Scott Scribner's Assorted Works @scott-scribner-blog - Tumblr Blog

Rights and Responsibilities of a Photographer

As a photographer I should have the right to capture any imagery that provokes the eye of the viewer, to document anything that is meaningful in the world and not be censored by anyone else. As a photographer I also believe having the right to express your own views is very important.

My responsibilities as a photographer are to know what and what not to take a photo of. I believe there are boundaries that photographers should not cross. Anything that explicitly invades ones private life (e.g. pictures looking through another person’s window, showing another’s address, license plate etc.) without direct permission is irresponsible and can be dangerous to the subject.

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After reading a couple of articles relating to the rights and responsibilities of photographers, I wouldn’t say my views have directly changed but my eyes are now open to different issues regarding photography.

The article about photographers needing special permits to shoot in wilderness areas is somewhat broad and doesn’t explain the issue in enough detail for me to understand the negative effects of commercial imagery in the wilderness. It does make me think about it however, is there a negative effect on the environment due to multiple people shooting in one area? Do these people often leave a certain negative footprint behind after shooting? While I don’t think this bill would protect the environment at all, I also think it’s worth thinking about.

The article regarding the controversial photo shoot relating to the bus gang rape in Delhi brings up an important responsibility for photographers. His photo shoot while aiming to bring to light the issues women face daily in India was shot in poor taste. While the photographer exclaimed he did not wish to glamorize these acts in any way, the way he portrayed these images was damaging to his cause. What I learned from this is that artists should recognize the issue or theme they are trying to address and really think about how they should present it to their audience. While I do still believe artists should be able to create what they want, they should also consider the impact their art has on the world.

#rightsandresponsibilities #digitalphotgraphy #blog

Final Project Proposal

For my final I was thinking of creating an installation that would tell the story of one of my close friends. The installation would involve multiple found photographs from social media, original photographs, along with a small amount of text to create context. There would also be large scale prints that would create a sense of scale and variety in the installation. Imagery would contain imagery from social media, and photos that I take myself which would create further context and emotion. I want the project to come from different view points from my own in order to give it more life, interviews from other friends as well as text from social media would provide this. My main goal for this project is to tell a meaningful story that would honor and shed light on my friends life and the impact he has on our lives. There is an element of the project I don’t want to give away in this proposal, I would like the viewer to discover my friends life on their own. To discover the story on their own, I would place my installation in 3 separate room. Each room would contain a different theme or segment in the story. One room in the computer lab which would present the aspect of social media, one room in the dark room to present darker moments in the story, and one in a regular classroom that I would arrange to show the lighter sides of the story. One last aspect of the installation I would like to add would be audio to engage the viewers senses further.

#finalproject #digital photography

INTERVIEWS AND INSIGHTS

Baturo, Inez. http://artofcreativephotography.com/fineart/fine-art-landscape-photography-inez-baturo/.

Reading through these interviews, Inez Baturo's work seemed to resonate with me the most because of her surreal take on landscape. Her landscapes are very familiar but are also described as "extraterrestrial" without use post editing. My favorite bits of wisdom that she shared was that the artist can be defined as "someone who can make art out of anything". These words are very true especially today in a world that seems like there's nothing left to take pictures of. Another interesting statement she made was that the "images we create should display the artist's inner world". Taking this advise should allow any artist to push originality and make personal statements about anything they try and create.

Carey Primeau's thoughts on "leaving an important message for those who follow us" is really inspiring because of the legacy i think we all want to leave. So by teaching future generations of artists/photographers I believe is a great legacy to shoot for.

Lastly, James Maher's quote, "they say pictures are worth 1000 words, but one word is worth 1000 pictures" is one of my favorite quotes out of the bunch because of the many ways to convey one idea or emotion. Often I try to do this with my projects, I like to start with one general idea and think of the many different ways I can present it.

#inezbaturo #interviews #digital photography

Interview with Kelsie Vang

For this blog assignment I held an interview with my classmate Kelsie Vang, a fellow photography student who enjoys dolls, drawing, and anime. In this one on one I was able to gain insight in the way she approaches art and how she perceives her future working with it.

Vang, Kelsie. Lexi Krueger. 2017.

Would you say that photography is one of your favorite mediums?

