Photography

Has been taken photos recently, really enjoy it. Had looked through the photos I took from the beginning of this term until now. I can see the progress I made which makes me feel quite pleased. Although we did not learn a lot of about the techniques of using the camera, I do think what we do at this stage is very important. Sometimes cropping and editing can be so interesting, you can come out with something you never expected.

A few photos I am quite pleased with here:

This is my favourite so far. It is cropped from the following photo, how interesting!

I changed this wall

 to this

A few other ones I liked:

Bill Brandt

When I first was told to look at some photographers. I was no idea what to choose. Had been practiced taking photos myself as well as looking at lots of photographs done by professionals, I think I am not that lost now.

Opened Moodle, Bill Brandt's work jumped out to my eyes. 

Bill Brandt (1904-1983) is a German-British photographer, photojournalist. He is well known for his high-contrast images of British society, his distorted nudes and landscapes. He is widely considered to be one of the most important photographer of the 20th century.

 Rainswept roofs 1937

Historians use their pen to tell people about history. Photojournalists use their cameras. For the photograph itself, I think it has a very interesting viewpoint, it is from a 45 degree angles, rather than shot from vertical or horizon view point. Vertical may make the houses forms a strait line, may only can see the roofs. Horizon would get too much view of the houses, which may make less focus on the roofs. 45 degree is perfect, the roofs look like Nomino, very interesting. After rain, light and shadow created a perfect contraction. 

I think this is a landscape photograph, but also a documentary. I always feel this kinds of documentary photographs are very valuable. They are showing you straightly in front of your eyes what the history is like. You may hear bombing behind the silence, you may see war behind this peace, how many stories under each roof?

  

Bus on Battersea Bridge 1940

I feel so peaceful and calm when I see this photograph. I could not imagine there was a war happening. The sky, bridge, river and land forms such a nice shape and contrast. The smooth river and the rough land created another form of contrast. The big faraway faded building and the small but clear lamp post is another contrast. I really like this work. The more I see it, the more I like it.

 

 Nude London 1952

This is my favorite one of his nudes photographs. Pure black and white with a little bit of shadow, 

simple but beautiful shapes. I think this was shot from a lower view, maybe just under her elbow? But I don't understand how Bill Brandt make her neck and the other half of her head invisible. Lights?  

It is so beautiful. The copy of this is on sale for £5875.00! just the copy, wonder how much the original will worth! Sometimes it is hard not to use a money figure to charge a piece of art, especially photographs. I remember from Grayson Perry's talk, he said he asked one of his artist friend what kind of photograph is art and the answer is worth more than 5 figures!!!

Some more photographs from Bill Brandt

 

 

Horst P. Horst

Horst was a German -American fashion photographer. Born in 1906. He was in paris when he was young, befriend with many people in art community and attended many galleries. In 1930 he met a Vogue photographer and became his assistant. In 1937, he met Coco Chanel and since then he photographed for her fashion for three decades.

Horst is best known for his photographs of woman and fashion, also recognized for his photographs of interior architecture and still life.

 The mainbocher corset

This is one of the greatst iconic photographs of the 20th century and one of the Horst's best photographs. When I first saw this photograph, I instantly liked it without knowing whose work it is. Someone said Horst treats her body like a living sculpture. Before I only know female body is the main subject matter of a lot of art works, maybe since ancient Greek time. Now when I look into it a bit more, I kind of know why. It does not need to be sexy. It can be just a kind of pure beauty. the carves, the softness, the motion, everything is in there. Back to this photograph, it is perfect in every way, the position, the light, the contrast, the shadow, the simplicity, the purity, the silence. It is beautiful.

 

This one is the similar one, female body, ballet feeling pose, simple background, good contrast, you can not really see her face, but you can feel her beauty. 

 I chose this one because I know if I was the photographer, I probably would not position her where she is now. I am always not sure about large space left.  But when looking at this photograph, there is actually shadows on the wall and even on the black wooden floor. I probably would not take the shadows and the light into account when I am taking photos. So there is something need to think when taking photos again. The soft long dress, silky feeling, against the hard cold wall, very beautiful.

