ARTO 354 Fall 2013 Bagby

I have had a very good past with photography, included taking it all throughout high school. I took my first black and white photo class when I was a freshman and fell in love with it. I normally use a 35 mm camera with film because I love the whole process and feel it is a more authentic way of photography. I am open, however, to exploring digital photography more and seeing what it has to offer. In our generation I have obviously been around digital cameras for a while but I'm hoping to get a camera with an SLR and learn more about that since I am used to small cameras that are snap shot only. I am very excited for this course and look forward to see what other options I can explore through digital!

This photo was taken by myself in one of my black and white photography classes. I was up in Portland taking pictures of whatever I felt interesting on the street. I had intended on taking the picture of the building before the woman ever walked in front of it since I felt the building had a beautiful balance to it. I love being able to take things in life that would normally be looked over and making it something awesome through photography. I also love the role that chance can play in photos, like the one above. I had already taken the picture of the building before I saw the woman walk down the street, and I felt she could add even more balance to the photo. When I developed the prints I ended up loving it, and really like how chance allowed for a greater photo.

Above is Terrell Clark's pinhole work, an artist who I just recently discovered. I first fell in love with this print since it's so simple yet beautiful, which I really admire in other artists work. Since I love black and white, this also attracted me to the print. The high contrast makes the print very intriguing and interesting to look at. When I discovered that the print was made from a pinhole I was even more impressed. I dabbled in pinhole photography myself and loved learning the basics behind film photography. I know I'm going with what I know with this first project, so I look forward to seeing how digital photography can change my perspective and add in more things that I love about photo!

Avila Beach

Gabriella Duva

Archival Print 11 x 17 inches

2013

 

Elliott Erwitt

California

1955

The source of inspiration for the above photograph was specific rules and guidelines that I made for myself for a project. This for a digital photography class that I took in the Spring term. I decided to push myself to try to make successful works by over and under-exposing my photographs. By doing so in the above image, a normal beach scene is turned into a completely foreign looking environment. I love the beach and the peaceful qualities that the ocean has to offer. This is in part because it reminds me of home and where I tend to spend the majority of my time. I wanted to challenge myself to look at something that I saw frequently and that was photographed frequently and try to put a unique spin on it. This specific project really helped to push me out of my comfort zone and led to some really unique, and interesting photographs.

I hope to further my digital skills in photography and hope to be more selective when taking photographs as if I were using film. It can be easy to just take hundreds of photographs and not take the time on each photograph. This is where the decisive moment in photography is important. I should try to take my camera with me everywhere I go, which can be challenging and discouraging in the rain. I feel that I limit myself because I do not usually like to photograph in the rain for fear of ruining my equipment.

A major source of inspiration for my work is “street” photography. I love to grab my camera and walk around a town without a specific goal in mind. This is partly because I am very influenced by Henri Cartier-Bressons, decisive moment. Many people believe that artists are just “getting lucky” with certain shots, but I believe in the effort that goes into each and every photograph I take. I have been a big fan of Elliott Erwitt and love his unique and humorous work. I have yet to figure out a way to bring his style into my work, but hope to in the future. I believe my greatest challenge is being in a smaller town that does not have the same access to different people and situations as large cities do.

Elliott Erwitt is known for his series of photographs on dogs. Many are absurd and use unique angles and perspectives to manipulate how the viewer sees the photograph. Last Spring term I attempted to use this as inspiration for a project. I focused on using dogs as the subject. This was one-hundred times more challenging then I ever imagined. Since the majority of the photographs were staged, (meaning I talked to the owners and set up a time and place to photograph their dogs) I did not get the humorous, unique style that Elliott Erwitt has in his photographs. I have not figured out how to do this, but image that walking around in a place with more people and better weather is a good start.

 

 

In the past much of my work has been about expression of larger ideas(particularly to do with beauty and the fashion world) and exploration of self through the use of my own body and various levels of costume or fiber art. I created the piece entitled “Label My Expression” with the intention of starting a dialogue about the world of branding and mass production and how this affects the individual. For this piece I used my own body and my discomfort to create tension both conceptually and visibly. This work was inspired by walking around campus and seeing the logos plastered all over our students. This was my final project for my Intro to Fibers and Textiles class, even though I have done many other pieces since this I still feel that this represents much of my artistic work and is one of my favorite pieces that I have created.
My photographic work in the past has been mostly an exploration of the medium of photography and what it can do. I took many interestingly lit and composed photos, I used myself as a subject for some of my series’ and got to look at shape and form in new contexts. I however do not feel that I have found my personal style or message as a photographer yet. I believe that digital photography might be a better medium for me than film, because of the control that it gives you.
I chose this photo for inspiration because of the use of color. I am in love with the extreme contrast between the dark purple dress and the white of the skin and how it is reflected by the surroundings of the subject, in the blues of the tile and curtain against the white of the wall. I am inspired by Lepage’s use of bold color pops and dramatic lighting effects. I feel that I constantly walk the line between artist and designer. This has sometimes made me feel misunderstood in my more conceptual art classes. With recent events in my life I have started to understand better the darker side of art. Whereas my former art has been very playful and explorative, it has a somewhat hollow shallow feel to me now. I find that Lepage’s photographs combine fashion and art in a beautiful way. The darker themes that he explores through the theatricality of color, light, clothing, make-up and setting are appealing to me because of their glossy controlled feel.
I plan to move forward in my art practice by exploring more controlled photographic scenes, that are bold and theatrical. I want to explore the use of models, other than myself and the contortion of the human body. I want to use more minimal color palettes, and work with low light or singular movable lighting sources. I will avoid copying this artist by working with different themes and different angles on the human body, or perhaps translate similar visual aspects to objects other than the body.