Photography is a contest between a photographer and the presumptions of approximate and habitual seeing. The contest can be held anywhere … John Szarkowski Submitted by Howard Landau Four of our talented members brought their work in to show today: Howard, Rene, Jim and Gareth. You couldn’t ask for more diverse and interesting work. Howard showed a suite of pictures he shot earlier this year as part of a class he took at Art Center. Titled Just Gimme Some Truth, the images are of people taking polygraph tests as well as the associated lie detector equipment and digital read-outs. Howard shot them off his computer screen from YouTube videos, resulting in grainy, theatrical exposures. The pictures are meant to be viewed together as a conceptual commentary on ethics and politics in contemporary society. Rene also showed work from his time as a student at Art Center in the 50’s. (Some of his fellow students included Lee Friedlander and Robert Gottschalk, the creator of the Panaflex camera.) Rene started as a teenager taking pictures in his father’s jewelry store in downtown LA. He shot black & white portraits of family, friends and people he would find in neighboring shops. His other student work included abstractions and experiments with different printing techniques. It was easy to see how his early efforts continue to inform his work today. Gareth showed some new work in the genre of Street Photography, very different from work he has shown in the past that use words as the theme. Each image prompted lively discussion about his eye and the way he chose to present the subject in the frame. Needless to say, we each had a different opinion. As with all discussion at f8, here were no fisticuffs, only good collegial critique. Jim showed examples of his unique work in 3D photography. We all had fun trying to get ourselves cross-eyed in order to see the two images merge into one and pop off the page. Jim is membership chair of the LA 3D club which meets monthly at the armory. Interested guests are welcome to attend club meetings and learn more about the technique. Gareth showed the picture below. It generated lots of discussion, particularly on how it should, or should not, be cropped or enhanced. It was interesting to hear how each of us had a slightly different reaction to the image.
0 Comments
Today's guest was Laura Rodriguez from Chicago. Her artist statement remains published on the schedule page of our blog.
Laura had become a photographer since retiring and traveling to more than 50 countries in the past few years. While her focus has shifted as she traveled, her overriding themes have been people and nature. Today she showed pictures highlighting those themes and expressing the narrative of what she captured digitally. Her pictures reflected the human vs nature scale and, in her portraits, the cultural ethos of the people. After her presentation, the discussion was lead off with the comment about the privilege of photography we enjoy as we travel...allowing to convey the message of the cultures we encounter....and doing it in "real time" through our social media sites. Several expressed interest in following Laura's posts on Facebook....you can contact her at [email protected] Also discussed was the effect of extensive travel on her visual aesthetics and cultural view. Below is a sampling of Laura's images she discussed today: “Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.” May Ray Trip to Hammer Museum for the Robert Heinecken Exhibit Submitted by Howard Landau Those that went to the Hammer today were smitten with the Heinecken exhibition, but in different ways. When we discussed the exhibit each of us liked different work in the show for different reasons. That fact alone demonstrates the diversity and range of Heinecken’s work. It’s easy to dismiss Heinecken using the classic definition of what it means to “take pictures,” but you can’t dismiss him as a serious artist and as someone who has influenced a generation of both photographers and artists. The show demonstrates that he was very much a man of his time. He fits in the mold of Pop Art as well as Conceptual Art. His appropriated images are wonderful. They are visual achievements that also make important social commentary. You can see the twinkle in the artist’s eye as he juxtaposed sexually charged images from magazines with political text. He lets you in on the joke, you smile and you get the message loud and clear. Heinecken made a very diverse body of work including “photo sculptures” that were designed to allow people to arrange them in different ways to make a unique composition. There aren’t many photographers who involve their audience in such an active and provocative way. Trip to Leica Store and Gallery Our first trip to the Leica Store since it opened several months ago...beautiful store filled with all sorts of expensive Leica gear...most of which is beyond us mortals without trust funds. They have an upstairs gallery and library. The library is "curated" by Martin Parr...I guess he picked out the rare and not so rare photography books. The gallery had two exhibits. Susan Barnett "Not in Your Face" and Mathew Miller "Judy's Interruption." Both exhibits were pedestrian with Barnett's being the best of the two. Are they or the store worth the trip? Not really...lots of better exhibits around town A Visit with a Guatemalan Shaman Bill presented a short piece based on their recent visit to Guatemala...and the visits to several shamans. The complete PowerPoint presentation is 13MB and could not be placed on the blog. Instead it will be sent in a separate email. For those not viewing the presentation, here is a definition of shamanism... Shamanism is a practice that involves a practitioner reaching altered states of consciousness in order to encounter and interact with the spirit world and channel these transcendental energies into this world. Other things we saw today....
Paul showed some examples of Dye-Sub prints on aluminum... Richard showed proofs of his recent portraiture with his analog Rolliflex Rene showed a book he made of pictures taken by Wayne Hunt at a Neon Sign Graveyard outside of Las Vegas. Wayne is a graphic designer here in Pasadena. "Everything that is visible hides everything else that is visible" Rene Magritte Contributed by Chris Kleine
Attached is a link about film scanning that we discussed today http://petapixel.com/2012/12/24/how-to-scan-your-film-using-a-digital-camera-and-macro-lens/ Tying in the discussion of scanning your negatives Chris also discussed the work of Marty Knapp, a large format film photographer who has gone digital and who now makes inkjet prints from his scanned negatives http://www.martyknapp.com We also focused on Landscape Photography using a large format camera and discussing the work and lifestyle of Clyde Butcher. http://www.clydebutcher.com "I am interested in what I term gestalts; picture circumstances which bring together disparate images or ideas so as to form new meanings and new configurations." Robert Heinecken Contributed by Gareth Seigel Thanks to all who participated in the provocative discussion on the work of Robert Heinecken as it relates to mass media themes. We viewed and discussed a large portion of the video "Heinecken Explains Heinecken" which was included in MOMA's recent exhibition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rzHwzZDgOw Link to slides of Heinecken's MOMA show, "Object Matter," currently on view at The Hammer and several links contributed by Mark Myers:
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1419# http://prod-images.exhibit-e.com/www_petzel_com/RH_2014_PR.pdf http://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/pictures_generation |
|