andreasimaging

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dumbassery and depression: covid’s impact on our mental health

When the topic for our final project was to “tell a story”, I immediately thought about my friends. I knew I wanted to include them because they all have great stories to show. However, what I wanted to show, in particular, was challenging. So I just documented the daily lives of my friends and our living suite. This is when I realized how much stuff we do in order to relieve ourselves from stress or our depression. We all show it and cope with it in different ways so I wanted to capture those moments. Some of us are messy and others are clean. We use physical pain to cope with our inner turmoils. But before anything, I made sure to ask my friends about their week and show the instant reaction to that question. The facial expressions speak loudly. A lot of students are stressed because of school, work, and COVID is not making it any better. I just wanted to show honest, raw candid moment of how we collectively deal with our depression. I incorporated writing, in the form of poems(ish). just to give context but also follow some storytelling techniques.

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sample format for final project (8.5 in x 11 in)

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“sexual frustrations”

This project stems from a personal experience and collective research of other female-identifying bodies. When it comes to women’s (specifically when it comes to female anatomy) sexual health and pleasure, it has been dominated by men. I wanted to explore the “frustration” aspect that ranges from literal man presence within female health to the sexual frustration when it comes to the act of sex. I used items that are most recognizable such as the condom and banana as well as more ambiguous items like the female condom and vibrators (though it can be argued that it is more recognizable to the female population). One part of the project is to show how women are more much more aware of pleasure for both themselves and their partner (whether it be male or female). In contrast, male pleasure and sexual needs is what is taught up front in sexual education, which can be reflected when it comes to the bedroom. The other part of the project was to illustrate the multiple frustration that female-identifying bodies might have. Much of it attributes to the great lengths to achieve sexual pleasure and I wanted to compare objects to amplify that frustration.

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Reading Discussion: “In Plato’s Cave”

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. RosettaBooks LLC, 1973.

In this chapter, photography has become a subject of contradiction, if one will. It has come to embody the multitude of definitions. It covers the moving and the still subjects. Photography has become a private art form and yet, it covers public needs and aesthetics. It is something that can get complex, but it can be reduced into a form of simplicity. Photos can obtain rarity in meaning because of what it captured a subject or how it captured it. However, photos can be created for a mass consumption, which one can argue it could lose its meaning. Yet, photography has become not just a tool to “capture the moment” but as an integration within life. Birthdays, holidays, celebrations, and any form of what one can define “special” -no matter how big or small it is. There is an innate desire to preserve nostalgia in the present and be able to look at that as time passes by. It is validation of what is in that frame as well as the person taking the photograph and the experiences that came with that photo.

           Photography has expanded the way we view the world. We can manipulate the truth. We can capture the “natural” or “original” state from the moment it was taken. There is multiple perspectives of a captured image that get lost because the validity of that experience is reduced to the image physically taken at that moment. Photography is nice form of art but I still cannot help but think about the class disparity still dominating this field. Photography consist of so many supplies that it can be difficult to get into it.  

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in class work (3/16)

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contact sheet for assignment 2

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in progress of assignment #2

It was a struggle to find a cohesive theme that I wanted to capture. First, I started with nature shots. I had some really beautiful shots of the snow, buildings, sunsets. In retrospect, I was thinking of doing a critique of the dichotomy of nature and man through buildings and the environment they occupy. However, it was when I accidentally took a shot of my friend walking past a coat rack. I had the camera shutter speed at a slower rate than average 1/60 rate. It was in that moment, I figured what I wanted to illustrated. I was taking a more dramatic, overthought process when it was so easy to find. Many of the final photographs were candid moments of daily gestures. I wanted to dramatize and emphasize the things we constantly see yet overlook. There is something haunting when you “freeze” these gestures in motion.  

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““obfuscate”

The focal point of Assignment #2 came to me when I accidently took a photo of my friend in motion. My friend came out blurry and choppy, but the details in the background would be clean and sharp. I loved the contrasts of textures, subjects and backgrounds in order to make “imperfect” photos. I love seeing the confusion and unsettlingly reactions when people are trying to figure out what is going on in the photo. Thus, my inspiration came from daily rituals and items. It posed the question, what would they look like if they were distorted? I wanted to focus on the fact that many of these moments are overlooked because they are such a daily part of life. By using a slower shutter speed and using a black and white effect, I am focusing on the distorted motion that disrupts the image. When one looks at the photos, I want people to go for the multiple looks and interpretations.  

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Flash Exercise

My partner was Matthew. I took some of the photos (Sections : On Camera Flash and Available Light). Due to the lack of time, we only got up to Fill Flash: Backlighting exercise (which Matthew has the photos for it).

For the On Camera Flash: The is a difference. The one without flash has a lighter background. There is no definition of dark spaces, outlines, and contrasts. The background is out of focus very light. In comparison, the second photo is very sharp and focused, both in background and subject. There is more color definition and the contrast is very visible. However, the more I look at it, the more it has a photoshop feel to it. 

For Available Light Exercises: 

The first photo I used a reflector to highlight the natural light that was coming in from the window. You can see the green bottoms of leaves. I gives a nice contrast from the sharp, dark lines of the windows. I also took this shot at a lower angle. The second photo I did not use the reflector and I changed my shot to the side. I also took this shot at neutral plane. As one can see, it was darker and there was too much shadows. I definitely think that angles and light do help in creating an image that can be well received.

