Sarah Hinton: Sally Mann

Sarah Hinton: Sally Mann: "Sally Mann was born in 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, where she continues to live and work. She received a BA from Hollins College in 1974, an..."

Richard Misrach, presentation 2

(born in Los Angeles, California in 1949) is an American photographer known for his photographs of human intervention in landscapes. His works are represented in more than fifty major museum collections around the world.

Richard Misrach is one of the most influential and prolific artists of his generation. In the 1970’s, he helped pioneer the renaissance of color photography and large-scale presentation that are widespread practice today. Best known for his ongoing epic series, Desert Cantos, a multi-faceted approach to the study of place and man’s complex relationship to it, he has worked in the landscape for over 40 years. Other notable bodies of work include his documentation of the industrial corridor along the Mississippi River known as Cancer Alley, the sumptuous study of weather, time, color and light in his serial photographs of the Golden Gate, and On the Beach, an aerial perspective of human interaction and isolation. Recent projects mark departures from his work to date. In one series, he has experimented with new advances in digital capture and printing, foregrounding the negative as an end in itself and digitally creating images with astonishing detail and color spectrum. More recently, he built a powerful narrative out of images of graffiti produced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, made with a 4-megapixel pocket camera.
"For most people, the desert defines itself as a place where little happens, except the occasional glimpse of tumbleweed blowing across the sand. There are no movie theaters, coffee shops, malls or cars. There are no visible towns for miles and few noises, except the sound of your own breathing. In Misrach's desert, the land vibrates with underground nuclear testing and the sky illuminates with radiation seeping into the atmosphere, creating fantastic colors at every glance."
"Whether photographing a flooded town, a desert fire, an abandoned nuclear test site or the colors on the horizon emanating from a small town miles away, Richard Misrach draws the viewer into his world through his mastery of color. Ranging from beautiful lakes to secret military bunkers to speed racing on the Utah salt flats, Misrach's work chronicles mans involvement in the desert, while always paying homage to the intrinsic beauty provided by nature. It's through beauty that Misrach's social concerns are most revealed. By pulling the viewer into a glowing light or calm body of water, he presents situations which leave us asking questions about the American desert -- a desert which continues to heal and revive itself regardless of mans actions."
composition:Misrach heavily relies on the horizon line in his works and plays off the ground & clouds off of it, utilizing reflections in water many times. light plays a huge role in every piece.
concept:photographing something not always appealing in a very appealing, beautiful way.
my opinion: I think his work is very beautiful but looking through many of his images at a time they become usual, expected & not very interesting.

Blog prompt 19

Analyze your creative process by answering the following questions.

1. How do you ensure that your work is relevant to you?
Make sure you only work on projects that mean something significant to you.
2. How do you ensure that your work is relevant to the contemporary world?
Your piece should be able to communicate in a general way, in a way that everyone can view it and be able to feel connected to it in their own personal way.
3. How do you brainstorm? Do you sketch? Do you use the camera as a brainstorming tool so that you “look” at the world through the frame of the camera and capture bits and pieces of your environment?
I have to write everything down. I have various lists and post its all over my desk. When I have ideas I write them down then revisit them by adding notes and ideas. Once I am ready to shoot or create something I like just going for it and taking lots of pictures or working by trial and error.
4. Do you combine elements of various media? How do you do this? Do you do it physically with printed images or objects? Do you combine elements virtually in the computer?
Typically I will combine elements in the computer but on occasion I love to sit on the floor with various materials and work with physical objects, these thing become pieces I can manipulate in the computer later, or not.
5. How does your process relate to your ideas/concept? How does your process relate to your outcome/final pieces? Why are you using digital technology (if you are)? Why are you using analog technology (if you are)?
By using both analog and digital technology I am left with works that directly relate to my work. Pieces that are about the process they are made by. That’s why you see the hand in my work and the clean cut look of illustrator.
6. How do you judge your work? When do you think it “works”? When do you think it is “not working yet”? What criteria do you use to make these decisions?
I have a very strong visual opinion on everything I see. When I’m working on new projects I already have an idea of what exactly I want It to look like. If I don’t get that image in my head I keep going to I do. I’m all about balance, where things fit and correlate to each other. I have to have a strong composition, strong imagery, and/or strong type to make it look just right to me.
7. How do ensure that your work is new, unique, ground-breaking, and/or you are breaking the mold/thinking outside the box/pushing the limits?
Every project must first have a concept behind it therefore it can last and allow people to appreciate it and formulate their own opinions on it. I don’t know if I’m breaking the mold when I’m creating pieces, but I know when I am that they are my own and expressed in a way that means something to me.

