Semi-Contemporary Photographer: Winfred Evers

Winfred Evers looks at photography as material made conscious. A lot of her work involves combining and distorting images, leading to very abstract work. Yet she also has multiple portraits that are editorial quality and very crisp. She is not limited to one distinct style ability, yet after looking at her work you can see what she prefers to do, how she interprets photography. She does her own fine art photography while also compiling photos for stock image websites like Gettyimages, etc. and doing campaign photography. She has had personal exhibits, group/collections exhibits, and her work has been in catalogues. She was born in 1954 in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Evers attended the Free Academy, in The Hague, Netherlands from 1973- 1976. After reading over her website she comes across as a very eclectic and constantly changing personality. 

Historical Photographer Presentation: Gertrude Kasebier

  Above are examples of her studio work, and the top photo is from her series on Native Americans.

    Gertrude Kasebier is an American born woman, living between 1852 and 1934. She was raised in the plains territory of Iowa and Colorado until the time she was a teenager. She was educated at the Moravian College for Women in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She later moved to New York City with her mother and by 1873 she was married. She went on to have three children. In 1888, when she was in her late thirties, Gertrude enrolled in the Pratt Institute to study painting and photography.
       By 1897/1898 she opened a studio and became a portrait photographer. Her work became quickly recognized and Alfred Stieglitz made her a part of the Photo-Secessionist Group. Her work ended up published in his magazine Camera Work along with a few others. One group of photos that she is well known for is her series of photos of Native Americans. She photographed nine Native Americans, and attempted to show the blurred experiences between traditional and contemporary times.
    Gertrude's work typically used relaxed poses and natural light. She emphasized the light and dark qualities of her photographs, and allowed the subject to take up most of, if not the entire frame. She also manipulated her work in the printing process. She would alter the surface of her photographs giving them a painting like quality.

Re-Creation 5: Re-created Constructed Reality

Original Photos:

Re-Creation:

I put my own spin on the style of photographer Jan Groover. The photos I seen of hers were all of simple  subject matter, and seemed to attempt to make objects like food and silverware interesting and artistic. There was an emphasis on abstract set-ups as well. Photos with other subject matter seemed to keep a focus on lines and simplicity. She was trained as a painter and uses her art background to make historical art references in her photographs. Groover was born in New Jersey in 1943.

Assignment 4 Final Photos and Written Statement Part One

When I took this photo it was a beautiful day out and I wanted to capture what I was seeing. I loved how the bare trees looked against the sky, but through my choice in only including a portion of the trees and lamp post I feel that I captured the simple beauty in what I was seeing. I tried to include just enough to let the viewer get this feeling. I think this perspective is unique because I was around a lot of buildings, etc. so I had to focus more on excluding things to get the shot I wanted then on what I was trying to include. This photo was not planned out, but was just a part of me going out to take photos and capturing the things that interested me, and my surroundings from my perspective. I like capturing scenes that are simple yet beautiful and can be related to by the viewer and yet make them question where the photo was taken at.

This photo was taken from the car window while I was on a road trip. We were driving through and stayed in many cities that shared names with countries and well known large cities in other countries. I tried to capture some of the signs, etc. that had these names on them because it became a joke throughout the trip. We hadn't planned anything ahead of time and last minute decided to go on a road trip and so every time we went by a well known place we would say "Hey, we went to ____!" I chose to include this photo in this set because of its simplicity and the alignment in one corner similar to the above photo of the trees/lamp post against the sky. It also fit into the color scheme that seemed to be appearing in the photos I ended up choosing.  

This photo was another out the window photo. On my road trip I started to see numerous farmhouses and barns in the middle of the fields. I found it ironic compared to the more commonly placed front of the property farmhouse in the North. These houses looked so desolate and yet almost serene. I didn't want to pass this whole phenomenon by and so captured it. It fit well into my theme of odd simplicity and framing for this set of photos. It also made the transition from side framed photos to center framed photos. 

This photo came out of experimental cropping when I was working with a group of city scene photographs. It contained elements of all of the previous photos that I had chose and fit nicely into the set. I feel like there is really a lot going on in this scene and yet it is still so simple because of the center placement of the lamp post into the frame. It becomes your focal point instead of everything that is going on in the background. It is a simple photograph that has a lot to say. 

Blog Prompt 23

1) I construct my identity by the choices that I make, the things that I do, etc. I also construct myself by how I look because first impressions do make a difference. I perform my identity by in practically the same way that I construct it. How I look and act is the performance of what I have constructed.

