WHAT IS A PHOTO-BOOK?
A photo-book is a book which contains mostly only images almost like a photo album, which can also sometimes include text. Its a way for a photographer to exhibit their work and be able to show off what they have produced through an actual material rather than through a digital screen for example. A photo-book also allows you to present and show your work in the way YOU want to, it allows you to be creative with it and make it your actual own.
A photo-book is a book which contains mostly only images almost like a photo album, which can also sometimes include text. Its a way for a photographer to exhibit their work and be able to show off what they have produced through an actual material rather than through a digital screen for example. A photo-book also allows you to present and show your work in the way YOU want to, it allows you to be creative with it and make it your actual own.
DIPTYCHS
WHAT ARE DIPTYCHS?
The original diptychs come from the ancient greek world, where diptychs was any two flat plates attached by the hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a recessed space filled with wax. Later on diptychs would start to have an image illustrated on the flat plates (all four sides) to create a piece of art work, which would be displayed in the wealthy peoples home or in places of significance. Now diptych's can be created with images, my placing an image with similar reactions e.g. of the same subject but in different perspectives, which would then create this one image.
The original diptychs come from the ancient greek world, where diptychs was any two flat plates attached by the hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world was a diptych consisting of a pair of such plates that contained a recessed space filled with wax. Later on diptychs would start to have an image illustrated on the flat plates (all four sides) to create a piece of art work, which would be displayed in the wealthy peoples home or in places of significance. Now diptych's can be created with images, my placing an image with similar reactions e.g. of the same subject but in different perspectives, which would then create this one image.
TWO FRAME FILM
In class we were told "take a look at the image below....what do you see? What can we deduce about the black lines that surround these two frames? What connections, if any, can you see between these two images? How did they end up next to one another? How is this way of presenting and looking at photographs surprising or unusual? Does it remind you of other ways of looking?"
In class we were told "take a look at the image below....what do you see? What can we deduce about the black lines that surround these two frames? What connections, if any, can you see between these two images? How did they end up next to one another? How is this way of presenting and looking at photographs surprising or unusual? Does it remind you of other ways of looking?"
This two frame film was created by photographer Luke fowler. I thought when I looked at the image that there was 2 different images placed together, one which was from a high level, looking down on a landscape and then the other on ground level of a smashed window. At first I found it hard to find any sort of easy connection between them both, I came up with the idea that they are both lightened up with natural light and that they both contain lines, but I didn't think that it made sense really. I thought that they were really randomly placed next to each other and that it was a little confusing but it did really make me think, think hard because I wanted to find those relations which just weren't there. Then I was exposed to the fact that its a two frame film image, where the photographer took these image on a half frame camera and where it exposes two shots on the same 35mm frame, which also answered why there were black lines around the image.
Luke Fowler
'Two-frame film'
I like Luke Fowlers two-frame film because the images look like shots from every day life experiences and that all the images are candid and you and see thats he's thought about each one carefully as each one has its on characteristics. My favorite ones are the ones which abstract light or a strong contrast between light and dark as I think images like that look really interesting on film and to me just pleasing to look at.
Osma Harvilahti
Finnish photographer Osma Harvilahti has created a series of diptychs from a recent trip to Africa. His pairings tend to use colour, tone and shape to create visual links between the images. For example, the photograph of a snake on the back of a motorbike is paired with a portrait of a man's back sporting the curved Nike logo, beyond which we can see coiled and twisted brown shapes. These examples mostly pair street portraits with photographs of mundane objects. ( taken from http://www.photopedagogy.com/two-frame-films.html)
I think Osma's diptychs are cool because they are taken in Africa another country and so me as a view (someone who has never been to Africa) gets to see things that would be normally seen there and that I get to see it from his perspective who is someone who's this is there first time going and exploring there. I also like how the colors are really vibrant and clear, I love how clear the images are and that also they are in some way colour coordinated which creates there link.
