Thinking about your Guide Photos and your "Introduction"
- I plan to take photo's of people in the middle of deep thought. I'll work to capture the specific moment in time when people are in a day dream haze. Not only are these people day dreaming but are unconsciously contemplating and "taking in" their world around them and evolving personal perceptions without even realizing it; this is called Meta-cognition.
- The photo of Stieglitz milk bottle on the fire escape identifies a subtle aspect of contemplation. Instead of using people, his use of objects show his process of thinking. Taking a picture and placing the bottles on the fire escape with buildings of other fire escapes in the background is his own meaning of realization, compelling a simple yet distinct beauty of everyday life. The camera angel also suggests his view of awareness approaching the image he is trying to portray. Stieglitz really idolizes this scene because his view is thought out with a casual comforting feel to the naked eye- it does capture how the photographer (Stieglitz) value/interests rub off on the photograph, and how the actual context and material makeup of what is being shown represents importance and gilded beauty.
- The difference of Stieglitz beauty that is shown in the milk bottle/fire escape photo compared to a sunset by an ocean is that Stieglitz view is more of a subtle analytical beauty instead of a the sunsets prominent/straight forward beauty. Stieglitz intentions are to identify a scene that COULD be beautiful to the naked eye if given the chance to be noticed as so; instead of the familiarity of beauty in a sunset setting over a calm ocean. Both images hold a bold and meaningful statement of their own in which is up to the viewer to analyze, except, follow as something uniquely beautiful depending on the setting.
- Walker Evens beliefs are similar to my own. He is a man that saw the reaction, expression, human existence of others when in their deepest trance of thought. I find this very fascinating because we all do it whether we're conscious of it or not, most of the time its a day dream that turns into a form of realization or (my favorite phrase) meta-cognition. Capturing people off guard in a photograph is an example of "pictures say a thousand words"; because of this idea, the viewer has to read a persons feeling through expressive detail. The viewer may not know WHAT the person is directly thinking but can understand the context of the "message" being sent and translated. Brassi is a famous photographer and declares the belief that trapping subjects off guard, "in the erroneous belief that something special will be revealed about them." (Susan Sontag, Pg 36-37).
- Diane Arbus intentions to "befriend" "freaks of nature" was an experiment for her own personal intrest. She realized that these "freaks" are the people of society who ACCEPT their odd ways and embrace it. To Diane Arbus, these people showed her a whole new world of reality- aside from the reality she was USED to living. Arbus quoted, "one of the things I felt I suffered from as a kid was that I never felt adversity. I was confined in a sense of reality...And the sense of being immune was, ludicrous as it seems, a painful one." Adversity is "a condition marked my misfortune", to Arbus her neieveness amongst this issue was her pain. Taking photographs of these individuals of adversity, "freaks", made her recognize, for herself, the unnoticed people of society and differences that they bring to society, instead of following the "status quo" of beauty and nobleness of society's social norm.
- I hope to have my viewer understand the concept of meta-cognition and consider it as a way to "reveal" an emotional inception upon themselves and others. Not only do I hope for this, I inspire, recommend people to look though the eyes of others and to have a better understanding of the world around them, in bettering their own perceptions as maturing individuals.
- I want my relationship between the subjects and myself to be comfortable and serene. I want my subjects to feel as though they can honestly express themselves to me the same way they would if i weren't present taking their photograph. I am willing to be open minded and talk to them before, so they understand my true intentions are based off an appropriate level instead of a forceful photo shoot. I want to admittedly capture the fertile feeling hidden beneath the surface the person.
- Depending of the message that the specific photographer is trying to get across, having actual people in a photo does add characterize to the photograph in sending a "message". Viewers than can relate or criticize each other to analyze on a deeper level to understand the image better.
- I believe it is important to have BOTH large scale and close up scales, because it gives importance to the photographer in having more options to expand his/her meaning of their topic, message, idea. However, depending on the actual message, specific scales may be appropriate for that use theme.