2) My environment is constructed because each place I go has decided on the image they want to have and manipulate their space to best display this image. Furniture, paint colors, design layout, etc. all affect this image and therefore the type of people that are attracted to that place and that limits the environment.

3) Many daily parts of the physical environment are constructed through landscaping and construction. The environment shapes itself and then on top of these naturally constructed spaces people come in and alter these things making them even more unreal and "constructed" to fit a purpose.

4) In my life I would consider more intangible things to be real and physical things to be constructed. Who the people I see are is real- or at least real to me, since you never know how much of what a person projects is something they want to be more than what they fundamentally are. Physical things that are a part of my everyday life are usually altered and unnatural and therefore I see them as constructed.

5) It would be neat to use people to create a scene in which you mix historical events with everyday life scenes, and show in the photograph how unreal it is, and the surprise of both groups at the others actions.

6) My cousin and I used to have this amazing Barbie house that was handmade and beautiful. If we still had it I think it would be fun to use to re-create household scenes within it.

Blog Prompt 22

This concepts they are working with in this particular video are amazing and sad at the same time. If you are able to come up with all the photos you can think of and have them created instead of having to really go out and find these things, it could be the end of involved photography. How long will it last and be new and not take over? It also takes away the truth to a moment. On the other hand, the technology they are working with seems to be an answer to a lot of problems photographers encounter. It is like the television, and other digital technology- do the benefits outweigh the costs?

Blog Prompt 21

A. News related photographs always play with camera angle to change how you view the subject being shown. They also have the advantage of being able to chose what photos they print and affect the general publics idea about a person. Many people shown in the news are not people that most people will see photos of somewhere else, so what they see is what they get. This concept becomes important when it comes to political campaigns.

B. Snapshot photographs are usually some of the worst photographs people will have of themselves. It almost becomes about the wrong parts of the photograph that make it so memorable. Half a face missing, the view up your nose, only half the group smiling while also having their eyes open. Snapshot photos really let you in on what was really going on, not what you wanted to stage.

C. Advertisements are all about the editing. One way or another it is guaranteed that whatever they are selling is going to be more appealing in the ad then in the store or when you get it. Things are typically enlarged, and always at the best angle. The imperfections are always taken out.

D. Stills from movies are typically iconic moments for that film. They are high in intensity and emotion, intending to make the viewer interested. They are typically images that can be put onto a poster and categorize the movie.


E. School photos, whether group, or individual are great for capturing time. They always have some sense of made-up along with the reality. On picture days people go above and beyond to look good, but yet half the time the photos still end up not turning out. This is a great aspect I feel of the school photos.

F. I am not sure if I really understand stock images...I looked it up and I looked in the dictionary...will need to visit the website you gave us to really have enough of an understanding to answer this question.

G. Lighting is the key in fashion photography. The women are made to be desired, which sells the product because you are made to want to emulate the models. That is the goal at least. Everything is also very dramatic and done up from everyday life.

H.  Paparazzi shots are a mixture of capturing celebrities at their best and worst. It typically depends on the article, if any, being put with the photo. They are commonly from weird angles, candid, and can be made to be interpreted however the journalist wants.

Ruth Thorne-Thomsen: Photos

Semi-Contemporary Photographer Presentation: Ruth Thorne- Thomsen

Ruth was born in New York in 1943. Her schooling consisted of a BFA in painting from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1970, a BA in photography from the Columbia College in Chicago in 1973, followed by a MFA degree in photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1976. She also had training in dance in the 60's and toured with a dance company for awhile. Clearly expression through art is key for her.
    Ruth describes her work as an "environmental collage"and it has been compared to works of 20th century surrealism. Ruth primarily uses a pinhole camera to create surreal landscapes by juxtaposing real environments with collaged images and objects. Sometimes the props in her photos she makes herself. The key to her process is combining the pinhole camera with paper negatives to create a soft-focus effect.

