Paul Elledge

The Museum of Contemporary Photography based in Chicago is where I have found several of my artist bloggs recently so I decided to check there again for someone new. I found a long list of photographers under the MPP section (Midwest Photographers Project) and just started clicking at random to see what I would find. I have to say that I must have clicked 25 times before I found one that could hold my interest for more then a few seconds. Now is this a statement on my, as well as current American attention spans? Or is this the realization that fine art photography has just gotten plain boring?

You would think that it would not take 25 clicks to find something worth wile, but it did and Paul Elledge is what I ended up with. While his images are generally something that I would not be interested in, they literally jumped out at me when compared to what they were up against. His images are violently colorful and dramatic. Over stylized and over the top. They represent a new form of photography that I have seen emerging recently; one that pushes the boundaries of reality and photoshop, fact and fiction.

The shots are not groundbreaking and revolutionary, but they possess a certain freedom and understanding that plain documentary photography that we see so much of now days is just well, boring. The images may be a little far off in the other direction of to crazy, but I don't really care. I'm tired of lackluster, unexciting, suffocated photographs that only cause you to reach for that back button in your browser. Straight and documentary photography have their places, and I love and practice them myself, but spitting out the same thing that people have been practicing for decades is getting us nowhere. Remembering the past and building off the masters is important, but at some point there needs to be a break away, a separation.

In conclusion, you go Paul Elledge. You make bizarre, wild, yet well crafted images so that more will follow. I know I will.

Idea

I was MIA over Thanksgiving break and did not have access to the internet, but here were my thoughts during that time.

A simple pizza run with my father on Wednesday night turned into a fairly serious conversation about, of all topics, my life. I really can't say enough how much I respect my parents. Ever since I decided to go to art school and peruse a photography career they have been right there supporting me. I've been through friends experiencing falling outs with their parents over there choices, and even seem some quit. I consider myself very lucky to have parents that are as understanding and supportive as mine are. While my parents will see me through anything, I know that at the same time they look out for my future and want to see me succeed, and this was the basis for my conversation between my father and I.

My Dad has a way of just coming out and saying things, but not being offensive in the process. So that's basically what he did; he came right out and asked me what my plans for after college and more specifically how I would handle things like health insurance. He knows what my rough outline for my after college life is, but we never really talked about it face to face. I told him that I plan to go to New York and make it as a photo assistant for a while, then eventually become my own photographer. While I know that I could do this, things like health insurance were something that I never really though about. Knowing that I will not receive such benefits from a photographer, is it possible for me to achieve such things and be a mostly full time assistant?

Then there's Grad school. It's something that I have not given much thought to yet, but my Dad really pushed it on me. It definitely makes sense for the long term but right now I really have no desire. And if I did go, would I want to go for photography? How about something else like business? If I do go, I would definitely want to take some time away form school at least for a little while and assist. One of my favorite photographers that I met in NY gave me some advice that I see as being very valuable. He said assisting is extremely important, but you have to know when to cut it off. Assisting can get you a steady income, but once you get to the point where you are not learning anymore, its time to move on. He said the jump from making a sustainable income to trying to start your own business is a harsh one, but crucial in the end. I personally met someone who had been assisting for eight years, which is somewhere that I really don't want to end up.

So what do I make of all this? I feel, though it sounds disgustingly cheesy, that I need to find myself. I need to put a little distance between school Patrick and real world Patrick. I may go to NY and find that I hate photography, or I might find it to be exactly what I want. Either way I'm going to do it, and attempt to make the best that I possibly can out of it.

Lina Bertucci

Lina Bertucci creates images that can described as poetic and surreal. Working mainly in sand dunes in California and India, she photographs locations and uses a computer to make digital alterations such as removing people and other landscape objects. She also even rephotographs her images to create even more vibrant and extreme colors and tones. The images blur the line between reality and fantasy and deal with several different concepts. Ideas of religion, nature and life are the central topics in her work.