MY DIPTYCH'S
I wanted my theme to be color and of images of the same subjects but in different perspectives or edits and I think that they represent that. I wanted to include images which I had for pure experimenting and then images that I had just two of the same subject or similar subject. The brightly colored ones are my favorite because they just pop and catch your eye straight away, which was kind of another approach I wanted my diptychs to have. I also wanted to incorporate photographs I had taken of people as a lot of my work is of random subjects (things and objects that I find intriguing rather than of people. Then I did also want to create diptychs of images I had of those intriguing things I photograph as I always take more than one photograph of the same subject and wanted to place them together to create that link.
RANDOMLY SELECTED DIPTYCHS
To get my random picked diptychs I just swiped really quick on my camera roll and stopped and whatever picture I ended up on I chose. I think they came out really good although they are random and don't really link with one another they still look cool and effective. Make you think. make you feel a little confused. It took me a few tries because I have lots of pictures on my camera roll which I hadn't taken or screenshots but overall enjoyed it and it was interesting for me to see what its like to take random pictures that I've taken and placed them to another random image to see the out come. Was all a mystery.
THE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE
SELECTION, SEQUENCING AND CONTEXTUAL MEANING:
In today's lesson (13.03.18) we done a series of activities, where we had to work with other peoples photographs, rather then our own. We spoke about the originality of a photograph, saying if a person took a photograph of that persons photograph and produced it as their own, is It actually their own piece? and is it an original? I answered "YES" to both these questions, as I believe that if the person photographs the other persons work I do class it as their own because its a whole new photograph and the other persons work is just the subject. I also think that, thats the idea of art and photography, that it should be shared, seen, reused and also rethought about as an image can mean different things to different people! I think of it as if I went to a museum and photographed someone else's work and posted it, advertising it as mine. I do generally believe that it would be my photograph and that people should also be comfortable with working with other peoples work because thats how visual art grows and is seen.
In today's lesson (13.03.18) we done a series of activities, where we had to work with other peoples photographs, rather then our own. We spoke about the originality of a photograph, saying if a person took a photograph of that persons photograph and produced it as their own, is It actually their own piece? and is it an original? I answered "YES" to both these questions, as I believe that if the person photographs the other persons work I do class it as their own because its a whole new photograph and the other persons work is just the subject. I also think that, thats the idea of art and photography, that it should be shared, seen, reused and also rethought about as an image can mean different things to different people! I think of it as if I went to a museum and photographed someone else's work and posted it, advertising it as mine. I do generally believe that it would be my photograph and that people should also be comfortable with working with other peoples work because thats how visual art grows and is seen.
ERIK KESSEL'S: Photobooks which present archival images:
For the past 150 years amateur photography and one arts photography followed separate paths. until the 1970's, black-and-white images were favored in galleries, despite amateurs having opted (chosen) for colour prints a long time ago. However Kessels, wanted to break down the divide between high art photography and mass medium photography. Kessels did not like the division between photography being an high art (being sold at high prices) and its use as a mass medium (a way of communicating). Because of this, kessels decided to create an exhibition in an gallery in Amsterdam, where he took all the photographs that had been posted onto Flickr within a twenty-four hour time period. He presented the images in huge piles of single printed out forms. There were 350,000 images in this exhibition. Kessels wanted people to feel and experience, visualising the feeling of drowning in representations of other peoples’ experiences. This links to the aspect of an archive because he's taking and re using other peoples images and making something out of the ones that already exist instead of creating and showing his own images which he would has taken.
I like Kessels concept because he wants people to look at all different types of peoples photographs, their own experience and memory and he wants peoples to accept and possible change the way in which the image is viewed. I also feel like I can relate to this idea because I always look at photographs which inspire me to do something similar or a photograph which I don't know the exact reason behind it so I make my own reason up, how I see and what I can read from the image.
