Assignment R02: Portrait Re-Creation : My photo

Blog Prompt #7

In a typical day, I see portraits on the walls of my house, and in textbooks or the newspaper, and also in magazines when I ever get around to them. I think the context of the photo affects the photo layout and mood created immensely. In my house, portraits are either meant to be artistic and have their own meaning or are just capturing family at different stages/moments but not having any alternative intents. In the newspaper you have two different types of photographs, you have the photos of the journalists and the portraits that go along with an article. Those of the journalists I have found reflect the section that they are contributing to- some people try to look very serious, where others seem very lighthearted. Article portraits generally are chosen to enhance the article. If they are trying to show the positive side of someone they will show them looking approachable. If they are putting someone down, they will usually make them look harsh and unfriendly. Textbooks sometimes use this same method- especially when they are  for something like a history class. Magazines are the worst. They promote self-images. They are promoted by other forms of media and are a piece of society that tells us how we are supposed to look and behave according to whatever is "in". Each photo in a magazine will reinforce this by the positioning and emphasis given to each subject.
Personal photos are different from media photos in this sense. Personal photos can just be to remember a moment, or show ourselves how we want to be seen outwardly ( such as when people take them for facebook). They are not usually trying to sell anything though, and they usually have more of a personal context and story.

Blog Prompt #6

        I believe that it is almost always o.k. to digitally alter photographs, when for personal use or when the person you were taking photos for is aware that you will be digitally altering the photographs you took for them. It can help to remove blemishes, fix bad lighting, or just enhance the photo in general. I think it is inappropriate to digitally alter photos when it has to do with the subject matter of the photos, and they are being used in a professional sense. For instance, it would be wrong to remove/add someone from a photograph being used as evidence in a court case, but acceptable for someone to remove/add someone to a photo just to upload it to facebook or hang it on their wall. Maybe the photo included someone they are no longer involved with or they just thought it would be funny to add themselves to a court side scene next to Eva Longoria. Either way, I think that you just have to be cautious when it comes to digital editing when it is not for personal usage and that everyone involved should be aware that you are going to do it.

Blog Prompt #5

" I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul." - Mary Ellen Mark

      Although I agree with her opinion on being direct and honest with people, because it could help them to feel more comfortable, I do not agree with her statement that taking someone's photo is taking a part of their soul. Some photos seem to capture what is really inside of someone, but it is not taking it away from the subject. If anything, you are opening up someone's soul for viewing. This can be a positive or negative thing, but I think Mark was dramatic in her opinion.

Final Photos for Assignment 1

       In these two photos I was trying to capture the historic aspect to this typewriter. I believe it is 100 years old, and was just something that my dad bought on half whim/half bet. It came with the original ribbon and he had to type with it out at the coffee shop. The ribbon actually works! In the bottom photo I added the grain so I could lighten up the photo and make visible the inner machinery of the typewriter while also making it look more old fashioned. I had taken many photos of the inside because there is so much going on, but I liked how you could see the inside and the whole. In the top photograph, I love just how classic it looks. It is simple and yet has a certain beauty to it.

          This photo was not one that I originally was attracted to, but it seems to grow on you. The more I look at it, the more I see in it. I decided to work with this subject matter because it is just such a lonely image. There is one photo on a vast wall going up the stairwell, and it is only about the size of a sheet of paper. As I captured this scene from different angles, I realized how great the view from the basement and not the top of the stairs was. The small photo is framed and becomes the focus, no longer lonely. It also is surrounded by so many textures it becomes visually interesting, along with the lines that lead you in multiple directions. It feels like this is something that has a painting quality to it, instead of a photographic captured moment.

As I was taking photos of the Underwood typewriter, I found that some of the more close up photographs were some of my favorites. They had a more personal quality to them. I also loved how it turned out in black and white with the strong black of the typewriter and the different grey tones in the keys. In each I also was attracted to the oddness of how the 5 key was skewed to the side and off balance. I think it adds to the instability of the bottom photo and adds to the interest of the top photo. 

Blog Prompt 4

 "If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera."- Lewis Hine.

         This quote gave me very mixed emotions. It made me angry to think that Hine could only find photography as a means to an end and not enjoyable or gratifying in any way. Photography is generally something that involves the whole population, with each person being able to get into it at any level they want. Then on the other hand, I thought of it from more of a writers point of view, or in that same artistic mind frame. Telling a story through words is obviously the general goal as a writer. You are capturing something with what you tell. Possibly Lewis Hine wanted to be a writer as a child but was never able to express himself well on paper, and was lucky enough to be able to capture what he wanted to say to the world in his photos. Many artists have something to say or express- whether it is something that they need to do for themselves or something that is meant to be directed towards everyone. Hine obviously has this in him. Looking at it that way, I found this quote to be not carry some philosophical air- hiding something I was supposed to find perspective on, but just to be one man's struggles with expression.
   I think photographic images reveal the story better when you don't even realize a story is there- when you capture someone's emotions, etc. Written words capture the story better when you know what you are trying to say and want to get a specific point across and don't want to leave it open to interpretation. I also believe that photos and words work very well together. Photos can capture things that can help you see something in a new way and realize how to say something on paper. They can help you see that you even have something to say. They can help with the details. Books can also make you realize what it is out there in the world that you want to capture on photos. It is a relationship between the two.

Blog Prompt 3

"Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be."- Duane Michaels.

