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Digital Photograph II (ART277)

excited to be starting Digital Photography II, Art277, here at Lehigh! Stay tuned for features of my work and more insights to photos I come across this semester.

Making a Montage

This is my final montage, a product of 12 layers, each of which were either scanned photographs or photographs taken by me with my Canon 6D. I did all of my post production work in photoshop.

To give you a short summary, my idea came from an issue I am very familiar with – stress as a college student.

First and foremost, the woman in the photograph was my model, Janie. She is currently a student and also working a full-time job, so I knew she would know how to display the stresses and anxieties she experiences every day for my camera. We messed around with her hair and makeup, making her appear to be crying and messy. One thing I loved and wasn’t ready to lose about her shoot was the wildness of her hair. I spent the time masking out the spaces between each individual strand of hair. Although it was time consuming and tedious, it was definitely worth it and very effective in capturing the sense of disarray I wanted to convey.

The image of the iPhone with a text message conversation open was something I took from a real conversation between my best friend and I. It was during a time I felt defeated and sad about a boy I thought I was in love with at the time. I remember not being able to focus on my schoolwork because I would try to imagine how he was feeling and what I was thinking. Which leads me to my next image...

I used the image of the poorly graded paper because when stress is high in college, doing homework and getting good grades can feel like trying to escape quicksand. It is easy to fall into a habit of spreading your attention so thin between life problems and school that there isn’t enough to go around.

The woman and man in the righthand corner are representative of the boy in the text messages. He is posing in fancy clothing for the camera with his arm around another girl. I wanted to capture the feeling of heartbreak and disappointment a girl feels when she sees the boy she has feelings for with another girl. This was inspired by my best friend’s recent experience. She was abroad in Italy when she got a text message that the boy she had been talking to was caught kissing another girl at a party, thinking she wouldn’t find out. The sunglasses on his face represent the shame he felt and the way he begged the person who caught him not to tell her about it and hide it from her, but she did anyways. Now, he avoids her at school and she is still heartbroken over it. The whole situation caused her so much stress and sadness, so I wanted to capture that feeling in my montage.

I wanted to capture the ‘glitz and glam’ that comes with trying to fit in as a young woman in college. There are so many pressures to look and dress a certain way, including to buy all the most expensive brands and have the fanciest, newest things. That is why I decided to include the heels, necklace, makeup, and perfume. Many women in college believe that they need to show off their materialistic things in order to fit in with so called ‘friends.’ The bottle of vodka represents the pressure students often feel to party or ‘go out’ and binge drink on almost a daily basis, especially at Lehigh. It seems like everything has become an excuse to drink alcohol, from morning cocktails, or ‘mocos,’ to football games, to even just simply because “it’s Tuesday night!”

Lastly, and most importantly, the handwritten paper on the right side of the montage is a combination of a crinkled piece of paper I scanned and a paper with real notes I wrote about my brother who was diagnosed with a very rare terminal brain cancer. I wanted to include this more personal touch because his situation causes me a great deal of anxiety and constantly hinders my ability to function both in school and overall. Although I have lots of support and very understanding professors, this has not always been the case. I have often been given poor grades and shown zero tolerance for missing class to spend time with my brother or having to rush out of class because of a phone call that he had another emergency procedure, and even once a stroke. I have been yelled at for checking my phone in class, scrutinized for showing up late because i had travelled all morning back from the city where he was hospitalized, or not given extensions on assignments when I couldn’t focus from fear when he has not been doing well. I couldn't even go home the day his baby was born because I had a final exam the next day that I was not allowed to miss or reschedule. I wanted this piece of writing to be in my montage because I believe that showing kindness towards someone going through something difficult is key in making them feel supported.

I believe my montage uses a balance of colour and black and white effectively because the images surrounding the woman’s head are all in vibrant colour while she, clearly distraught and unwell, is shown in black and white. This was a deliberate choice by me to capture the way that most people are blind to the way a person is really feeling inside. I chose to put the images in this composition because these things are all surrounding her, overwhelming her, almost closing in on her, capturing the emotions a student is going through on a daily basis.

