Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Individual Meeting Times for April 28th

Please place your name with a selected time slot as a comment on the blog. The options start at 5:30 in 10 minute increments. The meetings will be in my office 26C. Here are the time slot options:

5:00 Victoria

5:10 Brian

5:20

5:30

5:40

5:50

6:00

6:10

6:20

6:30

6:40

6:50

7:00

7:10

7:20

7:30

7:40

7:50

8:00

8:10

8:20

8:30

8:40

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Final Project "Guidelines"

Here are some "guidelines" for your final project.

  1. Your project should reveal your unique view of the world. It should be a set of images that you are passionate about so that you are invested in the process and outcome. How is this project “yours” and only “yours”? Why would no one else in the world be able to make this project?
  2. Your project should be meaningful, with conceptual depth and complexity. Ask yourself whether it needs more “layers” of complexity, both visually and conceptually.
  3. Your project should exhibit your technical competency.
  4. Your project should push beyond the boundaries of what you have done so far this semester. Instead of merely replicating techniques or ideas of others, your project should bring your own creative perspective to the table.
  5. Think big! Edit later. Start like an adventurer and dreamer.
  6. Your project should be cohesive so that the images relate to one another in some important, meaningful way.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Blog Prompt #26

Brainstorms! (In an effort to expand, improve, add complexity, and push your final projects further, please pick 10 of the following to discuss.)

  1. Ideas sometimes grow out of irritation. What is a negative thought you are having about your project? What is the opposite of this negative thought? How could you implement a change in your project so that this negative thought will subside?
  2. What is the “opposite” of your final project? How can you rework your project to include the “opposite”?
  3. What is a consistent theme/visual element in your project? What would be the opposite of this? How can you implement that into your project?
  4. Type twenty words or phrases that relate to your project.
  5. At the deepest core, describe why you like this project. Dig deep!
  6. Expand your project. If time, money, materials, etc would not affect you, how would you expand your project?
  7. Contract your project. What would it boil down to if squeezed and contracted to its simplest form?
  8. Look at one of your images. Redesign it entirely.
  9. Divide your project into three components. Rearrange and reassemble them in your mind.
  10. List your assumptions about your project. Reverse these.
  11. What would your project look like 100 years ago? What would your project look like 100 years in the future?
  12. Remove something from your project. How does it change?
  13. Persuade the reader that your project works well and is the most amazing project you have ever completed.
  14. Persuade the reader that your project stinks. Then, persuade the reader that you will make changes so that it no longer stinks.
  15. Think of one of your most memorable dreams. How could you add elements from this dreams to your project?
  16. How would you convert your project into a narrative? How would you remove any narrative from your project?
  17. How would you connect your images physically and conceptually? How would you make them disconnected physically and conceptually?
  18. What would happen if you demolished your project and reconstructed it physically or conceptually?
  19. Name an artist/photographer/designer/videographer who would love your project. Why?
  20. Name an artist/photographer/designer/videographer who would hate your project. Why?
  21. How would you make your project more edgy, saccharine, provocative, empty, revealing, concealing, funny, sad, mysterious, blunt, honest, disingenuous, fast, slow, playful, austere, hateful, lovable, bold, subtle, long, short, big, small, connected, disconnected?

Thursday, April 7, 2011

LOOKING FOR A CAREER IN THE ART WORLD?

Sotheby’s Institute of Art invites prospectives to an information
session on Monday, April 11th in Berkey Hall Room 117.

Learn about the wide range of career options a graduate degree at
Sotheby’s Institute of Art will enable you to pursue and how to
apply. Graduate level programs include Art Business,
Contemporary Art, Photography, Fine & Decorative Art, East Asian
Art and Contemporary Design.

Sotheby’s Institute of Art is among the world’s leading institutions
for graduate art studies offering master’s degree programs,
summer study programs and specialized short courses in art
scholarship, connoisseurship and art business. Campuses are
located in London, New York and Singapore.

To begin your pathway to a career in the international art world,
please join us on Monday, April 11th from 6.30 - 7.30pm.
RSVP through MySpartanCareer.com by 4:00 p.m., Monday, April
11th

[Click on Events --> Workshops --> Name of Workshop]
Contact Courtney Chapin, chapinco@msu.edu, if you need
assistance.

Find out more at www.sothebysinstitute.com
Download our brochure/catalog:
www.sothebysinstitute.com/brochures/brochure.php

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Blog Prompt #25

You as Curator
Look through the list of recent entrants to this call for photography.
http://pdncuratorawards.com/entries.shtml
Pretend you are curating a show and choose 7 photographers to include in your show. Describe why you would pick those particular artists and what about their work stands out to you.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Camilo Vergara, April 14, 2011: Talk and Photographic History of Detroit

The luncheon will be 12:00-1:30 on April 14, 2011 at the Henry Center and will focus on a talk and photographic history of Detroit by renowned photographer, writer, and documentarian Camilo Vergara. If you would like to attend the luncheon, please RSVP directly to Kate Durkee (durkeeka@msu.edu) to ensure we have enough food and space.

