Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Kaylynn Denevey

February 11, 2011 Kaylynn Denevey presentation at UCA Farnham
introduced by Anna Fox:
  • Phd in Photography at Newport
  • interested in hos she negotiated dealing with people
the presentation:
  • [eddie adams workshop in NY}
  • the were given assignments but not being aggressive finally got a church assignment
  • 'How do you feel about me phtographing you?'
  • Drawn to peoples inner lives
  • how do other people do it? wants to know how
  • Freelance for Albuquerque Tribune (10 years)
  • more minorities than whites there
  • photographed a family coming to the US and having a child
  • big problems with the language barrier
  • spent first yar with them working and going back and forth to mexico
  • she wrote the texxt and photographed but none of her text got in
  • took 1yr sabbatical and went to Belfast 
  • made the work in '97
  • Abotu a day in Belfast any day other than July 12th
  • met people anywhere she could
  • heard about the MA in Documentary at Wales Newport
  • quit job to do the degree
  • for the degree photographed a couple in a nursing home
  • they got there a month ahead of her
  • Edit wanted to be with Len who had fallen, so she was there early 
  • A long term project about life in one room
[similar to the work of Brian Atkinson at BYU-I]
  • she wanted to know how they felt
  • they got close as photographer and subject
  • it was hard to decide whether to photograph Edith crying or hold her hand
  • for her project it seemed to work best as a book
  • spent 9 months photogrpahing them 
  • hard to say good bye
'Day to Day Life of Albert Hastings'
  • Fascinated by how he was watering his garden with plastic bottles
  • spoke to him
  • showed him edith and len book
  • he agreed to be photographed
  • made the photos
  • let him write the captions-sometimes he waxed poetic in them
  • photographed over 5 years
'Cinderella Ranch'
  • An American notion of the ideal home
  • homes built long ago
  • Nice when they were built
  • Not so nice anymore
  • variety of styles
  • most fun she has had photographing
Questions:
Who made you fall in love with photography?
Kaylynn-took photo class for and easy 'A'- a guy brought in terrible photos-she went to speak to him-wondered how to use photography as a Language

Paul-an experience photographing his fathers work place burn

Donovan-Walker Evans-Photobooks

How do you know a project is finished?
Deadlines imposed by others

Three main reasons in photography
  1. Therapeutic
  2. Record
  3. Political

Donovan Wylie

February 11, 2011 Donovan Wylie presentation at UCA Farnham
A Magnum Photographer
  • Left school at 16
  • No qualifications
  • Photography gave him confidence
Seawright taught him how to process
began to find hisself 14 yrs ago when he thought he couldn't take pictures
No knowledge of History or theory
Took 'Walker Evans' book to bed each night [Really fond of Walker Evans]
Sent his work to Magnum-became a photo journalist
it was difficult -never had done it-learned to make Reportage photos-got thrown out basically for a time
Began to study-realized that it is a hugely complicated and responsible business
Went back to Ireland
Felt like a loner growing up-mixed marriage parents-felt disposed by both sides
looked at his fathers background an obsession to know more or something took over him
Went to his uncle, he ided week later was searching there at his house, found a 'scrapbook' it is one of the last things he has published.
trying to make sense of himself at this point
But was basically making something about Northern Ireland
Searching everything for photos, started with his family
Walker Evans-about this time-more about human nature
Claims he wasn't trying to say something about the conflict -just collecting-
Felt it was wrong to make it a historical narrative early on
When it was edited and put together it brought closure
[Therapeutic]
'The Maze'
 Researching books helped him realize how difficult it wass to decide how to shoot the prison
The prison was a human trap, a machine, you could not hide, the repetition of it was designed to grind you down.
Seeing it as a machine-decided to photograph it as a machine
it is a statement of a machine doing a job, not about Northern Ireland
showed us photograph of one of the towers-explained how it symbolizes vision, sight and power, repetition
Loves photos with history in them-Not about history
Loves the idea of vision and sight having power-stems from the photo of the watch tower

