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Project Proposal

For this project I wanted to go to Woodward Park to take picture of all the different types of people that go to Woodward and their various activities. I want to capture a wide variety of people from runners to couples walking together to families having a picnic to kids playing on the playground or running around. I was really inspired by Vivian Maier and David Bradford who took pictures of random people in New York City. Both photographers took photos of everyday people going through everyday life.

There’s something I find so interesting about capturing a moment in someone’s normal day to day life, which why I wanted to try and recreate it. In particular I find the idea that everyone is living their own lives separate from one another intriguing. Two people can be at the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing, but living to completely different lives. This idea is called sonder, the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. This is something I been interested in since I was very young and something that continues to interest me. i think this is why photographers like David Bradford and Vivian Maier really grab my attention.

In order to really capture the idea of sonder I wanted to go somewhere with a large variety of age, gender, and race. I chose Woodward specifically because there are a wide variety of people there. I'm specifically going to go to the park on Saturdays because on weekdays people are either working or in school and on Sunday's people are either at church or prepping for the week to come. Overall, I just found that people in general have the most free time on Saturdays. The subjects of my photos will be random strangers at the park, and I want the photos to be candid. I don't want posed pictures; I would prefer to take candid photos because it plays more into the idea of sonder.

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Final Theme Project

Final Project: Saturdays at the Park - Google Slides

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Research Post 7: Imogen Cunningham

Imogen Cunningham was born April 12, 1883, in Portland, Oregon. Imogen first became interested in photography in high school. After graduating from high school, she attended University of Washington in Seattle to pursue her interest in photography. From there she decided to pursue a career in photography. From 1909 to 1910, she studied photography at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden, Germany. After that she traveled back to Seattle and opened a portrait studio in 1910. During the 1940's, she started to experiment with street photography, which was quite different from her usual work. Imogen is best known for her portraits and plant photography.

I personally love Imogen's work. I appreciate that Imogen likes to explore and experiment with her work. She done street photography, nudes, portraits, landscapes, botanical, still life's, animals, and a bunch of experimental photography. Just like Imogen I want to be able to explore different subject matters and types of photography. I've most been doing street photography and some animal photography, but I definitely want to try doing some other things such portraits, landscapes, and maybe some experimental work.

Citations:

Imogen Cunningham Trust | Imogen Cunningham Official Site

Imogen Cunningham Photography, Bio, Ideas | TheArtStory

Imogen Cunningham | American photographer | Britannica

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Research Post 6: Annie Leibovitz 

Anna-Lou Leibovitz was born on October 2, 1949, in Waterbury, Connecticut. Annie's father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the USA Air Force, so she was forced to move around a lot. In 1967, she attended the San Francisco Art Institute to study painting, but ended up falling in love with photography. In 1970, she began working at Rolling Stone Magazine as a staff photographer. After two years of working at the magazine, she was promoted to chief photographer. 13 years later, she left Rolling Stone magazine to work for Vanity Fair, another magazine. Annie Leibovitz is well known for her portraits of very famous celebrities such as Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Salma Hayek, and Caitlyn Jenner.

I enjoy Annie's work; I think the thing I enjoy the most about her work is the compositions and color. Annie really only does posed photoshoots and I have only taken candid photos. This work makes me want to experiment with posed photography. After going through Annie's work, it makes me want to try taking portraits like she does with lots of contrast and color, just like the Salma Hayek as Frida portrait.

Citations:

Annie Leibovitz biography | Hamiltons (hamiltonsgallery.com)

Annie Leibovitz - Photos, Work & Portraits (biography.com)

22 Most Famous Female Photographers (Past & Present) (shotkit.com)

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Theme Project

Project 4 Theme Project - Google Slides

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Research Post 5: Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin was born September 12, 1953, in Washington, D.C. Nan was first introduced to photography at age 15 by her schoolteacher. She began her career in photography by taking photos of her friends in the transvestite community in the early 1970's. Later in 1973, had her first solo show in Boston. Just 4 years later she graduated from Tufts University with a BFA. In the next decade, Goldin created series of image called the Ballad of Sexual Dependency that showcased photos of "amorous or abusive couples, drug addiction, and intimate details of the artist’s life." Most of her work centered around the LGBT community, intimacy, the AIDS crisis, and the opioid epidemic. The photos above, of her work, all seem to center around different types of intimacy.

