work in progress 2

The thoughts behind these sets of images were very different than my first work in progress work set of images.  I wanted to show my viewers that there is not only one correct way to view the world and the things in it.  Every one has their own unique way of seeing things and each perspective can open the eyes of others.  Many people will see something as mundane or common, however when seen from another person’s perspective it might be beautiful.  I intend to show this perspective change and how I view the world threw reflections, and the majority of my images in the past and the ones I plan to take in the future are/ will be very different.  I wanted these set of photos to very explicitly and deliberately show how there can be many perspectives or ways to view something.  I choose to use things like sunglass lenses, sculls looking at each other, and a single image reflected several times in one image to explain this to my viewers.  Even though these images are not what I envision for the majority of my project I believe they will play a very important role in the series.  I have always had trouble explaining how I see things and have a much easier time expressing myself by showing others instead of writing or explaining it.  The idea behind/ theme of this project has been something I have been working on for a while but have had trouble explaining.  I have decided that one of the ways I will express my ideas behind this project is also by adding several photos to the series which have a much more obvious way of expressing my ideas.  These series of photos were taken with the intent to help me express the ideas behind the project and will help me explain the other images in the series.  

Feedly Reader Response #6

CHRISTIANA RIFAAT: SO IT GOES By Grant Gill is a blog post made on February 16^th 2014 to the blog Lenscratch.  This blog post is about Christina Rifaat’s series of images “So It Goes”.  This post includes the images included in her series, Grant Gill’s take on her work, as well as her artist statement.  Rifaat is a recent graduate from the New England School of Photography in Boston, who has been since working on her open-ended piece “So It Goes”.  Her piece is about what home means to her and documenting her mother and brothers lives within it.  Her work isn’t about specific places at home or memories she had their because it appears that they are a constantly moving family and she no longer identifies their home as the same shared space.  After reading her artist stamen I was instantly drawn to her photos for several reasons.

I have seen many pieces focused around home life/ family/ childhood focusing around the morning for the passing of time and wanting to hold on to the past.  However her work has a much different feel to it than others I have seen, it is focused on the disconnection she has with it, is not reminiscent, and doesn’t have a longing or nostalgic feeling for that time period.  The piece has a sadness to it that I have not seen in others revolving around the same theme.  I have recently been living in several different places around the world and people have been asking me what I think of when I think of home, which is one of the reasons this interested me so much.  Rifaat and I see home in a similar way, more about feelings than an actual space. I thought that capturing images of what she experiences while at home as well as what she thinks takes place while she is away was a extremely insightful part of this work.  I would love to know the response her mother and brother had after seeing this series.  I really feel like her images got across her point of the disconnect, distance, and growing apart feeling she has towards home.    

website link

favorite images 

1st work in progress

In order to determine what images would work well for my project I decided that my first work in progress set would include a wide variety of images.  I tired to take photos of reflections, which I have not tried yet.  I normally focus on creating mirror images in water but decided to branch out in order to further develop my original idea on reflections.  I tried to take a lot of images in glass or on new surfaces in order to further develop my idea.  I also worked on creating sets to create reflections, which I have not done in the past. I really tired to create images that played with your mind and made you really wonder what you were looking at. While taking these sets of photos I tried to develop new techniques along with old ones so I could compare them to each other and see how they would work together in a series. 

Feedly Response # 3

“DAVE JORDANO: DETROIT: UNBROKEN DOWN” is the title of a blog post which was posted to Lenscratch on Feb 3, 2014, which I found particularly interesting.   Dave Jordano is a photographer from Detroit who’s work is about capturing the lives of people in his home town, Detroit.  His work depicting the hardships of people’s lives in Detroit is being shown at the United Photo Industries Gallery in Brooklyn, New York from February 6th until March 21^st of this year.  Jordano graduated from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit in 1974 receiving a degree in photography.  After receiving his degree he went on to be a freelance commercial photographer for mainly food and other products for 30 years.  But after he earned his living doing this he was able to go back to what he loved, fine art and documentary photography, which he has earned several awards and honorable mentions for and has permanent exhibitions at over 10 museums and galleries around the world.

I am normally not drawn to portraits but this specific collection of work stuck my attention.  His dedication to documentary photography and sheading light on his city has really touched me.  When I was in high school I was able to make a photography book for my senor project.  I choose to make a book on New York City, my hometown, to show the side of the city and its hidden wonders that make it so amazing from the viewpoint of a born and raised New Yorker.  This is one of the reasons I love his work and can relate to wanting to show and share your view of the city you love so much.

link to original blog post

His website

My favorite image from his series