The images at times appear like they could be studio shots because of the unusual use of light and tone. This only helps to further the sense of surrealism and cause you to question the truth behind each photo. I also really enjoy the way that each of the images have similar compositions and tones. The similar ascetic qualities between each piece help to greatly strengthen the body and.

Idea

After my last meeting I started thinking that showing my work as a dyptics, or tryptics might be the way to present my final project. The awesome find that I made the other day when I put two pieces next to each other inadvertently and was interested in the piece they treated is what lead to this new idea. The thing that I need to explore more is if the images grouped together need to be of the same location, or if similar compositions is enough to put them together. I show this below with an example of each.



The second image of the same location is something that I am going to explore this weekend. I'm going to start by going back to the same location to photograph the space again with the knowledge that I ultimately want to create a multiple image piece. From there the next places that I'm going to shoot I will also apply this way of thinking with hopeful similar results. I think that the ultimate idea here is to be able to unify the spaces so that shots will be able to relate to each other when presented together as one body. Luckily there are still many locations that I want to shoot at, and even more that I know I have not discovered yet.

I've also noticed similarities between the images that I have already shot. In the reflections certain images repeat them selves, such as foliage, streetlights and parking lots. The more similarities that the images have, the stronger I feel they will be. Also there seems to be two types of images, ones that have a vanishing point that and are more information heavy on ether the left or right side, and ones that are bottom heavy and more flat like the first two. Playing up on these similarities is what I'm going to be thinking about when I go out this weekend.

Video Self Crit

The one main thing that I remember I was thinking while standing up there in front of the class with 50 some eyes glaring at me was to stand up straight! When ever I look at pictures or videos of myself more often than not I am slouching over with my back arched and shoulders curved in. Now this is something that mostly I myself only notice but it really really gets on my nerves. So lately I've been making a serious effort to try my best to correct this whenever I catch myself doing it, and I'm happy to report that I exhibited very little slouching in my video. It was nice for me to see this improvement because I know that it is one of my crutches, such as saying 'like' too much, and I'm finally starting to kick it

Next came my little speech. I'm not one for doing copious amounts of preparing when I have to give a presentation, and this time was no exception. I'm not saying that I was totally winging it, but I have a few ideas in my mind that I want to get out, and I let them fall naturally into place. I really can't stand it when someone reads off a card, I might as well just read the card and look at your work, you learn nothing about the artist when they read a prepared statement. Anyway, while I am fairly happy with what I said, I do wish that I would have prepared my thoughts just a little bit more. Not in scripting, but in taking more time to really truly think about what the nature of my work is. Some of the things I said and the way that I answered some of the questions was not really the way that I actually felt, it was more of a slightly nervous answer because I did not completely know the answers to all the questions. Mainly when Tom asked me if I was going for a big picture corporate idea, I said that I sort of am, but am definitely not. I know this will come in time and the more I discuss the work with people the more I will be able to solidify my ideas about this work.

I felt like this was one of the more constructive crits that I have had in a while, in a very good way. A lot of the input from Jeff and Tom raised questions in the work and presented me with new avenues of exploration. The comment jeff made about the differences between the three pieces and how they seem to be three separate directions tied together by visuals was interesting to me. He pointed out that the image of the dry-cleaning and of the printing press are places that someone would generally not look into at night, and really have no reason to based on the nature of the business. Photographing something that is generally not paid much attention to is an idea that is going to stick with me through this project. Tom also commented on the red image's abstractness and how at first the scale was confusing to him, in a good way. The red piece was also the on that received the most input throughout the video, so I feel that it was the most successful. The biggest criticism that I heard the most of on the tape was the Papa Johns sign and it's need for removal. It was pointed out by several classmates as well as Tom, and is definitely something that I overlooked. I think that if I can play off of these pieces strengths as well as their weaknesses and be able build on them with the new Ideas I received so I can really take this project to the next level.

Jonas Burgert

I love a painting that is incredibly striking, to the point where you can basically not look away. I have to say when I stumbled across a Jonas Burgert's painting that is exactly what happened. His dramatic use of vivid neon colors is striking and the monumental scale of the situations he presents is quite amazing. Born and working in Germany, Burgert exhibits his massive wall sized paintings all around the world. 

