In Response to Byron Wolfe and Mark Klett Rephotography

The photographic work of Byron Wolfe and Mark Klett take re photography to a different level in terms of precision and quality. Each of their images are matched together perfectly and one could not tell the difference between the two from first glance. The only thing that gives the older photographs a differentiation between the recent ones is the absence of certain structures or the presence of new ones in the modern frames.  The old, vintage photographs are blended into the recent ones very beautifully and seamlessly. This type of precision makes the photographs meld the settings of the new and the old together, which creates unique images. This type of matching with re photography can be very difficult considering the changes within buildings and settings.

Although the re photography practiced by Byron Wolfe and Mark Klett are natural landscapes, there are elements of old human structures within them, which makes the photos very challenging to match. But the changing, absence or presence of new structures can work effectively together like they do in most of Wolfe's and Klett's work.  Much of their work involving the Grand Canyon and Hopi land work very seamlessly together, while also illustrating to different time periods of each setting. Each of these images pulls the beauty of each time setting out and instills it within the viewer  in a very clean and crisp way. These two artists are redefining the world of re photgraphy and hopefully will continue to do so. Their work has also inspired me to think of our current re photography project in a whole new way. Utilizing two images to make a single image was something that I would never have thought of.

Man Ray "Rayogram" series

Man Ray was an artist, who lived from 1890 to 1976. he spent most of his life in Paris and was an influential force in the Dada and Surrealist movement in France. He always considered himself a painter and did a great deal of photography work in his later days as an artist. His photography work is immensely diverse ranging from portraiture style work to his famous "rayograms," which were produced through a camera less process involving the exposure of light on objects, which are pressed against photographic paper. Photograms are a unique facet of photography because the process requires no camera and it mimics, to a certain extent, modern day scanning techniques. Man Ray was a master at his craft and the image above is a perfect example of the boundless possibilities that Man Ray projected through his photographic work.    

This particular photogram, displayed above, projects a still life in a super natural and existentialist way. I believe the light was exposed through a piece of cloth and the objects placed in front of the light are rendered in a very mystical and surrealist way. The objects convey a still life painting and the form of these objects is conveyed in a very soft manner through the cloth. The lines of the objects are captured in a very unique way almost mirroring oil paint or pastel work. This is within a series of photograms that Man Ray composed throughout his career as an artist. These photograms of his illustrate the unique ways that one can project objects through photography.  

Crafted Nature

This is a series of diptychs that mirror one another in shape, line, form, and color. With this series I Wanted to convey the parallels between nature, crafts along with line and form. Nature is art and art is nature.

In Response to The Thing Itself

It is very interesting to think of how an image cannot be defined without the subject. It is an aspect of photography that many, including myself, forget while practicing artful photography. The subject is an unconscious principle that, a beginning or even experienced, photographer may not ever think of, mainly because most artist look for photographic aspects that people like rather than focusing on what the subject they are photographing really is. Art is something that can only come fourth in its true form, when it flows from the heart rather than from external influences. I think one of Bill Jay's most pertinent point in this article is that, photographers, who are taking pictures with their understanding of the subject, have successful images because the subject has been examined thoroughly from ones internal perspective. But on the flip side photographers, who shoot when thinking in terms of public taste, become caught up in what looks pleasing, rather than focusing on the subject before them. Subject is key in photography because, many viewers do not consider the person who took the picture or the process behind a certain photograph.

Photography is a medium that is unique because subject matter often rules over the artist. A photographer catches the essence of a subject in many ways and I believe Bill Jay in this article stresses that the photograph should capture the reality of the subject and the artist's understanding of that subject. Without the focus on the subject, a photographer will try to hard to capture something that is inorganic. That is why so many young photographers become fed up with the academic side of photography because many students simply want images that are pleasing to faculty members and peers. There is nothing wrong with wanting pleasing images, but since subject is inseparable from a photograph, and since a certain subject is framed for significance, a better understanding of how one understands that subject is key to having creative and wonderful images. With deeper understanding of why one would shoot a rock, a viewer will capture the essence of that rock through their own understanding. Photography like art is something that cannot be forced. The best art is the kind of art that doesn't try hard to be tasteful.