'British Watch Towers' Steidl(publisher)
the structures have a brutal beauty-a tension between them and the landscape
took a year and a half to photograph
it began being removed-questioned where it goes? to Afghanistan some of it
all the towers are gone now

His own work-trying to get something from it
Went to Iraq-a work on the green zone
-an American Buble

'Outposts'
-Went to Afghanistan
-a continuation of Watch Towers
-1 year of research
-access is the trouble
-not allowed in to photograph
-when they are pulling out, then he got in but can't publish until they are out
-allowed to shoot images from the tower
[his images contain: Architecture, Landscape, Ideas. It reveals: Human nature-controlling, occupying, surviving]
-in one area it took 6 hours to go 3 or 4 kilometers due to IED's
-connecting towers and views
-grand landscape views emerge
-no idea this would happen
-the towers look vulnerable but are very strong in Reality
-Trying to say-I follow what interests and excites me shaped by where he grew up, discovering ideas. vision. control. power

Getting Access?
  1. Persistence
  2. They have fears-eliminate the fears
  3. Give them the power
  4. Having partners helps

Donovans Primary goal for his photographs is the wall-but a photograph of Edith and Len on the Wall doesn't make sense it should be in a book

Paul Seawright

February 11, 2011 Paul Seawright presentation of some of his works
Studied at UCA the yr after Anna Fox
Teaches at the University of Belfast

Clive Limpkin "the Battle of Bogside"
  • Discussing the book in his sons history class - that is a bad place for it he says
  • The imagery was typical of work being done in Northern Ireland at the time
Pauls work tries to deal with conflict photography in a different manner
  • showed Roger Fenton from Crimea 'Valley of Shadow of Death'
  • the cannon balls represent the dead
  • it is similar to one of Paul's photos where there are shells from modern wars littering the battle field
*Weapons and Technology change but war and the scene is still the same*
He has spent his career finding strategies in response to wars and new ways to image them
'Pig in the Middle'- Typical images you got at the time
Pauls photos are different but still evoke conflict
his images are his narrative and personal to him

the social landscape of Northern Ireland
'Troubled Land' paul graham
  • Initially Seawright was annoyed by this work
  • admits it was powerful and inluential to him
'windows and mirrors'
  • he grew up protestant
  • met catholics for the first time in Farnham
  • In book removed reference to protestant or catholic to bring back the human nature to it
  • the images don't reference any specific religion instead they show it as human nature
[I wonder what his thoughts on religion and god are]
'Joel Sternfeld' a landscape of a place in LA- for his photo to function you have to know what happened there (Rodney King was beaten there)
It is the same reason we have plaques telling us about history in places we visit

'Orange Order Work'
Photo journalists latch onto someone and tell their story. He wanted to make images that stood alone

'Inside Information'
  • photos that stood for conflict not policing
  • things could innocent but represented in a way that they aren't (this is deliberate to create the narrative)
'Conflicting Account'
  • commissioned
  • struggled due to being gone so long
'The missing'
  • about missing persons
  • photographed similar to the police work
When it comes to commissioning he often turns it down

One place he was told was safe during the day but not at night
  • he attempted the opposite creating beautiful images at night
lighting trees at the edge of forests
the welsh valleys-between belonging and not belonging


Went to Africa
  • Referenced the colonial past
  • ther is no work
  • people are inactive
  • they are waiting
  • did the work in 4 or 5 trips 3 weeks each time
Photographs of wars come to stand for that war
  • but that subject must be interogated
  • important for artists, playwrights, etc to go to places of war
  • Joe Sacco-draws his work into grafic novels
  • the disasters of war-a coloring book-it says war is accepted in our culture
  • Verna Herzog - lessons of Darkness
  • Frederic Setereau
'Hidden'
  • landscapes of the Afghanistan War
  • (always does research before going out)
  • 1st week there was a panic, never had done this type of photography
  • Camera allowed him into a landscape he couldn't go because it is littered with mines, bombs, terrorists-all hidden
  • Day/night
  • Interior/exterior - all utilized in his photos
'Volunteer'
  • making work of Afghanistan with out being there
  • about military recruitment centers
  • showing where they are situated not the actual recruiting center
  • post 9/11 Landscapes
  • miserable spaces
[The work shows the economics of the time as well]

