Bomb Took Three Limbs, But Not Photographer’s Can-Do Spirit

When looking at photographs size is something that is usually taken for granted. Most of the time there are buildings or landmarks that can give us a sense of scale or a sense of place within a photograph. The end goal of this piece is to take that landmark away and leave the viewer with a sense of scale that is altered or unknown from the images. To see something small from a different point of view. Taking these artificial trees and manufacturing a world in which you are either very very small, or the trees have become very very large. Either way the scale of what you are looking at may not be the scale in which it is in reality.

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Artist Statement

This is an experiential project in which you are to be immersed within the photographs surrounding you. Surrounding you on three sides are large 44in prints of a diorama, shot as though they were life size. The goal of this piece is to make the viewer feel as though they are standing inside this diorama. The outside world will be blocked from sight as the viewer looks into this completely fabricated world.

For this project I gravitated towards the weird and slightly disturbing. When creating these photographs I wanted to create something that was slightly off putting when looked at closely. Things that didn’t quite line up. So to accomplish this I switched parts of my face with other photographs of myself to create a look that was entirely my own face but different instances of it. For the other three photos I enlarged parts of my face as to look just a little bit off. As though the dimensions of my face had gone wonky.

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Smith’s work is very close to what I want to do with my final project. He creates miniatures and photographs them in such a way that they are believable as large, or in this case average size, items or scenes. It’s a blend of very careful miniature building as well as very meticulous photography. He is using light to simulate the conditions of what the larger scenario would entail. His work is greatly inspiring to me as he is the first photographer I’ve found that really does what I want to do with my final project. http://www.iknowjoshuasmith.com/

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For this assignment I thought very hard about how I wanted to present the idea of appropriation. Originally I was going to use Google Earth to “take pictures” of places I couldn’t get to within the time limit but that idea left a lot to be desired. Instead I turned my attention back to the magazines that Richard Prince had also appropriated his ideas from. I enjoy the irony of appropriating the idea of magazines from an appropriator but I did not want to copy. Instead I grabbed two magazines that are both similar but also completely different. Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health. One a fashion magazine geared towards young and middle aged women, the other a fitness magazine geared towards young and middle aged men. What I saw when I opened both magazines were two very similar messages with very different conclusions. Cosmopolitan screamed “Buy this and look like these women!” while Men’s Health screamed “Work hard and look like these men!”. Neither magazine is inherently wrong in it’s portrayal of “Looking your best” but the juxtaposition of the two spoke to me. The pictures I came across in each also had a distinct style. Men’s Health is filled with tough looking, ripped men who are constantly straining or screaming, while Cosmopolitan had women in very elegant poses with a variety of clothing styles and props. The combination of the two, strain and elegance, is what I tried to relay here in my work.

For my final project I would like to create a series of shots that deal with perspective and scale. Using a macro lens and the studio lighting I would like to create shots that lose their sense of scale allowing very small objects to instead appear very large. I am going to create the entire scene in studio so that I can have the ability to manipulate it as I wish. By scenes I mean that I would like to create a world within these small photographs. I will create a setting so that when shot I can trick the viewer into believing the shot was taken outside or wherever the setting takes place. I will then present the piece on large prints og a yet undetermined size.

Hockney’s work is the most dynamic that I’ve looked at so far. He uses many images at different points of view to show almost a 3 dimensional rendering of whatever his camera happens to be pointing at. These are what Hockney refers to as “Joiner” photographs. The joiner photographs give a strange perspective that is not seen with a standard lens. It allows you to look around and see all the edges of what would be a face or a building or a hallway. The use of many pictures to create this illusions is almost comparable to film. These photographs have an incredibly distinct look and style to them that is entirely Hockney’s own.

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For this collage assignment I really wanted to work in Legos. Legos were a huge part of my childhood that defined the part of me that has been interested in art since a young age. When figuring out how to combine myself with Legos I decided to create a hand, the tool we use to create, out of the building blocks we create with. Thus I determined to show myself doing normal activities with this Lego hand.

List’s photographs focus greatly on light and how shadows effect an image, especially in black and white composition. A photograph such as his photo of a statue within Athens which involves harsh shadows and hard lines in both the stone and the cloth covering the horse and man. Or his photo (shown below) of the two young men, one in shadow and the other in light, that has a large duality aspect to it. It almost has a Ying and Yang approach to it. The black and white also brings a drama to the photographs that color may not have provided.

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I had never heard the name Bert Stern but I have seen his photographs, specifically his shot of Louis Armstrong. He is shooting in such a beautiful and entrancing way that I almost forget I’m looking at studio shots for advertising or fashion. The lighting on the subjects is almost perfect in its composition, drawing the viewer into the face without muddying up the face with unneeded shadows or lines. There is a wonderful detail to the faces of his subjects in portrait work that isn’t uncommon but is done in such a way that is wholly unique to Stern. His photos, like those of Marilyn Monroe, have a wonderful softness to them, whether that be to the camera of the times or completely purposeful, yet they retain that same detail, just… softer. These photos are entrancing to behold. It feels as though he shoots men and women differently. Men tend to be fuller frame, heads down slightly with harsh shadows and great detail. Women on the other hand he seems to be far more liberal with the framing. There are a variety of different shots with different women and I am unsure what that means for how he viewed the opposite sexes but it definitely shows that he did view them differently.