proposal for project 3

For this project I want to use the “picture within a picture” theme. I was immediately inspired by Kenneth Josephson’s use of photos within his photos to illustrate illusions. I think that this method is very interesting because the main focus of the photo is another photo and this leads me to immediately think of how significant the pieces of paper, which the photograph revolves around, really are. In Sontag we read a lot about how photography can be a document, or an extension of self, or a way of proving something—like evidence. I feel like Josephson’s method is playing off of this idea in a satirical way because these photos have no such purpose and, if anything, are put together in a way that is not realistic. For instance, the image of the water with another image of a boat on top of it; both photographs have been altered drastically by being compiled together and now neither reveal truth nor “scientific representation.” I like this idea for its comedy, but also because it doesn’t do what so many people rely on photography to do: to verify their every facet of their existence while still knowing they can edit out what they would rather forget. I would like to incorporate Josephson’s idea into my project but elaborate on it. I want to use medium format, black and white film, and I want to do portraits—shocking, I know. I would like to do various angles and positions of the body, but the shots will be generally head and shoulder portraits (because that’s also as close as I can get with the 88mm lens). I want to take photos and drawings and impose them over the subject so as to take away the raw information from the image: I hope that this will also show how the same piece of paper that my photo will turn into, can be used to deny an audience from the knowledge they crave when viewing images, as opposed to satiating it.

Proposal for Project #2

We just talked about our proposal’s and my idea changed so I’m going to rephrase and explain it a little better:

Idea #1:
I would like to take pictures of subjects that will only take up a small portion of the frame; a small silhouette against a plain background, a goldfish in the middle of water without clutter behind it, a hand with nothing else around it etc. Then I want to take transparencies and handwrite narratives on them; possibly famous flash fictions (stories told in 100 words or less). And then to embellish these narratives with doodle-like drawings around it that have to do with the narrative.

The closest thing I could find to resemble what I’m imagining is a computer graphics image:

Idea #2: If Idea #1 looks really bad…
I will use my trusty label-maker to label people; but not how you would ordinarily expect. Not labeling them as man, woman, black, white, age, democrat, republican, anarchist, Christian, scientologist etc. but instead “ear, nose, mouth, feet.” Etc. Labeling people in the most basic sense, because then we are all (essentially) the same.

2/11/10 In-Class Excercise

exercise #1

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/

National Geographic; Photo of the Day

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February 11, 2010

Lion Brothers

Photograph by Neal Lillis

This Month in Photo of the Day: Animal Photos

The Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Headcorn, Kent, England, is home to three African lion brothers. The brothers were born at Woburn Safari Park before being moved to the Wildlife Heritage Foundation. The Wildlife Heritage Foundation is a U.K.-based charity for the protection and preservation of big cat species.

Here one of the lions grooms his brother after they had finished eating.”

–The description above relays the the relationship between the animals, a context for the action and the environment in which the picture was taken.

https://www.adbusters.org/files/cultureshop/products/86_cover_small.jpg

In a very different magazine, Adbuster’s, uses the caption “The Virtual World” to give a whole new type of meaning to their image of two people, covered in saran wrap, getting “intimate.” Suddenly the viewer translates the image into a reference about cyber-intimacy, whereas the image was just weird before.

exercise #2

http://ffffound.com/image/078d40820298a1d9a5dd8be92db2678ff54a0e2d

possibilities for project #2?

http://www.annawolf.com/group/65-Little-Books-&-Other-things

Synopsis- P#1

For my project, I took portraits of four different people with white, acrylic paint on their faces, wearing white shirts and against a white background. I used 8 pictures, 2 of each subject, and the prints were 5 inches by 5 inches. I used a medium format camera and very large aperture (between 2 and 2.8) to make the background blurry. I also used many lamps to create very intense, dramatic lighting. I was inspired by the portraits done by david faggiano and I really like the idea of putting paint on subjects and then taking pictures of them because it seems like a melding of painting and photography. But I had to try to keep the photos from becoming too staged looking because then they resembled mimes or clowns.

Alec Soth

http://www.alecsoth.com/Mississippi-new/pages/frameset.html

I did a project on Alec Soth last semester. I still really like this stuff. This is from the collection “Sleeping on the Mississippi”

Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

These photographers are kind of disgusting overall. They really like blood, and butterflies. But this picture seemed precious to me.

Andre Pinces

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sD22IRChwXg/S1z_g9Uz3NI/AAAAAAAAArg/N4aP8a1mvoI/s1600-h/1453940012.jpg

Although Pinces fashion photography is pretty ridiculous, his documentary photos are pretty cool. He likes to photograph his meals.

Davide Faggiano

http://www.todayandtomorrow.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Davide_Faggiano_4.jpg

To be honest, I just love how bizarre the photo looks. Take away the black paint and this would have been a lovely, normal portrait of, what I assume is, a pretty woman. Now she is a lizard.

Vogue?

I don’t know who took this picture but I’m pretty sure it was in vogue.

http://ffffound.com/image/4d07e84f18b391bee1d8f8f154391aa340a25b8f

I’m starting to realize that I like ridiculous photos.