Maryam

January 1, 2011
'Jahangir Razmi' a MFA in Photography 1st year Student Workshop
Took photos of Iran Revolution, also the Iran/Iraq war
The sha left
The new power killed many politicians with out a trial
Homeini came
Kurdish shot by government
Iraq attacked without warning
[He was working for a newspaper but became a war photographer because of his assignments and coverage]
Photos of modern cities that were completely destryoed
[The color photographs look more graphic than the B&W's]
After the war was over he quit
now works as a photographer in his studio in Iran

he won the Pulitzer Prize with an anonymous photo. due to the situation at the time he couldn't put his name to it. Other Photographers knew it was his work though. There is a film about it.
in the film he stated that photography during the wars 'affected his soul and body' he tells himself, 'he was doing his job' and teared up just talking about it.

Reza Deghati-also Iranian
The film was made for Aljazeera but couldn't be shown at the time and still can't I guess.
However the film was made very well and shows the investigation into who made the photograph, the circumstances behind what happened in the image, and how it won a pultizer anonymously yet the royalties of selling have gone to a photographer that isn't the real copyright holder because the magazine that printed it needed to pay someone for it, thus the one who turned it into them got the money, and then another Iranian in Germany was put to the test with a camera to see if he could have been the one who made the image. Clearly he wasn't the photographer.
This film should be made available to all but can't be.

Yuri Gomi

January 13, 2011
'How to Exhibit Photographs' a MFA in Photography 1st year Student Workshop
Hidasahkawa
How to mount Photos in a mat:
1-Take measurements
2%Calculation
cut the matte with a bevel
(This is exactly what I learned from Darren Clarke at BYU-I)
make photos corners with paper and white Artist Tape

2-Preparing wall
work out spacing
positioning nails
Hanging of pictures

3-setting up the lighting

4-making titles and captions

Toshio Shibata
  • Large format
  • 8X10 Camera
  • Both colour and Black and White
Maoki Ishikawa
  • Climbing Mountains
Keizi Tsuyouguchi
  • Hokaido Prefrecture
  • Joining Japanese and Aboriginal culture
Anne Ferran
  • Australian
  • Archive of mental patients in hospital
20 Students also displayed in the Gallery

Monday, 14 February 2011

Realization

Attended a lecture given by Donovan Wylie, Paul Seawright and Kaylynn Denevey on Friday 11, February 2011 at UCA Farnham. Each explained there background and Photographic practices. Each is producing really interesting documentary work. It was during Kaylynns lecture that I realized that I have producing a social documentary of my own that borders on self-portraiture. My wife and I became the parents of twins almost 4 years ago. They arrived 2 months and 1 day ahead of their due date. Kaylenn described the decision to pick up a camera and photograph her subjects instead of holding there hand or giving them space. There are times when I pick up the camera to photograph my child when I could be cleaning up the mess they made or holding them. In all honesty taking a photograph takes only a moment and if the child is not in immediate danger it is possible to get a photograph. If there ever has been danger or they have been hurt then obviously I take care of it before taking a photograph. However as I look back at the posts on my personal blog I see that I have story to tell about being a 'Married Latter-Day Saint Student Raising Twins and now a Third Child'. I wonder if it is possible to organize my photographs to show how we have been able to do so and continue to do so while having moved countries to work on a Master of Fine Art degree in Photography. ? Answer coming, hopefully.

