Name all the parts...

http://www.toddmclellan.com/

Social Commentary through Juxtaposition

Found this on one of my favorite blogs, Sociological Images, about photographer Mark Laita www.marklaita.com/ce.html

Laita, after long working in advertising, decided that he was tired of producing images that were “nice”:

I felt the need to produce something that was raw and real, as life truly is, not just what we aspire to. The more shocking to our sense of what’s “right,” the better.

He decided to do so through contrast. In his new photo series, he tries to get us to think by provocatively pairing portraits. They tell us stories about social class, consumption, social sacrifice, and standards of beauty.

Woman in Bar vs. Gold Prospector:

Marine vs. War Veteran:

Company President vs. Janitor:

Fur Trapper vs. Woman with Dog:

Homeless Man vs. Real Estate Developer:

Lingerie Model vs. Woman in Girdle:

Reader Stephanie B., however, wasn’t so charmed by Laita’s work. She felt like he was being controversial without being thoughtful, objecting specifically to this juxtaposition:

Abortionist vs. Garbageman:

Persona thoughts and difficulties

I really like the work we briefly saw in class by Cornelia Hediger. www.corneliahediger.com

I am intrigued by her work visually, the various portions of the whole along with a sense of disorientation. Also, because of her use of a double self-portrait. In the past few months I have felt extremely torn between what I should be doing (studying, reading, cooking, cleaning, etc.) and what I feel like doing (mostly sleeping). This persona project seems like a perfect platform to express these binal feelings. What I have come to realize is that re-creating her technique is more difficult than I expected. Below are a couple of my attempts. Don't really like any of them.

The Blind Photographer

Earlier in the semester, we discussed how not everyone could be a photographer. A friend of mine is blind and I couldn't help but wonder whether he could be considered a photographer or not. Coincidently, I ran into this website today. www.peteeckert.com Pete Eckert, once a sculptor and intended architect, was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa as a young adult and slowly lost his sight. Finding irony in a blind person photographing in infrared, a non-visible wave length, Eckert was hooked. Although he labels himself as more of a conceptual artist rather than a photographer, his photographs have won various awards and certainly question assumptions of who can be a photographer.

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Electro Man, Pete Eckert

Persona Photo Shoot 1

For my persona project I have been toying with the idea of dual identities and mixed emotions. Not usually in front of the camera, I decided to see how many different faces I could make for my first photoshoot. Drawing from the Avedon portraits frequently mentioned in the reading and in class, I photoshopped a couple into what you see below. This isn't what I want to do with my final project, but it was an interesting exercise for myself, both posing and shooting, and I find the end result amusing.

Favorite Pick from 24 Hours

Although a bit cliche, who can pass up the beautiful shadows created by Venitian blinds. It almost looks like a fashion shot instead of me doing homework on my bed and snapping a photo.