Photographic Icons:
Fact, Fiction, or Metaphor?
What I find interesting about this article is that it
questions the authenticity of “historical” photographs when they are set up to
look a certain way. Examples given were a picture of a young couple in love
that ended up being two actors and not spontaneous, and Rosa Park’s infamous
picture of her sitting in the bus that was actually a posed picture months
after the actual incident happened. It makes one think about what the true
objective of photography is; to capture an actual moment in history, or to act
as pictorial supplement to a piece of writing no matter what the process is to
get that ideal picture?
The Picnic That Never
Was
Beate Güschow’s photography is interesting in that none of
her landscapes are real; they’re all stitched together but still seem like a
photograph. It makes me start to wonder what photography really is; not just
documentation anymore, but idealized situations laced with social commentary. Her
pictures “forces us to consider a more serene world, while also reminding us
that no contemporary experience is unmediated: technology touches everything”
(17). I find her work very intriguing and inspiring, especially because of the
fact that I love using Adobe Photoshop and creating things that aren’t real but
could be.
As Unpretty as a
Picture
Eric Fischl explores both the medium of photography and
painting in a way that makes them synonymous with each other. After setting up
staged scenes of unscripted domestic scenarios, he photographs them a lot and
then compiles them into one ideal painting. In the same way that photography
does on its own, he successfully captures the fleeting moment, especially those
times that are hollow and purposeless. His paintings in particular aren’t part
of the Photo-Realism movement where they painted to look nearly exactly like
photos, but rather look more like modernist paintings.
Moments in Time, Yet
Somehow in Motion
JoAnn Verburg's photographs don't necessarily capture one
moment in time because of her nature to capture sequences and present them in
diptychs and triptychs. The continuity of these adds to the sense of movement
in her pictures. I relate to how she takes
pictures without really knowing how they will turn out/if they will even be
good. I'm also very interested in how
she uses water as a horizon line in many of her photographs that featured her
friends. Narrative, color, "space within the image", time are
important elements in Verburg's work.
Robert Polidori: In
the Studio
Polidori is well known for his saturated ,colorful, and
geometric photos of architecture. He's also a senior photographer for the New Yorker, so we know that he's skilled
in documentation in his photos. I like the way he views interior architecture
as a way of looking at people; "rooms are metaphors and catalysts for
states of being, a look into the soul", and calls interior spaces
"'exoskeletons' forcibly by the people who lived in them" (66). He
also solely works with color and believes that pollution has muted not only
light but also color in the world, which I believe is a very interesting
viewpoint.
A Young Man With an
Eye, and Friends Up a Tree
Ryan McGinley started his journey in photography young, when
he was studying graphic design in school. Most of his photographs were taken of
his friends at the beginning, living fast paced young lives. He was very
obsessive in his methods in the way that he would take Polaroid's of every
person who visited him for several years, eventually covering the walls with
them. I find it interesting that he used the digital platform of Myspace and
Youtube as a means of dispersing his work so many would see; this is something
that is still very much relevant today, and arguably the only way for work to
be seen nowadays, with the popularity of social media sites and photography.
Personal Response
I’m unsure of my opinion on whether these kind of
photographs are authentic or not, I see them more as just a visual aid
conceived to go along with a piece of writing about whatever subject is in the
photograph, but made to be most ideal. The original meaning of photography was
to depict reality and perception of reality, so photographs that are staged
pose an interesting contradiction to that idea. Photoshop also fits into this
odd category, being a program that digitally manipulates photographs; are they
authentic anymore? I believe that they become a unique piece of art that should
still be considered photography.
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