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.