I'm a Little Concerned

To paraphrase the immortal words of Mr. Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame—based on much of what was shown at individual meetings on Thursday, to say the word 'little' would be a slight understatement. It had been over a full month since our last individual meetings.

As many of you like to say you "get motivated once the pressure is on," well I would consider this a thoughtful wake up call.

Realize you'll have had sixteen weeks to have generated a considerable amount of results for both of your projects. That's a solid chunk of time. The grading breakdown for this class it is as such:
Project One = 35% of total grade
Project Two = 35% of total grade
Demo/Presentation = 10% of total grade
Blog Work = 10% of total grade

So as you can see failing to produce quality results in any of the categories will affect your grade considerably and it would be very easy to get a below C grade grade for this course. Be involved! I and your colleagues in studio want you to be. When you show work to each other, offer observations, don't sit there like a bump on a log. I don't care if it's 8am, that's actually not that early comparatively you know? You're here to make it work but if you don't have anything to show, I and your colleagues have nothing to work with.

You're all perfectly capable—of that I have no doubts—but several have shown rather 'less than apparent' commitment or passion with any number of absences, excuses, etc. Time's up, you're in the advanced level studio, start showing us advanced efforts. A few of you are putting good efforts in, some of you...I'm a little concerned.

"Make it work." —Tim Gunn

What About the East?

Often times we seem to discuss more North American and European photography but it's not to be said that the east does not offer it's fair share of photographers, even the more contemporary-based artists. Muge is a fairly young photographer who is based in Chengdu, China and studied at the Sichuan Normal University. But most of his work is freelance currently. Please note his site typically doesn't download fast but it can be worth it for exploratory reasons.

But he does touch on some similar subject matters that I know a few of you are working with in your projects and upcoming capstone ideation. His 'Home' series is a nice reflection of when you go back to your birth-home environment, observing what is still the same, and what is definitely not the same anymore and how jarring that can be to you and the people still there. Thoughtful indeed!

New Thursday Times

As discussed last Thursday, the meetings times have been rearranged for the remainder of the semester. Here was the final list created in class. As usual, if anything comes up that is going to prevent you from making your time please at least let me know if you'll be absent or not via e-mail so I'm not concerned as to where you are.

8-8:20 Ferran
8:20-8:40 Kenyatta
8:40-9 Kristen
9-9:20 Andrea
9:20-9:40 Kimberly
9:40-10 Dontez
10-10:20 Hayley
10:20-10:40 Tristan

Since we've not had Thursdays in (what seems like) forever I should see lots of things this coming Thursday yes? Absolutely! See you then!
David

Right in Your Own Backyard

Since performance/happenings projects seem to be a relatively hot topic in our studio, here is news of one happening currently in the Atlanta area. Perhaps you've run into it? Might be worth a look to see how it is going.

Editorial and Advertising, Welcome Back from Spring Break!

While typically there a lot of photographers out there who focus their efforts on advertising, it is always nice to see those who start to focus on telling a story at the same time, especially through visuals. Some elements of the story are obvious, and some elements are only reveals upon closer inspection.

Mark Holthusen, who works out of California, had recently e-mailed me his new site link and mentioned some of the Gallery/Personal work that are also shown on this site. He does focus a lot on post-production execution but he does take care of as much as possible in 'real-time' to save more effort on the post work. Worth a look.

I'm especially fascinated by his "Modern Icon" series where he completed a portrait series of priests from the local Russian Orthodox church. I photographed them from different angles and then rebuilt them to capture the odd distortions displayed in the traditional hand painted portraits. A unique interpretation certainly.

The roller derby portrait series is also well done as you can see here. Get inspired!

Ashkan Honarvar

An interesting take on a project I similarly had in photo3 is found in a series by Ashkan Honarvar. Much of his work really focuses on the human body. In this particular series: Identity Lost (series one and two) he has taken medical photographs—that are much akin to driver's license photos—and pursued the collage technique that relies heavily upon the silhouettes of the pieces themselves.

This forces the image composition to have a much higher value than the original subject matter, the individual. According to his statement this "reduces the people to objects, without personality." And borderline offers some interesting take on how we look at other people, are they beautiful, are they repulsive? What is human?

It does create a range of images that some may find repulsive, but easily allowing for reflection of life, and death in much of his work. Much of his work may not seem to deal with the most uplifting or positive content, but it often involves very real content, the type of subject matter that is often difficult to look at or that many would chose to avoid. His Unnatural Death golden collage series focuses first on individual who have taken their own life, the extensive Ubakagi series focuses on rape and its aftereffects; Finding Hitler is based upon a John Lennon quote that everyone has a Jesus and a Hitler inside of them.

