Emerging Chapter #2

I found this chapter to be a little confusing at points or just hard to follow because Emerling uses so many examples of artists, their work and their ideas on different theories to make his points that further on in the chapter it got there was a lot to follow. Despite that, I did enjoy the majority of this chapter. There were many interesting points that I have never thought of before about photography or the becoming of photography that I enjoyed learning about. Enjoyed that throughout the chapter it was mentioned more than once that photography is not just a mimic of what it seen, there is more to taking a photograph than that and that it is more than the medium. In a counteraction of that point I liked how it included the example of Gregory Crewdson and how it seems he is almost diminished as a photographer because he uses so much of everything else and less of the raw or pure photography and was said to be more of a director. I just thought that this was an interesting point to be made. I also really enjoyed how the talk about the end of photography kept coming up. I personally took it in more of a way that it should be described as a change or development in photography instead of the end just because it has evolved so much since the beginning. There were many good point that were brought up in the chapter surrounding the discussion of frame in photography and Emerling did a great job of providing the reader with multiple sides to every point which I have felt is not usually the case.

Feedly Response #5

The initial picture I saw of this series immediately got my attention because it was not a wartime photo most are used to seeing. Once I began to read into the project I enjoyed it very much. The artist Vladimir Vyatkin, a Russian photographer created the series called Soldiers on Duty. Being very passionate about his work, I saw a type of photography I've never seen before. Focusing on the conflicts and humanitarian consequences of war, a series emerged showing a different side of soldiers lives. Thinking that photography as mysticism and a way to identify and exploit problems of the world, Vyatkin gives viewers a look into soldiers, from multiple counties, lives beyond the fighting and the brutality that is usually seen.

I very much enjoyed the wide variety of photographs that are included in the series. I like that most of the photos aren't of fighting in the moments but more of the aftermath, soldiers changing, smiling or sleeping, or of other events like protests and meals for the poor. It is a very real aspect of life during wartimes but not what most people think of and is often over looked. These moments are just and important to see as citizens at home. Soldiers fighting for our country aren't just fighting but they are having to live and survive like they would if they were at home. I think that it shows that war effects more than those fighting for a victory and more of themselves are involved in war that many think and Vyatkin shows that in his work, in an admirable way.  

http://feedly.com/i/entry/2KA5kNF6Lw/3e9wK0XufshQO4l9u8ZS5bHJ528Zz+9E=_1574de714c3:1801a8b:eede4bae

Work-in-Progress #2

Over the last two weeks I have made, what I feel like is much progress on my individual project. After the last critique I realized that I had a lot of thinking to do about specifics of my project that I had not gone into enough detail yet. Most of the questions were about what my goals were to achieve. I thought about whether or not have the faces were important to me or if the tattoos would be justified and I decided that they both are critical to my project and that I felt that the project would not go in the direction that I would want if it were just the tattoos. I also think now that a side-by-side approach might be how I want them presented. It makes a viewer immediately think about them together but also separate as they are different images. That is what I want; the viewer to look at them as one and as two that way it appears as part of their identity but not purely. I am extremely undecided on what face I want, a neutral of expression. They give different directions to the project but I don't know which one I feel like is the one I want to take. I also realized that all the photos I have are of females. I realized I like that and want to continue with that but I have not pin-pointed down the reason as to why that is yet. I have made progress but I also have gotten more questions by doing that, but now I have a clearer direction of where I want to go in general.

Feedly Response #4

When I first saw the post about Hillary Clinton and her fashion I was instantly interested. For a reason I never really understood, the fashion choices of Clinton have been documented and commented on very frequently once she gained the public's popularity in the Presidential race. I think the article puts it perfectly by saying that this is only occurring because most of her political life and achievements, especially her political career now with the possibility of being the first woman President have been plagued with sexism and her wardrobe is now included with that. I believe the fact that she is a woman makes a statement on the behalf of progression in the United States that this is even a possibility but I do not think it decides whether she is a good politician or leader. By stooping to the level of debating her clothing choices, I feel enables that type of conversation. It does not matter for men politicians and therefore should not matter for women politicians.