Joel Meyerowitz, presentation 1

Joel Meyerowitz

born in 1938 in the Bronx, New York City, Meyerowitz earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from ohio state university, where he studied painting and medical illustration. He worked as a graphic designer and art director until he took up photography in 1962, having been inspired after working with Robert frank on a photo assignment. In the 60’s meyerowitz was instrumental in changing the attitude toward the use of color photography from one of resistance to nearly universal acceptance. He uses an 8x10 large format camera to produce luminous photographs of landscapes and people, and has published 16 books including the seminal book, Cape Light.

District News magazine once said, “To read a Meyerowitz image is to see the elements in his photographs come together to form multiple narratives, delightful little stories within the greater context of the larger world”

Cape Light is considered a classic work of color photography and has sold more than 100,00 copies during its 25-year life.

Composition: in this collection, Meyerowitz is very interested in capturing all the lights and darks & details of shadows within them as well as colors captured in the sky, sea & foreground. The horizon is present dividing line in each photograph, he uses it to divide the cloud details from the beach or subject matter.
Concept: to capture every detail and color of that particular place during a specific time
Method: large format 8x10 camera
Motivations: Meyerowitz is very interested in the sensation he gets from things – their surface and color–his memory of them in other conditions as well as their connotative qualities. When producing his images, he wanted to feel more and experience more feelings from a photograph, and wanted bigger images that would describe things more fully & more cohesively.
My opinion: His images are beautifully composed using a great sense of light and color. They give you a sense of tranquility and comfort.

Awards:
1971 Guggenheim Foundation
1974 CAPS NY State Arts Fellowship
1978 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1979 Guggenheim Foundation
1980 National Endowment for the Humanities
1981 Photographer of the year, Friends of Photography
1986 Photography book of the year, ASMP
1990 Photographer of the year, Japan
1999 Best of Festival, Windy City Film Festival, for POP
Best Documentary in Humanitarian Tradition, Athens Film Festival, for POP
1999 Century Award for Lifetime Achievement, Museum of photographic arts, San Diego
2002 Royal photographic society, honorary fellowship, royal photographic society, London, England
2003 IPC professional photographer leadership award, international photographic council

blog prompts 5-18

Blog Prompts #5, #6, #7, & #8
#5. Think of various cultural, religions, political, personal, scientific associations and symbols of “light” and “darkness”. Discuss some that come to mind.
Light is always associated with heaven while dark is always associated with hell. When images are light they give off a divine presence while dark images give off bad connotations, and uneasy feelings.

#6 Think of some experiences that you have had in which you felt a sense of “lightness”. Describe one or some of these experiences.
I feel a sense of lightness when I’m outside and the warm sun is shining on my face, when I’m at home with family, or out for a walk with friends. Lightness is always associated with the sunshine for me, and being outdoors.

#7. Think of some experiences that you have had in which you felt a sense of “darkness”. Describe one or some of these experiences.
I feel a sense of darkness during the winter days when you don’t see the sun, when I’m anticipating something dreadful that I don’t want to do, or when I’ve missed a deadline.

#8 From the reading on light and shadow, pick an artist/photographer whose work inspires you. Describe why you like her/his work.
Ansel Adams. He is the perfect artist to describe light and shadow. He manipulates his images to show every detail in every shadow and even in the lightest areas. I am inspired by him not only by the beauty of his prints but also by his technicalities. After learning to develop my film I have a deeper respect for Ansel Adams and his achievements in light and shadow.

Blog Prompts #9, #10, & #11
9. Pick a sculpture that you like. Write a description of how you might use 3D modeling in Photoshop to make this sculpture part of a photographic image.
I really enjoy a sculpture I made in construction and fabrication. A piece about my mom made with twine to form the figure, laced with lights and handmade flowers from my mothers clothing. Using photoshop it would be interesting to bring this sculpture to 3d digitally.

