BLURB BOOK WEBPAGE

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1040919

I just ordered by book but it takes a long time to load. If you have trouble loading it let me know. I shoul have my book by 12/5/2010 so I can bring it to class if need be.

elements of design

Blurb Book Proposal & 3 Favorite Blurg Books

Blurb Book Proposal - Being in grad school for Art Education I think it would be a smart idea to make a book that I can use as a teaching tool. My professor / advisor has made it very clear that the most important thing to teach in grade school is the elements and principles of design. I think it would be great to make a book pertaining to those elements and principles. For each element and principle I would have 3-5 photos that go specifically with it. For each individual picture I take I will have the whole photo, then two separate pictures along with it that is that same photo cropped, to specify the elements and principles. I will use photoshop to enhance what I am trying to portray in the cropped images. I would really like to do this idea so I know I could use it as a classroom tool. I also really like this idea because it does not limit me to only shoot portraits, or landscapes or still lives. I could do it all, and still stick my my concept.

3 Favorite Books -

http://www.blurb.com/books/924777 - "Mongolia" By Toni Ernst. I love this book, not just for its content. But I feel that it is very clean. I like how each page is set up where you have a zoomed in photo and a landscape photo that are next to each other. It is a great composition. And when the person did use text, it was on a black background and still had a photo next to it that was cropped to half the page. The titles never took away from the photo, and they were not squished in there to go un noticed. When looking at other peoples books, I notices that the use of text did not work as well compared to this one because it took away from the photo and was not just a side note.

http://www.blurb.com/books/922662 - "Mesocosmos" by Jackie Tileston. This book I like becouse of the simplicity. I was wondering when this assignment was given if it would be a little boring having just our photo and the title and nothing to really go along with it. But I really enjoy how each page is really devoted to the piece of art the artist is showing. A simple title, and nice white border and nothing to distract you from viewing the art work.

http://www.blurb.com/books/921157 - "My Ordinary World" by Bluerose. This book was very well thought out in how the artist designed and placed pictures on the page. Each photo flowed into the next photo in a seemless manner. If there was a lot of black negative space in the photo on the left page, the artist placed a photo on the right page that connected with that negative space to create a seamless unit. She did this with ever turn of the page, whether the connection was the subject of the image, the negative/positive space, or color. But you could tell that that was a main concern of her was how the photos would go together to create a seamless book. I also likes the use of the full page, with no border or text. It makes you focus only on the image and nothing around it.

Angelika Rinnhofer

Artist : Angelika Rinnhofer
Title: Menschenkunde XIII
Like to webpage : http://www.angelikarinnhofer.com/index_a.htm

The Subject of this photograph is a young woman. The photo is in color, it is formal, high contrast (chiaroscuro), it seems that not everything is in full focus, only the information she artist wants us to focus on, and the negative space and positive space seem to be working as equal importance to the photo.

The photographer uses a large format camera and high contrast lighting to emphasize detail in the photograph.

My interpretation of this photo is how Rinnhofer is taking modern people and a more contemporary form of art work and transforming it into a renaissance/medieval type of piece. She is very keen on the detail of what a renaissance painting of royalty looks like and the detail of what is IN the paintings where. I was reading Rinnhofer's artist statement and she talks at first about how much she enjoyed watching the transition of her models once they put on the fancy/royal costumes. She thought it was interesting to see their personality change and how they all of a sudden became actors. Then she went on about how in her own life as a child with a catholic upbringing, religious symbology was always around her. She immediately connected this with the renaissance paintings and how they most likely had some type of religious iconography in them, even if it was as subtle as a bible on the lap, or rosary beads weaved in the fingers. What is interesting is how Angelika took this idea and put some contemporary iconography in these photos, like a diamond ring, a laptop or a cell phone. When I first look at this photo I did not pick up these subtle hints of modernism, I was really intrigued by how she was able to create these beautiful renditions of these renaissance paintings. So it was really interesting for me to read the artist statement so I was able to see a little further into what she was trying ot portray.

Blog # 3_ Chuck Close

Chuck Close



Big Self-Portrait, 1967-68.
Acrylic on canvas.
107 1/2 x 83 1/2" (273 x 212 cm).

So I know that this is not actually a photo. And if this post is not okay then I wil do another. But I thought it would be interesting to show Chuck Close because of his photorealism. It is amazing to me how he takes a photo, uses the grid system in a completely innovating way and creted paintings that are so "photo realistic".

In this painting the point of view, how LARGE this is, the contrast, the shallow depth of field( I say it's shallow because not everything in the face is focused, there is some out of focus), and the choice to do this is black and white are the most important features of this image.