The sheer amount of information, emotion, color and action is very overwhelming at first. The intricate narratives portrayed are both complex in visuals and in meaning. While generally I'm not one for bleak disturbing art I really do enjoy his work. There's work out there with similar content, but I've never seen anyone that has a style quite like his. Each image to me is like a still from a film scene; they truly do seem alive, but the bizarre use of scale and color keep them from portraying too realistic of a scenario. The last image of the crowd and the toxic waste is especially intriguing i think because of the unconventional cluttered composition. There is a true sense of chaos as your eye moves from character to character trying to piece together the situation that is unfolding in front of you. While the topic is very straight forward and in your face, something about the striking visuals allows me to be ok with the sort of punchline topic of the decline of civilization.

Burgert's work is a textbook example of work that is best viewed in person. It reminds me of a Picasso piece that is in the MOMA, where you really cannot appreciate the work in full until it is viewed up close in full scale in person.

Idea

Sadly I fell ill last week so I did not have a chance to go out and shoot for senior port, but now I am feeling much better and would be able to shoot, but it has been raining excessively for the past few days, even at night. So what I was able to do was shoot in the studio a few times with Kerry for our little side project that we have been working on. I have to say that I have been really enjoying these shoots, they are both fun and informative. We set up a flicker account and have been uploading all of the photos that we took so far. Recently we decided to shoot some product shots, and a perfume bottle and a stream of water helped to create the images we ended up with.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/manaschis

As soon as the rain dies down I'm going to get back out and shoot some more windows. I've decided that I need to gather a bigger image base before I really start to specialize and decide which ones I want to shoot. I shot images recently that were more abstract in that it was difficult to tell what the angle the camera was coming from. During the crit I received the most response from the red image where the scale of the image was questionable, so I felt like that was a solid direction to explore. The saturated light and likeness to a possible factor I felt was what made that image strong, so I will continue to go off that in future shots. I've already found a few new locations, some recommended by classmates, others found through exploration.

I think also that the images that are not of places that are generally looked at during the night are another great place for growth. The spaces that are lit for reasons other than to advertise product are of interest because they call up the question of why they are lit at night in the first place. The spaces and colors that can be cropped and created by looking at these windows is something that can really not be found anywhere else. So many spaces are over photographed these days and I feel like the area between the glass of a window and the interior of the space is an area that has not been explored all to much.

Hopeful the God's will smile upon me and bestow some clear skies upon me so that I can go out and shoot more soon, because I really can not afford underwater housing at this point in my life.

Artist Lecture 11/12: Shimon Attie

Shimon Attie is an artist that creates large scale video and photo installations all over the world. I was a little late and missed his background, but I was there for the better part of the lecture on his current work. While his work was definitely interesting, I have to say that I was turned off by the nature of his lecture and the way that he spoke of himself. I generally try to give each artist the initial benefit of the doubt at first and give the lecture some time before I make my opinion about the artist. But shortly after I sat down I received a different type of vibe from this artist.

While I was not that impressed with the underwater project, I started to enjoy the work with laser writing on the buildings. The idea to use lasers was original and the process was quite interesting to me. I always enjoy and appreciate work that explores the best and most difficult to use technology. I did feel like he played up the fact that a documentary was made about his work, instead of just showing the piece. The stills of the piece I felt were effective enough, and showing a decent amount of the documentary along with the way he described the film seemed like he was trying to hard to show of himself then the work.

The next piece that he showed with the rotating subjects was definitely visually interesting. Again, it was one of those "I would never have thought of that" moment. The means that he took to express the final project were unlike anything I have ever really seen before. But after he would not stop talking about the low resolution of the projector and the inadequacies of the sound system, I just felt turned off. We all know that with any video installation art it is never going to be as affective or powerful as it would be in person with the original set up. I also understand an artist giving a small disclaimer, because obviously its not how they want it to be seen. But when you give a lecture to students and say that you cant even look at the screen, and that the sound system is unbearable its just crossing the line.

