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The quality of LIGHT can dramatically change the way we perceive the subject
of a photograph. The idea of surveillance light came up.
> Check out the work of ADAM EKBERG, who's subject is more of less the light itself, but this can be applied to various subjects.
Also do a search for photographs by Crime Photographer WEEGEE aka Arthur Fellig working in NYC in the 1940's through 60's.
Another variation on the Lighting theme is the idea of manipulating White Balance to achieve varying 'room tones'. My continuing challenge to photographers is 'How can you alter the Emotional Ambience of a space with color/ lighting/ white balance?'
I do not have any visual examples of this yet, but I do have some interesting methods to achieve this.
• Shoot with color gels over a flash or light source
• adjust white balance to something other than the light source at hand
• adjust the white balance in Photoshop. This gives the most control.
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We mentioned that materials or fluids that could fill a vessel could change the meaning of an image applied to the exterior of that vessel. The point here was that the vessel was empty, pointing to the idea that the people pictured might be vapid. It was also stated that these were "Jars full of hopes & dreams!!"
> Check out this example of a photo piece made by a Laura Haight in Japan one summer.
The fluids are soft drinks available in Japan that summer. The faces are those of her friends with whom she shared these drinks. Laura is also the person who made sculptures that look like mold. She had a classroom in Tyler quarantined when she installed one of her pieces into the ceiling over winter break. A HASMAT Team was called in before they figured out what it was!
This reminds me of another piece for the ad campaign of United Color of Benneton directed by Oliver Toscani.
These test tubes have the names of world leaders and are filled with blood samples that are HIV positive. A larger selection of photos for this campaign can be seen on the Research pages/ TOSCANI.
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We talked at length about the STRUCTURE behind photographs and how the surface of the paper can be altered to enhance the appearance and meaning of a print or prints. There is a page of artists who do work like this. The quality of the work varies in approach and quality.
> Check out the STRUCTURE page
We aslo discussed how the display of multiple photos can alter the perceived meaning.
> There are several examples on the DISPLAY page.
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A photo with hands pressed into skin was also mentioned.
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Another tangential riff came from a photo of columns. A photo-artist named John Pfahl makes pieces that challenge one's sense of space and dimension by manipulating perspective. This is difficult to articulate in words so just look at the photos.
> Look at JOHN PFAHL's work with Altered Landscapes.
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Lynn Selkow prints
silver prints/ drawn into and scratched away/
contacted as negative prints/ drawn into and scratched away/
contacted back to positive prints
Projection of image onto slanted surface. Perspective & Distortion (Diane Slater?)
Review the definition of Snap/ Press/ Art photographs
Transfer Examples. Best of Hybrid page...
Photos encased in plastic with Writing on back (Shinya Watanabe)
How can the chemical Bleach process be emulated in the digital domain? The emulsion gets eaten away leaving a ghostly image.
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Show Intimacy & Solitude show
