At the beginning of the term I mentioned that one area I would like to develop and improve my own work is in capturing what I see when I look at a space. (Perhaps this is every photographer’s goal, but nonetheless, it is mine.) This includes but is not limited to manipulation of the camera settings (lighting and exposure times), the viewpoint and cropping of composition (in camera). After Wednesday’s class and guest presentation, I think I would like to explore panoramic shots in landscapes. I will use both portrait and landscape shots (not in the same composition) to explore how much land and air can be captured and comparative distortions, and the effect of the horizon’s curvature. With this I hope to return to the same locations to shoot multiple times at varying lighting and weather. This will allow me to explore which elements of landscape are accentuated or hidden at any given time of day. I’m interested in distant landscapes, so I may shoot from high places (such as Spencer’s butte, Skinner’s butte). I would also like to explore vast open spaces (large fields, expanses of asphalt, etc).
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Cotton summary and connections: Moments in History
Chapter six in Charlotte Cotton’s “The Photograph as Contemporary Art” addresses the ever-evolving trend of photography in relation to social, political and artistic movements. The first part of the 20th century saw photography shine in the limelight of documentary need. The themes of the most powerful documentation revolved around human suffering.
War presented a premium platform and newspapers and magazines were the medium to showcase photojournalism. This is precisely what Cotton means when she discusses “how photography can bear witness to the ways of life and events of the world” (167). In the latter half of the 20th century, as television and other mediums of media began to overtake the printed world, the demand for documentary photography lessened. Cotton peruses this transition of documentary power, and what it means for the new era of photography in this chapter titled “Moments in History.”
The movement away from documentary power occurred naturally as media coverage began to shift away from still images towards motion picture and others. As a result of a loss of commissioned documentary projects, photography then began to see a shift towards utilizing “art strategies to maintain the social relevance of the photograph” (167). This is seen widely in contemporary photography today. Photographers have pushed the traditional “historical tableau” (184) feel of images to depict our lives and our histories in contemplative ways. Artists challenge the viewer in new ways to bring the images to life. The photojournalism era has turned photographers into artists, portraying realness a very raw way.
Photographers began to use different climates and contexts in their photographs. In the photojournalism era, to be capturing the most chaotic and important moment was essential. Here is where we begin to see a shift – many photographers use their choice of timing to influence their work. They will take time to set up shots in the aftermath of an event rather than the heat of the moment; eliminate elements to draw attention to others; and use artistic elements to sculpt the mood of the image. Sophie Ristelhueber exemplifies this technique of shooting in the aftermath by capturing abandoned clothing and piles of old military shells to depict combat during the first Gulf War. Zarina Bhimji creates a feeling of desertion with a lack of presence in her work, capturing the unidentifiable spaces to leave an unresolved feeling. Ori Gersht presents obscurity in Cotton’s example by photographing a partially lit road used by refugees, evoking a daunting and uncertain future.
One aspect of this transformation of photography I find intriguing is the closeness with which the photographer may work with their subjects. Trine Sondergaard has worked closely with prostitutes and occasionally their clients. The work does not represent a glamorous or terrible life by any means; it does not capture the sexual appeal, instead she shoots them in their daily routines as to communicate to the audience “how they survive the dehumanizing aspect of their work” (179).
Cotton presents Boris Mikhailov’s work from the late 1990s in Ukraine. Here she represents the artist’s closeness with his subjects. He has photographed homeless people from his hometown to depict the harshness of their histories and their lives. Mikhailov’s work is very intimate and it’s clear that he has spent much time with his “anti-heroes" (189). The portraits are a testament of the “emotional closeness to his subjects and the critical detachment of a photographer of brutal realities” (189). He pays them to pose for him signaling his empathy for them and as Cotton notes, “it is a self-conscious act that reminds us that photography mediates life and society through the motivations and subjectivities of its makers” (189). This is an important part of photography as a whole; we cannot forget that we are our own makers. And as media is evermore prevalent today it continues to shape who we are as a society and a species every moment.
This image from Pieter Hugo falls nicely within the concepts outlined in this chapter. The image is of discarded electronics in Ghana. This place is known as the place with no name. It represents something that once was, and now all that is left are the obsolete, broken bits of plastic, metal and chemicals that belong to no one. The place is also somehow unidentifiable in the sense that you cannot tell what the scale is.
http://media.withtank.com/c54524d9b4.jpg
Terri L Warpinski’s images under the title “Beyond No-Mans Land: The US-Mexico Border” remind me of Ori Gersht’s image of the dim refugee road. There are no people and the space is vast and deserted feeling. This place represents human suffering, exclusion and isolation. The images are shot in black and white, which gives it a timeless feeling like Fazal Shikh’s portrait (in Cotton) of Somali refugees in Kenya titled Halima Abdullai. Shikh’s image is black and white resisting the glamour and the “seductive fashion in art” (172). Warpinski’s images provide evidence of past activity but presently look as if they haven’t been touched by life in decades. http://www.terriwarpinski.com/Portfolio.cfm?nK=8450&nL=1&nS=0#0
