Tuesday, February 19

Today we began our photography unit by comparing and contrasting several photographers. Henri Cartier-Bresson, a French photographer who photographed throughout the 20th century, was discussed. Cartier-Bresson captured humans in various dimensions of everyday life. Among his most famous, “Behind Gare St. Lazare” features a man that appears to be jumping over water on tracks. The photo is striking in that everything, including the man and the background, is mirrored. His photos provide an intimate look into everyday life.

We also looked at Cindy Sherman’s photographs. Sherman only photographs herself, but each photo features her styled to appear as someone else. Many of her photos are modeled after the old “Hollywood glamour” style. In each of these photos, there is something awkward about her appearance. Perhaps her images are meant to make viewers question the way that women are portrayed. Her photography is important for showing the view that photos can be used to portray a deeper message.

Chapter 1 and 2
KEY WORDS/PEOPLE
*Cindy Sherman- An American photographer born in 1954. She started in 1970s as an art student. She is best known for her conceptual self-portraits and her “Untitled Film Stills” where she places herself as an unnamed actress in shots reminiscent of foreign films, Hollywood movies, B-movies, and film noir. In each of these photos, she has a slight look of anxiety. Her more recent work includes images where she poses as a clown. She is interested in the visual identities of women. She is more conceptual and uses photography as an art in an attempt to express a point of view.

*Photography-is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor. Traditionally the product of photography has been called a photograph.

*Performance art- is art in which the actions of an individual or a group at a particular place and in a particular time constitute the work. It can happen anywhere, at any time, or for any length of time. Performance art can be any situation that involves four basic elements: time, space, the performer's body and a relationship between performer and audience. Performance art genres include body art, fluxus, happening, action poetry, and intermedia. An example is Yoko Ono.

*Snapshot aesthetic- refers to a trend within fine art photography in the USA from around 1963. The style typically features apparently banal everyday subject matter and accented framing. Subject matter is often presented without apparent link from image-to-image and relying instead on juxtaposition and disjunction between individual photographs.

*Vernacular photography- refers to the creation of photographs by amateur or unknown photographers who take everyday life and common things as subjects. Examples of vernacular photographs include travel and vacation photos, family snapshots, photos of friends, class portraits, identification photographs, etc.

*Environmental Portrait- a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings.

*Fine art photography- refers to photographs that are created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism and commercial photography. We can see this by looking at Ansel Adams' work of Yosemite and Yellowstone. He is one of the least disputed fine art photographers of the 20th century.

*Abjection- literally means "the state of being cast off." The concept of abject exists in between the concept of an object and the concept of the subject, something alive yet not. In contemporary critical theory, it is often used to describe the state of often-marginalized groups, such as people of color, prostitutes, homosexuals, convicts, poor people and handicapped persons. The concept of abject is often coupled (and sometimes confused with) the idea of the uncanny, the concept of something being "un-home-like", or foreign, yet familiar. An example is a corpse, namely that of a loved one.

*Henri Cartier-Bresson- a French photographer who lived from 1908 to 2004. He is considered to be the father of modern photojournalism and the master of candid photography. He helped developed the style of “street photography” that influenced generations to come. Of his most famous, “Behind the Gare St. Lazare”. This photo captures the moving action of a man…it seems random, but also seems to have taken some thought (everything is mirrored). He felt that a decisive moment is when “insight into people at same time that formal elements come together in interesting ways”. He has a great deal of faith in the world and was more of a documentary photographer.

*Documentary Photography- usually refers to a type of professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur or student pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people. The pictures usually depict a certain perspective of the photographer.

*Candid photography- photography that focuses on spontaneity rather than on technique, on the immersion of a camera within events rather than focusing on setting up a staged situation or on preparing a lengthy camera setup. Best described as photography that is un-posed and un-planned.

*Street photography- a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions, and other settings. Uses techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of something, like holding a mirror to society. An example is Cartier-Bresson.

*Photojournalism- a particular type of journalism that creates image in order to tell a news story. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography by the qualities of timeliness, objectivity, and narrative. Fenton’s images of the Crimean war, for example.

*Magnum Photos -is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo. According to co-founder Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually." It was founded in 1947 in response to World War II experiences.

*Rule of thirds- is a compositional rule of thumb in photography and other visual arts such as painting and design. The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph. Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the photo than simply centering the feature would.

*Golden Ratio- In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller. At least since the Renaissance, many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio—especially in the form of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the golden ratio—believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing.