FINAL PROJECT

 Artist Statement

There is no right or wrong way to view the world and the wonders within it.  Every one has their own unique way in which they see things, and each individual’s perspective holds the potential to uncover hidden beauties, which others may not see.   I am dyslexic and throughout my life people have been telling me that the way I see things is backwards and there for incorrect.  However, when I look at things they do not appear backwards they appear normal, the way I see things does not seem wrong to me.  I am aware that the majority of the world interacts with the physical objects around them but I interact with their reflections or mirror images. 

I never thought that being dyslexic influenced how I view things out side an academic world, until recently.  When I started taking photographs I realized that reflections were an overwhelming and reoccurring theme.   I discovered that when I see something the first thing I focus on is not the physical object itself, but on the reflection it cast on its surrounding surfaces.  I believe that my brain is prone to seeking out and focusing on mirror images and I do not see this as a disability. I do not see my dyslexia as a disability and I want to share some of the magnificent things it allows me to see with others.  Through my photography I want to explore all the ways in which my dyslexia changes and forms a unique perspective and share this view with the world.

Images included in final series

Images Included in Portfolio

Feedly #13

I am not normally drawn to portraits but I have recently seen them displayed in new and interesting ways which has grabbed my attention.  I really enjoyed reading the Lenscratch post by Grant Gill posted on April 16th about Anthony Luvera's new work.  Anthony Luvera is an English photographer who captured images of 11 people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender; the series is called not going shopping. He has had shows at the National Portrait Gallery in London, which happens to be one of my favorite museums and I believe I have previously seen his work.  I really enjoy that the exhibition as a whole is made of series of three images accompanies by a phrase.  I feel that the different expressions captured along with a quote allows us to understand the subject better.  Recently I have been seeing several other exhibitions like this and want to explore the method more.  I really feel that displaying the images in this way allows the viewers to connect to the subjects and understand them.

Link to blog post

Artist's website

Favorite Photos 

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 focuses on technological advances made around digital photography, regarding capturing and creating an image.  Digital photography has recently approached its 20^th anniversary.  After reading this chapter I stated to think about changes I have seen within the digital photography world because we are roughly the same age.  Not only have camera technology improved, but the photography gadgets and editing tools have undergone tremendous changes.   Camera settings, camera phones, high tech professional grade digital cameras being sold to the masses, stock photography data bases, Photoshop, ect are changing the ways in which images are generated.  Are photographs moving away from capturing truths and becoming manipulations?  We have made a quick transition from analog to digital photography and like many other technological advances analog is being seen as a thing of the past.  Where do you think analog photography will be in the next 10 years?  What conversations do you think we will be having regarding these changes in the next 5 years? How has this affected photography as an art form?

WIP #4

Before taking these photos I went back and studied my old contact sheets to determine which photos where working well together as a series.  I decided that I wanted this set of photos to focus on the reflection.  In the past I have had photos where the image being reflected was included in the photo and was just as crisp as the image being reflected.  With this project I set out to take a series of photos, which only showed one possible perspective, which would be demonstrated threw the images only focusing on the reflections.

I choose these photos because I felt like they force the viewer to look at the photo with a clear single perspective in mind.  Previously the viewer had the option to look at the image, which would be doing the reflecting and its reflection.  I choose the photo of the word dyslexic because I wanted to show my view of the word dyslexic.  I do not see dyslexia as seeing things backwards or incorrectly, I just see it as a different way of viewing something.  I hung a photo of the word backwards and upside down and took a photo of its reflection.  I did this because I want my viewers to see that when I see the world, “it is not backwards”.  I wanted to get the idea across that there is no one correct way to see the world.  I included photos that were only of reflections, and images where the object being reflected was included but taken with a shallow depth of field. 

            I printed this series of photos on a larger scale than in the past.  I did this because I feel that if the images are larger, and closer to their actual size, the viewer is able to see the details in the photo and possibly understand it better.  I also created a white border, which is equal on all sides because I feel like uneven boarders are distracting.  I also believe that having a boarder and not a bleed image makes the viewer focus on the image being presented and not wonder about what lays beyond the edge of the image.  Reflections hold a lot of detail but can also be distorted and having them displayed on a larger scale it makes the images easier to view.  

Feedly Reader Response #11

After I made my post to the Photo exchange website (http://photographyexchange.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/lucy-nystrom/ ) I explored a lot of other students work.  I looked at http://photographyexchange.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/abie-lauren-kanyuck/ and http://photographyexchange.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/fengyu-lloyd-wang/.  I looked for other images, which focused on reflections and read the comments left by others. My favorite was http://photographyexchange.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/fengyu-lloyd-wang/ because it reminded me of work I did this summer in London.  A lot of the comments were similar to feedback I have gotten in class about the image appearing to be double exposures.  It really helped to see the treatment of the images and things, which people strongly respond to.  After hearing feedback on my photos and reading the feedback on the photos by Fengyu (Lloyd) Wang I believe I have a better understanding of how people respond to images similar to the ones I am creating.  I am glad that there was not an artist statement included with the post because it allowed me to take a step back and look at the images and just see how people respond to them.  I commented on the photos asking what the theme was. 

I looked for a blog but could not find one, however I did find a blog for Abie (Lauren) Kanyuck  (http://akanyuck.wordpress.com).  Her work is similar to some new ideas I am experimenting with.  I used ot focus entirely on water reflections but this semester I have been trying to branch out.  There are several photos of reflections in cars and reflections of lights in windows with are very similar to what I am experimenting with now.

I think it will be interesting and helpful to see how people respond to my work on the photo exchange and to follow these two photographers (especially the feedback they are getting) while continuing to work on my project.