is putting onto the child; I've never seen anything like it before. In my mind, that means his condition is really bad/unusual. Also since I've never seen that before it will always stand out to me.
Bottom left photo:
1: This photo also illustrates the extent to which these people are undernourished. Its even sadder to see how young this child is and how much he is in need of food. The article, of course talks about these people not getting enough food and water so this photo makes sense.
2: This photo doesn't make a comment on the article, it does make a comment about the efforts of people who are in the position to help. It does a really good job of emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.
3: What changed for me is this picture actually energized me towards the situation. That is, I feel the urge to do something about it. This is easily the best photo of the four.
Bottom right photo:
1: This appears to be a photo of the affected traveling to a new area. This was mentioned in the article in the second sentence.
2: The photo does a good job of painting the journey as 'dry', as the article puts it. Although it isn't obvious, there are barefoot people in the photo, which is what the article said.
3: This photo diminishes the journey that these people had to make. As bad as it sounds, the photo makes the journey appear possible. I'd have liked for the photographer to have taken a photo during a much tougher leg of the journey.

This photo is easily the best one of the bunch. As I stated before, it paints a strong tragedy (severe malnutrition) onto someone who deserves it the least (child). It has shock value. I can imagine many others choosing this one as the most significant.

Week 9 activities+homework

Mohamed Bourouissa:

1.      The main message here is about African-American culture. Some of it is good, however some of it has to do with police brutality.

2.      This is conveyed mainly through the expressions on the faces of the subjects. In some pictures the subject is crying, in others, they are smiling.

Anton Kusters:

1.      The series is about the expressions of pain of those who were present in the Nazi concentration camps of WW2. The pictures are of the blue skies at significant concentration camps. It offers a contrast between the innocence of the blue sky and the cruelty of the concentration camps.

2.      This is only conveyed with an explanation, however the coordinates of each photo are given so technically the viewer can find the meaning with research.

Mark Neville

1.      These photos are about the conditions of life for farmers in Britain. It was taken shortly after the vote for Brexit, so it intends to justify the vote for leavers.

2.      Again, this message can’t be directly gleamed from the photos; you have to have a description to know what they mean. However you can tell a lot just from the quality and age of the things in the photos: they are old and damaged. These people aren’t doing well financially.

Clare Strand

1.      This series is about the reception of information in the digital age. The artist takes typical images, and blocks them with either boxes filled with numbers of typical pixilation.

2.      This series does a better job of sending the message than the previous one, however it still struggles to and needs an explanation/description to really deliver a message. The only thing she does special here that actually contributes to the message is the pixilation/boxing of the photos.

Ultimately, I believe Kusters should win. His photos do something that none of the others do: they stand on their own. Although it isn’t strong, since you have to look up coordinates to figure out the message, once you do, the message is clear.

Photographs analysed:

Clare Strand:

Mark Neville:

Anton Kusters:

Mohamed Bourouissa:

My Photo:

Caption 1: Gym, condition: used
Caption 2: Just finished a long, hard workout!
Caption 3: So many choices for workouts, I'll spend more time picking one than actually working out!
Cropped version (cropped to the tv stand in the middle left of the original):

Caption: We can't even afford a tv!

       I care very much about the gym and working out, even moreso since being quarantined to the house with nothing else to do. The first caption (the best one), references two ideas: the gym is clearly messy, and the gym has clearly been used. This photo could be put into a series highlighting the life of me under quarantine and the caption would be perfect. The other two captions both build on the idea of a messy gym, but in different ways. One uses the mess to imply that many things were done during the workout, while the other uses the mess to display the many things that can be done in the gym. This photograph did not leave much room to crop it and completely change the meaning, however, since everything I've done with the photo builds upon the idea that the gym is of high quality (for a homegym), it is a nice contrast to point something out that is clearly lacking. We used to have a tv for the tv stand but we gave it away. The room hadn't gotten much usage since then so we had no need to replace it. 

Week 8 Homework

By: Elliot Erwitt

A.   This is a photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger holding a picture of him hitting a front double biceps pose in the same clothes in the same room. He is also flexing while holding the photo.
B.   There is minimal use of light, since there are so few shadows. However it does appear that there is a window to the left due to Arnold's left side being brighter than his right side.
C.    There is no mood to the photo. It appears bleak, but Arnold has a slight grin on his face.
D.    This is a photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger holding a photo of himself.
E.     The photo appears to be a photo about who Arnold is. He is flexing in the smaller photo, and he is the GOAT bodybuilder, so this is definitely a portrait of Arnold himself.