I thought it was perfect the way that there were the comparisons of outfits, especially that there are comparisons to all sorts of celebrities, including President Obama, Beyonce and Jacqueline Kennedy. I just thinks that these comparisons provide the opinions of the mindset that something life fashion is not defining and that expectations surrounded with fashion choices should not be labeled to a person.

http://feedly.com/i/entry/LRio6qZGEtpfcq8H8SmqgQJ0Pk60HGBbRjXzD2SbIYk=_1572e819a36:1f5a353:a3db1bc9

Emerling Chapter 1

I very much enjoyed this chapter because of how it didn't just tell the reader the history but rather explained older views, theories and points of view of the new art style at the time and compared that to the more modern views of photography today. I think it was extremely important that at the beginning the question of what is photography is posed and through essentially the entire chapter they attempt to answer that. personally I enjoyed how the chapter showed the progression of photography so well. There was a smooth flow from is photography just a replication to the narratives that are potentially behind all photographs to the movement of postmodernism. How Emerling delivered the information alongside with the multiple artist theories and ideas, it made me as a reader think more about how there was such a large shift in photography more than just knowing when it all happened.

Is the view of Susan Sontag, about photography not being art but merely a medium, a popular one? Emerling mentions many views on if photography is art for both answers but not another in alike to Sontag.

Feedly Response #3

The work done by Melissa Kreider is extremely important but often over looked. In this work she captures photos of sexual violence sites and further explores how these situations are handled and documented with public information from the police force. I found this work to be moving and because almost all of the sites she captured were of homes, whether houses, apartments or condos of sorts. By her photographing this brings awareness in a different form than usual that most sexual abuse and violence happens in an individual's home, where they are supposed to feel the safest and most comfortable. Unfortunately her photos show that in many cases that is not the truth.

I also felt that there was and underlying effect of her photos touching on the fact that whats on the outside is not the same as what is assumed on the inside. From her photos of the homes, a viewer would have no idea that they were site of sexual violence, which I feel is a large part of Greider's reason for this work. I think this is so important because it shows this in a different way than sexual violence usually is and it has just as much of more of an impact as when statistics are just stated as facts to raise awareness.

https://www.aint-bad.com/article/2016/09/09/melissa-kreider/

Work-in-Progress #1

For my individual photography project I am going to use tattoos to show that they are a way to express individual identity and self expression. I want to show that tattoos are more than the stigma people associate with it. I plan to photograph individuals, a close-up of their face, and their tattoos. By having the images of multiple people and multiple tattoos in comparison you would not even be able to tell by their faces what tattoo belongs to whom and that they even had one in the first place. That is what I want to exploit. Tattoos are a recent phenomena and there has been an increase in the attitude toward them but it still exists especially in the business world. I want to make a point by saying that people are more than their tattoos and that they express identity and expression but they are not defining of who they are completely. Just merely a part.

Feedly Response #2

Under the blog Photoworks, a project called Instagram Takeover was created. Photoworks, an organization dedicated to the work of photography focuses on trying to target individuals that are possibly aspiring artists or art enthusiasts by holding exhibitions, tours, talks and other public events both domestically and internationally. The project Instagram Takeover is compiled of multiple artists, over the span of five days, posting to Photoworks Instagram page showing their current work or what they are currently intrigued in.

This work is so interesting because there are multiple different artists involved in this project which means that there is no limitations to the work that is seen. There are people and objects of all kinds covering many ideas and themes. Some of the artists works that I found most interesting were Juno Calypso, Delphine Fawundu and Sara Shamsavari. All are their works aim to different theologies but all grabbed my attention. Calypso plays with and even tests the role of femininity by photographic women in uncharacteristic roles that would not typically be seem as their feminine role. Fawundu attempts to breakdown the political and social constructs of race, gender and class and explores the distance and connections between internal and external identities by photographing both African American males and females in challenging images that combine a common cultural element with a modern one to counteract. Shamsavari tackles the ideals of judgement and equality of diversity with a photograph of a women who exhibits multiple fashion choices that evidently shows she is a blend of more than one and not subjected to limitations of diversity. I think this is a great project that can easily explore a wide variety of photography with ease but not simplicity.

http://feedly.com/i/entry/P/mDAwbVXRyRBdKWrzgWjq8n0yQSueh5svtDpAX3Upw=_156dbe07721:dec87a:6e6aa88a