Opening the Door to Infinity
Posted in Opening the Door to Infinity on September 25, 2009 by eadenet
Wine Bottle in Chair
What is the door to infinity in this case? The bottle or the opening in the chair?
Light and Darkness 2
Posted in Light and Darkness on September 6, 2009 by eadenet
Wrapped Up
This photo assignment was a lot more difficult for me than the previous one. I had a really hard time trying to figure out what I wanted to create and how I wanted to get my message across. I think the biggest issue is the fact that I was not emotionally attached to Irving Penn’s photo, “The Empty Plate.” As an art major that really frustrated me because I feel like I am supposed to know what Penn was thinking/doing and be able to explain it to someone that looks at the photo and says, “it’s a plate, so what?” But in this case, that person was me. I do not think the photo is a pretty one necessarily, and that is why I think I had a hard time connecting to it and trying to use it as a template for my photos. I know not all art is “pretty” but I feel that it needs to be pretty in a way that captures ones attention. It can be pretty ugly, pretty disturbing, pretty ridiculous or pretty beautiful, just as long as it is “pretty” enough to raise an eyebrow. When I look at photos, I need to be impressed with the beauty of it before I am able to connect with the photo on an emotional level. The problem with art is that it is very subjective; it is all in the eye of the beholder. When I take photos, I try to look at it from an outsider’s point of view. What will they say about it? What about it will make them want to look at it? Does it have curb appeal? How will I portray my emotions in that single shot? Initially I snap the photo because I think the subject is worth capturing, but then I review what I have taken and try to see what is in it that would get someone else’s attention. I am in no way saying that Irving Penn is not a great photographer because I have seen many of his photos and they are, in my eyes, beautiful but “The Empty Plate” did not do it for me.
I started by looking through a few of my photography books and typing a few “light and darkness” searches into google to just browse photos. For each photo that caught my attention, I asked myself what it was about that particular photo that caught me eye and the answer was that they all had very strong elements of design. The photos had good balance, harmony, contrast, shape, repetition, etc. and were so strong visually that I made the connection with them. I tend to do all of my brainstorming and analyzing as I am taking the photos because I feel that process works better for me. I am not very good at sitting and thinking because I think that I can get more accomplished if I am out in the setting that I want to photograph in. I go out and shoot and do a trial and error, and the nice part about shooting digital is that I get immediate feedback. I go through the entire creative process that was outlined in class, while I am behind the lens. I have a few ideas in my mind of what I want to do and think about how I can successfully portray it, and then just go out and shoot. For this assignment I made myself sit and create my own lotus blossom but I got too impatient and wanted to see what was out there for me to capture. This is something that I will have to keep practicing and try to incorporate into my routine. I guess you can say that I am in the ‘Play’ stage for a long time because that is what I do best. I play and play and play until I have that ‘aha’ moment and feel satisfied with what I have done.
Once again I have two photos because as I was taking pictures I noticed that I was getting lost in both the light and darkness of my subjects. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was out in the country. I spent all day walking around wondering how I can create a photo that portrays light and dark and also mimics Penn’s photograph. I failed on the latter of the two. I set up some glasses and forks, remotes and water bottles but nothing that I created jumped at me. I couldn’t create the connection that I was looking for in those objects. I went horseback riding and the whole time I was thinking about Ufan’s reading and Penn’s photo and how I was going to portray their message in a photo. I was trying to think of everyday objects and how I can give them a new life and show them in a new light. It hit me that the longer I obsessed over Penn’s photo, the further away I was getting to my own photo. I cleared my mind of him and just starting shooting what I saw, whether it worked for the assignment or not. In my contact sheet you can see over and underexposed photos as I was playing with the manual settings. The two photos that I chose were actually ones that I took the least amount of test shots. I saw something in these subjects, moved things around to make them more visually appealing, and shot them. I was lucky and had that ‘aha’ moment rather quickly, whether that is a good or bad thing I am not sure, but I got the photos I had been waiting for. These are everyday objects and ones that were under my feet or in my palms all day and it took me to let go of Penn’s reigns and let myself enjoy the ride.
Libby DeNet 