Since we've missed class today- I hope you're all enjoying the snow or planning an evening in with a hot cup of cocoa- take a few minutes to check out each video link above and leave a comment by 11:59 pm, Wednesday, February 14, 2024 (30 points for completion), on what you found interesting OR tell me, do you have any printed photographs at home? Is it a favorite photo? What is that photo of? I've started the conversation and looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Valerie
2/13/2024 02:30:34 pm
I have two photographs above my desk at home-one is a digital photo printed at home on my color printer in 2011; it's a portrait of my two sons, me and my husband, at a school event for my eldest son who was in 3rd grade at the time, and my youngest was in preschool. It commemorates an important milestone and event for my son but for all of us as a family. The other photograph is a black and white print I developed in the dark room while an undergraduate college student in the early 1990's. It's a landscape photograph taken with my Canon T60, using actual film! It's a scene of the Bronx River in winter overlooking a bridge at the Bronx Zoo. Winter is my favorite season and the trees are barren while ducks swim in the river beyond. It fulfills so many purposes-delight, commentary, commemoration, and self-expression. It's one of my favorite images. Amazing how far the technology has evolved in the last few decades let alone the last century and a half. The means to preserve the image has changed but the process and purpose of photography remains the same…
Genesis Butler
2/13/2024 06:17:46 pm
We talk about some historical aspects of photography in my digital photography class. I always say I think it's interesting how much we've evolved from what things used to be into what they are now. It's cool that instead of a digital reaction that can happen super fast, there were much longer processes back then that took more effort and understanding. Profoundly, the chemicals used to recreate something realistic was not that much different than the media we use in other mediums. For example, drawing uses shading and captures light in it's own way but similar to archaic methods of photography because they both break the subject down and define it's shapes and details. Nowadays anyone can be a photographer, because most people have phones. Phone cameras are becoming more advanced to the point that some people won't even need the traditonal digital camera.
Valerie
2/19/2024 02:54:00 pm
It is interesting to see how far we've developed the technology for taking pictures, yes, agreed, Gen. No doubt you're engaged in a variety of ways right now in your own photography class on how these new developments can be applied to our contemporary world and to your practice as a photographer. To speak to your point, for sure, everyone nowadays has access to a camera and to the ability to take pictures but is everyone a photographer? Your comment here is important because the debate on whether access to a particular tool, like a photographic camera, actually makes one an artist. It's going to be an argument debated in the late 1800's as photography becomes more popular and more available, and one we'll explore in class. Great!
Sasha Lainez
2/14/2024 11:56:08 am
I have a picture of my dad and me on the back of my clear phone case. It's a very old picture that was taken at the local Stamford mall and I was about four years old. I can tell how old it is by the way it's slowly fading to white on the corners and the picture's color is orangeish and beige. It's by far my favorite picture because it's the only photograph I have of my dad and I spending quality time together. I still spend time with him but it's not the same. I am very sentimental, and because of that, I like to have something with me that makes me reminisce when I look at it. This is the purpose the picture serves for me. It reminds me of how happy and stress-free I was back then and how I could enjoy things without having to worry. But as I've been growing up, it sometimes seems to be the opposite.
Valerie
2/19/2024 03:13:14 pm
I love how you speak about your sentimentality, and how it's attached to an object, simply a chemically treated piece of paper exposed to light, that holds so much memory and attachment. Although I haven't seen the photo, I can imagine it and its fading quality. Having a physical object to handle and hold, to keep close to you, to see the paper yellowing and fading is a physical manifestation, too, of the passing of time. It emulates the changes you and your dad no doubt have experienced and are experiencing as time goes by. We don't get that with a digital pic on our phones-those colors and images stay bright and crisp. That's the magic of a work of art, of a visual and physical manifestation of our experiences. We live with them and they help us to time travel. Thank you for sharing that, Sasha…and I will assure you that the worry and stress we put on ourselves is mostly unnecessary. Enjoy the ride, all will work out. And, take your dad back to the Stamford Mall and revisit and retake that photo! :) No doubt he'll feel so proud about how much and how beautifully you've grown since then…
Jacky Rivera
2/14/2024 11:56:14 am
A family portrait sits in my living room, right in the center, and I truly admire the photo, as it was taken when my sisters and I were really young. I was about three months old, my sisters were five and seven, and my parents were simply trying to juggle three chaotic little girls to take the perfect family photo. I often glance at the portrait, finding solace in the old photo. It brings me back to my childhood when my mother would dress us up in matching clothing, and when we would do everything together. As the youngest, it can be quite difficult having to wrap my head around the fact that I'm on my own. Even though I have a pretty significant age gap between my sisters, it's pretty melancholic to see how rapidly time has moved, and how out of reach my childhood truly is.