So on those cheery notes, have a happy Monday!

Heading into Midterms

Hey Folks,
Hopefully you're progressing well with your work on both projects, I am eager to see what is presented tomorrow and Thursday! Especially since a few of you have not had opportunities to show me progress on some of your projects. Ideally, I would like to see a few prints, I don't want to see solely items on the (digital) board.

Even if they're not at full size we need to be seeing how colors/compositions are working. Even if you fully expect certain things to happen, remember those fine Epson printers have challenged your notions before. Go-go-gadget productivity!

p.s. in case you're wondering that's an image of a very 'progress'ive sculpture created by Gerry Judah for Audi for the Goodwood Festival of Speed. If you want to see more images of how big and badass that sculpture actually is I would definitely say take a look. It is pretty remarkable even within it's surroundings there in 2009!

Sometimes I cannot help myself...

...the right video work fascinates me and when a friend of friend is doing it I can't help but marvel at it. And although I don't know Tom directly it is great when he proves that even when you're "locked in a single location (i.e. Vegas Hotel Room)" you can still produce interesting things.

Granted, shooting with a Vision Research Phantom Flex camcorder at 1080p at nearly 2600 frames per second adds to the massive intensity pretty easily. But thoughtful editing, music and sound effects, are needed to seal the deal.

Thursday Meeting Times

As discussed, this Thursday (Feb.3rd) begins our individual meeting times. Below is the order/list, if anything comes up that is going to prevent you from making your time please at least let me know if you'll be absent or not via e-mail so I'm not concerned as to where you are.

8-8:20 Tristan
8:20-8:40 Kenyatta
8:40-9 Hayley
9-9:20 Dontez
9:20-9:40 Kimberly
9:40-10 Andrea
10-10:20 Kristen
10:20-10:40 Ferran

Also there may be a week or two in and amidst the semester where production hits a lull, if there is a week that there might not be any changes in work you can opt out, I would just simply encourage you to know that this shouldn't happen very often, we have several weeks to go but obviously with two projects it is still less time than you might think. Have a good productive week!

Interesting Article to Think About...

...photojournalism.

Also because it discusses the Henri Cartier-Bresson show we will be seeing first hand at the High Museum on our field trip.

Inspiration: Timothy Archibald

Another photographer I recently connected some dots to is Timothy Archibald. He had also done the work for Kodak's annual report years ago but finally re-discovered upon seeing some more recent work, more specifically the Echolilia pieces he worked on with his son Eli. As usual I favor some of his pieces because of that wry sense of humor I see in several of them.

He is not a particularly big name but he has definitely had some significant sucesses and has been featured in Communication Arts Photo Annual as well as worked with large clients (i.e. see the aforemention of Kodak).

Everyone's blog

Hooray, class submitted links are complete, here is a permanent resource list should any of you lose the e-mail of these I send you:

Akins, Dontez T.

Collins, Kristen N.

Ervin, Tristan K.

Kitchens, Kenyatta D.

Rivera, Andrea C.

Salat Coll, Ferran

Stevenson, Kimberly D.

Warner, Hayley A.

I look forward to good readings and findings!

Two out of Eight.

Waiting to hear from others. Thank you and extra points to Andrea and Kristen for submitting their blog addresses in a timely manner.

Andrea's Blog
Kristen's Blog

Follow please, comments too.
Good.
And where is yours?

Resilience in Haiti

A recent story reminded me that even when you may think you have it bad (i.e. see snow outside), it is never really that bad. True resilience and perseverance comes from within, you can either sit there and take it and worry/complain about it—or you can make the effort to create from limitations. Inspiration is all around, it is only a matter of seeing it. Here is where one might normally insert an 'inspirational poster' but instead I found these documentary images from both the quake in Haiti (a year ago nearly this date exactly), and resilient groups of amputees who arose from that horrific event. Per the news article:

"The teams train on a dusty pitch near Cite Soleil, Haiti's largest slum on the outskirts of the wrecked capital Port-au-Prince. They were to face off again on Monday in the National Stadium as part of a low-key yet poignant commemoration of the disaster that killed around a quarter of a million people."

Images from directly after the quake and from the football (soccer) games this past weekend.

Inspiration: Phil Toledano

Phil Toledano is that fantastic combination of commercial and fine art photographer that one doesn't always find easily. I have great respect for anyone who can live with the day to day rigors of assignment photography and still find the time and energy to produce work destined for books and galleries.

His project work has a remarkable breadth. Days With my Father is deeply personal. Bankrupt and The United States of Entertainment are quite political with a touch of satire. And Phonesex and A New Kind of Beauty are social commentary.

His assignment work is funny, creative, and extremely well crafted.

Well worth a look.