Yes! It’s quite funny, because before I began taking photography classes in college, I didn’t like photography class. Only because I was quite worried that I wouldn’t be able to grasp the technicality of it. But now taking photography in college, I’m having quite the blast. I find the medium much more fun than drawing, arts & crafts, and watercolors. I think it’s mainly because photography can be used in ways to be created and expressed digitally through our electronics.

Being a student of the fine arts, what would you say is the biggest creative challenge you have to get past for every assignment/project?

One of the scariest and challenging matters that I had to do for my projects and assignments was trying new things that I wasn’t used to, and try to think up of ideas that was really out of the box for me. I like to express my creativity and work with what I know, what I love, and what I’m used to. Trying new things is scary for me, even now it is, because I’m not familiar and not used to something that I don’t have a vast knowledge about it yet.

I noticed that you like to draw a lot before class, would you say you use your drawings as inspiration in your photography?

Of course! Using photography is one of the best mediums that help bring my drawings to life. In drawing, there is only a white page as the background, and the shades of grey and black streaks of mechanical pencil to convey shape and form of the subject being sketched. Photography is an advanced form of drawing. Cameras can quickly snap shots of subjects and backgrounds in one second, and there you’re sketch is finished. In drawing, it takes 15-30 minutes for me to sketch a whole figure of a human. Cameras are quick, while pencils take longer.

Looking at your previous and perhaps upcoming project, what seems to be the reason for your attraction to dolls?

This also has to do with my drawings too. Most of my drawings are 2D characters, they’re flat, and the only thing can do with a drawing is to look and stare at it. Dolls are 3D-figured toys, you can physically interact with them. You can bend their articulated arms, legs, brush their hair, and change their clothes, or even sew clothes for them. Every doll I ever bought was solely because of my fondness to collect each doll’s characteristics that conveys the dolls personality, ranging from their hair color, eye color, skin tone, and fashion clothing. Dolls are 3D reality of a figure drawing.

In relation to your projects, what is your process for creating them from start to finish?

It varies with the level of difficulty the project is. If it’s a project that I like, then I already have a mapped out plan and artistic vision in mind, and execute it. But if it’s a challenging project, then I have to think deeply. At this point, it’s hard for me to envision a picture, so I look up online to Google images to see other artist’s artwork, and get inspired from them. I would then get scratch paper, and quickly sketch out each scene that I have in mind. Afterwards, I would set up at the scene of the location I want to take pictures of, and then edit them onto Photoshop.

Looking outside of school, what do you see yourself doing after college?

After I graduate college, I’ll have to find myself another state to move into where art entertainment thrives, like either California, New York, or Chicago. I want to go into cartooning and animations someday, and work for Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. Afterwards, I want to open my own cartoon studio and air my own cartoon-anime show on public television.

What are your plans/goals for your art? What do you hope to achieve or say with it?

I want my drawings to have a unique style that pulls in a viewer’s eye and make them amaze. I want my drawing style to be a combination of realism and naturalism mixed in with anime. I want to set a new original drawing style, where everybody can recognize that it belongs to me. For my photography artwork, I like to set atmospheric moods. My favorite element to convey that is through color. I don’t like black-and-white photography, because I think the photo is missing out the colors that life offers. My favorite color palette for photography is bright and warm hues to convey comfort, warmth, home, and positivity.

You can find out more about Kelsie and all the work she does at https://kelsie-vang.tumblr.com/

#interview #kelsievang #digitalphotgraphy

Assignment 3 Brainstorm

I’ve narrowed down a couple of themes that I thought might be an interesting idea for my next project. The first being centered around the idea of the world being too compact or the thought of overpopulation. With this theme I was thinking of using metaphors or phrases that described being too packed (i.e. “Tighter that a pack of sardines” etc.) To translate this thought into a visual metaphor I thought to use Photoshop to turn ordinary urban landscapes into impenetrable dystopian jungles.

The second theme that came across was the idea of junk or useless items/commodities that we buy, and create. Things like decorations, costumes, toys, large amounts of food. The thought came to mind of how far down the road will we stop and say, “do we need to make a lot of this useless stuff?” Metaphors I thought might work was using word play with the word “hording” to change it to “horde”. Like a horde of junk destroying the world. Making this theme look like a mess by using montage imagery I think would work well.