I liked how Nan was able to capture different types of intimacy so well. I would love to be able to be able to capture intimate like she does because her photos of these intimate moments look so natural. My favorite photo from above is the friends having a picnic together. The picture seems to be a candid in the moment shot and it really happy and carefree. Then you have the picture right below it that looks like a girl in her lowest moment. I love the level of versatility that Nan presents in her work.

Citations:

Nan Goldin | MoMA

Nan Goldin born 1953 | Tate

Nan Goldin | The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation

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Research Post 4: Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle was born October 9, 1953, in Paris, France. Sophie got her start as a maid in Venice where she taped a camera to her mop bucket and recorded the rooms she cleaned. This turned into a project called "the Hotel," which was organized by room number. The photos in this series were of hotel rooms that were occupied. From luggage to messy beds to shoes left around the room, Sophie captured it all. She presented this series with large diptychs that had text. Though it was later turned in a photography book.

I found Sophie's project "the Hotel" quite interesting because it's all photos of objects found in hotel rooms. I do love this idea of taking photos of things left behind. In these photos the people are obviously going to come back for their possessions, so I think it would be interesting to photograph abandoned objects. These would be objects that were left behind or forgotten by the owner.

Citations:

Sophie CALLE - Artist - Perrotin

Sophie Calle born 1953 | Tate

Sophie Calle and the Art of Leaving a Trace | The New Yorker

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Research Post 3: Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was born March 14, 1923, in New York City, New York and died July 26, 1971, in New York City. Diane is known for her black and white photos of the people of New York, similar to Vivian Maier and David Bradford. What sets her apart from photographers like Vivian and David, that also photograph the everyday people of New York, is that she also photographs the unusual, not so average people that reside in New York, such as circus performers. All of the photos above showcase a circus performer Diane photographed. The one on the top left, taken in 1970, is of a heavily tattooed man. The one on the bottom left, taken in 1970, is of an albino sword swallower. The one on the top right, taken in 1961, is of a human pincushion. The one on the bottom right, taken in 1970, is of a circus performer in her costume.

I enjoyed Diane's work; it was interesting to look at and to look through. I loved the wide of variety of people that she included in her work. It was refreshing to be able to see people that aren't normally represented in the media. I realized after doing three different research posts on three different artists that I'm really drawn to black and white photography. Diane, Vivian, and David make me want to experiment with black and white photography sometime in the future.

Citations:

Diane Arbus - Death, Photography & Facts (biography.com)

Diane Arbus Photography, Bio, Ideas | TheArtStory

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Project Proposal

For this project I wanted to go to Woodward Park to take picture of all the different types of people that go to Woodward and their various activities. I want to capture a wide variety of people from runners to couples walking together to families having a picnic to kids playing on the playground or running around. I was really inspired by Vivian Maier and David Bradford who took pictures of random people in New York City. Both photographers took photos of everyday people going through everyday life.

There’s something I find so interesting about capturing a moment in someone’s normal day to day life, which why I wanted to try and recreate it. In particular I find the idea that everyone is living their own lives separate from one another intriguing. Two people can be at the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing, but living to completely different lives. This idea is called sonder, the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. This is something I been interested in since I was very young and something that continues to interest me. i think this is why photographers like David Bradford and Vivian Maier really grab my attention.

In order to really capture the idea of sonder I wanted to go somewhere with a large variety of age, gender, and race. I chose Woodward specifically because there are a wide variety of people there. I'm specifically going to go to the park on Saturdays because on weekdays people are either working or in school and on Sunday's people are either at church or prepping for the week to come. Overall, I just found that people in general have the most free time on Saturdays. The subjects of my photos will be random strangers at the park, and I want the photos to be candid. I don't want posed pictures; I would prefer to take candid photos because it plays more into the idea of sonder.

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Research Post 2: Carrie Mae Weems

I chose to write this research post Carrie Mae Weems. I want to focus specifically on her photography book "Carrie Mae Weems: The Kitchen Table Series". Weems was born April 20, 1953, in Portland, Oregon. The series of photos above are from The Kitchen Table Series shown in the PPOW Gallery in New York City in 1990. This series of photos take place in the kitchen, specifically the dining table shown above. Carrie wanted to create a sense of intimacy in this collection. She wanted people to step into the life of the protagonist of the story.