Recreation:

Response:

Creating the recreation was easily the funnest time I've had making a photograph in this class. I consider myself a bodybuilder so not only is the recreation effective at mimicking the original photo, it stands true to me. It took me about an hour to get this photo thought because I had to build a tower of chairs to balance my phone at eye level. Lighting was impossible to get right and I had to zoom in on this photo to get some furniture out of the photo. Besides that I think this photo came out really well.

Week 5 Photographic Series

So I did not take a picture of a series presented in class so I chose one from online. I think this one captures the spirit of the assignment well. 

Last impressions (typing it since I had a lot of thoughts)- Looking at the picture, you not only see a reflection of what she went through over the course of her life, but you also get a glimpse of how she is dealing with it. In her age 24 and 39 photos you see the face of someone who is in pain. When looking at photos of her when she is older, you still see the pain, but you also see some restraint in her face. It is almost as if in her 40's she internalized the idea that the pain won't stop; she had to accept her situation, no matter how bad is seems to her. This also implies that she has a reason to put forward the persona of someone who isn't in pain. Potentially for her children?

Photography Week 4 Portrait analysis

Week 4 Self-Portrait

I chose this Mayotte Magnus portrait as inspiration for my own. In her photo, she is being shown in two different mirrors, with two different expressions on her face. Also, it appears that the mirrors are cracked. The cracks can be implications upon her mental state at the time of the picture. My photo was taken very spontaneously. I was walking in downtown Dusseldorf, Germany when I ran into this mirror near a parking garage. The mirror is not a regular mirror, because it distorts the image and makes it appear wavy. On top of this, the image itself isn't very high in quality. Both of those aspects of the photo push the idea that I still don't know who I am yet, and the image I have of myself is very wavy and grainy and unclear. Unintentionally there are lots of lines in my photo, but those don't actually contribute anything to or against the message that I am trying to send with my portrait.

Week 4 Exhibition Analysis

The first two photos are the ones I chose. They both are heavily influenced by colour. The first one uses it cleverly to highlight the environment around the children, while the second one uses it for aethetic purposes. Both photos also highlight the environment around the subject, but in different ways. The description of the first photo states that the photographer wanted to contrast the playfulness of the boys and the building (which is associated with poverty). The second photo attempts to reflect the happiness of the photographer at traveling, due to his mom taking him a bunch of places when he was younger. The first photo did a really good job sending its message, while the second one did not, along with not having a very good message in the first place. I liked the first one much more.

We decided that the third photo was the winner, because it uses colour, lighting, and the entire environment functions well as a subject. The woman in the center is clearly sad about something, and the colours+lighting reflect that along with her expression. It was the one that most used the entire photo to send the message, which alone was a very strong message.

Week 5 Photography Exhibition analysis

Photography Week 3 Blog Post

 
             There isn't much meaning behind photos of a glass of water. However, that allows for analysis of the very cool effects the light has on the water and the shadows that it makes from various angles/intensities. The first photograph is very bland and boring, since the light source creates no shadows. The second photo is interesting in that there is an interesting light coming off the bottom left of the glass. The third photo creates an exhibitionist look since the light is coming from above, along with the shadow forming a circle. The fourth photo has many things going on: the shadow is expanded massively, while the waterline is refracted so much it shows on the bottom of the wall, despite the waterlevel being on top. The fifth photo is interesting since the water itself is illuminated, and the water is the only thing to cast a shadow onto the wall. The 6th and last photo is my favourite. The lighting contrasts almost perfectly with the shadow of the glass, and the shadow appears almost menacing. This is likely due to the shadow being larger than the glass and of a dark colour. This photo could potentially have some meaning, as it could cast the glass of water as something that is safe on the outside but is hiding something dangerous. Through all the photos there was a very cool line effect, where various patterns would form in the shadow of the glass. This could be used in other photos subtly (I.E. via non-subjects) or directly, as does the 6th photograph.

Dora Maar Exhibition

Cavalier    c.1936
                   1: I chose this work because the picture clearly has a deeper meaning, and uses chess (I like chess) to convey it. 
                   2: The genre is fine art since there is a message to the photo, and it appears like a painting.
                   3: The framing places the knight in the background in a higher position than the knight chess piece, as if to convey superiority. There is also white/black coloring, which doesn't appear to directly relate to the knight's ambition but moreso to the dichromatic nature of chess.
                   4: The first choice paints the chess piece's ambition to be like a real-life knight. Without putting the actual knight higher, you can't imply anything, you just have a comparison between two knights. While the second decision doesn't directly impact the message of the photo, it could imply that there is no in-between in being a chess piece or a real knight. Almost as if there is an even deeper message saying that there are no half-heroes, only real ones and fake ones.
                  5: The photograph is of a knight chess piece facing and looking up to an image on a real knight. This implies that the chess piece wants to be like a real knight.