Thursday, 10 February 2011

BOMB Magazine's 2011 Fiction Contest by BOMB LITERATURE

This contest has a price to enter and have your work read and judged. I think there could be a possibility of having your work seen through this competition though.
http://bombsite.com/issues/0/articles/4770

The Black Sea. (A storm begins to whip up in the Black Sea)

This work was found on the 'Art Project powered by Google' site. As part of my research in to Landscapes. Of course this is a Painting but I feel that it is relevant to my research because of the subject matter. This type of Art can be compared to the Photographic Landscapes being made. In fact it reminded me of ...... His work is so calm. In contrast this painting is full of passion and rage.

Much of Landscape photography focuses on calm scenes. Perhaps that is because of the horizontal lines of the horizon and lack of movement in general. Even long exposure photographs where the clouds have blurred and the grasses too, as the wind blows them, is calming to look at. This painting with all of the rage in the ocean waters is also very calming to look at. Which make me think that nature in general is calm even with its mood swings. Being at peace in Nature is something that can be felt. I do not believe that science knows or has figured out how to measure this phenomenon. We may be able to see light from stars light years away and compute what those stars are composed of but we can't measure peace or where it is coming from right here in front of us as we stare out across untouched landscapes.

(http://www.googleartproject.com/museums/tretyakov/the-black-sea-a-storm-begins-to-whip-up-in-the-black-sea-163#)

The Black Sea. (A storm begins to whip up in the Black Sea)

Черное море (на Черном море начинает разыгрываться буря)
1881

Ivan (Oganes) Ayvazovskiy (Gayvazovskiy), 1817-1900

oil on canvas
Height : 149.00 cm
Width : 208.00 cm

Located in: Room 19
Veiwing Notes:
Aivazovsky was the best known and most celebrated Russian artist of marine paintings. The sea appears in his paintings as something multifaceted. At times it is an element which is not subjected to any laws and which shatters man; at other times it is tempting in the distance, a symbol of Romantic dream. The viewer beholds an endless expanse of sea and infinite heavens above it. In the foreground there is a wave with whitecaps of foam - the "Aivazovsky wave" as his contemporaries called it. The palette is unusually rich. It brings together greens, silver tones, emerald tints and extends to the darkening deep blues at the horizon. In the centre we see a lone sailboat, symbol of man's insignificance before the universe and at the same time a sign of the Romantic Wanderlust.
Artwork History:
Acquired by Tretyakov P.M. from the author in 1881
Artist Information:

Ivan (Oganes) Ayvazovskiy (Gayvazovskiy) (Иван (Оганес) Константинович Айвазовский (Гайвазовский))


Active Period: 1817-1900
Painter, marinist, master of historical battle scenes dedicated to the Russian Navy, Biblical, New Testament and antique genres. Born into a family of Armenian merchants and an elder at the Feodosian market. Koch, a Feodosian architect, gave him his first lessons in painting and drawing. From 1833-1839 he studied at the Academy of Arts in the landscape class under M.Vorobiev and from 1835-1836 he continued his studies at the studio of French marinist F.Tanner. In 1836 he was awarded the small gold medal for his painting entitled "The Seaside in a St.Petersburg Neighbourhood" (1835), a year later he won the large gold medal for three seascapes and his painting entitled "Calm". He graduated from the Academy of Arts in 1839 with a first class degree and a scholarship to Europe. From 1840-1844 he visited Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain and Malta. He also travelled to the Middle East, Africa and America. In 1844 he returned to St.Petersburg before his scholarship expired. From 1844 Aivazovsky was a Full Member at the Academy of Arts and painter of the Chief Naval Headquarters. He was an honourable member of Academies of Arts in Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Florence and Stuttgart. In 1887 he also became an honourable member at the Academy of Arts in St.Petersburg. In 1880 he opened an art gallery in Feodosia (today the I.Aivazovsky Feodosian Art Gallery) and when he died he bequeathed all the paintings on display in this Gallery to the city of Feodosia. He has been an honourable citizen of Feodosia since 1881. Aivazovsky's early work was populated by small sailing vessels and travellers admiring the vast sea from its shores. The turbulent movement of the water and the wonderful charm in the calmness are his favourite subjects. Some of his work reveals the influence of Syl.Shchedrin and K.Bryullov. The artist spent many years in his studio by the sea attentively observing the water. Aivazovsky mature work is usually on a large scale and contains dramatic plots. During the later period in the artist's creativity, his favourite themes depicted the romantic struggle between man and the elements in the form of the sea (The Rainbow, 1873), and so-called "blue marines" (The Bay of Naples in Early Morning, 1897, Disaster, 1898) and urban landscapes (Moonlit Night on the Bosphorus, 1894). Aivazovsky is one of the few Russian masters who received fame and recognition during his lifetime. The exhibitions of his paintings were held in many countries across the world, his portrait was on display at the famous Ufizzi Gallery in Florence in Italy. Aivazovsky created more than six thousand works


Art Project, powered by Google

Just found out about this. Google has started a type of Street View of Museums. you can roam about the museums and then stop to look at works of art. Or you can just look at works of art.
The whole idea is to be able to view Museums from around the world. I guess this is apart of Google's quest to digitize the world. I personally see this as a good thing because if there were ever a fire or natural disaster of some type that destroyed the valuable items in the museums then at least there would be evidence of great works still available. That wouldn't change the fact that if something terrible were to happen to these works of art, they can never be replaced. However, with the direction that society has gone with technology and how we experience the world, this makes sense. I am sure that nothing will ever be able to replace that actual feeling and experience of seeing art in real life and real time. Think of how this is a benefit though. There are many children and adults who spend countless hours in front of computers and television sets  mindlessly doing nothing. Give those people a chance to visit a museum instead of a chat room or a pornography site and perhaps they will learn something. This project is opening a door for education to the masses. I believe it is wonderful, to an extent. I don't know if I will be able to visit all the museums of the world but if they were all on Google I could browse their collections at leisure before starting a work day or going to bed at night.

Check it out here:
http://www.googleartproject.com/

My first time visiting this site I looked around what they had for the Tate Britain. This is what I found:

Satan Smiting Job with Sore Boils

Around 1826

William Blake

Pen and ink and tempera on mahogany
Height : 326.00 cm
Width : 432.00 cm

Located in: Art and the Sublime (Room 9)
Veiwing Notes:
The biblical 'Book of Job' addresses the existence of evil and suffering in a world where a loving, all-powerful God exists. It has been described as 'the most profound and literary work of the entire Old Testament'. In 'Job', God and Satan discuss the limits of human faith and endurance. God lets Satan force Job to undergo extreme trials and tribulations, including the destruction of his family. Despite this, as God predicted, Job's faith remains unshaken and he is rewarded by God with the restoration of his health, wealth and family. Here Blake shows Satan torturing Job with boils.
Artwork History:
Presented by Miss Mary H. Dodge through the Art Fund 1918
Artist Info:
Born 1757 in London, United Kingdom, died 1827 in London, United Kingdom

I also viewed:

The Deluge

Around 1840

Francis Danby

Oil on Canvas
Height : 707.00 cm
Width : 1099.00 cm

Located in: Art and the Sublime (Room 9)
Veiwing Notes:
Danby made his name with epic subjects, often on a large scale. This was his last. The subject is from the Old Testament book of Genesis. God sends a flood to punish mankind's wickedness but allows Noah and his family to be saved. Noah's ark is in the background, illuminated by a shaft of moonlight. A stormy sea rages round a rocky peak and massive tree branches, to which humans and animals are clinging desperately. A blood-red sun can be seen setting to the left. In the lower right hand corner, an angel weeps over the death of a child.
Artwork History:
Purchased 1953
Artist Info:
Born 1793 in Wexford, Éire, died 1861 in Exmouth, United Kingdom