10. Describe an impossible scenario. Describe how you can create this scene using digital photographic compositing.
I could never be sitting on lake tahoe working away at my computer but with photoshop I could easily place myself in that scene. Lighting would be a challenge but it would be cool to see the outcome.

11. Collages, montages, assemblages, and composites often bring together disparate items, objects, scenes, places, and people. The process of combining seemingly unrelated or unexpected items can be inspired by spontaneous thoughts/experiments. Describe some ideas, thoughts, and things that come to mind when you think of “combination” or “assemblage”. Try to perform this brainstorm using a stream of consciousness technique in which you list anything that comes to mind. You can add to this list… Here goes… fractured/combined identities, old newspapers + grass, constant bombarding of images via mass media, looking through a kaleidoscope, doll + baby, cut a bike in half and add a tree, etc. …
fabrics, patterns, designs, old photographs, scrapbooking paper, embroidery, thread stitched on paper, flowers, wrappers, stencils…
Blog Prompts #12-#16
#12 Describe some differences between still photographs and moving images.
Still photographs can be static and capture a moment in time feeling more like a memory while moving images tell more of a story and entertain a concept.

#13 Describe some similarities between still photographs and moving images.
Both can have a sense of motion and tell a story.

#14 Describe some links between photography and the concept of “time”. Describe some links between photography and the concept of “stillness”.
We view our memories in a series of photographs, never a full scenario is played out in our heads but instead more of a stop motion than a real time movie. Photography is a way to capture “stillness”, to capture a memory or moment in time.

#15 Describe how you can you “activate” a photograph that you have already taken. In other words, how can you transform a “still” image into a “moving” one?
You can easily manipulate a photograph to make pieces of it move using photoshop or other programs.

#16 Describe how you might take a “moving” image and make it “still”.
taking a screenshot of a motion picture or moving piece can capture a piece of it and make it still. Also photographing a moving animation will make it a still.

Blog Posts #17 & #18
#17 What do you think the next technological innovation will be in photography? What is the "future" of photography? What will photography become or how will it evolve in the next 100 years? How do you see photography melding with or distancing itself from other types of media?
I see photography moving more towards moving images. All photos will look like a photograph at first glance but aspects of that image will move and go further into telling a story. I think photography will meld with motion graphics and movies but remain separate because of the concept of a frozen moment of time.

#18 Create your own definition of the word "photography".
Photography to me is a capture of that exact moment in time, viewed separately from the time it was taken and able to be revisited physically, not just mentally.

Sally Mann, presentation 3

Sally Mann was born in 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, where she continues to live and work. She received a BA from Hollins College in 1974, and an MA in writing from the same school in 1975. Her early series of photographs of her three children and husband resulted in a series called “Immediate Family.” In her recent series of landscapes of Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, and Georgia, Mann has stated that she “wanted to go right into the heart of the deep dark South.” Using damaged lenses and a camera that requires the artist to use her hand as a shutter, these photographs are marked by the scratches, light leaks, and shifts in focus that were part of the photographic process as it developed during the 19th century. Mann has won numerous awards, including Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. Her books of photographs include “Immediate Family,” “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women;” and “Mother Land: Recent Landscapes of Georgia and Virginia.” Her photographs are in the permanent collections of many museums, including The Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Sally Mann’s Aesthetic

“If I could be said to have any kind of aesthetic, it’s sort of a magpie aesthetic—I just go and I pick up whatever is around. If you think about it, the children were there, so I took pictures of my children. It’s not that I’m interested in children that much or photographing them—it’s just that they were there.”

It’s just this sort of little magpie thing—that something will catch my eye and I’ll go for it. They don’t have any real meaning; it’s just that they have an allure somehow. The texture and all that stuff that catches your eye, I guess. That leads us into something we probably don’t need to get into now, but there’s something about the way I approach photography, which is very spontaneous. “

Pictures of Children

Critics said:
Her book “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women” released in 1988 sparked a controversy for her shots of girls in their puberty stage and set the stage for what would be a series of controversies of Sally Mann. Critics called her works child pornography. While the books showed themes like dressing up and napping, critics saw darker themes, such as sexuality and loneliness.