Valerie
2/19/2024 03:25:11 pm
And, yet, Jacky, your childhood is right before your eyes in that photo. Even without seeing it, your personal reflection of it, and what it brings to mind is something I can relate to; it makes me smile, and laugh, and reflect, too, on how time does pass by quickly. I can see your parents trying to juggle you all, and to get you organized! :) Although the image, no doubt, is of everyone looking pretty and put together and perfect, that image takes you to so many other dimensions of remembrance not depicted in the photograph. It reminds you of togetherness, and how visually your mom wanted to display how you and your sisters were one, were unified, by dressing you all the same. I so understand that! And look at that, your mom was expressing unity and variety, and pattern by doing so…! Lol, I of course had to bring it back to art history and design principle…(;
Ashley Carranza
2/14/2024 03:05:23 pm
In my living room, there is a digital photo printed of my two sisters who were 3 and 1 years old at the time. I love looking back at the picture and seeing just how fast time goes by. They will be 5 and 3 this year, and seeing them grow day by day is the biggest blessing I could ask for. I was an only child for 15 years of my life and I would've never thought that I would now have 3 siblings (one is on the way currently). The love I have for them is unexplainable. Knowing that they look up to me as their role model is what pushes me to be a better person. I want them to know that I would do anything for them (considering I am like their second mom lol) but they have truly changed my experience in life. Having siblings is such a beautiful thing and I am so happy I got to experience that, despite the age gap.
Valerie
2/19/2024 03:37:55 pm
Congratulations, Ashley, to you and your family for the expected arrival of your baby sibling! Can't wait to hear about it when the big day comes!
Carrie Bailey
2/14/2024 05:38:09 pm
There are quite a few printed photographs in my home, most of which were taken by my mother. Some of them are obviously portraits of family while others are nature shots from our backyard. One of my favorite printed shots in my home is an older photo of my two childhood cats sitting with one another. This photo is very sentimental to me, as those two cats have since crossed the rainbow bridge, and the printed photo is one of the only images I have of the two together.
Valerie
2/19/2024 03:48:51 pm
So your reflection here, Carrie, really highlights the capabilities of photography, and of a single individual, to record not only people and animals (figures) but landscape as well. You talk about how this printed photograph is the only one you have of your two cats together-that photo serves as actual evidence that you had two cats, and that they were together and sharing time and space with one another. The empirical and evidential qualities of a photograph is one of the influencing factors for the traditional artist working in this Realist style we're going to explore of the mid to late 1800's.
Lizzie Menkes
2/14/2024 07:33:58 pm
Lately one of the gifts that I've been giving to people have been photographs in a frame. Most recently, I gifted my boyfriend two pictures of our dog, Cash, in a hinged frame because we both love Cash more than anything. I think it's interesting that the video mentioned how the daguerreotypes are intimate and reflective and that sometimes you can see yourself in them. I think and hope that Cash will always be part of our lives and when we look back on these permanent moments, the fact that the image is tangible, then it holds more meaning to myself and others. One of the photos that I gave Gianluca is my favorite because it captures a memory from when we were all jovial. We had just finished a long hike through the woods and reached the clearing that goes to the parking lot off of the trail. Outside of the woods was a wide lake where the sunlight was hitting the water and the green of the leaves on the trees at just the right angle. I remember telling Cash to "sit pretty" and "smile" and got to take that picture and the memory with me to later share with Gianluca.