People use the grid system all the time, but I think the reason why his use of it is so innovating is how he does it and the product that comes out of it and ho he makes it look so much like a photograph. They are so large and the time and effort that goes into each tiny square of the grid that he fills in makes it so worth it. I think he chooses to do them so large because it is a portrait. This is who he is, take it or leave it. It shows every part of him in the most personal way. Its intimate and beautiful. I feel this is true with all of his portraits whether it is the photorealism or any of his other style. The size is what makes it jaw dropping.


Here is the Link to the website I got the image from:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1998/close/images/close_self_68.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/1998/close/&usg=__2fKc9ZL06B0LuWG1Zf3SXFjiF-g=&h=339&w=264&sz=19&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=CNs411FsTd8tvM:&tbnh=119&tbnw=93&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchuck%2Bclose%2Bself%2Bportrait%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DcKt%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1

Blog Entry # 2_Myra Greene

(click photo and it will bring to website)
http://www.flakphoto.com/archives/6333_1646490288/297234

Blog Entry # 2
Myra Greene
Untitled, Rochester, New York, 2006 — from the series Character Recognition

Ambrotype on black glass, 3x4"
An Ambrotype is when the photographer creates a positive image on a sheet of
glass using some kind of wet plate process.

SUBJECT MATTER: lower half of face, focus on lips

FORM: black and white, shallow depth of field(not everything is in focus), high contrast, a lot of texture in the skin and mouth. Even though it is a small image the face takes up such a large portion of the frame it looks like it is large scale.

****NOTE - For some reason the photo is being cropped right now when the image is posted. There is a little more out of focus on the right hand side which makes the image a little more square***

INTERPRETATION: Because this photograph is very up close and personal with the face it feels like it is asking a question of, "who am I" or "how do people see me". Now to be honest, I read a little about this series before I wrote my interpretation, which now knowing I should have done the opposite. I like oming up with the idea on my own, then reading what it is about and seeing if I was close. A photograph should speak for itself somehow, whether I agree with the photographer or not. I like coming up with my own opinion before I read about it. Anyway. In the passage the Greene wrote about this series was how she has been confronted with bigotry all her life, she wanted to see how people really saw African Americans. What about the features makes them who they are. Why is it that all people see are the features and the color of the skin and not anything else. I think this makes perfect sense when looking at this photo, it is so close and the depth of field makes us focus even more on the lips. If you look at the whole series Greene sections off different parts of the body...the ears, the teeth, the lips, the eyes...She makes them look more like objects rather than part of the body.
To me this is a very interesting way of looking at the body. The fact that it is in black and white also enhances the idea of being black/white.

I went home this weekend and sat down with my 13 year old sister who was really excited to see what I was doing in my classes so I asked her to help me pick out a photographer and photograph so I can analyze the image. We were searching for a long time until we both spotted this image at the same time, pointed to the screen and said "this is the one!" There is something about this photo that drew us toward it. The beauty of how it was frames, the detail and the contrast lured us in and made us both want to know more about it. Of course she got bored and didnt help me analyse (haha) but that's 13 for you. I feel like I should move away from the body images a little and step into something out of my comfort zone. That will be my goal for my next analysis. I'll maybe even throw some color in there!

Blog Entry # 1_Patrick Demarchelier

Blog Entry # 1
Artist: Patrick Demarchelier
Title: Julio Bocca
(I can not find a size of the image from multiple sites I have checked...)
http://www.demarchelier.net/studio/dance11_00hb/f_dancemain.html

Analysis
Subject: Grounded fist and foot

Form:
Black and White
Close up(macro maybe?)
Intense contrast of dark and light,
Asymmetrical
Balance b/w positive and negative space.

Interpretation
The image creates a feeling more than a meaning. The strength of the body and the composure of the body. It is also a play on they eyes, seeing the fist and the foot next to each other knowing that this normally is not seen in this way. I feel as though the photographer is trying to create a play on words in a way. Which is stronger, the hands or feet? Which create that more emotion. Both are used for such different things, yet are both so powerful. Or this photo could just be a straight forward interpretation of movement. Seeing the other photo's that Demarchelier has in his website, the section I looked at the msot was all about dance and movement. This photo was one of the few that was close up and personal, not seeing the face of the daner. Which is another reason why I think it is about more than just movement, but power and control.

I think Demarchelier's use of black and white and using this kind of lighting which creates such intense contrast of light and dark creates a strong emotion and a feeling of power. The way the hands and feet are positioned in the frame; they are so close up and detailed that you can see the veins and the strain on the body parts, which adds to the drama. It is a beautiful, simple composition that seems straight forward but is an image I can look at for hours and still be intrigued...probably more than that :)