thoughts...

Friday, December 14, 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

I decided to blog about this photographer because he is a narrative photographer and since I am going along the lines of narrative photography in my series I wanted to include him. After looking at his images I started thinking that maybe I should begin taking photographs or even video-taping the environment and atmosphere in which I am taking my self-portraits to give the photos a deeper meaning. I thought that maybe this would help the viewer acquire a better understanding of the series and add another element to the photographs. A lot of windows are used in his series to provoke the outside in theme which enhances the light and mood of the photographs. I feel like all my images do not necessarily have to have a figure present because a lot of the time the space we live in is empty. So I was thinking of showing it in its natural uninhabited state..however, I do not want the series to become about specifically the environment. But it might work if I integrate them well.

John Seward Figurative Distortions

Well I found this realllly awesome website called P H O T O B I S T R O. Hopefully Im not last to hear about it or something. But it has all of these really artistic photographers from all over and I found John Seward who manipulates the human body and it just reminds me of my thought process when I was doing my body image series. Looking at these images has provoked me to continue with that series...I guess on the side or something.
“The idea that puts the form together cannot itself be the form. It is above the form, and is its essence, the universal in the individual, or the individuality itself - the glance and the exponent of the indwelling power.” Samuel Coleridge, The English Essays of the Harvard Classics.

Alessandro Bertolotti

I found Alessandro Bertolotti when I was on the blog site and just searching photography blogs. A blog about him and a book he wrote came up and I became interested immidiately. The book he wrote is called "Books of Nudes" by Alessandro Bertolotti. It is pretty much a collaboration of nude books put together in one gigantic book...
"For all of us who just love anthologies of books, there is a great new one from Abrams called Books of Nudes by Alessandro Bertolotti. Bertolotti, according to the flap copy, has one of the largest collections of erotic books and photographs in Europe. Who his American equivalent would be, I do not know but Bertolotti has brought together more than 160 books and divides them into thematic sections under chapter headings like: Pictorialism, Glamour, European Avant-Garde, Nazism, Gay Pride and others." http://5b4.blogspot.com/2007/11/books-of-nudes-by-alessandro-bertolotti_16.html
So after reading the blog I googled him and found his website, which reminds me of the same concept I am doing with different aesthetics. I really enjoyed looking at all of him images and they became inspiring to me that a straight on photograph is so beautiful and I do not always have to aesthetically enhance it to make it beautiful. Some of his images he deals with relationships, all nude, and mostly women. They are very bohemian looking with natural backgraounds such as trees and the beach, which I am fond of both.

Artist Lecture: Justine Kurland

Before Justin Kurland lectured, I was so excited to her speak about her work and just show it in general. I think I was so excited because I could really relate to her images and the process she takes and the way she thinks and feels about nudes. The entire lecture I was in awe because she was fascinating to me especially when she elaborated and told the story behind the images and how she went to nudist colonies, etc. Her lecture was inspiring, therefore I was even more excited to meet with her indiviually the next day. However, I think I held too high of expectations. I did not really get anything out of our "individual" meeting because she wanted to critique Adriana and I together even though our work is completely opposite. So we were both a little frustrated. Then my computer kept freezing so Justine got very short with me and pretty much wanted told me what she wanted and that was it. She did say though that my work reminded her of hers when she was in college and that it was a "rite of passage" to take pictures of yourself...something every woman goes through. So I was happy about that...until I found out she said the same thing to Amanda. It was an experience, not necessarily a bad one though.

Monday, November 5, 2007

November - First Friday

I attended First Friday last friday and wanted to talk about the exhibit in 1708 Gallery, which completely amazed me. I had heard from a couple of people that the show was incredible, but it was not until i walked into the gallery that I was in total amazement. I could not really understand what the big piles of white grain were on the floor, until I overheard someone talking about it. Then I was just in a state of confusion because I could not understand how the artist screenprinted images on very fine grains of salt. I walked around and studied the images for a long time, not even paying attention to the work on the walls. It was so neat to look down in a gallery instead of staring straight in front of you at the wall. I loved the dim lighting and the mellow mood the entire gallery presented right as I walked in the door. I was really impressed with this show because a lot of the times I have a hard time liking or understanding most of the work 1708 shows. However, Young Kim: Portraits in Granular Salt and Red Clay Powder, was very impressive.

Artist Lecture: Su Friedrich

I was really excited to hear Su Friedrich lecture. When I first heard her name and knew she was coming, I thought she was a photographer. But a little later i learned she was a filmmaker, which was even more appealing to me. The images of the baby and the beach attracted me to her work. I looked up her work before the lecture, which excited me even more. I could not wait to hear her talk about her work and show it. Everything she showed thursday really interested me. I especially loved "Hide and Seek" and "Sink or Swim." Friedrich's concepts behind her films were so simple yet very profound. The way she explored womanhood and the technique in which she explored it was really intelligent. Her work, in a way, reminded me of mine and how I view womanhood. Even the way she shot her films reminded me of my work. I got a very nostaligic and eerie feel from her films. Overall, I was very impressed and thoroughly enjoyed listening to her talk.