Techniques from Modern Street Photography in Historical Film Photography

This photograph titled, “Seville” 1933 by Henri Cartier-Bresson attracted me due to its framing and movement. It was taken through what looks like broken drywall or deteriorating infrastructure, and the subject, the children, are emphasized. Your eye is immediately drawn to the scene inside the frame. The photo reminds me of other photos I’ve seen from more modern digital photographers because you can almost see the movement happening in the photo, although it is a still scene and not a film. You can almost hear the laughter and chatter of the children and the rocks beneath their feet scraping against the soles of their shoes. I often find this kind of movement in modern street photography rather than 1930′s photography, which often portrays still, rigid figures posing for a camera.

“In Past Show The Psychic Lens – Surrealism and the Camera at Atlas Gallery.” Henri Cartier-Bresson | Seville (1933) | Available for Sale | Artsy, www.artsy.net/artwork/henri-cartier-bresson-seville-1936.

Toy Photography: Vincent Laforet

This photograph is an example of toy photography or tilt shift photography, a technique that causes real life objects to appear as if they are miniature scale models. This photo taken by Vincent Laforet was taken at a tennis match, making the players look like tiny figurines and the audience like a painted background. The extreme use of blur and depth of field is what makes the effect happen. Toy photography works especially well with large subjects like stadiums, buildings, and landscapes as well as overhead views of people or crowds.

“50 Beautiful Examples Of Tilt-Shift Photography.” Smashing Magazine, 16 Nov. 2008, www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/11/beautiful-examples-of-tilt-shift-photography/.

The Mundane of the Civil Rights Movement

This photograph, “Civil Rights Series, Demonstrations at an "all-white" swimming pool in Cairo, Illinois” 1962 by Danny Lyon captures a mundane moment in history – a line of black men, women and children waiting in line. The title tells viewers that they are not happy with the fact that this pool they are standing by is for whites only, and they are probably waiting to use whatever facility has been designated for black people. This was a daily occurrence for black people because the segregation between white and black bathrooms, pools, classrooms, etc. made it very difficult for them to live their lives normally. Almost every need they had involved lots of standing and waiting. It is important for photos like this to exist so that the mundane parts of history are not lost, but rather looked back on with regret.

This photograph is successful because the woman in the center, the main subject, has a very disappointed and fed-up expression on her face. The children are standing with their arms crossed looking frustrated and tired, and the man and boy at the front are looking impatiently forwards. The structure of the line they are in creates a sense of urgency and impatience, and the expressions on their faces make the photo emotionally impactful.

“DANNY LYON.” Danny Lyon | Photography Artist | Jackson Fine Art, www.jacksonfineart.com/danny-lyon-903.html.

Making Statements with Photography: Sebastião Salgado

I did a presentation on Sebastião Salgado in my digital photography class. I chose him because he uses photos to make important statements about environmental issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity, and deforestation. These two photographs from Salgado’s “Migrations” and “Genesis” projects show his love for nature and his willingness to get up close with the animals who’s habitats we are living in and destroying every single day. I believe photography is a powerful tool to make statements about many different kinds of issues.

“In the Beginnings: Sebastião Salgado's Genesis.” Time, Time, time.com/3798068/in-the-beginnings-sebastiao-salgados-genesis/.

“Sebastiao Salgado.” Widewalls, www.widewalls.ch/artist/sebastiao-salgado/.

Pioneer of Colour Street Photography: Joel Meyerowitz

Joel Meyerowitz was famous for the way he changed the public’s view on street photography in colour. He did street photography in the mid-60′s when colour photography was just entering the professional photography world. This example of his work, titled “Gold Corner, New York City” 1974 shows a group of women standing together in a moment of time captured by the photographer. These women most likely don’t know each other in their personal lives, but there is beauty to be found in their arrangement captured in this particular composition, especially the way they are standing and the candid poses they are in. The colours displayed really make the photo unusual and special, and I believe in black and white it would not be as successful.

“Joel Meyerowitz.” Howard Greenberg Gallery, www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/joel-meyerowitz?view=slider#6.

