sametime 1:04

I have not posted anything about the "sametime 1:04" project because it does not influence me what so ever.  The idea is taken directly from our film photography teacher from last semester, Michael Lease.  I actually find it quite rude to directly steal someone else's project.  I would not be happy to know that someone else is redoing what I just finished doing.  Just changing the time from 7:30 to 1:04 does not make it a new project.  It's still a copycat.  Why not change other aspects of the project as well?

first friday 3/6

I have been meaning to post this up to my blog for a few weeks now, but my password slipped my mind for a bit. Anyways...

I was really excited to finally attend a First Friday.  I have not been able to attend any since the first month of freshman year because of my various jobs.  My plans once again got ruined because of a dinner rush at Kitchen 64, but really we should have just gone out to eat earlier.  Oh well.  I ended up visiting various galleries on Monday of spring break.  Little did I know that most galleries are closed on Mondays.... but a few doors were unlocked, so it kind of felt like a VIP tour being with only 2 other people viewing the displayed art.  I visited both ISHQ and Quirk.  ISHQ was the first gallery I visited, and I was impressed by the intricate patterns and details put into some of the textiles.  I like how they separated the various types of art; the paintings were displayed together, and the textiles were displayed together in another location.  I believe I was most drawn to all of the little random pots, stamps, and books that were underneath the paintings.  I felt as if they were little tidbits of inspiration that the artist took, and we just got a little glance into his/her world.  The woman that was in the gallery was very nice to us and answered any and all questions.  Overall it was an excellent atmosphere to appreciate art work in a medium that I am not necessarily all that familiar with.

We then adventured over to Quirk gallery, which I found quite interesting.  The front section of Quirk is basically a little store, and then it transformed into a traditional gallery setting (white walls, open space, etc), and then again into a chaotic little store.  I was a little confused by this meshing of appreciating art and buying souvenirs.  It did not bother me when we first walked in, because I was very, very interested in all of the handmade jewelry.  I am such a sucker for jewelry.  After pulling myself away from the objects that frequently do much damage to my wallet, I found myself viewing art work by my advisor for school, which I found quite delightful.  I did find much repetition in her work, which is not always a bad thing.  I know that sometimes there are things that one interprets many different ways, and that can be displayed through a simple color change or switch in direction of the detailed feet and hands that she created.  I found all the details and intricacy of these little drawings to be beautiful displayed against what looked like dyed pieces of ripped paper.  After viewing Susan's work, I ventured back farther into Quirk to find yet another little store.  This time I was not pulled into its tricks.  I did not find any of the objects to be worth buying, or even looking at.  It seemed like souvenirs, manufactured things that do not really mean anything to anyone.  I would much rather see something like the front of the store, with handmade objects and crazy colors and patterns, in which you can see the passion and time that the artist put into the object.  After Quirk gallery, we ventured around for a little longer, only to realize that most galleries really are closed on Mondays.  I have already called off work for the next first friday, and hopefully I will be able to get the actual Richmond first friday experience.

Amy Stein artist lecture

I went into this lecture with a positive outlook on things, since I really enjoyed the last lecture I attended.  I was initially very impressed to hear about the awards and other titles she has gained through her photography.  

When Stein began explaining how she got into photography, I lost a lot of respect for her.  She came into photography because she could no longer do what she really wanted to do, which was something with politics and the internet.  She made it seem like anybody could be a photographer, and that really offends me.  I've known that I have wanted to be a photographer for about four years now, and it's my passion, not what I'm gonna do when nothing else works out.  The latter is what I feel Stein expressed.  I'm not saying that her photography is bad, some of her photos were actually quite pleasant and interesting to look at.  It is the fact the she expressed that she is a random and late bloomer to photography that really threw me off and gave me a negative bias on the rest of her presentation.

In her series "domesticated," I was initially interested in the concept of humans and nature combining and clashing.  I then came to realize that all of her photographs were based off of stories from the people in the town.  I don't find that creative at all.  I didn't see the artist in the work, I saw the story.  I feel as if she's one of the top fifteen emerging photographers in the world, then she should be able to add a little bit more creativity to her work rather than just the literal interpretation of a story that's not her own.  I felt it was very unnecessary and repetitive to tell us every single story of every image as they came on the screen.  Her work cannot stand without some kind of explanation, which is good for a book with text, but not a gallery, or a presentation.

I found the idea of her "stranded" series very interesting, and I would, someday, love to be able to approach random people and take their photographs as she did.  I don't feel as if it is the safest method to find random people, but obviously it worked out for her. I found some of the photos from this series interesting, such as the shots of the children, yet I felt as if some of them were repetitive.  Car, road, person.  I would appreciate some weird angles or a higher or lower perspective to change up the very constant viewpoint.

