It has been such a pleasure working with my client J. over the course of these past few weeks. He always enters the classroom full of enthusiasm to get started and a welcoming grin. I've watched him struggle to find the words that he wants to use and through his frustration I can see that he genuinely wants to be here and he wants to get better. He has a very good handle on the camera and has consistently produced great images. Following the quick preview of his shots relating to Home, I'm very interested to see what he will bring to the table for next week's class. However, last week we brought OUR number 1 photos in for discussion. This is how it all played out:

This image was the one we chose to be my number one. As always, my client J picked up on the descriptive aspects of the photo fairly quickly. His first utterance was "curtain" followed by "brown". When we had asked him to describe particular elements within the photo, he had some struggle verbalizing "newspaper", but once we broke it apart into syllables he confidently pronounced the whole word. He also noticed the glasses perched upon the newspaper, to which he started pointing to his own glasses in excitement. We then prompted him to say a whole sentence, "The glasses are on top of the newspaper". I attribute J's attention to concrete and descriptive concepts as a product of his technical background (career). However, I've noticed that J has a much more difficult time finding the right words to interpret the photos we discuss in class. He was very puzzled when we introduced the idea of "dad" in association with this photo.

I, along with my peers, drew up descriptive words such as "newspaper", "glasses", and "sunlight" to describe the photo. We settled on "inviting", "dad", and "reading" as interpretive terms. J wasn't able to come up with the interpretive terms without excessive prompting, though he did understand where we were getting the words "reading" and "inviting" from. I can definitely tell that there is some dissonance when it comes to apprehending the deeper meaning behind a photo. I have observed that J tends to take in the photographs at mere aesthetic value. He finds them visually stimulating, yet I believe that he has yet to understand how it is that he can use the photography to tell HIS story.

There's No Place Like Home

Though at first glance this may seen like a very simple composition, I chose this photo for a variety of reasons. I liked the quality of light coming into the room though the window; it washes over the rest of the elements creating a dreamlike quality. I also like the fact that except for the newspaper on the couch, there is no other indication of human presence. And after a prolonged inspection of the photo you notice that atop the paper there is a pair of round, vintage spectacles, another personal touch that infuses life into the shot in a subtle way. This project deals with the concept of home, so ultimately (formal elements aside) I chose this photo because it reminds me of a typical weekend morning at my uncle's house. This photo reminds me of my tio and his penchant for reading the paper in the wee hours of the morning. On the particular day this was taken, I had woke up and, judging by the silence of the house, figured that everyone was still asleep, but once I carefully made my way downstairs I found him sitting there ready to greet me with his big smile and cheerful disposition.
Coming from a Latin American family, breakfast is considered one of the most important meals of the day; a time when everyone comes together to enjoy food and conversation. These fritters, known as bunuelos (the round ones) and pandebonos connect me of my Colombian heritage. I think that food tells you a lot about people through individual preferences and food is also a source of unity because every culture has their own food and tradition. This is yet another shot were human presense is implied. The vantage point makes you feel as if someone is there despite the fact that no one is present in the frame itself.
Contrary to popular belief, the child in the picture is real. That little girl is my sister and she is the first thing that I think of when I think of home. She is always the first one at the door to greet me when I come home. This photo is very peculiar, yet visually pleasing, because you can't tell where it was taken. The pillows might provide a vague hint, but otherwise it is very mysterious. To shed some light, this was taken in Kirkland's which is a store my parents go to quite often (it wouldn't be a trip back home without going there at least 2 times). My favorite part of this photo is the wall of pillows in the background.

Response to "Practices of Looking"

As a discipline of the arts, photography has always appealed to me as compared to other disciplines because of its ability to capture events, people or objects in their natural, unaltered state; a quality known as photographic truth. However, this "truth" can be very subjective. The photographer has the power to choose what he wants to incorporate into the frame, which in turn can drastically change the message being conveyed. In addition to this, a photographer must always be aware of the public that will be receiving the photograph. In this excerpt from "Practices of Looking", the argument is made that dissimilar individuals will create different meaning of a photo as a result of their own as well as collective cultural ideologies.

In this manner, a photograph has two aspects: the denotative, which concerns itself with the literal description of an image, and the connotative, which refers to the meaning that arises from cultural and historical contexts. To illustrate this concept, look at the photo below:
One might venture to say that this is a photo of a elderly man crying as he hugs a young woman (denotative). However, there are others that could attest for the fact that this is a photo of a father dancing with his daughter at her wedding. The photo itself hints at this (i.e. the white dress), but someone who shares this experience would be more apt to connect the dots than someone who has no concept of marriage (I will bargain to say) as it relates to Western society. Barthe's model breaks it down into the following model:

Image/ sound/ word ---> Signifier

------------------------------------------------> Sign

Meaning ---> Signified

In this case, the Signifier could be the man and the Signified could be father. Or Signifier = embrace, Signified = last dance. There are many possibilities! This goes to show that the old misconception that anyone can be a photographer is actually very inaccurate. A good photographer must be cognizant of all these aspects in order to use his medium, the photograph, effectively to communicate with the people. There is an underlying language of photography, hence the name of this course. Knowing what we know now, it is interesting to wonder just how much takes place on a subconscious level in our everyday lives. We live in a very visual culture in which we are bombarded with tons of images daily. Think about the last product that you bought, how much of that was due in part to an ad?