Blog Prompt #24

A. Pick two images from any of the “constructed reality” photographers presented in class or linked on the assignment sheet. Describe how you could recreate these two images on a “smaller scale”.


B. Describe your plans for your self-proposed final project (if the plan is the same as before, paste it here again and give a bit more detail). During the final critique for Assignment #5, you will discuss/present these ideas to the class.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

ASSIGNMENT: Constructed Reality Semi-Contemporary Photographer Presentation

Pick one photographer from the “Semi-Contemporary Photographers” list on the Recreation 05 handout. Add a comment to this blog entry with the name of the photographer you have selected to research and present.

ASSIGNMENT: Constructed Reality Historical Photographer Presentation

Pick one photographer from the “Historical Photographers” list on the Recreation 05 handout. Add a comment to this blog entry with the name of the photographer you have selected to research and present.

M.F.A. Students' Gallery Talks

Tuesday, March 29, 11:30

Foster, Gerber, Martens, Zhang

Wednesday, March 30: 11:30

Brown, Howell, Prillwitz, Sullivan



Blog Prompt #23

1. In what ways do you “construct” your identity? In what ways do you “perform” in your daily life?

2. Describe some ways in which your personal culture and social environments are “constructed”.

3. Describe some ways in which your physical environment/space is “constructed”.

4. In your daily life, what would you consider to be “real” and what would you consider to be “constructed/fabricated”?

5. Describe a narrative tableaux that you might create to be captured by a photograph. A narrative tableaux can be defined as “Several human actors play out scenes from everyday life, history, myth or the fantasy of the direction artist” ( Constructed Realities: The Art of Staged Photography Edited by Michael Kohler , 34).

6. Describe an idea for a photograph that includes a miniature stage or still life. A description of such an image is “The tableaux reconstructs events as in the narrative tableaux, but in miniaturized format, using dolls and other toy objects” (Kohler, 34).

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Michigan Photo Expo Trade Show! (tomorrow)

http://www.ppm.org/
http://www.starwoodmeeting.com/StarGroupsWeb/booking/reservation?id=1005213674&key=BF66E

GET DISCOUNTED PHOTO GEAR!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Two MSU Fine Art Candidates will be having a dual exhibition at Art Alley

Two Michigan State Fine Art Candidates will be having a dual exhibition at Art Alley
located in Reo Town, Lansing, MI.
Saturday March 12th at 7pm
Follow the link for more
information.
Also, featuring the feminist band-BITCH cover $15

Deborah Wheeler
Rebekah Zurenko

http.//www.reoartalley.com/special-events.html

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Nature Photographer Presentation!

Joe Zammit-Lucia

http://www.jzlimages.com/artist.asp?ArtistID=6350&AKey=PQGJP8BG

Conservation as Human-Nature Relationship: Art or Science?
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2:30 - 4:00
Location: 115 International Center Room
Speaker: Joe Zammit-Lucia, photographer and special advisor to the Director General, IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Popular Media Photographer Presentations (Semi-Contemporary Photographers)

Pick one photographer from the “Semi-Contemporary Photographers” list on the Recreation 04 handout. Add a comment to this blog entry with the name of the photographer you have selected to research and present.

Popular Media Photographer Presentations (Historical Photographers)

Pick one photographer from the “Historical Photographers” list on the Recreation 04 handout. Add a comment to this blog entry with the name of the photographer you have selected to research and present.

500 Photographers

http://500photographers.blogspot.com/

Blog Post #21

A. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “news”-related photographs.
B. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of “snapshots”, including family photographs, cell-phone shots, photos posted to facebook,
C. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of advertisement photographs, including fashion photography, product photography, etc
D. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of film/movie and television stills.
E. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of yearbook photos, senior pictures, and team/club/sports group shots.
F. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of stock images. http://www.corbisimages.com/ http://www.gettyimages.com/
G. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of fashion photography.
H. Describe some common aesthetic aspects of paparazzi shots or celebrity photographs.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Blog Prompt #19 & #20

#19. Can you think of anything that:

1) should not be photographed? Why?
2) cannot be photographed? Why?
3) you do not want to photograph? Why?

#20 Describe at least one photograph that you could take for each of the following “place” prompts.
  • An image of a synthetic “place” such as Disney World, Las Vegas, a Hollywood set, a diorama, etc.
  • An image of a fantasy/fictitious environment concocted from your imagination.
  • An image of a placeless space such as the Internet, cell phones, e-mail, e-bank, surveillance, etc.
  • An image of a public space.
  • An image of a private space.
  • An in-between space that brings to mind one of the following ideas: nomadic lifestyles, displacement, rootlessness, out-of-placeness, boundaries, movement, expansion, etc.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Blog Prompts #16-#18

Please respond to three of the following quotes.

