Digital Photography

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

John Collier Jr. - Photographer 2

*Name of Photographer: John Collier Jr.
*Description of visual style: documentary
*Social/historical context: John Collier Jr. was a photographer in the 1940’s. He took a lot of photos documenting American life around the eastern US and northern New Mexico. His photos have been used by anthropologists.
*Describe my interest in the photographer and their work: I like his photos because they are very real and gritty. He shows people living their lives, and makes even the simplest things look beautiful.

For my proposed series
*Describe the theme: I’m probably going to go with the Man Ray series, but if I chose to do this one I’d like to go out and find people doing everyday things (like someone doing laundry at a local laundry-matt, or a construction crew standing around doing nothing…)
*Possible subject matter: Neighbors\locals.
*Shooting and production technique: not sure yet.
*Describe how this series relates to or “pays homage” to the photographer: I think my idea will relate to John Collier because it’ll be documentary-style, and will focus on working class people.

Man Ray - Photographer 1

*Name of Photographer: Man Ray
*Description of visual style: surrealism
*Social/historical context: Man Ray was a photographer in the 1920’s and played a key role in the surrealist movement.
*Describe my interest in the photographer and their work: I really like his photographs; the style is just really appealing to me. In this particular photo, I love how simple and elegant it is. Her body has a “flow” to it, and the painted on twirls are just really cool (love how it makes her back look like a musical instrument; makes for a cool tattoo).

For my proposed series
*Describe the theme: I want to find more ways of making body parts look like musical instruments. I visualize there being a different feeling with each body\instrument (like how Man Ray makes this cello-woman as classic as the music a cello usually produces).
*Possible subject matter: I’m probably just going to use myself and my husband as models, and somehow use body paint and other things around the house.
*Shooting and production technique: not sure yet.
*Describe how this series relates to or “pays homage” to the photographer: I think my idea will pay homage to Man Ray because its using his idea without copying any of his actual work; it’s a modern day spin on something from the past.