Final 6 Photos

Final Book Project Idea

For my final book project I am going to create a scrapbook of women posing in front of a brick wall. I am controlling simply two things one that they wear a white tee and jeans and two that they are not wearing any make up. This is to make a statement about natural beauty and people don't need to wear a lot of make to look pretty. I want it on a brick wall to get the photo texture but, the subject matter will fill up most of the space highlighting the face as well as the body. I will be using neutral lighting for the most part having the light meter at zero.

For the actual construction of the book I will create it myself using scrapbooking supplies. The pages will be white with one subject matter per page. With this I will use quotes about beauty from the subject matters themselves however, I will be distributing them how the quote will fit with the photos. 

Photobook- 2 ideas

The first idea I have for this photo book is to do portraits of people all on a white background. Experimenting with the idea of what people are like when they least expect it. I plan on using stutter fly to make the book and have all of the pages white. For the format of the photos I would like to crop the images so that the photos are square. This will allow the excess of the photo to be cropped out and we will be allowed to focus on the subject.






Idea number 2 would still be portraits but instead of all of them on the same background there would be different backgrounds through out the book. I would maybe like to have the photos in black and white as well so that it gives off a monochromatic look. I do however want to keep the photos square because I love the idea of a nice black and white photo. This would be presented through a scrapbook style maybe with a black or gray border around them using scrapbook paper. Underneath the photos I would put captions underneath the photos (maybe there name) I would use a typewriter font.

Artist Post- Richard Avedon.

 The artist that I want to do my oral presentation on is Richard Avedon. I found a new fascination with him after our discussion in class. I really like his portraits and how he picks very unique subjects and dresses them in different ways. I also find his fashion photos very interesting as well. His photos were on different ends of the spectrums and that is super fascinating.

Exhibition Review

Dave Lachapelle: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

            The show I decided to go and see was the Dave Lachapelle exhibition that was titled Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? at the Staley Wise Gallery. Dave Lachapelle is a photographer who is still working in the field. He is mainly known for shooting well-known figures in pop culture including one of his first works of Andy Warhol who is another famous artist.  Lachapelle has works all over the country such as California and D.C. He also has work displayed in the UK, Belgium and France. This gallery showcased a bunch of his photos and one video that he took that were neatly placed on the walls of the gallery in nice wooden light brown frames.

            The photos and video of this exhibition were all of celebrities that have been very influential in pop culture and have been in the public’s eye for some time. The exhibit subjects were a mix of older and newer references such as Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Tupac. Even though almost all of his work is about fame, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Is and exhibition that focuses on the curiosity with fame and how the artist might deal with the fame. The pictures show this through compelling images with bold and abstract sexualized photos of these celebrities. Each one of these photos shows a different theme as to what we think fame means and how celebrities deal with it.

            All of the images were very interesting however, one that really stock out to me was the photo of Faye Dunaway titled “Day of the Locust”. Faye was a popular actress in the 70’s and did a lot of movies including Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown. This was a print of a photo he took that features Dunaway on top of a white limo that is surrounded by policemen trying to keep off the screaming fans as Faye looks distressed. This particular photo is a little different than most of his photos because no one was naked but, you could still tell that this was a Dave Lachapelle because of the vibrant colors highlighting Faye as well as the collage like style that he uses a lot in his works.

This photo stood out to me the most mainly because of the red fabric that is hanging off of her dress as well as the pain that is shown on her face. I found this piece very compelling and fitting with the idea of fame because it highlights the pain and exhaustion that a celebrity can face. As well as highlights the violence of the fans just so that they could meet her. This is shown through the emotion of the subject as well as all of people trying to get to her despite the police. This is very fitting with the exhibition because the pain of the lack of privacy that one can develop with fame. It also shows the craziness of fans that will do harmful things to reach them. This goes along with the theme of the exhibit because these two concepts are things that we associate with fame. I personally didn’t have any connections to this photo however, I have seen thing on the news that have been alarming of fans that would try some scary things in order to get to a public figure.