When the end of the lecture was coming close and questions were being asked, I was very thrown off by one of her responses.  I don't even remember what the question was, but I do remember her responding with an "I don't know" numerous times.  It wasn't a difficult question, and it was directly related to her work.  Not having an explanation for a key point in your work is not a good thing, especially in a presentation to a room full of photography students.

Overall, I personally don't find Amy Stein to be a strong, independent artist.  I see her work as solely depending on the actions of other people.  This is not a good way to live as an artist.  People and things don't always do what you want them to do.  I wish she had more work to show us that would actually show Amy Stein, not a story.

paul shambroom artist lecture

Since I was not too thrilled with the turnout of the last artist lecture I attended, I was a little nervous coming to see Paul speak. I found his ideas interesting, yet not something I would ever be interested in capturing myself. They seemed like such huge ideas and I feel like it could be interpreted or shown visually in many ways.

I did really enjoy viewing his work. Every time he would show something new, I thought, wow this is definitely my favorite part of his work. But that kept changing as he showed us more if his projects. I just couldn’t pick one that I liked the best. Now that I’ve thought about it for a few days, I believe that I enjoyed his pictures of the corporate office spaces, as he showed cut off objects and sections of things that one would not usually focus on. This somewhat abstract style is very intriguing to me.

The pictures of the small town city council meetings made a huge impact on me. I added a photo of one of the meetings on this blog. Shambroom’s work, and his note about being influenced by Cartier Bresson, has actually influenced me to do something similar for my film photography class. The idea of working with people but not telling them what to do, yet capturing them exactly as they are and off guard as well is very interesting to me and I will be experimenting with this concept for the rest of the semester. I like the idea of photographing someone when they are off in their own little world.

I particularly enjoyed the fact that Paul Shambroom didn’t just come in and say something like, “here’s my stuff, and this is why I did it.” He included the audience into his discussion. I feel like I learned a lot about actually being a photographer by hearing him speak. He discussed the problem of getting access in certain places, and how we should deal with these things. He also asked if we were all photographers, and I feel as if that put him and the audience on a more understanding level.

Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Shambroom speak and show his photographs. I feel as if he is a man with big ideas and knows all the little secrets to get what he wants. I will definitely be using his work as an influence for my own personal work.

alix pearlstein artist lecture

Alix's lecture was the first artist lecture I have attended at VCU, so I didn't really know what to expect.  I believe that she was very well spoken and had some really good base ideas to build her work on.  I am new to the whole aspect of understanding performing art, so I was a bit confused while viewing her work.  I personally thought that it looked quite amateur and I was not wowed or moved.  I think since I am new to this type of art, I don't understand it, thus I do not necessarily like it.  Everything in the videos just seemed too simple compared to her explanation about her work.  I thought that her later work was much better than her earlier work, as it got a little more intricate with the overall scene and camera movements.  One thing that really bugged me though was the fact that you could see the camera people at numerous times during the videos.  I just think that looks bad and it seems more like a mistake than an intended part of the scene.  I believe I need more exposure to this type of art, and then maybe I can appreciate it more.

stiff lace 1/24/09

When I first stepped into Rumors, I was pleased by the set-up, since it's such a small store.  The pictures were placed in a way where you could be viewing some part of the work where ever you were standing, and everybody was not all huddled around one place.  

My eyes were immediately dragged to the larger pictures with the window frames over them.  I understood what Janissa was going for before I even read her artist statement solely by viewing those few window frame pictures.  I got a very dreamlike feeling.  I am incredibly attracted to the texture on the bodies of the models, perhaps it was paint? Or maybe it is a layer on photoshop. I am very interested in such a thing because I have personally just started experimented with putting patterns and gradients over human skin on photoshop, and I thought she did it wonderfully.  I feel as if these photos are very mysterious and sexual, yet not too obvious about it.

I included the picture that I was moved by most.  This is not the actual version shown at Rumors, as that one had much more photoshop detail as to make it look like a dream, and of course, the window frame.  When I was viewing it at the show, I wished I could see it out of the frame.  Now that I have seen it out of the show, I feel as if its not as powerful for me. 

All of the surrounding pictures were not as memorable for me.  I did enjoy viewing them, but I believe the window frame pictures take the cake.  I felt as if the supporting pictures were a mixture of school work and personal life, which I really appreciate because I could see the parallels and differences between the two.  I feel as if the randomness and obscure angles of the photos all tied into her "dream" theme.  Overall, I felt as if it was a successful show, and I would go see more of her work if I had a chance to.