And this:

Portrait of James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, Later 3rd Marquis and 1st Duke of Hamilton, Aged 17

1623

Daniel Mytens the Elder

Painting
Height : 2007.00 cm
Width : 1251.00 cm
Located in: Tudor and Stuart Portraiture (Room 2)
Veiwing Notes:
Mytens was born and trained in the Netherlands. From 1618 he worked in England for the most advanced court patrons. Compared with local artists, he offered a striking naturalism. Hamilton shared an interest in art-collecting with the future Charles I, whom Mytens painted in a similar pose. In 1623, the date of this picture, Hamilton had attended the Prince in Madrid during Charles's unsuccessful attempt to marry a Spanish princess. There they saw portraits by the young Velasquez. Years later, during the Civil War, the royalist Hamilton was to prove a poor military leader. He was beheaded shortly after Charles himself.
Artwork History:
Presented by Colin Agnew and Charles Romer Williams 1919
Artist Info:
Born around 1590 in Delft, Nederland, died around 1647 in Gravenhage, Nederland

With what seems to be such ease and freedom of a day out at the Museums I jumped over to the National Gallery and found:

Portrait of Giovanni della Volta with his Wife and Children

Lorenzo Lotto

Oil on canvas
Height : 104.50 cm
Width : 138.00 cm

Located in: Central Hall - Northern Italy 1500-1580
Veiwing Notes:
Artwork created: completed 1547
This is probably a portrait of the Venetian merchant, Giovanni della Volta and his family described in Lotto's account book between 1538 and 1547. No other portrait of a man, woman and two children by Lotto is known.
The action is focused on the bowl of cherries on the table. The mother offers cherries to her daughter, while the father offers them to his son, who seems to dance before him in the foreground.
The table with its elaborately patterned Turkish carpet is central to the painting. This is of a type frequently represented by Lotto (hence known as a 'Lotto carpet') and has yellow arabesques on a red field, and a Kufic border.
National Gallery inventory number: NG1047 
Artwork History:
Bequeathed by Miss Sarah Solly, 1879
Artist Info:
Artist dates: about 1480-1556/7
Lotto was one of the leading Venetian-trained painters of the earlier 16th century. He painted portraits and religious works exclusively. His early works are strongly influenced by Giovanni Bellini. Lotto was active in various places in Italy and absorbed a wide range of other influences, from Lombard realism to Raphael. He was deeply religious and his late paintings become intensely spiritual.
Unable to compete with Titian, Lotto worked mainly outside Venice. He is recorded at Treviso in 1503, then in the Marches, and in Rome, probably in 1508. From 1513 to 1525 he resided mainly at Bergamo in Lombardy, where he painted several major altarpieces. A period in Venice from 1526, with long absences, was followed by his retirement to a religious establishment at Loreto in 1552.
Lotto's later paintings are recorded in an account book and diary which he kept from 1538. His works are characterised by the use of deeply saturated colours, bold use of shadow, and a surprising expressive range, from the nearly caricatural to the lyrical. He is one of the most individualistic of the great Italian painters.

Saturday, 5 February 2011

Adele Enerson

The following link will whisk through the densely populated world of the web. When your browser stops interpretting the bits and bytes of information of the places it has to go to find what you are looking for, you will be at the blogspot post where Adele Enerson, a copywriter on maternity leave, has placed photos of her chil while sleeping. She is not a professional photographer but began using items around her house to create scenes that could possibly be of what her daughter is dreaming about. The camera she uses is a Canon IXUS 750. She only spends a few minutes on each image she is creating due to the fact that her child is asleep and she doesn't want to disturb that sleep.

I find her work very thought provoking as I too have little children and often wonder what they must have running through their minds while in the state of sleep where ones mind sorts all of the events of the day. Perhaps they are small fantasies playing out in the privacy of the mind.

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/2010/10/im-just-daydreamer.html