Today we continued with our meeting discussion from 3-12-16 and the notion of the "body politic"...not the political aspects...but rather the visual aspects of how the photographic images of politicians help us form opinions about those we vote for. Many brought their special politician image and discussed some of the things we need to consider as we gaze on these images. Jim pointed out that "distortion" of images are designed to convey something bad about that person; Scott pointed out how a "single picture" can convey the good and the bad of a candidate...depending on your personal political view; Charles noted that any image can be "picked" from the thousands taken of the candidate; other comments..."it depends on the bias of the publication publishing the picture"..."the importance of a captions"..."body language is critical"..."candidate in wrong place"..."video conveys other types of information"...."bias of publications influence visuals"..."visual depends on country"...."a particular posture defines a politician" Below are some of pictures that were brought to the meeting... Lots more discussion on the role of imaging in the political process...thanks to all that participated From there we drifted into a discussion of one of our most iconic photographers Walker Evans. The question posed was ..."why do we view him as a great photographer?"...why is he so famous?" Jim reviewed his history as a photographer... Part of FSA photographers Taught at Yale Was a photo-editor of magazines Had lot of art connections in NYC Used view camera His photography showed things in reality ..."as is" Color was "vulgar" Interested inimaging...not production First exhibit of photography at MOMA Published famous book... Let Us Now Praise Famous Men is a book with text by American writer James Agee and photographs by American photographer Walker Evans, first published in 1941 in the United States. The work documents the lives of impoverished sharecroppers during the great depression. Although it is in keeping with Evans' work with the Farm Security Administration, the project was initiated not by the FSA, but by Fortune Magazine. The title is from a passage in the Wisdom of Sirach (44:1) that begins, "Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us". Clearly, Evans contributed a significant body of work and was a trail blazer in the world of photography exhibitions and photography books.
Lastly, Bill showed some recent art images from his friend, Jim Radke, in Springfield MO. Jim is mostly shooting with his iPhone and adding his recent drawings on Coffee Filters to the images. Creative and artistic. Jim shoots and posts something on his blog everyday. Below is the link to his website and some examples of his "coffee filter art" https://jamesradke.wordpress.com
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