Bethany Hicks: DCADFA16

Blog for DCAD Photography Class

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Paul Thek: Answering Questions

Questions:

What is Eternity? What is Love? What is art? What is a symbol?

What is religion? What is Psychology?

Eternity: Where your spirit goes when your physical body dies.

Love: Unconditional sacrifice and loyalty, never giving up.

Art: The human spirit’s reaction of what it means to live.

Symbol: An image, person, object, or animal that is representative of an idea, theory, event, thought, or movement.

Religion: A group of people who collectively reverent someone or something by following and subscribing to a system of rules or beliefs.

Psychology: The practice of interpreting the state of someone's mind and how it influences their behavior or personality.

Thek begins the stream of questions with the basics you find on pretty much any government form. These are the things that Identify you or categorize you in this world. They also measure how much a person is worth to society. An example would be “What income do you have?” In the third set of questions, he begins asking questions that remind me of a dating questionnaire. They start out light and then move on to serious from “What are your requirements in a friend?” to ” What happens after death?” He follows this pattern of asking questions relating to your place in the world and your opinions to questions that frame what people would be convicted about in life. The topics seem to try and aim the reader at answering questions that show what they know about themselves and what they know about the world, They reveal status and knowledge as well as culture. I assume the answers for an American to “Who is Roosevelt?” would be different from someone in China. In one set of questions he says “Make a paper doll of yourself.” and the next “What is theology?” Asking essentially, how do you see yourself and then what do you understand about this large topic? Even when he does ask those big questions that are from the outside world the answer would still reveal more about the individual's identity, not necessarily who they are to everyone else, but who they are to themselves. I believe if you answered every question here you would have an intimate idea of who someone is or who you are. His final paragraph is reflective of how the world will treat you for your answers to these questions. They will judge you as worthy of reward or punishment, recognize insincerity and target your weaknesses. 

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“Lineage reveals an identity stronger, more interesting than legal status—more reassuring as well, the thought of origin soothes us, whereas that of the future disturbs us…”

-Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida

Traits is a search for comfort found in lineage, identity, and origin. Through exploring the lineage of my family, I find myself on a continuous and curious odyssey tracing the physical traits and behaviors of my ancestors. My mother makes faces like my grandmother and my brother like my mother. The hard evidence was in the hundreds of printed film images that sat in a box that tell the stories of and created by my family. The images in this series are comparisons from many places and times. The addition of portraits I took accompanied by the found images allow me to become an active participant in this photographic heritage. I discovered not only patterns of my family, but also in humanity; such as community, rites of passage, the transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next, and the inherent desire to keep memories for years to come.

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details,details

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Reanimating these models in the studio!

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Adjectives

Laura: clinical, feminine

Amber: colorful, organic

Whitney: structure, fleshy

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New portraits!!

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Wi-Fi and Art?

I find that as much as art claims to be free the rules often aren't. You must be of a certain caliber and have a certain knowledge set to truly appreciate much of it. The goal of a public art museum is democratize art that means one must sacrifice to reach more people.I agree with the author in that allowing wifi in the gallery doesn't effect those who have more knowledge and appreciation for images. Is there a specific amount of time you should look at a picture? It depends on the person. Without art history one could stare for hours and still not fully enjoy a work of art. I think the museums job is to allow people to decide on their own.

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Re-working the portrait this week.

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Experimenting with strobe in the studio #raw

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Restructure and find the image from the image...Coming soon book 2...”Traits”

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The top three are William Eggleston and the bottom three are Vivian Maier 

While Maier photographed around the time Eggleston did she is a valid candidate for comparison because her work was discovered later in life. It is only because of the precedent of Eggleston that one can appreciate her work as art. It is fascinating to see two street photographers possess such an eye for composition and color. Vivian, however, tends to be more confrontational at times photographing the face and body, her subjects are aware of her presence. She does not only capture color but she captures the culture and personality with an intentional eye.This made me wonder if her status as a nanny and woman perhaps put her in the position of appearing non-threatening? Eggleston seems to be primarily concerned with light and color and shape the person comes second the personality is subverted behind the composition. This is evident in the examples above. Maier captures not just a red dress but, a polka dot red dress and nails the dress speaks strongly of its era provoking ideas of a woman’s place. Eggleston also captures a woman of red only he focuses on her vibrant hair and the light that hits it. He brings the composure together with echoes of red throughout the image only revealing her profile. This girl, however, is not presented in a way that emphasizes her culture. They both bring separate approaches to the same unique color playing field.

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can’t wait to print these next!

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Excited to print these massive film images!

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Who really sees color correctly?

The phenomenon of seeing is more mental than physical. This means how I see Is influenced by my language,memory,and brain. That being said I don't trust my eye to be impartial when viewing color. If you think about it no one can be impartial.I do have some confidence because I have spent hours of study looking at colors,learning their names, examining their historic significance through different cultures. This widens my color association of memory and experience with color.

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Working on the seemless white backdrop assignment. I may reshoot for a better even backdrop

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What About Color?

I am brainstorming ideas for a color book. So far I have been inspired by the colors of Market st. Buildings and Shops

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sense of place: take one