InVision Gallery

I am so incredibly excited to announce that I won second place in the InVision college photography contest at Banana Factory, Bethlehem PA! I will post my winning photographs in my next post, however, for now I would like to highlight the first place winner in the “photography based art” category.

This piece titled, “Steamed Windows” by Keith Sharp shows several combined photographs in an archival pigment print. I really like this particular piece because of the lighting. The sky and the light of the field show almost a golden, sunset light, whereas the curtains and the walls inside have more of a cool tone representative of a midday or morning natural light. Instead of looking incorrect, the combination actually comes together nicely to make the scene through the window really pop.

Sharp, Keith. Steamed Windows. 2017.

Mary Ellen Mark’s “Ward 81″

This photograph from Mary Ellen Mark’s “Ward 81″ shows a woman laying in her bed in the ward gazing out at the light coming through her window. She appears, to the average viewer, to be dreaming of the world outside the place she is now stuck in. You can even see the bars contrasting against the bright natural light streaming in through the window. The textures of her hair and the pillow as well as her hair give the photo a certain depth and realness that it would not otherwise have. I also love the use of geometric patters (stripes, hexagons of the window, lines of the bed, etc.) which gives the photo an organized and structured feel to it, which is representative of what life is probably like living in a ward like this one.

http://www.maryellenmark.com/books/titles/ward_81/300B-021-025_ward81_520.html

Documentary Photography

Both Sabastiao Salgado and Robert Capa have contributed to documentary photography in great ways.

I have a personal inclination towards liking Salgado’s work because he was the subject of my presentation for my digital photography class. Salgado is known for his long-term photography projects that bring awareness about socio-economic and environmental issues across the globe. The photo above, titled Antarctic Peninsula, 2005 from Salgado’s book Genesis portrays melting glaciers in Antarctica due to human caused global warming.

Robert Capa’s photographs were monumental for documentary photography because they were the only photographs captured of the tragic massacre that happened on D-Day. One example from above shows soldiers still in the water fighting to get up and continue the battle. Although his photographs from D-Day are known to be out of focus, this added to their effect because it captures the feeling of chaos and madness that many soldiers experienced that day.

“Sebastião Salgado: Genesis.” Iceberg Between Paulet Island & The South Shetland Islands, Antarctica by Sebastião Salgado on Artnet Auctions, www.artnet.com/auctions/artists/sebasti%C3%A3o-salgado/iceberg-between-paulet-island-the-south-shetland-islands-antarctica.

“D-Day | 100 Photographs | The Most Influential Images of All Time.” Time, Time, 100photos.time.com/photos/robert-capa-d-day.

Controversial Photography

Sally Mann’s “Body Farm” collection can be considered controversial because it portrays various images of what appear to be dead or beaten bodies, sometimes nude, laying lifeless on the ground. When they were taken the early 21st century, people were very sensitive towards images of the dead (as many still are today) and the images were considered offensive or vulgar. The two examples above, one in black and white and one in colour, are perfect examples of the types of images she chose to represent herself by. Some may believe that they are art and are not disrespectful, and some may believe they should not be taken or shown to the public under any circumstance. With censorship controversies in full swing and the media being criticized throughout history for disrespectful photographs, these particular images were undoubtedly controversial.

“Body Farm.” Sally Mann, sallymann.com/selected-works/body-farm.

Practice with HDR

In my digital photography class, I learned how to work with HDR processing to create photos with the best possible exposure in both highlights and shadows. For each scene, I set up my tripod for the composition I wanted then took seven to ten different shots at different shutter speeds, from very slow to very fast. I did this using my camera’s shutter speed priority setting (TV). I then used photoshop to combine the photos and aligned them perfectly, then masked out the parts I didn’t like from particular layers. I then combined the layers into one image and adjusted the brightness, saturation, etc. These are my final three images.

