Reading Ch. 8,9,10

Ritchin! In the last three chapters Ritchin’s ability to reiterate himself for a multitude of pages is amazing, however I feel that this book does get its’ point across…the future is kind of scary. It reminds me of my social and political philosophy class of last winter and the idea that we are creating and building and expanding but not paying too much attention to what may be the effect of our expansion.

Now we are in a digital world and just like Ritchin’s analogy to quantum physics, no one understands what is going on: “I think I can safely say that no one understands quantum physics” as stated by Richard Feynman. It’s true no one really knows what is to come or what to do about what has already happened. Though it gets old reading about Ritchin’s love for hypertext, I suppose I am please that at least he is trying.

Especially since the book draws to an end on the most morbid of points, including that horribly depressing quote by Brian Enon who states that all that is left for us humans to do is “Cheat. And lie.” I am not sure if it is better to accept what is happening as fact with no desire of altering the future as Brian Enon feels, or to fight a battle that seems hefty and completely overwhelming. I mean I do not want a camera in my head, or a cyborg Jasmine of any sorts, I value me and tangible things like books and letters and receiving mail…metal and computer people are so unromantic!

Alternatively, I found chapter 8 a little more thought provoking on my part because I can’t say how I feel about being surveillanced all the time. I know that when I get to work at stores that do not have cameras I feel much more at ease knowing that no one is seeing everything I do, and it is not a matter of doing things wrong or immoral it’s just that anything can be misconstrued via a tiny video with little to no detail. The risk seems higher to be wrongly accused of any one things, I truly dislike the feeling but do have a contradicting affinity about having some kind of evidence, but why I feel that way I cannot say. I have yet to need our store videos to prove anything, which goes to show how useful they’ve proven to be. I also hate the secrecy around the whole thing, for we can never watch the videos unless we are store managers, which I am not, thus for helping me very little. But then on the flip side there are things such as the “Digital Diary: Witnessing the War”, which really made a lot of people happy and comforted, even able to see some loved ones after their death.

I seem to be a whole step behind Ritchin since there sure are many pros to mass and multimedia and yet so many cons, and in the end I feel the need to simply tip my hat to the man for at least trying. I assume he became so repetitive towards the end because really there is not a whole lot more to say except to emphasize the fat that a scary problem does exist and it would be great if more people were aware of their actions so as to buy, act and shoot more thoughtfully.

SCANNING!

ICE 7 Part 2

Stair Step:























Perfect Resize:

Face Your Pocket

ICE 7 Upsampling

400 %: above

110 % x 6: below

ICE 6

Fluid Mount:

Reading Ch. 7

If you must know, I truly enjoyed this chapter…maybe as a result of today’s discussion my taste for Ritchin’s ideas has become more to a liking of sorts. I suppose that this chapter gets to a really particle and clear point: photographs can be many things (art, propaganda, information, lies, etc.) but what if we took a medium and utilized it for world betterment?

Now, I am not an idiot it is not as though the idea wasn’t in my mind, but hearing Ritchin talk of the actual changes that have been made for the betterment of the world via photography has taken me out of the “fine art” concept and into a whole new realm of thinking.

I suppose I can understand a little more the frustration with how the medium has been “abused” over the years (or at least misunderstood. It seems photography live in this magical land of the undecided, no one knows what exactly to do with it, how to love or hate it or even quite how to utilize the practice) and I agree using the medium to make societal changes is fantastic, but I am just not so sure when and where “hypertext” is necessary and not intrusive to the author. I actually still really dislike the idea of the hypertext, but do believe finding a way to prove some important images creditable is an important step in the right direction for our future.

Furthermore, it seems fairly evident that images taken from an insider’s point-of-view would be much different than that of a foreigner’s, but that seems to be part of the magnificence of photography for the perspective is half of the image. However, those images may seem of such a bore when in the context of the local papers and magazines themselves, but proves evident that whatever the editor is looking for should be the basis for who s/he chooses the photographer and how they demand that person pursue the story.

Reading Ch. 6

Philosophy is one of my utmost favorite subjects, the intense observation of the unobserved is truly a mind-boggling phenomenon that more often than not leads me to a break down of some sort. With that said, it seems as though this book is Ritchin’s breakdown about the twenty-first century and its’ digital media monsters.

This chapter seems to get right to the core of Ritchin’s main dilemma, which is neither photography nor digital media per-say, it is that the human race is lazy and willing to accept any information with little to no proof of its validity. Ritchin does not necessarily see photography as the problem nor does he hold the mass digital media explosion responsible, he sees the human response and eager acceptance of an easy road to all information as the actual problem. This is most justified through Ritchin’s continual support and advertising for the “hypertext”. Hypertext is a means to make people search and tediously work to find answers to the issues of the world instead of allowing a news station and government to form public opinion.

