Entry 3 – Popular Photography

I was introduced to a series of interesting photographs in one of the courses I took last year. Among the artists who created these images, I remarked on two of the photographers, Dina Goldstein and Dulce Pinzón, who both deal with surreal thematic photography.

Dina Goldstein is a Canadian pop photographer who engages in projects that voice her disagreement to the popular culture media. By offering a mixture of fairy tales and the reality, Goldstein’s series of Fallen Princesses brings a focus on the contemplation of social issues – failed dreams, pollution and ocean degradation, war, obesity, the extinction of indigenous cultures, cancer and the fallacy of chasing eternal youth.The aim of this project is not only to challenge the underline messages in these fairy tales but also to question our perception of ‘good’ life.

Dulce Pinzón is a Mexican photographer who is involved in projects that take a closer look at people’s lives and stories. Her “Real Stories of Superheroes” series reveals the untold stories of Mexican immigrants who work in New York. These labourers work countless hours in extreme conditions for low wages in order to send money home in Mexico to families who rely on them to survive. The purpose of this project is to show respect and appreciation to these selfless urban heroes who dedicate their time and effort to their families and communities.

I love how these two artists employ black humor in their photographs to communicate their ideas in depth. It not only entertains the viewers but at the same time makes us contemplate on the issues we face today and examine closer to ours and other people’s lives.

References
Goldstein, D. (2008) Snowy [Photograph]
  Retrieved from URL (http://dinagoldstein.com/fallen-princesses/)

Pinzón, D. (12011) Bernabe Mendez [Photograph]
  Retrieved from URL (http://www.dulcepinzon.com/superheroes.htm)

Entry 2 – X-Ray Photography

Although I have seen many images of the same variety before the photogram project, I did not know that they are called photogram. To be honest, I had confounded photogram with x-ray photography. Due to their visual similarities, I had always thought that they were the same thing. It was not until my trial of photogram that I began to recognize their differences and started a brief research to distinguish one to another.


While researching on this subject, I came upon, David Maisel, a photographer who takes on multi-media projects with series that explore on the themes of environmental scenery and antiqueness. In his series of History’s Shadow, his photographs focus on the x-ray imageries of sculptures and art objects. When observing artworks, we simply perceive the outer layer of the art objects. In other words, we only see the final result that the artists wish to present. However, Maisel’s History’s Shadow offers not only a new viewpoint to these art objects, but they also reveal some trace of the making of these ancient artworks.

I am fascinated by these x-ray images, and I find them very poetic. I love how Maisel chases the memories of the past in these photographs, yet presents them in a new fashion. I also highly recommend his Library of Dust series, which he photographed the colourful corrosion on cooper canisters. The canisters of which contain the cremated remains of the unclaimed patients from a psychiatric hospital in the 80’s. The vibrant corrosion on these urns now details the stories of the forgotten.

Reference
Maisel, D. (2009) History's Shadow GM10 [Photograph]
  Retrieved from URL (http://davidmaisel.com/works/picture_2009.asp?cat=his_xxx&tl=History_s%20Shadow)

Maisel, D. (2005-6) Library of Dust 1211  [Photograph]
  Retrieved from URL (http://davidmaisel.com/works/picture_2009.asp?cat=lod_ca2&tl=Library%20of%20Dust:%20Canisters%20II)

Reflection – Photograms

Since I had no previous experience with photogram, finding subject matters for two assemblages for this project was not very easy for me. The consideration of the composition and the range of transparencies pushed me into deeper thinking on the choice of objects. Additionally, the juxtaposition of these objects has to have meanings for me on a certain level. Therefore, it took me a few days to finalize the gathering of objects I wanted to present.

I loved the result of the dried orchids from my trials, so I decided to use them again for this assignment. Although orchid is not my favorite flower, it has a special meaning to me. I do not own an orchid plant myself, but as a personal hobby, I collect and dry them in a book whenever I come across half-withered orchids. If you look closely, you will see that the orchids I used for this assignment are not the same ones that I used in my trials. The idea of my first photogram was to use objects that came from different places – dried orchids, a tree branch, plant leaves and coton – to achieve an imagery that looked natural and unaltered. For my second photogram, I combined a few objects as an answer to a question I often ask myself – what would you do if you are not an artist? If I were not in the field of fine art, I would probably be a writer – in another time and space (where I can actually write well, of course). I am aware that the use of pen, papers, ink splashes, and liquor glass might seem very cliché when associated with writer, but I could not think of other objects that offer a better representation.

My second experience in the darkroom went smoothly. Although I was still not very at ease working in a dark environment, I loved the process of creating photograms. With the previous experience in the darkroom, setting up the photo enlarger was effortless this time. The most enjoyable part of this assignment was to experiment with dodging and to achieve the effect I had in mind.

Due to the reason that the processing of photogram involves the use of chemical and dark working environment, I suppose that this assignment is more applicable for students who are in senor high school or older. Moreover, if I were to assign this project to students, I believe that a brief lecture on the history of photogram can broaden students’ knowledge on photography. As short as mentioning the photogram was accidentally discovered in 1725 by a German physicist, Johann Heinrich Schultze, can trigger students’ interest, prompt them to ask questions and engage them in the project.

For the assessing part, I think I would consider this project more like an exercise. According to Smith (1976), photography teachers tend forget that students go through a period of producing immature or imitative works called “early work” before mastering their skills. Since I believe that students are still in the phase of exploration, evaluation might be a bit soon. Therefore, by providing students the opportunity to discover and experiment, it will allow them to be equipped with the skills to move onto the next meaningful project.

References

Rudnick, Les. The Photogram - a History. Captured Shadows., 2004-2011. Retrieved from

http://www.photograms.org/chapter01.html

Smith, M. A., (1976). Exposure. On Teaching Photography. The Journal of Society for Photographic Education. Retrieved from

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/onteachphoto.html

Entry 1 – My First Darkroom Experience

I have heard about darkroom and have seen it many times on the television, but this was my first time walking into one. Under the guidance of the technician and our instructor, four by four, we slowly entered into the darkroom. As the circular sliding door opened, I stepped into this noisy and basement-like room, and my first impression was – “this is dark but it isn’t as bad as I thought”.

After the introduction tour ended, as I reentered the room for the demonstration of photo enlarger, the darkroom revealed its true state – lights off. With only the illumination of a dim red light, it took my eyes a while to adjust. This time, the darkness frightened me a little.

After the demonstration, we were given an opportunity to familiarize with the photo enlarger and to produce some experimental photogram images. Although the demonstration was clear, my first hands-on experience with the photo enlarger was a bit of a struggle. The model of my enlarger was slightly different to the one with which my instructor demonstrated. Therefore, discovering the controls and working in a dark environment were challenging.

After some time of exploration with the settings, I was ready for my first photogram. Adopting the suggestion of my instructor, I tested three different exposure times in my first trial. The purpose of this trial was to understand the relation of exposure times and the brightness and contrast. The experimental photogram trials were also beneficial in terms of knowing the effects that could be created by objects with different transparencies. 

Overall, I learned a great deal from my first experience in the darkroom, and I was pretty happy with the result of my trials. The images on this post are my first, in progress and final result of my trials.