Alexander Rodchenko: Photos

Historical Photographer Presentation: Alexander Rodchenko

His life spanning from 1891 to 1956, Alexander Rodchenko was a Russian artist, photographer, and designer. He was known as a leader of the new Soviet art after the revolutions in 1917. Yet from 1930 on he was somewhat ignored. He studied art in Kazan in St. Petersburg, and then in 1915 moved to Moscow to join the "avant-garde" circles around Malevich and Tatlin. He was said to be the most significant of the Constructivists; in 1921 forming the First Working Group of Constuctivists along with a few other artists. He formed this group because he believed that artists should work in factories to develop new things in design and production. It was a more practical application of their creativity and abilities.
  Rodchenko's first work in photography was creating photomontages for magazines between 1922-23. During this time especially he did a lot of design work. From 1925 on he focused on developing himself as a photographer. He was published in many magazines and used his work to illustrate Russia's progress. His photos also documented the social and political life of Russia (Soviet Union).
  Rodechenko thought photography would be the artistic medium of his era, which is a reason he became a part of it. Adding previous experience, he made design an element in his photography and worked with camera angles, extreme foreshortening of perspective, and close-ups of details. Over time, Rodchenko's work spanned to posters, magazine and book designs, advertisements, photojournalism and documentary photography.

R04

Original:

Re-creation:

    I had a hard time finding the original photo that I wanted to show that would actually let me save it to my computer, but this photo works well enough. My idea behind the re-creation was to show the Tennessee that you would send home on a post card and the parts of Tennessee that are more "real". After being to a few state parks, the "ideal" Tennessee does exist, but it is not the whole experience when traveling, or if you were to live there. This is the part I wanted to show with my re-creation.

Written Statement 2: Assignment 3

For all of my photos in this critique I was surprised how others responded. There was more focus on the animal photos than I would have expected, since out of all the photos I had up, they were not the ones that I felt made/could have made the most of a statement. The railroad photos also gained attention for the lines created in the photos and the framing. The contrast between black and white was also noticed.
   I feel that for this assignment framing is something that is working well in all of my photos, and not keeping all the photos in a "set"/thematic hurt me. I would like to focus in more onto something and enhance one idea instead of being attracted to many photos that I love.
   For a larger project I would like to take something like my billboard photo and capture more scences that have an urban art theme or work with natural lines/shapes. I would also like to combine the ideas in photos like my railroad photos and the lighter photo to capture something raw and rough about people.

Written Statement 1: Assignment 3

 For this assignment I had photos of multiple different concepts turn out, which is why I printed off more than than the required four. I wanted to show a few of my favorites from the different ideas that I had worked with or captured. I am not sure that it was the best idea to have so many photos with so many different moods for critique, but I wanted to get feedback on my different ideas.

  My idea for the squirrel and duck photos that I printed had initially just been about capturing the ducks that live behind my house. I thought it would be a good subject for contrast against the snow, and provide a new subject matter. Since I had photos of fake animals, I figured it was about time to have some of real animals. When I went outside it was as if the other animals all realized that I was taking photos and started becoming almost theatrical for me. That is how I ended up with the squirrel photo. I chose this photo in particular because he looked great against the snow and I thought how I had captured his motion turned out well. He was a ways away from me and I just used my zoom lens to get different views. I then cropped out some of the surrounding items in the original photo to keep the focus on just the squirrel. Then, I moved on to taking photos of the nearby ducks, also staying a distance away and just using my zoom to get closer in on what they were doing. While I was outside, the ducks were very active and interacting with eachother. They were diving into the water for food, getting angry at eachother, etc. I chose to use this photo because I was happy to catch such a clear photo of the duck in flight. Also, he wasn't really flying far, so I was happy to have caught the moment at all.

The two railroad photos I turned in were re-creations of photos I had from years ago. It was a perfect time to re-create the photos because the snow allowed me to show a dramatic change in time. I also feel that the snow helped to create a more intense mood than had been previously captured in the originals. I was motivated to re-create these photos because they each had something just odd enough about them to be interesting, as well as being able to be interpreted in many ways. I thought it would be interesting to see how others saw the photos.

My photo of the lighter and incense came about when I was taking photos of things around my house. I had been working with the intimate spaces prompt and was carried away. As I was going around the house, I started to try and capture some of the objects from unusual angles or capture things that weren't usually thought of as something to take a photo of. This photo fell into that group. When I went through my photos later, I fell in love with this photo and therefore had to use it. The lighting, perspective, and smoky coffee shop feel all captured my interest.

The billboard and trees photo that I turned in came out of a photo that was initially just an add in. It wasn't a photo that I had multiple of or a photo that I had really focused in on. I have really enjoyed the bare trees against the sky lately so started working with the photo because of that. The billboard also created its own set of interesting lines in the frame. Once I enhanced the blacks in the photo it became a keeper for me. It had a rough feel similar to the lighter/incense photo that I am attracted to.