Though I support his desire to promote a more aware public/society, it seems like quite the undertaking to readjust an entire way of thinking via more work for the individual. He said that one woman spent four hours upon his and Peress’s photo essay navigating to and fro, but who as time for that? Part of the reason things are the way they are with the internet and speed and fast-food is because very few people have time between work, family and maintaining a social life to follow a treasure map to the news, which is probably one main reason very few people read the newspaper, there is always a short-cut that is usually online. I understand wishing people to be more attentive and care about what is true, real and actual but an advanced search seems as equally negative as a quick snap shot of information.

Furthermore, photography by default falls into this category attributing to America’s laziness, but taking away ownership from fine art or even just a photograph seems to have many more downfalls than not. Artists spend vast amount of time thinking and rethinking how to display and exhibit their work, be it in a gallery setting or on a simple poster, but allowing others to readjust the artist’s intentions to fit their liking seems to devalue the art and the artist themselves. The original point of owning or viewing a person’s work is to react with what has been given; if you want to alter artwork make that a piece of work in and of itself, don’t deface and or take ownership of someone else’s intentions.

Reading Ch. 3

Ritchin speaks of travel in the strangest but potentially truest of ways. His idea about people sending images and doing emails is an idea I do not quite relate, but I can say that when I went home to see my family for Christmas I did facebook my life in my free time, which I assume equivocates to emailing the world of my travels. What I find most disturbing of Ritchin’s “suggestions” about how to solve these issues of which he speaks is that there is no real resolve necessary at this moment. However, even more than that I really dislike the idea of have someone basically Photoshop themselves into tourist places as a means to achieve their “I was here photo”. I love the idea of traveling for the sake of travel with no need to “capture” the moment: I traveled to many concerts and different places in Oregon this summer and found it more important to experience the experience than trying to struggle to keep it for visual recall later. In fact the one time I did this was at a Modest Mouse concert with my sister, she was visiting for the summer and it was her very first concert so for her sake I figured I’d bring my fish eye and have some lasting memories…my memories consist of struggling with film while some girl in a dress drunkenly got on and off some man’s shoulders, only to be followed by my backpack getting stolen some days later with all our “memories” in the bag…I don’t try to save the moment much anymore.

Despite the trauma of the entire event I would rather have no image than a standard image that I just place myself in some weird pre-trip travel log. This really speaks to what Barthes refers to in Camera Lucida as the awareness of the “posed” and the “operator”. The event of actually posing for the camera and/or actually looking through some square and pushing a button of any sort is in itself an event. It gives people the opportunity to attempt to portray them in any way they like at that particular moment.

Furthermore, it seems that somewhere along the lines of photographic history observers have been under the impression that photography creates a “real” world, a truth, but that has never been the case as Paul spoke to about the cannons in Fenton’s The Valley of Death, and especially as seen through Jerry Uelsmann’s work. The magic of photography is that it creates a myth, a seemingly real event or visual that lends a comfort that more is possible. It is as though we live in this world that as Ritchin states, we live with “a sense that disbelief is the only antidote to a spiraling chaos that none of us can do anything about.” It is as though we look to the power of photographs to portray something fantastical as some look to a religion and/or a God, something that says we still have something more than what is presented in our reality, and this works to create a “truth” because we assume there at least at some point was the operator to take the basic photo even before it was manipulated so it must always be part truth…

Ring Aroung the Ring Around!

Reading Ch. 5

Ritchin says a lot of things, expresses many bold ideas and statements but most importantly has some amazing points that cut right to the heart of the practice that is photography. The term practice seems to greatly encapsulate that of which Ritchin believes has dissipated over the years. When one thinks of a “practice” they associate a task that provokes much work mentally and/or physically, they think of a task that requires much attention and repetition such as practicing for a sport. Most persons realize that the term “practice makes perfect” is not a fallacy for more often then not practicing football, painting, drawing, mathematics, photography, etc. results in better skills and overall results in that field.

With that said, it seems that Ritchin recognizes that the advancement of photography from analog to digital is mainly causing a bypass away from a magical practice. Time is being lost and gravely taken advantage of through the new process of digital; every person, place and thing can be altered and remastered in a matter of minutes.

Ritchin best expresses this when saying, “In previous conflicts, photographers would ship film once a week or so, often not knowing what the images looked like until months later. Uncertain of their success they had to work more intuitively and, one can argue, more expansively.”

This intuitive nature is what has been lost over the years through the digital transfer, even in my own work. I love analog with all my soul but the process is that for persons who have much more time than me. The process is much more expensive when considering the paper, film and developing, yet the process on the other hand all the more worth it for the magic of seeing an image appear upon the silver coated paper. The waiting, readjusting and waiting again is one of many aspects that make analog photography a practice. Digital takes a day process of developing and compresses it into minutes.