Valerie
2/19/2024 03:59:41 pm
I can picture Cash sitting pretty and smiling! :) And what a good boy to do that for you, as if he knew it was going to be something you'd share with Gianluca. Our animal companions are so smart! And what a beautiful landscape you've shared with us all…you mention the angle of the light and the color palette and to me that speaks of an artistic eye…
Leslie
2/14/2024 08:36:44 pm
I actually do have a couple of printed photos my dad owns a pretty fancy camera and my mom loves taking photos of it. We would get it printed at a store and I'll come home super excited. The photos were often of special events like a birthday, a trip, visiting family like with my grandpa, the pool, even just a photo my mom took of me smiling with my front tooth missing. My personal favorite picture is one taken at the beach with me, my dad and sister it came out really well. I can only image how people felt when the daguerreotype was first made public, it gave an actual image to cherish someone with.
Valerie
2/19/2024 04:08:10 pm
Right?! Can you imagine what the average person must have felt when they could get access to their own image recorded or that of a loved one? We have non-stop access to what we look like through reflective surfaces, and constant selfies and pics, but it wasn't standard issue to have your own face recorded in the 1800s and prior. Imagine when photographic studios first opened or traveling photographers came their way-it must have been a thrill to witness the process. And look at all the memories and subjects you and your family have recorded over the years through photography. Special events, trips, and family-those are consistent subjects recorded throughout art historical time and all done by you through the click of a camera. And I can so see you smiling in that photo from when you were young, Leslie…it must be so cute…
Valerie
2/19/2024 04:19:02 pm
And, yes, how exciting was it to wait for the pictures to be developed and then to go pick them up at the photo store? We couldn't wait to rifle through the stack and see what was recorded on that paper. The anticipation of seeing the image emerge was just as exciting as seeing what we recorded in film. Great point, Les…
David H.
2/14/2024 10:03:17 pm
I believe I’ve watched all of the Eastman Museum’s website videos. Although generally well done, they often suffer from the same flaw of many current videos and even films historically. That is the use of sound and music. Not the inclusion of it, but the high volume at which it’s played when dialogue is happening simultaneously. Also, it is often overly dramatic as if to forcibly drag the audience where the dialogue has or is failing to communicate. In the case of the Eastman videos, I would presume that they are made with the main purpose of instruction; to communicate knowledge. Because of the persistent, and often loud, soundtrack, I found myself straining to understand the speaker and the information being spoken. I quickly notice the few places where the music is absent or has been included gently in the background. It is as if all videos MUST be constant entertainment regardless. Like advertisements whose core , and only reason to exist, is to sell and dazzle. I am most impressed and satisfied when the sound is almost unheard, but, once noticed, is supporting and gently reinforcing what the eyes (brain) are seeing. Stretching this thought perhaps, its as if artists felt compelled to paint details on every part of the canvas and use only bold colors. Music can be powerful in its silences, visual arts in its “empty” spaces.
Valerie
2/19/2024 04:15:49 pm
I will start off by saying, David, that you can employ the use of closed captions on these videos, and to mute the sound for your benefit and comfort. Yes, at times the audible 'noise' can be distracting, but if you were to turn off that sound and you were to simply watch through the 10 minutes of the films, what would you observe? What did you witness that was interesting to you? Was their actual color and boldness applied to those early photographs?What did you notice about the images presented? Have photographs or do photographs serve the same purpose to you now as it did for those early photographers? How does your practice in photography relate to that of the past? 2/14/2024 10:05:28 pm
I have many photos, particularly of family. They help me to remember events and the people who were there for them. Many of those people are no longer here, and the photos help keep the memories alive. When we used typical cameras, all of the images came as prints. They still exist, on paper. Today, many of the images I have are digital. I look at them on my phone or email and move on. If they were prints, I might display them, or put them somewhere for re-viewing later. I miss that. When my children were small, I sent paper photos to their grandparents. Now I get them by text and I miss having the paper images to display.
Valerie
2/19/2024 04:31:33 pm
I can definitely appreciate the value you see in the printed photograph, Diane. You speak of the act of looking through the physical albums that you, no doubt, also carefully curated and presented for all to share with you or to contemplate on your own.
Hans Reyes
2/16/2024 12:58:39 am
It was really interesnting learning about how albumen print was created, because who would ever think egg white would be used to make prints of places or people.
Valerie
2/19/2024 04:38:51 pm
Isn't that crazy that someone discovered egg white could work to record images on paper?! I find invention and discovery so fascinating when it comes to how humans create in the world. I appreciate the scientists and persistent explorers of our world… Comments are closed.
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