Photographer Presentation 3: Charles Traub

Charles Traub received his BA from the University of Illinois and his MS from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology. There really isn't much biographical information about him...I believe he lives in NY, as he is represented by two galleries in NY (Gitterman and Daniel Cooney Fine Art. He is the President of the Aaron Siskind Foundation and the co-founder of the here is new york: A Democracy of Images.
The work I will focus on is his "Still Life in America". Here, he has taken images from all over the country and arranged them in a way that each one corresponds to its origin within the US. The images make up the outline of the USA.
The composition of this still life is very distinct, as it is clear what he is trying to display from the arrangement of the images. The compositions of the individual images are very diverse: from landscape, to portrait, to random shots of what ever he thought was interesting (large coca-cola bottle). His intention is clear: to show images from different parts of the world and to arrange them so that they correspond to the area from which they came. His method seems to be that he took many snapshots around the country of what ever he thought was noteworthy, and showed them to his viewers in the shape of the USA. It is almost like seeing the United States through his eyes. This is a cool concept and would be something fun to explore---maybe not taking his idea entirely and making the shape of the USA---but taking images of everywhere we go, so that others can see how we view certain parts of the USA and/or the world.
The diversity in subject matter and content is very interesting---it keeps the viewer clicking on the images, wondering what he/she will see next.
http://www.charlestraub.com/#

Blog #19

Analyze your creative process by answering the following questions.

1. How do you ensure that your work is relevant to you? My work is relevant to me because I am somewhat obsessed with order and symmetry. I like for things to be chaotic, but in an orderly fashion. I believe my images reflect this idea in that they subject matter is random but the overall image is orderly and symmetrical. I also like the idea of abstraction in the sense that you cannot tell right away what the materials are in the image. I like the idea of the viewer wondering what is going on in the image, and I feel like this will occur when viewers look at these.
2. How do you ensure that your work is relevant to the contemporary world? My work is relevant to the contemporary world because I am trying new things in my process and I am exploring new options. I think my idea is a little bit out of the ordinary, so maybe that will apply to the idea of what is contemporary.
3. How do you brainstorm? Do you sketch? Do you use the camera as a brainstorming tool so that you “look” at the world through the frame of the camera and capture bits and pieces of your environment? I brainstorm by writing down my thoughts and ideas of what I think my photos might reflect. I also take pictures in two different ways: I either go in with a vague idea and just shoot and then find the image within the image later, or I decide what I want to shoot then I go shoot it with somewhat of an idea of what I want it to look like. I "sketch" on photoshop by taking pictures and playing with them until I find something that I like. I take careful consideration to frame and composition when I already know what I want to shoot. I like to use the camera as a brainstorming tool sometimes; I like to look through the lens and see what there is around me.
4. Do you combine elements of various media? How do you do this? Do you do it physically with printed images or objects? Do you combine elements virtually in the computer? In the past, I have combined scanned images with images taken with my SLR. I combined these particular images in photoshop. I would like to try this again, or maybe combine film photographs with scans...
5. How does your process relate to your ideas/concept? How does your process relate to your outcome/final pieces? Why are you using digital technology (if you are)? Why are you using analog technology (if you are)? I think my process relates to my idea because I am creating chaotic yet symmetrical and orderly images, and my idea relates to order and self-reflective images. Hmmm...if I am making images that self-reflect, maybe that can relate to me...maybe I can reflect myself more within my images? Maybe the idea that there are multiple sides to everything reflects the idea of why I am reflecting the images four times...I definitely have more than one side to me, and through these images I can prove that there are many sides to everything that can make up a new part of the same thing. Since I have made four different four-piece images out of one single image, I show that different things can come from one thing. Sorry I just had that thought...I am using digital technology, mainly SLR but also the scanner. I think I am using these because it is easier to edit in photoshop with these types of images; I want to try more manipulation with photoshop this semester so I think using digital is a better idea.
6. How do you judge your work? When do you think it “works”? When do you think it is “not working yet”? What criteria do you use to make these decisions? My imagery works, in some ways. I think it is pleasing to the eye, though it is a bit bizarre looking. Some of the images are creepy, and I want to steer away from that. I think the more creepy images are not working and I need to tone them down a bit (maybe with one of the options in photoshop). I don't know if my original idea is working...I believe the self-reflection  of the images is working, but the idea behind it isn't. Maybe the idea I just blurted out (above) is a bit better...I will think about it a bit more tonight and see if it becomes more clear.
7. How do ensure that your work is new, unique, ground-breaking, and/or you are breaking the mold/thinking outside the box/pushing the limits? I am not sure if my work is ground-breaking, but I think it is somewhat unique in that it is different from anything that I have ever seen. I am sure people have made reflective images before, but I think the idea I am developing is different from most things that others have done. I believe I am thinking outside the box in my development of the way I am shooting and the way I am putting images together...I recently stumbled upon an idea for the content of my images, and I think it could be successful...:)

What am I doing?!

Photographer Presentation 2: Tod Papageorge

Born in 1940 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Tod Papageorge is a photographer who began photographing during the New York City street movement of the 1960s. He began taking photographs in 1962 while he was studying English Literature at the University of New Hampshire. He has also headed the graduate photography department at Yale University since 1979. He is the recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships and two National Endowment for the Arts grants. He was also a resident at the American Academy of Rome in 2009.
Tod Papageorge photographed the streets of NYC in the 1960s-70s. While many of his images seem somewhat staged, it is obvious that he pays careful attention to composition in terms of line and placement of subject. His photos have nice contrast and a good range of tonal values. He captures the essence of the lifstyle of living in NYC during that time. The moods of the subjects and the environments surrounding them give us a glimpse of how it must have been to live in NYC in the 1960s-70s. He is successful in capturing the gestures of the people and their every day lives. His motivation seem to be just this, and it is clear that he had an eye for seeing the city of New York and its inhabitants.
http://www.pacemacgill.com/todpapageorge-8-2.html

stop motion with glow sticks

Composition: For the stop-motion, I just chose a basic composition of placing the subject in the center of the frame. I used only the lighting from the glow-sticks, and I chose a black background (dark room) to isolate the glow sticks.

Concept: My general idea for this was to create sort of a "constant wave" of color. I wanted to make it seem as though the colors were moving across the frame and were sort of "pulsing". I honestly just had a bunch of glow sticks in my fun drawer and wanted to do something with them.

Method: To do this, I shut off all the lights in my bedroom and covered my coffee table with a black sheet. I then switched the order of the glow sticks for every frame (5 frames total), then I repeated all 5 of the images several times and put them in Final Cut.

Motivations:  My motivation for this was that I had NO idea whatsoever for this assignment; I had a bunch of glow sticks and wondered "Hmm, what can I do with these things?" I then thought of a pulsing sort of wavelength of color and tried to express that through my stop motion video.

Interpretation: I feel as though I did not get much of a response from the viewers of this video. My roommates thought it was cool and fun, however they have not seen many stop motion videos, so they do not know about the other WAY cooler things that are out there. 

Evaluation: I think I could have done a much better job with keeping the glow sticks in the same position so that the moving looked more smooth. I wonder how others evaluate this work---it is a little strange and elementary, I wonder how I could do it better?

Extension: I would like to work with stop-motion again, but probably not with glow sticks. It would be fun to do a stop-motion drawing or painting exercise.