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Better than Good: Black Hair and the Art of Nakeya Brown Reflection

“The personal is political” is what I saw throughout Nakeya Brown’s exhibition. She used Black women’s hair and its importance of it in a personal, cultural, and political expression. I know that for many black women, their hair is used against them as a form of discrimination and uphold European beauty standards. This exhibition was a reclamation of space and identity for Nakeya. What resonating with me, the aspect of time that was illustrated. In beginning, she mentioned how it are generational definitions with Black beauty and hair. How is it defined for the Black women before her, to her personally, to her children and future generations? Pieces like “Untitled (Backs)” and “Untitled (Fronts)” show how mainstream has constructed Black beauty and women as archetypical and identical. Their silhouette outlines were very similar; it puts one into perspective of how toxic and damaging that imaging can be. Nakeya reimagines black beauty by either hiding the model’s in products and by capturing different forms of expression through hair. “Hair Portraits” are a great example of many different Black women’s interpretation and identity of their hair. This whole exhibition demonstrates self-love and appreciation of Black hair and beauty. It is a form of preservation and continuation of Blackness aesthetics. It depicts the beauty of it, especially when historically it has been a way to minimize black space. Overall, I really enjoyed this exhibition.

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in progress photos for assignment #2

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in progress photos for assignment #2

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"imperfections" by andrea delgado

“Imperfections” is the title of my collection of photos. It is very fitting because the whole process, from the beginning to the end. It started after the initial films had been developed and I discovered that my camera was not working as well as it should have been. This led to some weird, different, yet interesting perspectives. In my opinion, art (especially in an academic setting) has a reputation of being elitist or classist and need for perfection or meaning. Throughout this assignment, my status as a beginner in the art of imaging made my mistakes and lack of knowledge palpable within my photographs.

There is no special subject in the photos. The “imperfections” are the real focus. I kept the photos and the objects simple. I took pictures about daily, mundane environments. It is really easy to overlook the small details within those environments. The photos came as a nice surprise because I did not know how the images would turn out. My final project shows a progression of my skills. The photos of my desk is my first attempt of imaging. The photo of the brick wall is my second attempt and the photo of the trees is my final attempt at imaging. This whole project was about the learning process – from taking the photo from a makeshift camera book to the protocols in the darkroom. It was very difficult, and I had to completely change my vision to accommodate for this project. However, I enjoyed and grew out from it.

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The Miracle of Analogy Ch 1 Summary

Source: Silverman, Kaja. The Miracle of Analogy: Or The History of Photography, Part 1. Stanford University Press, 2015. 

“The Second Coming” is a chapter that describes the rich and in-depth history of photography. It described the way the camera obscura works, through a technical and metaphorical standpoint. First, it described what the camera obscura is, which is a dark space that has a small aperture that light enters and creates an inverted image. The creation and development of the camera obscura expanded on people’s perception of the world. Many people related or noticed how the images reveled to them more than what the naked eye saw. Another interesting fact was how the study of the camera obscura and photography help develop the study of ophthalmology and how the body is connected to the making of images.

           This reading relates to our class because our first assignments were related the mechanics of the camera obscura. We used a book that created a mini version of a camera obscura. The light comes through a small hole in the front of the camera and prints on the film. This style of photography, in my opinion, allows the photographer (or person) to saw the world through a more raw and perceptive view of the world. One cannot really edit the image, especially during post-production. One has to see the world for what it really is and it influences the question, “What is the relationship between artist and photographer?” I think this is the basic and purest form of photography. I believe that it is important to study the foundation and history of photography because sometimes art thrives it its most simplest methods or forms.

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my process as a beginner photographer (to be continued)

for feb. 2nd project

The “this book is a camera” was difficult to manage to say the least. There was a point were I was freaking out because I thought I broke the shutter because it got stuck. However, I took two photos because this is my first time and I did not want to waste film (especially if it did not come out right). The first photo was taken from my bed, angled at my desk. I wanted to create a ghost image of myself as a student. It took about an hour and 15 minutes of exposure, according to the app. For the second photo, I wanted to capture the bare, dark tree branches in contrast to the white, bright snow. This photo was exposed for 13 seconds, according to the app. This was the creative and execution part of the project. I am excited for the developing process of the photos. 

part 2: 

It has been a few days after the initial date of the project and it has been a learning experience. The initial problem was that my camera was not manufactured well - the pinhole was abnormally small. The actual of process of developing the film was not as difficult as I thought it was going to be. But when first trying to develop my photos, I thought I had messed up but it was just the camera. Yet, I was able to get three decent pictures (with the help of other classmates’ cameras). The first one is a picture of trees. The next one is a picture of my desk and its mess. The last one is a picture of brick wall and the natural scenery, looking out of a window from the Houghton House. At first, I went in inspired by the ability to for the pinhole camera to capture motion. However, my frustration was the camera book diminished my creation and steered my focus on practicality. I just wanted a decent looking photo, which can be looked at as a form of inspiration. 

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part 2 (cont.)

This is my other favorite photographer, Star Montana. Her photographs are based on a narrative of the working class and the poor in the Latinx community in Los Angeles. Every photograph comes with the story of the person in the photo. I love that about her work. Some subjects come to her, others are already there and some are sought out. It is a beautiful encapsulation of culture and personality, as a collective and individually. It makes me feel appreciative of my Latinx identity. 

Photo Credits: Star Montana

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My two current photographers are Carlota Guerrero and Star Montana. Starting with Carlota Guerrero, I started following her work for about 2-3 years. Her artwork consist many different types of femininity ideals. She also incorporates performance art and filmmaking. There are many themes of nature, modernity, and femininity that blends to create an organic contrast. I appreciated the range of people, representing all forms of life especially when it comes to women. I think that her work is fantastic when it comes to representing all body types and skin tones in an ethereal and majestic tone. 

Photo Credits: Carlota Guerrero