All in all, I found the entire gallery to be very compelling. Even though I’ve never been famous myself I can only imagen what it is like and what that kind of pressure is. I think Lachapelle was trying to get across that fame is not all it is cracked up to be and sometimes it can be very harmful. I think he was successful in doing that because of the emotion with the artists in the photos. Even though I didn’t expect to see so many naked bodies in the exhibit, I really did enjoy his work and would love to see more of his work. I will defiantly be looking for other photographers work in the near future. I really enjoyed going to the show.

1. Line  1/30, 7.1, 
2. Shape 1/500, 7.1
3. Repetition  1/640, 7.1
4. Contrast  1/160, 14
5. Texture  1/640, 7.1
6. Rule of Thirds  1/200, 11
7. Complementary Colors 1/800, 7.1
8. Monochromatic Colors 1/400, 7.1

Depth of Field Assignment

Focal Length: 50, f/36, 1/50, ISO: 200

Focal Length: 50, f/5.6, 1/1,250 ISO: 200

Book Assignment #2- Chapter 3

1. Barrett's thesis for the chapter is that with photos in order to fully understand them you must try to figure out what the photographer is trying to get across. You do this by interpreting the photo and make your own assumptions on the content. To do this you have to not only think about what the photo means to the artist but also about what the photo means to you. By putting those thoughts together you will be able to make a good interpretation of a photo. Because of the way that you make these interpretations they will be different for everyone and not one photo has only one interpretation.

2. The author of this Chapter uses many primary sources of actual photographs as well as the interpretations from critics about those photographs. One photo he uses a lot is PLATE 5 which is a photo by Harry Callahan titled Eleanor which, is a photo of a women with her left forearm across her forehead and her right hand grabbing her left bicep. This photo is accompanied by three different interpretations of the photo to show that there are many different approaches/styles of interpreting a photograph.


3. Interpretation is when we look at something and make sense of what we are seeing and make conclusions on it based on what we think. To do this we have to ask ourselves a series of questions that have to do with what it is that we are physically seeing as well as to what we think think the subject is trying to convey. With the series of questions we are able to draw our own conclusions as to how to see the piece.

4. Barrett thinks that it is important to interpret photos because he thinks that in order for them to be fully appreciated and understood we must go through the process of asking the those questions. He believes that every picture has something special to say and people need to recognizes its communication and expressive purpose. With taking the time to analyze the photos we will be able to uncover the truth.

5. The three types interpretive perspectives are A Comparative Interpretation, An Archetypal Interpretations and A Feminist Interpretation. The other interpretive strategies are Psychoanalytic Interpretation,  Formalist Interpretation, Semiotic Interpretation, Marxist Interpretation, Interpretation Based on Stylistic Influences, Biographical Interpretation, Internationalist Interpretation and Interpretation Based on Technique. The one that stood out to me the most was probably the example of the Psychoanalytic Interpretation probably because you can take something so simple like naked dolls and turn it into something so meaningful. It is really powerful to try to analyze something that another person did and try to figure out what they meant by all of it. I feel like you can do that with a lot of things and not just this example of dolls. Everything means something so, I never expect anything to not have a purpose.

6.   What the author is trying to say in this section is that you can't just say anything that comes out of your head and say that it is an interpretation. You have to be convincing to other people that you somewhat understand what the artist was trying to get across. This means that your statements must be insightful, meaningful, revealing and plausible. To do this you must correspond with the artwork and make sure that what you are talking about goes along with what you are seeing and also it must be coherence and make sense on its own.

7. The point that Barrett is trying to get across in this section is that someone's (even the artist's) interpretation is one of many. Photographers sometimes don't know/ don't want to put their reasoning behind the photo that they have created. Because of this, it is up to the critics to make sense of all of it. With this, there will be many different opinions about what one photograph actually means and so therefore, one on interpretation is correct over the other. Even if the artist has something to say about his/her piece it is only one person's opinion over hundreds and everyone will see it differently.

