Lauren Thompson Design: October 2013

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

"Who Cares About Books?" - Reading Response

Reading Response
"Who Cares About Books?" - Darius Himes

Himes's article is both interesting and easily digestible. One of my favorite parts was when he talked about whether or not books would disappear (the answer is no), and how he gave an example of a child talking about his or her favorite bedtime book: no one ever mentions their favorite PDF. The wonderful thing about books is that they are more accessible than exhibitions - they are portable, and be viewed in whatever order and multiple times, and are easily shared. Photography as a medium lends itself to book format: it is 2D, easily printable and resizable. Some photographs are taken with the intention of being displayed in a book, not an exhibition - which I find completely fascinating. I would think that many people would love to see their artwork in a gallery. But then, I guess you can reach more people through a book, and while the gallery may end, the book will always exist. Himes reminds us that books should enhance and complement the photos that are contained in it, so that it isn't just a book with photos in it, but that the book itself becomes a work of art. I think that this is something that should be kept in mind as we use Blurb for our books, because we have the opportunity to truly make our beautiful within the pages of a book. This article was really interesting, and I appreciated how relevant it was to our current work.

Extra Credit Assignment

I couldn't seem to get my aperture to be any greater than f11. Since I couldn't get to f22, I just used another aperture setting instead (f3.6).

Aperture Manipulation (Part 1)

Foreground - f3.6, Shutter Speed 1/250 s

Foreground - f5.6, Shutter Speed 1/60 s

Foreground - f11, Shutter Speed 1/10 s

Background - f3.6, Shutter Speed 1/80 s

Background - f5.6, Shutter Speed 1/40 s

Background - f11, Shutter Speed 1/10 s

Shutter Speed Manipulation (Part 2)

f3.6, Shutter Speed 1/250 s

f7.1, Shutter Speed 1/60 s

f11, Shutter Speed 1/15 s

f11, Shutter Speed 1/15 s - Moving with the Object

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Frustrated

I'm frustrated. I am really in love with the project I'm doing right now. I'm working really hard trying to make my photographs from the back of a horse into something both interesting and technically correct. The logistics of it are really difficult. To ride a horse well, with one hand, ride correctly, hold a camera at the right place, take a picture without always knowing where its pointing... Make the camera exposure be okay, hope it is pointing at something interesting, hope that something is in focus.

I'm more or less enjoying the photos I'm getting. However, after the in class critique we had today.. I feel like no one is seeing what I'm seeing. Is it because I'm photographically not accomplishing my goal? Or is it because I'm the horseback rider in the room, and the photos I'm taking are only speaking to me because I understand them?

I'm frustrated because I feel that everyone thinks what I'm doing is not enough. And really, I'd like to see all them try to do what I'm doing, and realize that it isn't that easy. And what I'm getting from it seems really awesome to me.

I don't want to change what I'm doing to please other people, or even my teacher. I want to photograph what I want to photograph. This is my project.

I'm frustrated.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

"Remembering and Forgetting Conceptual Art" - Reading Response

"Remembering and Forgetting Conceptual Art" by Alex Klein

Alex Klein explores what place photography holds in the world of conceptual art. Traditionally, a photograph has been a means of documentation, and is almost always used in a way that it is an image that stands in for an idea. Klein draws from Jeff Wall's description of conceptual photography as "images [that] are consciously employed and constructed as the antithesis of the highly skilled modernist photograph." That is to say, when conceptual art first started becoming popular, it was seen as lacking of style, dry, and boring. However, over time the artists who once had their work described in such a way have become very famous and revered in the art world. Ultimately, we must look at what a photo is "about" versus what it may be "of", and we often have to look outside the photograph itself to find its true meaning as the artist intended.