The most exciting thing about the exhibit was the opportunity to see all those photographic processes together. During lectures or while reading chapters from the manual, we encounter descriptions of maximum 1-3 processes at a time. When at one exhibition you see how it all developed through centuries you become incredibly excited.
Another thing which made me stay in sort of awe was photogravure by Charles Negre. I have never thought such a detailed picture was possible in 1854. I definitely had heard about it but no reproduction would ever reveal the exact meaning of 'detailed'. Talbot's 'Lace' (1839-1844) also turned out to be a surprise. When you see this photo on a screen it seems to be non-contrastive, blurred and dim, and it was really amazing to stay in front of the real image and find out that it was just as detailed and distinct as modern photos.
The choice of the topics by photographers in late 19th and early 20th century was also very peculiar. Seems that despite their photographic equipment left much to be desired, they were much more experimental in their work than modern photographers (vantage points - e.g. 'The Reaper' by Heinrich Kuhn, abstract vision - e.g. 'The Breast' by Edward Weston, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy experiments, etc).
Another interesting thing was definitely the way the size of the paper influences our perception of the image. Diane Arbus' 'A Young Man at Home in Curlers at Home on West 20th Street New York CIty' looked completely different to what I've got accustomed to see in books. The image being enlarged made the man's face more of a tragicomic quality comparing to the reproductions of the photo.
With some other images I've got a chance to compare the original with the reproductions in the book 'In The Darkroom'. And yes, the size means a lot. What was so colorful and grandiose in meaning at the exhibition turned out to be insignificant and boring when reduced to the size of a book illustration (e.g. Robert Fichter's 'Look Out Baby').
To sum it up, the exhibition was definitely worth seeing not only because it is always better to see originals than reproductions but also because from aesthetic point of view that was an exciting experience.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Documentary Photography and Photojournalism in Russia (1920s-1960-70s)
This is quite an interesting site. They collected scans from magazines issued from 1920s to approximately 1960s-70s. It was a period of glamourizing the reality, of positivism in pictures, what was later called social realism, but was actually a period of naive romanticized photos. The pictures still looks very itneresting, touching and make me actually nostalgic :)
http://trendsetter.ru/plus/ - those are scans from the magazine L'URSS (actually it was published in the USSR for foreign friends so to say. Their were issues in French, English and German
To help you with the navigation, since everything is either in Russian or French
From top to bottom:
1. 'hero of social labor' (work) - this title was awarded to those who worked better then the rest of the crew or team or something of the kind. Those people managed to produce more milk, build more houses than the rest of their co-workers, or they were the best in mining the ore, etc (don't press the circle on the right, instead press the line with the digits 11#1949 and you'll the pics) when a photographer was to shoot a hero definately he would do the same as Edward Curtis had done while photographing Native Americans. Russian photographers always had nice hats, clean clothes and other necessary equipment to make their subjects look the way a real social hero was supposed to look.
2. 'COnsumer Goods Industry in the USSR'
3. 'Recovery from the WWII'
4. "Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893 -1930)" - this man was an epoch himself. He was a poet, a writer a politician to some extent. A person of the new era. People adored him for his ideas, extravagancy and courage. He was very often photographed, painters would devote their works to him, poets would write about him. He was surprisingly very popular with the government. He was one of those few who would be let to go abroad with lectures on the social changes in Russia. Yet, his death was a surprise and shock. It's still not crystal clear what happened. Most of teh historians believe that he was killed by KGB, since he got disappointed with the government. Another version was that he found out something he was not supposed to know and became an undesirable witness.
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/vladimir_mayakovsky under the bio info you'll find some links to his poems (in case you are interested) - not a bad translation. by the way
5. 'Kolkhozes in USSR (Uzbekistan)'. This Asian part of the USSR was always famous for it's farms, cotton, fruit and kettle. No wonder that there were plenty of pictures taken on the site.
6. Industrialization of teh NOrth. It's well known that SIberia and the far North is a very cold and 'user-unfriendly' region. Yet, nobody believed lit was impossible to bring industry and development there. It was a huge and difficult job and the pictures definately don't reveal the tragedy of the whole situation, yet people were proud of what they did to the North and they still are.
What is interesting that in 30s photograpehrs and neewspapers looked really fresh, diffrent, compositionally extravagant and attractive, and after the 40s pictures became absolutely identical. It reveals not only the demand of the epoch but also the idea that most of the great photographers, who had got education in pre-revolution Russia had been either repressed or had died because of the age. Photographic experiments were taken out of Russian journalism for quite a long period.
http://trendsetter.ru/plus/ - those are scans from the magazine L'URSS (actually it was published in the USSR for foreign friends so to say. Their were issues in French, English and German
To help you with the navigation, since everything is either in Russian or French
From top to bottom:
1. 'hero of social labor' (work) - this title was awarded to those who worked better then the rest of the crew or team or something of the kind. Those people managed to produce more milk, build more houses than the rest of their co-workers, or they were the best in mining the ore, etc (don't press the circle on the right, instead press the line with the digits 11#1949 and you'll the pics) when a photographer was to shoot a hero definately he would do the same as Edward Curtis had done while photographing Native Americans. Russian photographers always had nice hats, clean clothes and other necessary equipment to make their subjects look the way a real social hero was supposed to look.
2. 'COnsumer Goods Industry in the USSR'
3. 'Recovery from the WWII'
4. "Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893 -1930)" - this man was an epoch himself. He was a poet, a writer a politician to some extent. A person of the new era. People adored him for his ideas, extravagancy and courage. He was very often photographed, painters would devote their works to him, poets would write about him. He was surprisingly very popular with the government. He was one of those few who would be let to go abroad with lectures on the social changes in Russia. Yet, his death was a surprise and shock. It's still not crystal clear what happened. Most of teh historians believe that he was killed by KGB, since he got disappointed with the government. Another version was that he found out something he was not supposed to know and became an undesirable witness.