8. One key point i've learned by reading this is that there really is no wrong answer and that all interpretations are valid as long as you can back it up. You can base interpretations on not only intellectual endeavors but also on what feelings you get from the photo. Art is there to trigger something so let it. Another thing I learned was that, there is a direct difference between significance and meaning which I did not know. According to the chapter, Significance is more personal and it is based on what the person analyzing the artwork finds important. Meanwhile, meaning is way more objective which refers to what the photograph can infer on its own and not what is inferred by the one person.

9. Barrett sums up the chapter by talking about the community of the people that interoperate these photos. He states that they are very particular with the interpretations that are presented to them because they know the worth of the photos and the worth of art in general. They have a very specific dialogue that they follow when talking about these works and Barrett says that if we follow what he states in this chapter that we will be able to comment on these photos with them in a educated manner.

Catharine Ficarra Assignment #2

      1/20, f 14, ISO 3200     1/200, f 4.5, ISO 3200

Cataharine_Ficarra reading assignment #1

#1. Barron's thesis for chapter 2 is that a photo's description is just as important as the photo itself maybe even more important. It gives the viewers facts about the photograph as well as analysis of the photos.

#2. In this chapter Barron uses a number of examples of photos and their descriptions to prove his point. He uses "Thirteen year old Rattlesnake Skinner", Cindy Sherman's "Untitled Film Still #13" and Jan Groover's "Untitled" piece. He also uses quotes from the critics that created the descriptions of the pieces and what they were thinking as they we figuring out what to use as sources for the description. 

3a) Descriptions are normally paragraphs that lists facts about the piece of artwork. It will normally state the photographer's subject matter, for and media as well as a little bit about the time the photo was taken and information about the photographer. This information can either be from an internal or external source.

3b) Subject Matter is the actually thing that the photographer is photographing in the photo. The Subject is what the photographer is trying to get across when looking at the photo.

3c) Form is the way that the subject is coming to life or the "shape of the content."

3d) The medium is what the art is made of. This can be simple or complex.

3e) The style is a characteristic of a subject matter that will indicate a distinction between that artist and others.

4a) Comparing and contrasting according to barron is looking at an artist work and finding similarities and differences between that piece of work and another work of that artist or a different artist.

4b) An internal source is something that can be captured by looking at the photograph itself. An external source is when you go looking for a source in a a library, the artist themselves or a press release.

5a) The relationship between descriptions and interpretation is very circular and moving from whole to part and from part to whole. The person who is interpreting that picture will look at the description and the descriptions will persuade the critic to feel a certain way.

5b) The relationship between descriptions and evaluation is that the evaluations are almost always mixed into the description of the piece whether it be positive or negative. This making the evaluation visible for all to see. 

6a) I think the author of this chapter was trying to say that it isn't easy to write a description for a photograph and that there is a lot of thought that goes into creating one. The other though that i think they were trying to make was the idea that viewers will see this description and form an opinion about the piece so that critic writing the description must try their best to be as unbiased as possibly so that the view can form his/her own opinion.

6b) The one thing that I learned from this reading is that there is a lot that goes into the description of a photo. I just assumed that it was the last thing that was done and the artist did it super quickly to label their work when that's not the case at all. Seconding, I learned the different between subject and subject matter. I assumed that they were the same things and that there was just two different names for it.

6c)  The author's conclusion really put an emphasis on the fact that the description of a photo is no joke and that it should be taken very seriously. It should highlight the photo's individuality as well as give criticism. They then leave us with the principles for describing photos in hopes that someone will use it to write educated critics.

6d) I was a little surprised when reading the article especially because I though the artist wrote the descriptions for the photos were written by the artist themselves and not critics. I also didn't know there were so many rules and regulations to writing a critic. In my opinion it seems like a lot.

Assignment #1 Part #1

                                                                                    Overexposed: IOS 200, f/6.3, 1/40



Bracketing is when you take three photos of the same subject with different exposures. One with the recommended settings, one overexposed and one underexposed. To achieve this I manipulated the shutter speed of the camera. From the neutral photo to the over exposed it was 2 1/3 stops backwards and from the neutral photo to the under exposed it was 3 1/3 stops forwards.
                                       
                             


                              Neutral: IOS 200, f/6.3, 1/200

Underexposed: IOS 200, f/6.3, 1/2,000