Mann said:
“They were just photographs of my children doing what children do, and they got layered with all of this, often absurd, psychological stuff. You know, these sort of guys sitting around in Yale stroking their beards with their little leather coated jackets saying, “Well, it must mean this...” It means that I was a mother taking pictures of my children.”

Method/Motivations

Sally Mann became immersed in a glass plate, 19th Century aesthetic, when she found a collection of glass negatives that had been taken around Lexington right after the Civil War by a local photographer. The photographs had been taken at the very farm she lived on. She said, “It was an amazing moment when I held up a glass plate and damn, it was a picture of the same cliffs that I've looked at my whole life, exactly as they are now, even the little vines hanging down. Those same vines are still there, and these ancient arborvitae trees which obviously had fallen over 100 years ago—there they were in the glass plate. “

Mann was interested in being able to retrace footsteps of the past and wanted to inject a little of the present into those images.

Process

Mann spends a lot of time at antique malls looking for t lenses with just the right amount of decrepitude. The glue has to be peeling off of the lens elements, a lens is made up of several different pieces of glass which are supposed to stay glued in the right relationship with each other—but Mann’s most prized lens has one of the pieces of glass askew, so when the light comes in it it's refulgent.

Personal Opinion

I really enjoy her work because she is documenting everyday life that surrounds her. Her compositions are perfectly balanced with a broad range of tonal values. I especially love her imperfect view camera aesthetic. Never knowing exactly what you will get from them gives them a precious quality that also plays off her subject matter. I find her images inspiring and something I can look to while working on my thesis project.

Text/Image

Untitled from Sarah hinton on Vimeo.

Composition:
I tried to capture scenes that were visually appealing and not too busy so your focus wasn't taken away from the subject, eg: rock fireplace, garage, empty road.
Concept:
I wanted to create a stop motion animation of a day on the sleds.
Motivation:
I knew I wanted to take advantage of the season since i have been limited to my bedroom in previous workshops due to the weather. the trip to torch was already planned so i decided to make a stop motion piece about snowmobiling, something i actually enjoy doing in this weather.
Method:
I set up my tripod and took stills of the subject putting on gear, then set up to the next scene and so on. for the images of the subject driving by i used my truck bed to get a higher angle. i pieces the images together in imovie and added music.
Interpretation:
stop motion of a day sledding.
Evaluation:
enjoyed the blur that i thought looked like a mistake and said it gave it an extra sense of motion
Extension:
i could create more stop motion of activities due to the seasons.

thesis proposal

Sarah Hinton

Photography Workshop: Thesis Proposal

            I would like to continue my thesis of Home & Nature from Photography II. In this class I will build upon my previous pieces and represent family values through imagery of the home and nature that will relate to universals that I hope everyone can relate to. I am motivated by my own family and childhood memories to create this project, therefore I am very passionate about it. You will see me in  in this project because it will be all of my personal experiences and memories imprinted on every image. Conceptually my pieces will deliver a memory of the home and tell a store of my personal experiences. I hope all will be able to interpret these images and relate to them in their own ways. My content will include images of my home, where I grew up, the nature that surrounded me and various textures and patterns included in those spaces. Compositionally, my images will be pieced together in a scrapbook kind of way, comprised of many layers pieced together in interesting ways. I hope to present my final pieces in a book made by hand to further reflect my concept. I plan on mainly using the technology of the scanner and my digital SLR to capture my images and composite them together in Photoshop.

            Bea Nettles, recognized as a pioneer in photographic techniques and book arts has inspired me to create these works. Her work tackles issues of family relationships, woven together with mythology and natural history, often in dream-like juxtapositions. Her book, Lazy Goody Land, Luilekkerland, is a collage of photographic etchings featuring proofs from Landscaptes of Innocence & Life Lessons. I would like my final presentation to be similar to this piece of work. A collection of all my images pieced together in a hand done sort of way. Mary Engelbreit is also someone I find very inspiring as a graphic artist, her Life is Just a Chair of Bowlies book was a favorite of mine since a was a child. She also approaches life lessons but in a different way than Nettles.