#brainstorming #digital photography #creative assignment

The sequencing used in “Black Passport” by Stanley Greene and Teun Van Der Heijden is very unique because of the major role that text plays in the framing of each set of photographs. Greene starts every set of photos with a quick passage describing what was happening during the time of each picture set. This book is very much a photo journal and makes good use of the relation between words and images.

Shown above is the way Greene and Van Der Heijden begin every section of images. It will often start with Greene’s written passages describing the setting and will then sequence photos in a certain order. Above the photos are sequenced in a way that correlates black and white, and color. It also displays relationships with the injured and other bystanders.

The Above set of photos show one of the over arching themes of the book. Greene being a War Photographer shows the powerful relations between soldiers and the silhouettes they make while marching with heavy weaponry, everyone in each photograph has an intense stance or presence.

Lastly a sequence of photos and also written words I thought tied together really well was two images above. In one of the shortest written passages in the book, Greene creates a love note or ode to his wife. Writing about how great it is or must be to have some you can truly care about.

This passage pales in great contrast only pages later by the next set of photos and a written passage following that talks about Greene’s time in Afghanistan. He goes on to talk about the day he found out his wife broke her foot in Paris (a place where she knows no one). This event leads Greene to question his humanity and consider whats more important, his wife or his career. This section reads to me as a continuation of the love letter to his wife.

This book is a great read and comes with great visual stimulation and sequencing of images. Tying together word and photography very well, Greene and Van Der Heijden show the beauty and the horrors of war and fashion photography in a photo journal that takes the reader around the world. I highly recommend this book not just because of the imagery, but because of the themes of life, death, love, and change that constantly steal the reader away.

Greene, Stanley; Van Der Heijden, Teun. “Black Passport”. Schilt Publishing. Amsterdam, 2009.

#blackpassport #books #photography #journal #war photography #fashionphotography #stanley greene

William Eggelston, , From los Alamos Floio 1, Memphis 1965, supermarket boy with carts. © William Eggelston, Courtesy Wilson center for photography

The idea of utilizing others to edit my own work is one that at first glance seems either lazy or nerve-wracking. Reading further into what Eggleston had in mind however makes quite a bit of sense. By not only having someone more experienced fine tune your work, but also give valuable feedback should be very helpful. That is something I personally don’t practice enough will but engage more often in order to become a better photographer. Working will fellow students and colleagues is a supportive step into extending ones reach into the art field and also one’s knowledge.

#photography #williameggleston #lessons

The color blue holds multiple feelings and emotions depending on the way it is presented. Blue can represent feelings of calm and tranquility, but it can also display emotions of sadness or mourning. Different shades and tints of blue can impact the color’s meaning drastically, where a light/sky blue may present a feeling of joy and peacefulness, a darker or more grey shade of blue can be seen as more depressing. This difference can be seen in works from Van Gogh where his use of the color blue can alter the emotional impact of his paintings in different ways. In pop culture and social media, a lighter and more pure blue is often used to welcome and captivate consumers. This is seen on sites like facebook, twitter, and skype. In contrast seen the film “The Graduate”, the same blue is seen throughout the film. Although due to the imagery and subject matter surrounding it, the protagonist becomes submerged in feelings of hopelessness or melancholy. Album covers like in The Beach Boys “Surfs Up”; a pale/dark blue greatly enhances the sad image which is used to display the feeling of the music it represents. Lastly, interior spaces in homes and businesses use blue to keep people relaxed and at ease, most likely due to the cooler nature of the color.

#digital photo #color #metaphor

Final project from my “Photo II” class. I took one negative, enlarged and rearanged different parts of it and created larger montages.

#photography #35mm #deer #ribs #portfolio #dark #creepy

The rest of my powerlines project here, also the poem to go along with it.

Colossus Twisted iron bone Buzzing tendrils twisting on Connecting legions of synapses Through dwarf land Taller than tree, built by man Infinite through time and in might Come the end of days, surpassing all life Trailing invisible muscle in their wake Of ancient memory colossus take Connecting realities from now to never Keeping their creators huddled together Their silver twine reaching Around earthen flesh Wooden fingers stretch wishing to mesh To no avail, colossus pass Colossus toward Worlds true atlas...

#photography #35mm #poetry #powerlines #portfolio

Part of one of my projects for “Photo II”. Here I took photos of power lines, tried to make them appear less mundane, and wrote a short poem that could be read along with each image.

#photography #35mm #powerlines #portfolio