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/vladimir_mayakovsky under the bio info you'll find some links to his poems (in case you are interested) - not a bad translation. by the way
5. 'Kolkhozes in USSR (Uzbekistan)'. This Asian part of the USSR was always famous for it's farms, cotton, fruit and kettle. No wonder that there were plenty of pictures taken on the site.
6. Industrialization of teh NOrth. It's well known that SIberia and the far North is a very cold and 'user-unfriendly' region. Yet, nobody believed lit was impossible to bring industry and development there. It was a huge and difficult job and the pictures definately don't reveal the tragedy of the whole situation, yet people were proud of what they did to the North and they still are.
What is interesting that in 30s photograpehrs and neewspapers looked really fresh, diffrent, compositionally extravagant and attractive, and after the 40s pictures became absolutely identical. It reveals not only the demand of the epoch but also the idea that most of the great photographers, who had got education in pre-revolution Russia had been either repressed or had died because of the age. Photographic experiments were taken out of Russian journalism for quite a long period.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
ON-LINE B00KS ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY
Here are some links that might be interesting for you.
1. Semiotics of Photography by Goran Sonesson - controversial work, yet interesting
2. Teaching Photography: Tools for the Imaging Educator by Glenn Rand - well, though it is for teachers mostly but it is really interesting for students as well
3. On Being a Photographer by David Hurn/Magnum and Bill Jay - Highly recommend!!!! Really explains everything and wipes off all the stuff and nonsense that one may have in his/her head
http://stephengrote.com/teaching/courses/files/storage/On%20Being%20a%20Photographer,%203rd%20Edition,%20CD%20version.pdf
Monday, November 2, 2009
Assignment 4. Documentray and Photojournaism.
World Press Photo is an independent non-commercial organization founded in 1955 in Amsterdam. Every year they organize the most prestigious international contest for photojournalists. Their mission ’is to encourage high professional standards in photojournalism and to promote a free and unrestricted exchange of information’.
The picture I am going to describe was taken in Brazil by Eraldo Peres (Associated Press). The photo got Honorable Mention in the category 'Daily Life' (World Press Photo contest 2009).
Really sorry but it is prohibited to copy photos from the site. So here is the link.
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=1479&Itemid=223&bandwidth=low
I think this is an incredible example of what photojournalism and photography as such are about. The decisive moment: a second earlier or later and presumably there would be different emotions, composition, color and what not. The photographer tries to be objective (no color modifications, no Photoshop tricks). He is an impartial observer and lets others make conclusions. Yet it is obvious that the purpose of the photograph is to attract spectators' attention to the problem, let them think, be emotional and responsive.
The picture is really horrifying. First, you can’t help but surf the image from one red colored object to another. The variations of red create a really strong rhythmic pattern. Everything looks normal. Ordinary, peaceful everyday life: guys on the left are talking, the girl in the background is laughing, and the one gripping the bars of the window seems to be bored. Then finally you look at the bottom of the photo and see the body. Small, dirty and abandoned. The blond guy is just marching by as if it were not a dead young man but just some junk left on the street.
People in Recife seem to pay no attention to death. Why bother? When it’s everywhere you simply stop taking care. It’s their everyday life. Nothing extraordinary. The tight framing and the body in the foreground make this scene look somewhat Biblical to me. The slums are just like decorations borrowed from old paintings. Somber colors with red dominance. The indifference of the crowd and fear in the air.
However, can we blame those people? They grew up in violence; they know that probably tomorrow it will be their turn to be in the foreground. This city is hopeless and doomed and the photographer just registers its gradual decay and secretly hopes that may be one day the government will somehow notice and care.
The picture I am going to describe was taken in Brazil by Eraldo Peres (Associated Press). The photo got Honorable Mention in the category 'Daily Life' (World Press Photo contest 2009).
Really sorry but it is prohibited to copy photos from the site. So here is the link.
http://www.worldpressphoto.org/index.php?option=com_photogallery&task=view&id=1479&Itemid=223&bandwidth=low
I think this is an incredible example of what photojournalism and photography as such are about. The decisive moment: a second earlier or later and presumably there would be different emotions, composition, color and what not. The photographer tries to be objective (no color modifications, no Photoshop tricks). He is an impartial observer and lets others make conclusions. Yet it is obvious that the purpose of the photograph is to attract spectators' attention to the problem, let them think, be emotional and responsive.
The picture is really horrifying. First, you can’t help but surf the image from one red colored object to another. The variations of red create a really strong rhythmic pattern. Everything looks normal. Ordinary, peaceful everyday life: guys on the left are talking, the girl in the background is laughing, and the one gripping the bars of the window seems to be bored. Then finally you look at the bottom of the photo and see the body. Small, dirty and abandoned. The blond guy is just marching by as if it were not a dead young man but just some junk left on the street.
People in Recife seem to pay no attention to death. Why bother? When it’s everywhere you simply stop taking care. It’s their everyday life. Nothing extraordinary. The tight framing and the body in the foreground make this scene look somewhat Biblical to me. The slums are just like decorations borrowed from old paintings. Somber colors with red dominance. The indifference of the crowd and fear in the air.
However, can we blame those people? They grew up in violence; they know that probably tomorrow it will be their turn to be in the foreground. This city is hopeless and doomed and the photographer just registers its gradual decay and secretly hopes that may be one day the government will somehow notice and care.
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