I guess when it comes down to it the main quality that I look for in people is humility, and Shimon Attie exhibited a very small amount of it. It seemed like he was more caught up in the celebrity of being an artist, then the actual art itself. The art taken by itself was solid, but it was a case of the artist ruining the pieces by showing his large ego. And there were only 15 minutes allowed for questions because "It's off to the airport after this because I'm going back to New York City."

Olivier Sarbil

Today I thought I would do something totally different and take a look at a photo journalist war time photographer. This is something that I have little to no exposure to so I figured that it is something worth looking at. Olivier Sarbil is a Bangkok based photographer that works for the Associated Press and does assignments in mainly South East Asia. I came across him randomly while looking around on lens Culture. His images exhibit an unusual and haunting beauty that is both amazing to look at, and difficult because of the heavy subject matter. His impressive use of light elevates the photos to a new level above standard war photography.




I think that why I am drawn to these is that I know that this is one form of photography that I will most likely never get to experience, mainly out of choice. While it is some individuals calling to document such darkness and tragedy, I'm sure that I do not share the same fate. That's why these images are so interesting to myself, and so many people. It's clear that Sarbil has a real passion for what he does, and the people that he photographs. The time and care put into each image speaks for itself. I have a lot of respect for someone who goes out and risks their life for photographs, because I'm not sure I could. I love photography, but after looking at images like Sarbil's and others it kind of puts it into perspective weather or not I truly love the camera, weather or not I would die for it. Scary

Idea

To help to fill out my 150 images per week I decided to get a little creative and try to produce some work that I could potentially use for a portfolio, other than what I am doing for class. I've been wanting to work on commercial type work for a while, and I feel like I finally have the time to do both senior portfolio work along with this on the side. I had a conversation with fellow classmate Kerry about getting into the studio and working on building or skills as well as getting some usable pieces out of it. She was definitely on board so on Monday we decided to have our first shoot. We want to start out the first few sessions more as practices, getting reacquainted with the equipment and honing our lighting skills. The idea is to figure out the best ways to light any given subject.

On Monday we showed up with our cameras, and that's about it. We seemed to some how forget to bring something to actually shoot, so I suggested on the fly that we shoot my bike. The goal was to try to light it the best that we possibly could as a test of our knowledge, and I think that we did a quite good job for our first shoot.



The only photoshopped used was to take out the wood block that was supporting the bike in the first shot. We did it in about an hour and a half, and I have to say it was a lot fun. The idea here on out is to alternate coming up with concepts so that we can each peruse our own ideas and be working on multiple projects to maximize creativity. Kerry has worked with a good amount of models before so I don't think that we will have any trouble finding subjects. The second shot with me on the bike looks to me like a Puma add so I think that I might go with that and start trying to come up with new ways to advertise the shoes, just as a start.

I think that this is a great addition to the conceptual work that I am doing for senior port because this helps me to sharpen my tech skills, while my class work furthers my thinking muscles.

Olivo Barbieri

Italian born Olivo Barbieri practices a very unique style of photography through his use of a tilt-shift lens and a helicopter. At first glance his images appear to be of small super detailed models but are actually real life cityscapes that when shot with a tilt-shift lens become very toy like. The incredibly shallow depth of field and altered perspective tricks the eye causing the scale of the image to become questionable. Barbieri is an artist that works with post 9/11 themes, in this case our perception of reality and the false security that Americans had pre 9/11.

The idea of a photograph causing the viewer to question weather reality is being depicted or not is a theme that I have been exploring a lot lately. I've done several artist bloggs about this topic with out even realizing it, so clearly it is a interesting and important topic to me. In a world where everyone has a camera and the image is the main source of information and truth I think the role of the artist to upset this way of thinking and challenge the validity of images is an important one. Since images saturate the media, web and basically our daily life it is important for artists like Barbieri to present an alternate view and cause us to think twice about what it is that we see, in all aspects of our lives.