“I think photographs should be provocative and not tell you what you already know. It takes no great powers or magic to reproduce somebody's face in a photograph. The magic is in seeing people in new ways.” Duane Michals

“I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” Duane Michals

“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” ~Ansel Adams

“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.” Arnold Newman

“Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” Berenice Abbott

Monday, February 14, 2011

Contemporary Photographer Presentation 2: Place

Select a photographer/artist from the list on the "Assignment R03: Recreation of a Memory" or "Assignment 3: Place" handout. Post your selection as a comment added to this blog entry. If you see your photographer listed, please select another photographer/artist from the list.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Blog Posts #11-15

#11____Memory of a Place: Try to imagine a place from your past. Do you have pictures of this place? Describe this place as you remember it. What might a photograph look like of this place if you were to go back and photograph it? What would it look like in the past? What would it look like to you today? Where are you standing in this place? What other items are in this place? What colors do you see? Are there other people or are you alone? Make a “written photograph” of this place using words/description.

#12____Memory of a Photograph: Which photograph from your past do you remember most? Describe this photograph. Describe how it makes you feel when you remember/think about this photograph. How have you changed? How has the place in this photograph changed? What would a reenactment of this photograph look like? Would you act or look differently if you reenacted this scene today?

#13____Human-Made Space: In the past, photographers who were interested in how humans impacted the natural landscape grouped together to form the New Topographics. “"New Topographics" signaled the emergence of a new photographic approach to landscape: romanticization gave way to cooler appraisal, focused on the everyday built environment and more attuned to conceptual concerns of the broader art field.”http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibTopo.aspx

In addition, at the same time in history artists created (and still do create) “land art” in which they use materials found in the landscape to make sculptures that remain in the landscape. Many of these works now only exist as video recordings and photographic documents.

Pay attention to the number of ways in which you encounter humans’ interaction with nature and the physical land. Write these down. Using these as inspiration, describe an idea for a piece of “land art” that you might create that would be documented by a photograph. Describe an idea for a piece of “land art” that you might make in a man-made landscape that would be documented by a photograph.

#14____Unknown vs. Familiar Space: When photography was invented, it became a way to document and reveal the specific aspects of both familiar and faraway places. Imagine a familiar place. Imagine a faraway place. How would you use photographs to convey the difference? Can you imagine any places that have been “touched” very little by humans? How might you photograph them?

#15____In-Camera Collage: Collage brings together two or more items that were previously separate. The resulting piece usually visually references the fact that they were once separate entities. Imagine an important place in your past. Imagine an important place in your present. Imagine who you were in both of these past and present places. Describe how you might use a slow shutter speed and/or double exposure to capture two moments in one image that tell a new narrative about these important places and how they relate to who you are and were.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Eva Schlegel

http://www.MAK.at/e/jetzt/f_jetzt.htm


Blog Prompts #8, #9, #10

Please respond to the following three quotes.

#8 “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” ~Richard Avedon.

#9 “You don't take a photograph, you make it.” ~Ansel Adams



#10 “All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this - as in other ways - they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.” ~John Berger


Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Contemporary Photography Presentations

Select a photographer/artist from the list on the "Assignment 2: Portrait" handout. Post your selection as a comment added to this blog entry. If you see your photographer listed, please select another photographer/artist from the list.

Blog Prompts #5, #6, & #7

#5 Give your thoughts on one or both of the following quotes.
“Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to man.” ~Edward Steichen



“I just think it's important to be direct and honest with people about why you're photographing them and what you're doing. After all, you are taking some of their soul.” ~Mary Ellen Mark




#6 In your opinion, when is it beneficial, ethical, or appropriate to digitally alter photographic portraits? When do you think it is inappropriate or ethically wrong?

#7 Pay close attention to the types and number of photographic portraits you see in one day. Where did you see them? How do you think that the content of the portrait changes based on the context in which you see the image (news, facebook, magazine, advertisement, television, youtube, etc)? In other words, what is the difference between the portraits you see on facebook vs. those on the news? What is the difference between the “viewpoint” of the photographer in each situation? What is the difference between their “intents”?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Blog Prompts #3 & #4

#3 “Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.”~Duane Michals. Write a brief reaction to this quote. Is this quote applicable to your experience with photography? What does it mean to you? Do you agree with the idea presented or disagree?

#4 “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera.” ~Lewis Hine.

Write a brief reaction to this quote. Is this quote applicable to your experience with photography? What does it mean to you? Do you agree with the idea presented or disagree? Describe situations when photographic images reveal “the story” (as compared to words). Describe situations when words reveal “the story” (as compared to images).