      When I first read this quote I thought about the re-creation images that we presented the other day in class- specifically of the photo that was shot with the camera tilted. To me that photo had looked like a beach with the city on the right side of the photo initially, when all it turned out to be was a road. It really had turned the ordinary into something more interesting and desirable. I don't agree readily with Michaels' quote, because he is assigning photography a purpose. A camera, taking photos, and what you end up with is something different every time. Yet I am simultaneously drawn to this quote the more I read it and can think of times when this quote related to me. One of the best things about photography is the ability to manipulate things or capture things in a way that seems to make them more than they really are or unidentifiable.

Blog Prompt 2

Prompt: What does the word "photograph" mean to you?

     To me photograph means a moment captured that can be printed off or saved( I say this because movies capture time also, but in a continuous format.) The word brings to mind the tangible photo you can hold in your hand and look at. 
   In other regards, photographs can have many meanings- to me personally and on a larger scale, but it is dependent on the emotions I, or anyone else puts to each photograph individually. 

Blog Prompt 1

Prompt: Imagine a world without photographs. Describe what this world would be like. 


  I believe that a world without photographs would be less personable than it even is today. The reminiscent aspect to people's personalities would not be reinforced on a daily basis, which photographs do for us. People carry photographs in their purses and wallets, they hang them in their offices, frame them and keep them around the house, and even give them away as gifts. Photographs can have multiple subjects, therefore allowing us to appreciate them for different reasons, but they always connect with our emotions. Photographs allow us to remember something we did, or someone, even something that we desire and have never known. Photographs keep us human by reminding us of our place in the world, and even how that has changed throughout time. If all this was taken away people would become more apt to get lost in their daily routine, becoming focused on themselves only-having no reminder of the people that they are close to and the experiences they have had together, etc. Without photographs, people wouldn't be able to see as much of the Earth (or even space) as the average person today is exposed to. There would be less to aspire towards, and again this would enforce the lack of social interactions. Our international relations would be affected, as growing up we would not be able to see people of different cultures and learn how to appreciate the differences. Exposure to different cultures would be limited to a smaller group, and the general populations knowledge and understanding would be compromised. 
In general, photographs have given us an expanded world, and have become a part of our lives in ways that we don't even realize because we just take them for granted. If photographs were taken away, our entire world would be sent back in time and the outcome of the future would be less compassionate then the rough world we live in today. 

Assignment R01: Information about the photographer and photograph

      Pierre- Louis Pierson was born in France (1822) where he remained and worked most of his life. He had a studio in Paris, and formed a partnership with the Mayers in 1855.  This partnership helped Pierson to become known as one of the leading society photographers, as they worked extensively with the French court and Napolean the third. Pierson used daguerreotype photography for his work.
    Pierson worked extensively with the subject of the photograph I was given: Scherzo di Follia, or Game of Madness. Countess Castiglione and Pierson did series of photographs over 60 years- photographs that she would often fall into debt over. Countess Castiglione had Pierson take photos of her to record triumphant moments for her in Parisian society, and so she could assume roles from the theatre, opera, literature and her own imagination. She used photographs as a means of self expression and self advertisement- often giving photos of herself to her lovers. These photographs become a mixture of narcissism and photography, and are now thought of by some as forerunners to self portrait photography. The Countess typically directed and planned out the photos she had Pierson take of her. The work Pierson did with the Countess has helped him to remain known in present day because the photos were unusual for their time.
    The photograph itself challenges the idea of perspective. You have the view you are given by the entire frame of the picture but as the Countess is holding up a picture frame to her eye, you as the viewer are given a new focus. Which perspective is the intention of the photograph? The photo is fairly balanced with the Countess positioned slightly to the left, but her fingers and face are pointing to the right which directs your eye in that direction, making sure you take heed of the entire frame. Her facial expression and clothing suggest that this was one of her more dramatic pieces, or having a more theatrical intent.
     My favorite part about this work is not really the work itself. I like how the Countess was so passionately invested into photography and setting up these different photos of herself. Luckily for her she had an affair with Napolean the Third and so was initially given access to the photographer Pierson while in Paris. What would have become of her if she did not have such a position in society that allowed her these opportunities?

(Most information about Pierson was found on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website)

Original Photo for Recreation: Scherzo di Follia (Game of Madness) by Pierre- Louis Pierson c.1860

Assignment R01:Recreation

       I am drawn to both of these photos out of the ones that I took for my re-creation because they both capture something different from the original photo I was given of Countess Castiglione ( of course with my adapted subject matter.) I feel that the bottom photo captures the more serious gaze she is holding in the original photo with a piercing stare that lets you into the subjects world. The first photo in my opinion has a more approachable expression, that is somewhat playful. As Countess Castiglione had Pierre-Louis Pierson, the photographer, take hundreds of photos of her throughout the years which she planned herself, it seems like this photo captures what her true personality must have been like. To me, it also has a more theatrical, live element to it while capturing a similar frame as the original- were it to be cropped.

      Framing was my main focus in putting together the composition. Countess Castiglione is holding a picture frame up to her eye in the original photo, which to me says "This is what I want captured."This was my launching point when doing my re-creation. I also chose to use the peacock frame because I felt it allowed me to do a close-up without losing any of the content being shared in the original photo. Peacocks bring up thoughts of uniqueness and elegance, as well as having lavish patterns and colors in their feathers. All these elements capture Countess Castiglione from the research I did on her, as well as making up for/not leaving out the impact of the outfit she has on. It seems that what she chose to wear was a key element to many photos that she posed for, and I chose the peacock to represent that.