Beggar, London      c. 1934

                  1: I chose this because it depicts a beggar from the 1930's, the beggar appears very different from modern ones, wearing a full suit and tie.
                  2: The genre is likely a documentary/reportage.
                  3: The beggar is framed such that you cannot see who he is begging at. That leaves the photo much more open to interpretation. There is also a small use of lines here. In the background you can see multiple horizontal lines on the building behind them. These are parallel to his gaze, which is facing the ones who he is currently begging at.
                 4: The meaning here isn't strong, however both choices highlight who the beggar is begging at, so the overarching message could be that he isn't begging at someone he is begging at society.
                 5: The photograph is of a beggar, but the photo is about the conditions of society that put him there.

The Years Lie in Wait for You    c.1935
                 1: I chose this one because the spider superimposed onto the woman's face is both interesting and meaningful.
                 2: This is a portrait, both about the outside of a person and the inside.
                 3: The use of colour is relevant here. The spider and its web are both very white, making them brighter than the brightest parts of the woman's face. There is also clearly a use of lines here via the spider's web. The lines likely are there to further point towards the inside of her head I.E. the true subject of the photograph.
                4: They make the meaning clearer. They don't change the meaning; it would still be clearly a photograph on depression if they weren't there, but it enhances that meaning.
                5: The photograph is of a woman with a spider's web superimposed onto her face. The photo is likely about depression, and how her mind has become like a spider's web.

Photography Blog Post Week 2

             The first photo is using the 'From Above' perspective. The benefit of this is that the cars are seen from a different angle than they would be face-on, and are perceived to be smaller than they actually are. The second photo is using the 'Become the Subject' point of view, mashed with the 'From Above' perspective. One thing to note is how the steps appear to be smaller relative to my feet (the subject) as they go farther down. The third photo is of bourbon bottles on a table. It is using a point of view from eye-level. The effect of the point of view here is profound, since it paints the bottle in the center as 'superior' to the other (in reality it actually is worth about a hundred pounds more). The final photo is the view from my bedroom. I find the design of that building fascinating, especially since it is so tall compared to its surroundings. One thing I would like to note here is how the building that takes up the other half of the picture really seems to be fighting to be the main subject here.

Blog Post Week #1

                 Three Boys Running, Scotland, 1960 (1)              Scotland, 1960 (2)

                  1a: "Three Boys Running" The background of the city. I was fascinated with the emptiness of it. 

                  1b. For one, there is no focus. Everything in the photo is somewhat blurry. The blur emphasizes the fact that the boys are running around. 

                   1c. It implies that people were not always on the streets, or that that particular neighborhood was abandoned. 

                    2a: "Scotland" I love the fog creating the appearance of an infinite flatland. 

                     2b. The subject is not necessarily the person on the horse. One could say that the subject is the land that is foggy/faded and could even say the subject isn't on the photo. The combination of dimmed flatlands and those flatlands taking up the majority of the photo create a mysterious effect. As if the person on the horse is exploring. 

                      2c. This shows that Scotland in the 60's was sparsely populated, and much untouched by man. It implies that the people who lived there had an air of adventure and exploration to them. 

                     3a: "Wales" I deeply enjoy this one. The kid does not seem to be very happy, this is suggested have something to do with the factories behind him. The toys also seem to be very creepy looking; almost as if taken out of a horror film. 

                      3b. The child is clearly the subject of the photo, but he isn't dead-center. Davidson wanted to draw the viewer's attention towards the factories in the background. This is also supported by the fact that they are also in focus. After the viewer notices the clear abundance of pollution, they turn their attention back to the boy and see how he is clearly not happy. The viewer can then infer many things about how the factories are impacting the child. 

                                                       

                                                      Wales, 1965 (3)

       This photo was actually an opportunistic photo. I had no idea that I was going to take it 5 seconds before I actually took it. I compare it to the photo of the boys running in the street. There are a few qualities to this photo that are similar to that photo and a few that are not similar but are significant nonetheless. First, note how the photo is blurry. This is similar to Davidson's photo in a sense that they both call attention to the non-subjects. In my photo, the subject is the woman walking, but it also calls attention to the skyline in the distance. In Davidson's photo, the subject is the boys playing with attention called to the empty street. The blurriness also implies motion, not only with the woman walking, but also the 'motion' of the city. It is dark, but the city is awake. There is also some color to this picture on the trash bins, the signs, the lights, and even the store(s) across the street. You can even see some blue in the windows of the skyscrapers in the distance. If you look hard, you can also see how the light pollution affects the darkness of the sky. The area right next to the building on the right is very bright, yet the area to the left of the photo is not.