Maria Martinez-Cañas

These two works of art by Maria Martinez-Camas, from her portfolio “Quince Sellos Cubanos” are exhibited in Lehigh’s Zoellner Arts Center main gallery. They are created from a combination of photos and brushstrokes along with various other techniques, and are made as silver gelatin prints. I particularly enjoyed these two images because Maria Martinez -Cañas took real stamps from a collection her sister gave her and created her own abstract and personal interpretation, but still kept the real stamps displayed alongside her artwork.

Martinez-Cañas, Maria. Isla De Cuba. 1991.

Martinez-Cañas, Maria. De las Américas. 1991.

Miniature Photography

Above is one example of the work of Slinkachu’s "Little People Left In The City To Fend For Themselves." She assembles these tiny figurines as art installations throughout the world and photographs them in a way that make them appear somewhat life-sized in a super-sized world. This technique of shooting from an alternative perspective than the ‘norm’ strengthens her work and composition. As you see, the second photograph was not taken by the artist but rather taken from a bystander’s perspective. If the photo were taken from that perspective, it would look silly and arbitrary. It does, however, bring the viewer back to reality and show how small the scene really is.

Slinkachu. Little People Left In The City To Fend For Themselves.

Gallery Blog: Visionaries

This photograph, titled, “Crossing Light” or “Amda-Luz” an anonymous digital print. It is on display at the Rauch Business Center of Lehigh University in the Visionaries Gallery. I particularly like this piece because it uses a technique I learned from one of my favourite photographers, and one I have mentioned before, Tino Soriano. He believes that a small splash of colour is key in a monochromatic or almost-black and white picture. The yellow reflections of light in this photograph give it an interesting touch that it wouldn’t have otherwise had.

Working With Water

I took these three photos with my Canon 6D at Glen Onoko Falls in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. I edited them with Adobe Lightroom.

The first photo is an example of a new technique I learned in Lightroom called ‘channel mixing’ where I converted the photo to black and white and then toggled the black and white bars, mixing the balance and creating an ideal ratio of highlights to shadows. I also played with exposure.

In the second photo, I used split toning. On Lightroom, I converted the photo to black and white, then changed the saturation under the highlights and shadows option in the “split toning” menu. I made the highlights warm (pinkish) and the shadows cool (greenish blue).

For the last photo, I simply adjusted the saturation in Lightroom. I first took it all the way down until the photo was in black and white, then played with the highlights and shadows until I got the balance I wanted for this composition. I wanted there to be a clear distinction between the different textures of the rock compared to the foamy, murky water.

I also used a neutral density filter and a tripod to take these photographs.

Jerry and Maggie: Modern Day Surrealist Story Tellers

Jerry and Maggie are husband and wife artists who make art because, well... they just love ‘things’. They both tell stories that, unlike early photography which captured real moments, were carefully crafted to elicit emotion, or as jerry puts it, “an authentic human response” such as loneliness, or happiness.

Both Jerry and Maggie are interested in the psychological aspects behind art. Jerry claims that his goal is to amaze himself, and says that it all begins with making marks on paper. He has been working to craft and manipulate his photographs in a Photoshop-esque way, even before Photoshop came onto the scene. He works with multiple negatives in a darkroom and uses up to a dozen enlargers at one time to produce a final image.

Maggie began as a still life photographer and after ten years, decided to go digital. She utilizes flatbed scanners and Adobe Photoshop as tools to create her art that aim to “transport viewers to dreamlike worlds inhabited by everyday objects.”

I chose these two photographs to look at specifically because they have a similar theme. Both images take a human’s head and combine it with another object – in Jerry’s case, a man’s fist, and in Maggie’s case, a tree. Both the fist and the tree are somewhat gnarly and rough. The transposition of the images creates a unique, almost disturbing visual effect that accomplishes exactly what it strives to... an emotional response.

I find it really interesting that Jerry uses only black and white images while Maggie uses colour. They seem to compliment each other very well – both the art, and the people who create it.

Inspired by the film “Jerry and Maggie: This Is Not Photography”

Uelsmann, Jerry N. “Symbolic Mutation.” Jerry Uelsmann, 1961, uelsmann.net.

Taylor, Maggie. “Subject To Change.” Maggietaylor.com, 1999, Candela Gallery.

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