Final Project Ideas

For my final project I first thought about doing manipulations. I like working with my 35 mm normally and using film so using manipulations could be fun. I thought about playing on dualities but with more thought and the responses I got from the Julia Margaret Cameron Emulation shot, I want to continue with portraits. I thought about all the portraits I have done in the past. I've shot random people I don't know, I've done narrative portraits, and I've photographed my friends but I've never done any pictures of people that have a deeper meaning for me. Personally, I've photographed my brother a lot but no one else in my family or extended family so I think I'd like to explore that. Two years ago when my mothers mom was passing I took a lot of time to explore my mothers side of the family through photos and personal accounts and now I'd like to take a better look at my fathers side of the family. There are some factors that will be a challenge. Ideally I would photograph everyone thats blood related, so no spouses just my aunts and uncles and their children, but some family is not possible to get to. I'm also not sure who will let me take their pictures. I hope I'll be happy with the results but I think this project will be more emotionally rooted then any other project I've done before.

For the field trip I won't be working on anything for the final project but I've done a lot of composite sea scape stuff that I'd like to continue working on.

ART.

Here I am, Waiting to go to the Art Show tonight. Clearly I'm excited. Not only did I brush my hair for this but I'm also wearing a dress (Fancy just like Julee said) and I'm preparing my flask full of ....apple juice for refreshment while I'm there. YAY ART! **note the five chins** 

Final Prints- Emulation

 

 

Art Lecture: Brian P. Kennedy

Tuesday evening I went to an artist lecture I knew nothing about. I was pleasantly surprised to see the place was packed which is good because not enough students make it to see our visiting lecturers. This talk was put on my Brian P. Kennedy, Director of the Toledo Museum of Art and had done lots of work at the Dublin Museum of Art in Dublin, Ireland. His talk was focused around painter Caravaggio and his "Lost Paintings." He was born to a well off family in Milan in 1571 but growing up many of his family members passed away due to the plague going around at the time. He spent much of his time in Rome, where the Catholic Clergy took notice of his work. It is said that he made anywhere from 60-80 paintings in his life time, so finding a Caravaggio is rare but not unheard of. There are some things I learned that I really enjoyed about his work, first was that he put himself in the crowds or backgrounds of his pictures. If I could pull that off with all my photography I would. It just shows me that even though he was painting pictures of Catholic scenes he was still constantly looking and observing himself. Another thing I liked was that he wasn't afraid to mock. He had pictures with butts right in the center of the frame or dirty servant feet showing. I find it kinda comical that he does this with pictures that could be seen as prayer pieces. Shows his personality. It amazed me that such great works started with no drawings underneath them. He said using red-beam (?) technology they were able to see that Caravaggio never did any preliminary drawings. I'm not a drawer or painter by nature so it amazes me he can create such amazing work with little to no planning. Finally I loved that Mr. Kennedy talked about how Caravaggio was often getting into trouble. Some of the best artist are mad, or weird, we all have our quirks. It's nice to know Caravaggio was somewhat of a rebel and always stirring things up. The biggest things I take away from the talk that I can apply to my life was his talk about how museums have changed over the past years. Mr. Kennedy talked about how the internet is playing a bigger role in how people view pieces of art since many museums have online databases. He said about half of people go to the museum and half don't. Which is upsetting up true. I really believe in going and seeing a work of art rather than view it online. There's a certain experience of being in the room and seeing the size and scale of the work as the painter or artist intended you see it.  Its becoming harder and harder to make museums free to the public but I feel thats important if museums want the public to view the works. Overall I really enjoyed the lecture. His Irish accent was so cool. I always enjoy when I'm taught about an artist and actually become a fan from learning about it. I wish I could have made it to his talk the following day on seeing. He was a great lecturer, different from what we've had at UNH so far.

Currier Museum of Art: Field Trip

The Currier Museum of Art has an ongoing exhibit until May 13th on A New Vision; Modernist Photography. The exhibit was great overall. There to seemed to be a lot of variety and a wide range of artists. The room that all the work was hung in was kinda a maze of sorts. It spanned two rooms with large dividing walls in the room which made it fun to explore around each corner. The only thing I was disappointed in that they didn't seem to have that many portraits. I love looking at portraits and there was very few there, and the ones that were there were not up to my par. We were asked to pick a picture that didn't fit the rest of the exhibit or we didn't like as much. The first one I picked I couldn't find a picture for online but it was by Andreas Feininger titled Dandelion Seeds. It was this gray picture of what looks to be an up close images of seeds like the title describes. I really just thought it was boring and didn't add anything to collection. The second image I originally chose was by Edward Steichen titled The Big White Cloud, Lake George NY. In the Museum the image wasn't doing anything for me. It seemed very dark and seemed like just tonal blocks. In the image I found online to show on this blog the picture looks wayyy better. It's still not my favorite shown but at least on this image I can see what's going on.

We were asked to compare two images so I choose Frantisek Drtikol's Les Nus de Drtikol XXVII (Nude) and Carl A Hyatt's Untitled Nude. Drtikol approached the nude as an architectural form. The nude is placed among strong architectural forms like the beam coming through the shot. Hyatt's nude seems to focus more on the shape and abstracting the shape. The background is less distracting and the viewer can really focus on the bodies form. I personally LOVE Hyatts. I think he does justice to the woman's form and curves. Love it.

Asking to pick just one to hang on our walls was soooo hard. I loved so many. I decided on two that I love and they kinda have similar themes. The first one I would love to have was Brett Weston's Tree and Branches, Point Lobos. The roots intertwined and moving all over the frame make me feel inclosed and lost in the woods. It reminds me of something I envision when I get lost in a good book. I imagine. I enjoy the chaos and how my eye is constantly darting around the frame. Love it. The second one I really liked was Paul Caponigro's Morning Mist, Redding Woods CT. It's a scene that's relatable for me because I grew up in the woods of New Hampshire. I rowed all through high school and I've always admired the way fog and mist rolls over water in the morning. This picture captures a scene most people don't get up early enough to see. The view point is nice because it's not too high or low so it makes me feel like I'm right there in the woods. I know exactly which wall I would hang this on.

Overall I totally recommend this exhibit. I found it better than the exhibit going on at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. I did wish we had more time to explore the museum. The fire alarm going off didn't help with our time constraints.

Edward Steichen, The Big White Cloud, Lake George NY

Frantisek Drtikol, Les Nus de Drtikol XXVII (Nude)

Carl A. Hyatt, Untitled Nude 

Brett Weston, Tree and Branches Point Lobos 

Paul Caponigro, Morning Mist Redding Woods CT

Ruins

So, I spend way too much time on the internet. My final project last semester had a lot to do with falling down buildings. It seems to be a popular theme recently. Anyway I found this website that has pictures of falling down buildings throughout Detroit, Michigan. I'd love to find some places like this around here.

http://www.landonr.com/ruins-of-detroit/

Start of Emulations

Start of my emulation project. Julia Margaret Cameron.