 

 Barefoot Beauty, 1941

I heard a man said before he just could not look at people's bare foot. I wonder if he can look at this one. They are so beautiful, especially put them beside the sculpture feet. it does not only just produce the contrast. The woman's feet are darker but softer and alive. You do not really need to see the body, you can already feel its beauty, feel the light weight, image her pure face. When i am writing it to here, i suddenly feel that the beautiful thing of this photograph is it leaves you an unlimited imagination space. The beautiful world is there behind this black and white!

A few more:

Louise Bourgeois

Should have write this earlier. But I did not really know what to write after I just came back. The good thing is I have been thinking about her work.

It was such a surprise when I saw the big spider in the center of Mexico City. And it was such a good feeling that I recognized it is Louise Bourgeois' work. I would not know it if I did not come to college. Managed to write a little bit about a few of her work. Not very much. But I think I would like to know more about her and her work. Maybe because she is a female artist. I can feel a lot of feminine elements in her work which is very different from the work of male artist. And I feel she is very emotional. Most of her works maybe are about herself, her life, but they are reflect life itself. She also write. live to age of 98, she must have a lot of thought about life, her life and life itself. She used her way to tell stories, to show her deep soul.

This work is called Maman. I have seen it on TV. It is a huge spider. Wikipedia says it is one of the world’s largest sculptures. It is measuring over 30 feet high and over 30 feet wide.  It was created in 1999.

Maman is a French word for mother. Bourgeois use this spider to elude her mother. She said” spiders are helpful and protective, just like my mother.”

I don’t like spider myself. I get Goosebumps very time I see them. But somehow I like this sculpture. When I walked around it, I can feel the legs are so strong and they are so vividly made and you can feel it can walk or run away. When I was trying to take photos, there were always people around it and underneath it. People are so small beside it. It is such an idea turning a tiny spider to a 10 feet big sculpture. Her mother must be a big and strong figure in her mind.  

The pole pieces are among the earliest fabric work of Bourgeois produced.  The clothes are her old clothes she weared  at different ages of her life. I have thought about the pole series for a little while. When I first saw them, I could not understand them at all. I wondered why it is art. I could not tell what it means. Why did she use the bones as hangers?  The only thing I could feel was the bones are very strong and scary while the silky clothes are very light and pure. So something very light and beautiful is hanging on something very strong and ugly.  A lot of her works are showing balance.  So is this also a kind of balance? On the description, it says that the pole series are her composite self-portraits.

 Each piece of the cloth is hanging on the different height on the pole. Although some is hanging higher and some is hanging lower. Just like your life, some parts maybe brighter, more successful, and happier while some parts maybe gloomier, unsuccessful, and less happy. But whatever, they are all composite of your life. Bourgeois said that her memories were her documents. These clothes form another kind of dairy. And it is so true!

The more I look and think, the more I like these work, especially the idea. But one thing I am still confusing is Louise Bourgeois is famous, her work is art. If I hang my clothes the same way, I am sure nobody will say it is art!

I see now the artist’s eyes and mind are more important and more valuable than their hands!

These two paintings are very interesting. I am not sure if I like them. When I first saw them, I did not understand why Bourgeois replaced the woman’s head by a house.  Later I found some information on the internet.

It says that these painting touch upon the problem of identity of woman. Head replaced by architecture forms resulting in a symbolic condensation of conflict between domestic and sexual roles. Architecture symbolizes the social world that attempts to define the individual, in contrast to inner world of emotion. The tension between figure and architecture mirrors the dichotomy between mind and body. 

“My work is a form of psychoanalysis. It is a way of coming to grips with my anxiety and fears. It is an attempt to be a better person.

“There is a lot of ambivalence in the work. There are many hanging pieces, which signify a fragile state. There are pieces that oscillate and rock, which also convey fragility.

“We all have pink days and blue days. I am trying to seek a balance between the extremes that I feel. I want to be reasonable.

“I think many things that are going on in the world today feed into the work, but many times unconsciously. My work is not an illustration of anything but rather it expresses an emotional state, good or bad.