It seems as though most of an American’s daily life is focused upon the fantasy of minutes and time, a concept we’ve manipulated to suffocate the spontaneity out of our souls. I am equally distraught with our desire to speed the world along, why not take time to enjoy the planet we so quickly destroy?

ICE # 5

Split Toning:
























Selective Color:

ICE #4:

Reading Ch. 4

Art is ambiguous, which is where much of its magic and power derive. One of the most magnificent aspects of art through means of photography, paint, sculpture, digital works etc. is its ability to simultaneously express a multitude of ideas, motifs and themes to any and all viewers in a created and undefined realm of “reality”. With that said the idea of deconstructing an image into a variety of simplified explanations for the viewer’s comfort and enjoyment is sick.

It is not an artist’s responsibility to explain their work to any average Joe browsing the internet, for high art and any work that is to be considered art cannot and should not be dissolved into simple pretexts for the viewer’s convenience. Taking away the mystery of the work and not allotting viewers to wonder and contemplate the information being displayed/expressed creates a void where conceptual art, paintings and all other art forms are concerned. In respect to photography, much of its magic lay within its ability to create images that lead to questions of the possibilities of the actions within the image, thus for leading to deeper thought and contemplation which leads to personal discoveries, opinions and emotions. Just because people take something too far does not mean that the entire practice needs a referee, as I always say, “hate the player not the game”. :)

Even though one may view this idea of “hypertext” as innovative and a safe guard against…mal-photo practice or deception, how is this person living if they need all things spelled out for their understanding and comfort? It seems as though the world is a mine and all one can do is protect themselves the best they can shuffling through the advertisements, political pressure and government propaganda: this “hypertext” is just someone’s desire to know all without any really work or thought.

Though the idea of citing an image and shattering it into smaller, clear-cut, explained pieces seems mainly applicable to journalism, it seems that once the ball gets rolling it could apply to other such things such as high art, which is absurd. The fantastical of art of any medium and form lay in its mystery and ambiguity, which is easily destroyed if this “hypertext” were to become a practicing entity of the daily world.

B+W Conversions

Method #1 Method #2

ICE: Naturalistic, Hyped, Low-Key

Naturalistic:

Hyped:

Low-Key:

ICE #2: Color Ring Around

Reading Ch. 1 & 2

Spoken so eloquently the other day in class Paul mentioned his perspective upon transition and the nostalgia to remain where one feels most excited and happy, for lack of a better expression. Not only did I completely understand and relate to this idea of staying static, but I also feel this is very much where Fred Ritchin is coming. His writing within the first page of his text is extremely aggressive leaving one with the feeling of nearly being attacked.

Though I agree with what he has to say about the chaos of the present technological advancements and destruction we have caused upon this planet and its people throughout the years and inventions, it appears that Ritchin is hyper sensitive to the situation that is the digital era.

After taking the history of photography, it appears that Ritchin is as hysterically afraid of technological advancements as Hitler was of Dada. These expressions of art are different and new, but it does not mean the end of all that is important to photography and that which makes it known as photography.

The practice is ever altering as everything else in our daily lives and taking the bitter approach that all is going to be lost to a sea of advertisements and persons who lack the drive to appreciate and understand great art work has been a struggle since Talbot took The Open Door in 1844, and when Modernist began creating works that were skewed and different.

It seems that the new and unfamiliar is always unsettling but that is all the more reason to explore and discover as Talbot did of the calotype, Watkins did of Yosemite and Muybridge did of motion.

ICE 1: Past Work/Future Aspiration

ICE 1: Past Work/Future Aspirations

Color. I recently fell in love with color as a result of me understanding the power of which it holds. This realization, though seemingly obvious to many became evident when I brought an image to fruition I had been pawning over for many months. The National speaks of a lemon-world and events that take place in that space. The image of a woman ever so elegantly lying on the table with flowers in her mouth, coupled with the immediate connection of yellow and lemon led to the image I created. I was trying to examine and evoke triadic color, its abilities to suggest emotion and I just simply wanted to figure out how colors aid each other.

I noticed that the true ability of color and how each interacts with the other through the completion of this image: the blue of the rug, yellow of the flowers, and red /orange of the countertop really brings something more from the image that truly engages the viewer, or at least me.

With that said, this is the reason I have so recently become encapsulated with the work of Uta Barth. Her images are so heavily based upon the colors, especially considering that a multitude of her images are out of focus. The work I did last term really began exploring color and my camera abilities, but I would like to extend more to the discovery and exploitation of spaces and more abstract work away from me as the subject, or at least as me as a pristine focused sitter.