Art Night

After creating my two photo montages for class, I realized that my product did not expand upon the boundaries of an ordinary photograph to the extent that I wanted. Because of this, I was still interested in experimenting with the photo montage. After my first experimentation with photo montages, I realized how much you can capture and put into a single product. My piece is an attempt to re-create a place, through the manipulation of photographs and their layout.

After moving the schools location to Rensselaer many students including I were quickly disappointed. The narrow, gray streets of Rensselaer do not compare in any way to the layout of the South Pearl Street campus, and finding any aesthetic beauty near to school seemed to be impossible. The restlessness of fellow students led them to explore the town of Rensselaer in search of escape. Time has passed, and beauty close to school has once again been found. However, this time, in some of the most unsuspecting places.

Walker Evans #4

Artist have ranging views on photo documentation and whether it is art or something entirely different. Mr. Levy and I had conversation about this topic. It began with the question "What creates the separation between artwork and the photo document?" Pablo Picasso stated that art is something that you find or see, then show in your own interpretation. In many ways this statement is true, Picasso did just this. However, photo documentation is an exception to this theory, the artist will set out with a picture in their mind to go along with a narrative that already exists.

Mr. Levy pointed out Walker Evans' view on his photographs, which is that they are shot in

the photo document style, but are not documenting. Evan's photos were rarely paired with words to provide any recognition of a story. Even though this was the case, the viewer of Evans' photographs almost always try to create a story themselves, turning this artwork into a document. Mr. Levy said that Evans would usually set up his photos. The photo of the bed was surprisingly arranged by Evans to look the way he wanted, deceiving the viewer to think this was in some way documenting something. This arranging alone makes the distinction in my mind that his work is truly art rather than documentation.

Walker Evans #1

Throughout history, art has been used to change the publics view on the government. In almost all cases, the depiction is skewed due to the force and power which the government oppresses with. Going all the way back to the middle ages, art was often produced by an artist, under the power and direction of the church. Because of this oppression, painting almost always featured a member of the church, a biblical scene, or any combination that makes the church happy. Take this painting as an example, no bright colors, no conflict, no fun, just Matthew being a saint. If an artist did not do what the church said, they would be killed or imprisoned. Moving forward to the 1900's; the creation of art was beginning to be more so left to the artist with few restrictions. However, an artist like Walker Evans received enough publicity and attention that the U.S. government felt threatened. As an artist, this is flattering; having the U.S. unsteady because they see your power of your work.

During the span of 72 years (1903-1975) which Walker Evans lived, America was undergoing

enormous diplomatic and economic reform, mostly due to the Great Depression. Evans was said to have been under a great deal of pressure by the U.S. government to portray the country positively in his photographs. However, when viewing Walker's photographs I see quite the opposite of a positive portrayal. Evans received most of his attention because of his work during the Great Depression. He was known for photographing tenant farmers, who at this time are truly the poorest of the poor. This photo displays a battered and dirtied African American tenant farmer. The contrast of this picture displays the mans dirt, skin, and shadows graphically, almost making them emphasized. This effect is crucial to the photos visual and conceptual qualities. If all of Walker's work displayed such graphic and real subjects, I believe it would have not been long until his arrest.

Photo Document

I have never worked a job at a store, but I have thought of their workings. Working as a store clerk, I can imagine, has to be one of the most boring and least rewarding jobs. I pass a lot of stores and businesses which seem to never have any customers. Not only do I feel bad for the owner of that store, but also the stores employees. Arlen Straussman has told me about his job at a book store, and how boring it can be. He says he finds things to pass his time, like as guitar, tetris, or solitaire, however; there is still nothing to replace the loneliness.

Tilt-Shift

A few months back, a issue of National Geographic featured a article which told the story of rafters traveling down the Colorado river. Now, National Geographic is known for it's breath taking photos; however, this article was very different. It shot entirely using tilt-shift photography. This immediately fooled me into thinking this rafting trip was entirely staged on a model size scale. Once I realized that this was an effect created by the photographer, I began thinking of this article in a less serious manner, despite the intensity of the subject matter.

After finishing the article I wanted to try this effect on my own, however; to my knowledge at the time, the only way you could achieve this effect was through the power of a thousand dollar camera lens, putting these ambitions to rest. It was not until months later that I stumbled upon a DIY article on the internet, which showed how to somewhat successfully create this effect, with using only the power of photoshop.

When taking these photos, I found myself most successful in achieving this deception, when in the picture there is a clear, single subject in the point of focus. (See photo of jungle gym)

Final Tilt-Shift photos

Youtube response

Photographs can be interpreted an infinite amount of ways; however, there is one over ruling factor which sways this initial interpretation greatly, that being the photographs context. Photographs are used everywhere to tell stories or show something. Professional photographers work is most often found in either galleries, newspapers, and eventually text books. These contexts all have distinct thoughts that will come into the head of the viewer even before seeing the photograph.

Jeff Wall is a photographer who's photos often portray scenes with backstory's, which seem to be relatively unclear and questions raising. Wall's photos are primarily shot for

galleries, which only provide a title. "An Eviction" by Jeff Wall created in 1988 appeared in a gallery. It is shot in such a way that would make us, expect to see it in a gallery. The subject is this fighting group of people, which do not seem to be the emphasis of the photo. This de-emphisis in a gallery most likely would seem like a stylistic choice made by Wall. This same photo appearing in a newspaper would give different conceptual meaning to this backstory. The story this photo accompanies would probably be about the endangering of this neighborhood rather then the brutality against the police itself.

This photo by Anne Leibovitz was featured in Vogue magazine in a fashion article. "Wendy" or Keira Knightly in this photo is clearly emphasized by her white dress in contrast the the dark storm clouds. In this context her dress is emphasized to advertise. If this photo was to appear in a textbook it would be seen as a well done artistic recreation of "The Wizard of Oz." In this context, Wendy's white dress is seen to emphasize her importance in the movie.

The context of a photograph is a key part to understanding what the photographer was trying to show or tell. Open interpretation and understanding everything else that the photographer did not mean, however, is an important part of photography because a photographer has no to little control of his photos after they are produced, this context is often lost to or transformed into the internet, which in itself gives off it's own feeling.