“The form, the content and the material are entwined. They are inseparable from what I want to say. Each material offers different possibilities of expression. It is like playing a piano in different keys. I have no interest in materials as such, and I don’t privilege one over the other.

    “The only obligation we have is to express what we feel to the best of our ability. It must be true and it must be authentic.”

Some other works:

A few Mexico Photos

I took hundreds of photos when I was in Mexico. If i had this unit a bit early, |I would think more when I took those photos. Now when I look through them, I see problems. And some of the problem can not be fixed by software. So you have to  be very careful and patient when you are taking photos.

This is he Palacio de Bellas Artes in the center of  Mexico City. I went on the highest building in the city and got this view. I cropped it and change the color. I only wish I did not take the lamp post in. Now I could not crop it out. 

This building is on the central street. I cropped out the the building on both side but changed it back. I think I should stand further so that the whole building wound not look like going backward. 

This is one of the most famous Maya Ruins. I like this photo. And I like the color I changed which make you sense the heavy of the history and feel the old of its age. 

This is also in the Maya Ruins. It is really beautiful. But when I see this photo, I feel I did not stand on the right position. This photo could not really show how you would feel when you are standing in front of hundreds of thousands of  years old stone columns. Can not go back again!

These two photos are the same street. But they show completely different feelings.   I like them both. I just wish I hadn't take these two cars in. 

Martin Waugh

Looked through the links from Moodle, and saw these beautiful liquid photographs. www.liquidsculpture.com

 These work are done by Martin Waugh, who was born in the USA and now lives in Poland. I don't know how famous he is, but his work is so beautiful. On his website, he titled himself as father, engineer and artist. I like this, first of all , he sees himself as a father!

There are many this kind of photos. They are just simply amazing. On the website, it says" by varying the size, speed and position of drops, as well as the color, viscosity, and surface tension, Martin creates a panorama of color, movement and intrigue."

I guess there must be a lot of techniques involved. But Martin says, most of the camera can do the job. He said he uses fairly typical high-speed photography techniques. I don't quite understand the details he talked about yet. He also talked about the light and the liquid. I wish some day I can have the ability to try.

These photos tell you that nature is so amazing. And liquid, you cannot even hold it, but Martin calls it sculpture. Everything has its life, even if it only exits for that little tiny moment. And the great artist can just capture this moment, makes it as possible as a sculpture and exist for ever.

Phil Borges

This term, we started photography. That is something I always want to learn, but always feel so hard. Guess i was wrong before. Because I always think I cannot work my camera, I don't know all the techniques and skills. But actually the truth is you need to have the eye. This is more than anything else. But this is also make me feel nervous. Techniques and skills are just there, you can learn, even if it may take a long time. But the "eye", is uncertain. There maybe not right or wrong, it all depends on your personal judgement and your artistic accomplishment. let's wait and see how it will go.

Phil Borges(born 1942) is a social documentary photographer and filmmaker. For over twenty-five years he has been documenting indigenous and tribal cultures, striving to create an understanding of the challenges they face. His work is exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide.

Yama 8

This little girl not only caught my eyes, she caught  my heart. From the photo itself, I think by using the far away mountain and the high sky as background, makes the little girl really stand out. The whole figure is very natural. Her cloth, her hair, don't need to be tidied up, her face, her hands don't need to be cleaned. This is her, a 8-year-old little Tibetan girl, under the sky, firm and strong. I was so sad, maybe because I am a mother myself. She is so far beyond her age. Childhood, does not equal to happiness, no worries and toys to every child. A good photograph can make such a strong statement. It does not need a word, but it shows you a different world!

Pemba 4

Again, such a beautiful a little girl! Can you see she is only 4?  Maybe her little body, but definitely not her eyes. This one, Phil Borges did not use so much sky as background, which make the whole photo a bit softer than the one above. But she is only 4, the expression on her face is the same that so much beyond her her age. The photo makes me feel I want to go there, I want to hug her, I want to help. Such a good photo!

Jigme 8, Sonam 18 months

I almost cried when I put this photo here. My son is just past his 9th birthday. What can I say? I need to take him there and I will.