David Hockney // Kelly Flynn

David Hockney constructs images through photocollaging. He uses polaroids and shoots a scene at different perspectives and angles and then pieces the polaroids together to create a larger final piece. He calls this process "joiners" and has his subjects move while photographing them so the final image displays abstract motion.

Kelly Flynn was born in 1980 in Dallas, TX and currently is attending Texas Woman’s University for an MFA in photography.  She received her BFA in photography from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL.  Themes in her work involve self-portraits representing gender equality, common stereotypes and roll play dealing with issues of feminism.

Prompt 23

1. My love of Kresge's rental lenses is what is pushing my thesis at this point. I have fallen madly in love with the 10-18mm lens and how i can capture so much space in one image. My thesis is now a battle between my small confined walls of my abode and my excape to vaster regions and how I perceive their inner and outer potential.

2. I've noticed that I have stopped shooting what subjects beg for attention. I'm finding the niche that is unnoticed or the abandoned corner. My shots have become more focused on the atmosphere of an area rather then focusing on an object or person defining a setting.

3. My experimentation has led me to shoot the unwanted and through my scannography fill these spaces with aesthetically pleasing expressions. In a way I am bringing light to areas that people would ignore or neglect to appreciate. 

4. The content of my work is to express the way human subconscious is always looking at places and finding and figuring them out. The visual aspects of my project parallel this statement by juxtaposing sketched scribbles that represent mental processes and thoughts onto blank or nearly empty settings. The contrast of busy and slow creates a feeling of potential energy.

THESIS THEsis thesis

Barbara Kasten // Jean-Francois Carly

Barbara Kasten was born in 1936 in Chicago. She recieved her MFA at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. She was originally a painter and sculpture and later became a photographer to shoot her "environments". With a heavy influence by the Constructivism she explores modes of reorganizing the visual environment. Using geometric shapes, mirrors, glass, lighting gels and a lighting crew recruited from the film industry, she creates abstract interpretations of interior spaces and architectural details. "My thoughts behind the work touch upon perception of where and what we focus on, not so much about spatial relationships... I think of this as an event rather than an abstraction." She feels that abstractions are abstractions away from something such as simplifing a form. In her process she starts with a simple form and adds sculptural and lighting combinations to create a new point of perception.

Jean Francois Carly is a London based fashion photographer. His work is described as romantic and surreal with a subtle elegance and vaporous darkness. Almost every fashion magazine has featured his photography at some in time. These are some of his photos from his Snake series. Here models were stripped naked and given only live snakes to use as accessories. Touché to the models for not freaking out while venomous creatures latched on to their bodies.

Prompt 22

It's only a matter of time before CGI dominates the photography field. Not saying that photography will be completely abandoned but just certain aspects of such as product photography. Lifestyle and photojournalism will never be out done by CG obviously but there is a flourishing potential for what can be done with CG. I would advise up and coming photographers to understand CG and work with a medium that can work with both photography and CG.

http://stage3.com/

Thesis Update

Chuck Close // Siri Kaur // Erwin Olaf

Chuck Close was a photorealist photographer who placed grids over his photographs and then replicated each square through different mediums such as painting or stamps. He was originally a painter and had excellent brushwork but decided to make art 'hard' for himself and ditched his brushes in hopes to find new ways to paint. He states "I chose to do things I had no facility with. The choice not to do something is in a funny way more positive than the choice to do something. If you impose a limit to not do something you've done before, it will push you to where you've never gone before." His grid work copies of photos are what he is most known for.

Siri Kaur applies color filters and chemical drawings to both the photo negatives and positives. She distinguishes what is represented from what might represent it - as her images transform from distant celestial objects into light and ultimately back into physical form. Also she believes a good portrait really comes out when the subject is relaxed since then all of his character comes out. She shoots portraits of people in their own environment doing what comforts the person best instead of taking a subject into her studio which is a foreign land to the subject. 

Erwin Olaf was born in Netherlands and studied at the school of journalism in Utrecht. He takes outstanding studio/location lit photos that show more then just interesting subjects but more of a humorous or strangely set composition. Olaf is more then a photographer, he is a director and sometimes a subject in his own photos. His personal work is what he is best known for because of the imagination and curiosities he captures.

 

http://www.erwinolaf.com/

 

Prompt 20-21

20. Snapshot photography is defined as a quick and spontaneous photos that are usually used to document and capture parts of peoples lives. Snapshots usually tell a story even if the story between 2 snapshots are completely different. Also snapshots aren't always composed or exposed properly. 

21. A. Some things I dont like about my project is how I'm only using things out of my sketchbook to incorporate into photos. Instead of using my sketchbook I could use scanned textures like fabrics or colored papers to layer over parts of the photos.

B. The opposite of my project would be to take photos of cramped areas. Staying away from open/spacious scenes. Not sure what the opposite of the scannograph portion of my thesis would result in, perhaps no scans involved whatsoever.

D. Empty, vast, space, filling, overwhelmed, conscious, mixed, engaging, limitless, mindful, explore, walled, bored, gaps, desolate, vacant, wanting, perceiving, deliberate, crowd, furnish, fix.

G. Shea said it best: filling in empty spaces with the infinite depths of the mind. In other words covering spaces with other materials.

H. Re-edit:

 

Thesis Update