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head in the clouds

09.22.16

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Quiet Summer Moments Ann Arbor, MI

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A Sunny Day in Cambridge, MA 03.06.16

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Mad Elga II by Jane Hammond (at the Detroit Institute of Arts) 02.21.16

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Homeward Bound 02.21.16

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A Day with Red Shoes 02.21.16

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Comparisons February 2016

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Cellphones don’t do scale. Cellphones do the individual and his or her experience.

Stephen Mayes, “Photographs Are No Longer Things, They’re Experiences” (Wired Magazine)

This quote from Stephen Mayes’ interview with Pete Brooks summarizes what I think is so important and significant about cell phone photography. Because cell phones are so common and widely used, I feel that their cameras have become the ultimate extension of our eyes and how we experience the world. Because of increased portability and accessibility, limitations on when and where we can take a photo are becoming nonexistent. We have the potential to be constantly producing images, and therefore the decisions we make with this power reveals a lot about us and what we see as “photographically important.” What do we choose to emphasize or preserve in our lives? Which images do we take, which do we not take? Which images do we share, which do we not share? The camera rolls on our iPhones may be the best visual diaries in a way; a true documentation of an individual’s visual experience of the world.

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Ann Arbor, MI 02.01.16

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2faced at The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI 02.04.16

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Waiting for the Bus 02.02.16

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It is no accident that the portrait was the focal point of early photography. The cult of remembrance of loved ones, absent or dead, offers a last refuge for the cult value of the picture. For the last time the aura emanates from the early photographs in the fleeting expression of a human face. This is what constitutes their melancholy, incomparable beauty.

Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

The words “cult of remembrance” resonate with me here. It makes me ponder how much of photography today, especially outside the construct of l’art pour l’art or pure art, is so we can remember. Why, with the evolution of extremely portable and accessible cameras, do we feel the urge to capture and reproduce everything in the world around us, from the places we encounter to the people we love to the food we eat? Is it for the purpose of making art or so we can preserve memories?

I know that for me, a selfish and fundamental reason I photograph is because I have a deep fear of forgetting. I hoard memories like I hoard objects, and photographs make it easier for us to return to specific times and places and emotions.

In that sense, we are all a part of the cult of remembrance, constantly mechanically reproducing moments in time so we don’t lose them to the abyss of the forgotten.

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an ode to imagination

The way young children see the world never fails to astound and inspire me. In this series of photograms, I explored the use of objects, many of which have personal meaning to me, to create landscapes as an ode to childlike imagination. I pushed myself to compose whimsical scenes and view objects and shapes the way a child might. Hair clips and earrings become trees, anklets become horizons, feathers become grass. The shadows of objects sometimes form chaotic scribbles, and sometimes form intricate designs such as the ones I loved drawing when I was young. Several of the objects I used come from my own childhood, and because of memories and meaning that I have ascribed to them, I have been unable to throw them away for years.

My personal landscape of objects and memories has been growing since I was a child, and continues to grow today.

01.18.16

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The overarching aim of photography is not accuracy in depicting the world; it is, rather, the aim to make us see the world in a way the photographer wants us to see it.

Jiri Benovsky, Three Kinds of Realism About Photographs

Benovsky makes several arguments in his essay, “Three Kinds of Realism About Photographs,” by comparing photographs to paintings as well as by comparing film photography to digital photography. In the end, a photograph can never be truly “realist” because it cannot capture the actual way the world exists— even our eyes are not capable to seeing the world as it really is. The quote above sums up the synthesis of Benovsky’s statements, and also what I think photography’s aim is. In a more ideological sense, photography can shift people’s perspectives on reality as well as their perceptions of the world around them. I think humans will always have a fascination with the bridge between reality and imagination. Art exists within this space, in a way. Perhaps that is why we are so intrigued by photographs— there is something profound in the way we capture a frozen moment of the world in a seemingly mechanical way that bends and distorts reality to fit into a rectangular frame.

01.27.16

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Twins 01.16.16

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Seeing Art 01.16.16

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I was fortunate enough to witness the inspiring 30 Americans show at the Detroit Institute of Arts last weekend, showcasing the work of 30 contemporary black artists and exploring themes of gender, race, politics, history, and identity.

01.16.16