I really enjoyed The Kitchen Series; I think the thing I enjoyed the most was being able to get a sneak peek into the everyday life of this woman. I love that the photos are so intimate. I would love to take some photos that have the same level of intimacy. I think the way she accomplished this was very effective. She kept the setting of the photos consistent in every shot and just changed the people and the actions. This helps show this time keeps going even though the photos are static.

Citations:

Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems: Kitchen Table Series - ARTBOOK|D.A.P.

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Book Report 1

"Drive-By Shootings: Photographs by a New York Taxi Driver" is a photography book about a taxi driver who takes candid picture of New York City and its inhabitants, while driving around in his taxi. The taxi driver in question is David Bradford who was born in 1951 in Flint, Michigan. After 1978, Bradford moved to New York City and became a taxi driver in 1990, which also when he started taking photos.

Most of David's work outside of this book consists of the same subject matter found in the book. The biggest difference between the work in the book and the work outside of the book, is that the photos in the book are all in black and white, while the photos outside of the book are in color. Though he does have two portfolios that are completely different that just consists of photo of dogs in the city called city paws.

Overall, I loved looking through this book. I'm a sucker for black and white photography and cityscapes so the book stood out to me the most. I loved the spreads where one picture took up a whole two page spread the most because it just allowed picture to exist without having other pictures to compete with. Which allows the viewer to fully be immersed in the picture.

Citations:

David Bradford Portfolios (davidbradfordphotography.com)

David Bradford (photographer) - Wikiwand

Drive-By Shootings: Photography by David Bradford (drivebyshootings.com)

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Research Post 1: Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier was born February 1, 1926, in New York City. Though she was born in the United States Vivian spent most her youth in France. There she first started to learn photography with a simple, modest Kodak Brownie box camera. After returning to New York City in 1951, she upgraded her camera to a Rolleiflex and develop lots of Black and White film. While she was pursuing photography, she worked as a nanny for 40 years to support her passion for photography. She became well known for her street photography that captured the lives of the people of New York City.

A lot of Vivian Maier's work consisted of photos of the everyday people of New York and self-portraits. Most of her work is in black and white, but she does have some work in color. After looking at Vivian's work, specifically her black and white photos, I feel inspired to experiment with taking black and white photos of things I would normally leave in color. I just think it would be interesting to see how differently those photos would be perceived in black and white as opposed to in color.

Citations:

About Vivian Maier | Vivian Maier Photographer

How Vivian Maier, the Enigmatic Nanny Who Took 150,000 Photographs, Found Her Place in History | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine

22 Most Famous Female Photographers (Past & Present) (shotkit.com)

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Elements and Principles of Art and Design

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Principles of Art and Design

Harmony: Continuity or similarity that creates a connection and a flow of intent.

Variety: Using different elements to create visual interest.

Contrast: The juxtaposition of different elements of design.

Pattern: A repetition of multiple design elements working together.

Balance: When elements of design are arranged symmetrically or asymmetrically to create a sense of equality in weight.

Emphasis: Parts of a design that are meant to stand out.

Proportion: The relative size of objects in relation to each other or corresponding to the other elements as a whole.

Unity: Refers to how well the elements of a design work together.

Citation

Microsoft Word - vocabulary.doc (massart.edu)

Elements and Principles - VALERIE WHITE: AP ART HISTORY (vwarthistory.com)

The Principles of Design and Their Importance | Toptal®

8 Basic Principles Of Art Every Artist Should Know (showflipper.com)

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Elements of Art and Design

Point: It is the focus of a visual.

Line: Two points that are connected, can be horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.

Shape: A two-dimensional area defined by an outline.

Color: Made up of three properties: hue, value, and intensity.

Texture: Represents the way things feel and look.

Form: Is three-dimensional and has volume. Height, width, and depth are all included.

Value: Refers to how light or dark a color is, white is the lightest value and black is the darkest value.

Space: Makes use of positive and negative areas.

Citation

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN: POINT (beaudrydesign.com)

Elements of Design: Understanding the 7 Elements of Design - 2023 - MasterClass

Microsoft Word - vocabulary.doc (massart.edu)

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This was my last picture of the day. Two geese minding their own business.

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I think this goose was posing for me too. Out of all the animals I took pictures of, this goose and the squirrel were the only ones who stood completely still. I think they have some experience modeling.