Assignment #2

"We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

The interplay of foreground vs. background elements leads your eyes directly toward the woman and her child . The first thing that caught my attention was the mother's loving embrace and the child's innocent facial expression. The positioning of their bodies seemingly work together as one single element. There is so much emotion being conveyed in this portion of the shot. Another aspect that caught my attention was the fact that all three people in the background are looking different directions and none of them are looking directly at this mother/daughter duo. They look out of touch and disconnected (another interesting point, there are no other children in this photo). Going back to body positioning...the background people are very rigid and proper as compared to the relaxed mother. What I wanted to highlight here was the loving relationship between a mother and her child in this photograph. It was a very cold day and the mother was shielding her daughter from the cold, sacrificing her own blanket in order to keep her daughter warm.

This photo was a semi- accident (ironically those always turn out the best). My intention was to photograph the tips cup, but the fact that I caught a sliver of the barkeep in the frame makes a dramatic difference to the overall image. This photograph also plays around with a variety of different textures, such as the bumpy counter surface and the smooth, sleek metal coffee machine in the background; causing the photo to be very aesthetically pleasing to look at. The man in the photograph was very passionate about his work (as a chef); even though there are so many distinct elements of his work incorporated into this one shot, the frame plays a big role in unifying them and establishing his relationship with them.

As you can tell by now, I am not a fan of posed shots. I washed out the background of this photo in order to put more emphasis on my subject and his activity. It reminds me of Richard Avedon's collection of work in which he gets very up close and personal with his subjects. The way that half of my subject's face is cut off by the frame significantly alters the image than if I had chosen to focus directly on him. The same principle goes for the level at which I placed the camera. What also appealed to me about this shot was the illusion of depth produced by the lack of focus in the elements closest to the viewer contrasted with the crispness of the scabble board as distance across the board increases.

UPDATE! As of 02/10/10...

My client M. will no longer be participating in the workshop due to relocation. As a result I will be working with the client to whom I was originally assigned, J. More to come soon!

In the meantime, check this out :)

*Life After Stroke Awards*

Do you know someone directly affected by stroke?

Whether they are a stroke survivor, carer or volunteer, let them know how remarkable they are and nominate them for a Life After Stroke Award.

As the only national charity solely concerned with helping everyone affected by stroke The Stroke Association recognises the huge and overwhelming impact a stroke can have.

Every day The Stroke Association witnesses people displaying immense courage and determination as they work to overcome the effects of stroke, as well as great patience and persistence in overcoming disabilities and relearning old skills.

The Stroke Association also sees people showing true compassion and commitment to encouraging others to rebuild their lives by providing them with the support they need. It is for this reason that The Stroke Association organises the Life After Stroke Awards.

The 2010 Awards will be held at Claridge’s in central London on 15 June 2010 and are an opportunity to formally recognise and celebrate the achievements of these remarkable people.

Those chosen to receive an award will be invited to stay in a central London hotel the evening before, and to attend the award ceremony at the venue to accept their award from a celebrity supporter of The Stroke Association.

There are eight award categories available for which nominations can be made.

(Watch this!)
http://www.stroke.org.uk/campaigns/life_after_stroke_awards/2009_winners/susie_hulks_memorial.html

The Benefits of a Service Learning Experience

In a traditional classroom setting your only responsibility is to yourself and the interactions that occur between yourself and others inside those four walls. The grade you get at the end of the semester is the main driving force to attend class and hand in assignments. When you think about it, what are we grading? The ability to follow directions is no impressive feat for even animals can be trained to behave on command. Grades therefore do not fairly reflect learning. I believe that application is the best test of learning because life occurs outside of the classrooms in which outdated textbooks form our only reality. In a traditional classroom the instructor has only to show up to class and lead discussion. Following which tests are distributed and grades are assigned. In a traditional classroom everyone is so self-involved, carrying through with the actions yet failing to challenge, to question, and, in turn, grow.
In a community-based experience the community you immerse yourself in is your textbook and what you see, feel, smell, taste and hear is information ready to be soaked up by the mind. You are responsible to learn the information because there are other people depending on you to help guide them. In a community-based experience the responsibilities of students and teacher work in terms of a pay it forward system. The teacher guides the students in the right direction, who in turn guide their community partners. These types of experiences show the community at large that we are there for them. We, the students, are the next generation of lawyers, businessmen, and doctors and we have the community we serve at heart. Rather than the traditional approach when we are virtually disconnected from the rest of society only to reemerge once we get our degree and not be aware of the issues that plague the communities we return to.
In a traditional classroom we wrote many papers and took many exams but the information would make its way into my brain as quickly as it flew out once we finished a chapter. It could be challenging working in a community because many times people are very cautious to let others help them because life has taught them to fend for themselves. They may look at us and think that we don’t understand their troubles. Community-based work can be challenging but in the end it’s that challenge, once overcome, that allows us to feel like we have made a difference.

Show and Tell

In our last class Professor Roe discussed portrait photography in order to get us ready for our next project. She showed us one portrait, captured by Mary Ellen Mark, of a young girl dressed in black who was hugging herself in an insecure manner. There was something about this image that stayed with me, so I looked up Mary Ellen Mark on my own time and quickly fell in love with her work. This image to my right is one that I found to be particularly moving. I wanted to share it with the class. Enjoy!

Quotes:
"Photographs are footprints of our minds, mirrors of our lives, reflections from our hearts, frozen memories that we can hold in silent stillness in our hands -- forever if we wish. They document not only where we have been, but also point the way to where we might perhaps be going, whether we know it yet or not..." ~ Judy Weiser

A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. ~Ansel Adams