John Berger - Ways of Seeing

Part 1 of John Bergers Ways of Seeing examines how the camera changed the way we see things. This episode focuses on paintings and how the meanings of paintings can be changed ever since they became transmittable with the invention of the camera.
 The camera allowed us to see things that are not just from our own perception, to see things that are not in front of us. While the original painting can only be in one place at one time, it can now be reproduced for all to see in all sizes and can be viewed in a million different places at once.
 Berger argues that everything around a painting becomes part of its meaning and that the meaning of reproductions is influenced by the context in which its seen. He argues that the original meaning has been destroyed and that multiple other meaning have been created by the camera, that paintings look different when seen in its original form rather than on tv or on a postcard. Originals are often large and observed in silence which has a striking effect on the viewer while reproductions distort the original, can be manipulated by sound and movement and details can be edited to create a new meaning.
 Sad or jolly music can transform the essence of a painting when played while viewing. Certain elements can be edited out from a surrealist painting to create a more conventional meaning. Meaning can be changed by what comes before and after the image as Berger demonstrates in the section in which he switches between television channels and and image of a famous painting. With each switch of the channel the painting took on a different essence. Works of art have become more and more ambiguous because of reproductions.
Berger also argues that that our experience and knowledge helps
to create meaning. In one segment he shows a painting to a group of school children who each form a naive yet interesting interpretation of the image.
Ways of Seeing is an interesting and complex work which forces us to reassess how we see the world around us and how perceptions have been changed with the invention of the camera.

Photo Montage

Photo 3

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 1

Photo 2

Composition and Light

Texture

Colour

Lines

Symmetry



Pattern

natural night

golden hour

tungston light

flourescent light

dusk

The Genius of Photography- Snap Judgements

Q1. It is predicted that more than 880 billion photographs are taken every year.

Q2. Gregory Crewdson works more like a film director that a photographer. He works with production crews and uses cinematic lighting to capture elaborately staged images. His work as a dramatic feel, often focusing on small town America.

Q3. Vintage prints are the most valuable. The are original copies of the image that have been made by the photographer and can be very expensive.

Q4. Andreas Gursky produces very few prints. He once only produced two works over a number of years. He photographs vast landscape spacial images and prints in a very large format. His work also displays vivid use of colour.

Q5. Seydou Keitas photography usually deals in family portraits. His photography is different because it does not deal with themes such as poverty, famine and war which is common in a lot of African photography. He had many props in his studio for his customers such as cars to give the illusion of wealth and class which was the main idea of his work. He also dealt with the African upper middle classes.

Andreas Gursky

Lift - Marc Issacs

Lift is a documentary short film by Marc Issacs from 2001. The film follows Marc as he documents part of the lives of numerous tenants from a london tower block in the lift of the complex. For the film Issacs sets himself and his camera up in the lift for a number of days and records the actions of several of the towers residents, sometimes asking them questions and sometimes observing them in silence.He focuses on their everyday working and social lives.
 Although at the beginning of the film the tenants often seem indifferent or irritated by Issacs presence, many of them gradually become more sociable and confiding with him. He interacts with the young and old, people of different ethnicities and religions. He observes friendly chats between the neighbours and also awkward silences and emotional distances between them. Friendly talkative men and women are contrasted with aggressive drunks, laughing children, shy and ignorant types and possible emotionally unstable tenants.
 Racial tensions can be felt in the tower of mixed nationalities. This can be seen in a shot in which a shy muslim girl and a drunk have to share the lift. In another scene a British woman talks to her friend about the lack of white people in the building alluding to a hostility toward the others. Religious diversities clash in a scene in which a Christian woman shares the lift with a Middle Eastern man who "does not say the rosary". Issacs clearly effects the life of one of the residents who claims his questions about her life led her to "begin thinking about all sorts". There are moments of humour such as a scene in which an eccentric old man demonstrates his supposed hairdressing talents. Certain tenants begin to open up to Issacs. One woman talks about how beautiful a day it is and how wonderful it is to be alive while another man describes his days as "watching the clock go by". Masks begin to slip as a woman evades the question when asked if she is happy. Another old, single woman is forced to contemplate when Issacs asks her if she would like to be married and a man pretends to be jolly while searching for meaning in the wrong places. Towards the end a depressed tenant opens up emotionally about the death of his parents and its effect on his mental state while a Middle Eastern man shares food with Issacs, emphasising his sense of national identity despite being in london.
In conclusion The Lift is an interesting, funny and often bleak insight into the lives of a group of tower block neighbours in one of Europes main cities. Issacs expertly interacts with his subjects exposing a glimps of the real, diverse, sometimes happy yet often empty lives of the residents.

Genius of Photography - We are Family

Q1. Diane Arbus did mainly portrait photographs in a dark, alternative style. She focused on marginalised characters and her aim was to capture the real feelings of her subjects in a raw, realistic style without dressing up or glossing over her work.

Q2.  It could be argued that photographers tend to prey on the vulnerable. Often their work focuses on the marginalized, the under privileged and outsiders in society.

Q3. Larry Clarke's Tulsa features pictures mainly dealing with his own life and friends in middle class society. His work features ugly, gritty subject matter often focusing on nights spent partying with friends containing hard drug use and explicit sex and nudity. His photos reflect the dark side of suburbia.

Q4. Nan Goldin's photography aims to portray people considered outsiders in a human light. She focuses on transvestites, drug addicts, party people. She has a raw style and often deals with relationship themes with a dark tone.

Q5. Araki states that he "shoots what he wants to remember" and that he photographs everything. Often erotic photography his works deals with themes of sex, intimacy,death, quiet moments and documents important occasions in his own life.

Q6. Richard Billingham has a kind of guerrilla style with his work focusing on his parents, in particular his alcoholic father. His photos reflect his poverty stricken background and attempt to portray the realities of life. His work often has a dark tone.


                                                                      Diane Arbus

Impossible Photography- forbidden fruit

After

Before