I like Kessels concept because he wants people to look at all different types of peoples photographs, their own experience and memory and he wants peoples to accept and possible change the way in which the image is viewed. I also feel like I can relate to this idea because I always look at photographs which inspire me to do something similar or a photograph which I don't know the exact reason behind it so I make my own reason up, how I see and what I can read from the image.
ACTIVITY ONE:
"Look carefully at the selection of books on your table. Inspired by Batia Suter’s installation ‘Wave’ (below), your task is to open each of the books at a particular page and lay them over each other so that the sequence of images flows meaningfully".
ACTIVITY TWO:
I was in a group with 5 others and there were many photographic images that was purchased from Ebay placed on the table. We had to select 5 images from the selection that had to be linked in a way; we picked images that contained circular subjects and composed it in circular form at first. However, we had to add more images until we had 20 in total so we had to rearrange the sequence in a straight line as if it was a photobook.
As you can see the final piece contained three rows which entails a story; the last images on the rows link to the first on the new row below.
As you can see the final piece contained three rows which entails a story; the last images on the rows link to the first on the new row below.
ACTIVITY THREE:
In this task we used google street view from google maps. We all selected different countries and chose a street to explore in. Then, we just screenshot whatever we see such as, anything unusual caused by an error, blurred out faces or street signs. We printed out a few images up to 5 and laid it out on the table to compose all the images together as if we are curating a collaborative exhibition.
SEQUANCING PHOTOGRAPHS TOGETHER:
In this activity we had to pick out 12 images from a selection of images (shown above). I was in a group with 2 people and we began with identifying similarities within the selection such as, repeated lines, shadows and the clarity of the photograph.
"We narrowed down the visual elements we identified to the lines the shadow formed within the photographs. When we laid out the images on the table I instantly thought of the double yellow lines marked on the roads hence the title of our selection of photos is called "Double Yellow Lines".
We arranged the images as if we were following a line journey from start to end; using yellow tape to tape the images up on the wall and composed it in an incomplete triangular shape because we had first composed our images on a yellow box marking outdoors and in result we followed the yellow line. Therefore, when we returned to the classroom we kept a similar composition." (taken from someone who I collabed with for this activity)
"We narrowed down the visual elements we identified to the lines the shadow formed within the photographs. When we laid out the images on the table I instantly thought of the double yellow lines marked on the roads hence the title of our selection of photos is called "Double Yellow Lines".
We arranged the images as if we were following a line journey from start to end; using yellow tape to tape the images up on the wall and composed it in an incomplete triangular shape because we had first composed our images on a yellow box marking outdoors and in result we followed the yellow line. Therefore, when we returned to the classroom we kept a similar composition." (taken from someone who I collabed with for this activity)
MIRRORS AND WINDOWS/INSIDE AND OUTSIDE:
WINDOWS AND MIRRORS:
John Szarkowski is the head of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art and the director of the exhibition 'MIRRORS AND WINDOWS: AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY SINCE 1960'.
According to a press release I read it stated that: "MIRRORS AND WINDOWS has been organized around Szarkowski's thesis that such personal visions take one of two forms."
This means that MIRRORS AND WINDOWS takes two different form, in metaphorical terms mirror in a photograph contain a romantic and synthetic expression and window projects the exterior world as realist.
In this task, we sequenced a selection of images into two categories: Mirrors and Windows.
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE:
In this task, I learned about the concept of inside and outside through reading an article called 'Freak Show' by Susan Sontag (1973). She was critiquing Arbus a photographer saying 'Her view is always from the outside.' I think Susan Sontag meant that Arbus photographs objectively, having no opinion of the scene within the photograph, and observes it from a distant basically acting as a stranger photographer.
OUTSIDE:
-Objective
-Dispassionate
-Scientific
-Judgemental
-Observed
-Reserved
-Posed/Unrealistic
-Voyeuristic
-Distant and unsympathetic
-Alienated
INSIDE:
-Subjective
-Personal
-Private
-Immersive
-Privileged
-Empathetic