The Photos: 2013

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Abstraction

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Woodman and the Untitled Angel

Out of all the pieces we looked over in the past few days, none really reached out to me like one of Francesca Woodman's unfinished pieces shot in 1977, specifically one from her “Angels” series. Angels in general both as a concept and a symbol fascinate me, so when we went over Woodman's work I was immediately drawn to the one piece that was almost undoubtedly focused on the concept of an angel. In this shot Francesca is suspended but by the grace of a single frame of time above the floorboards within an older, slightly dilapidated house. Two large paper wings are suspended by thin wire from the ceiling. These wings frame Francesca from above in a way that transforms her at least temporarily into a partially abstract angel. Francesca herself is only dressed in what looks like long bloomers, dark stockings and black shoes. Personally, for the sake of the piece I prefer such attire; the bloomers give her the appearance of a bell-shaped dress stereotypically attributed to angels in art. The dark stockings and shoes, also, sort of blend into the background, at least more so than the rest of her from the waist up. These elements help lead attention to the gesture of the head and torso, the contortion of the spine and the emphasis of the arms. This gesture is highlighted by the lighting mostly from the window to her left(our right), which contrasts well with the dark corner she positioned herself in front of. Her figure follows the rule of thirds along the vertical lines, and just barely along the horizontal lines, attractively composing the piece without backing herself into a corner of the picture plane. The contrast is solid without feeling blunt, keeping that necessary light airy feeling. All in all an inspiring piece.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Humans of UTSA

Matthew

I asked him about the bag around his neck. He said "In it I have these meditation beads-" he showed me a string of wooden beads. "-I say a mantra for each one, it takes about 3 hours." When I asked what that did, he said it purifies the consciousness.

David

I don't think I'll ever forget this guy. The type to walk by a perfect stranger, make eye contact, and greet cheerfully. After pulling me into a one-arm hug, he mentioned all the people with cameras right now. I informed him that they were from a photography class, all to my knowledge art majors. And we got onto the topic of majors.

"Yeah, I'm not an art major though."

Really? What's your major?

"Kinesiology, because I want to be a physical therapist. That's not my only passion though! I also play chess a lot. See, on Wednesdays they have a meet on Medical; they have a website here, if you want to look..."

He did not let me leave until he gave me the website and made me promise to look it up.

What do you think they're doing?

"Okay, follow me here; earlier I saw them remove two transformers from under the library, and that looks like fire retardant material, so they're replacing the panels under the transformers while they're being repaired."

Wow, are you like an electronics major, to know all that?

"Nah, just a guess. I have engineering tendencies."

I never got his name. After taking the picture, he commented on my camera and took off for a class.

This guy had been on campus for 3 days. Finally I got the guts to ask him a few questions.

So I'm wondering, what's the purpose of this?

"Well, I just wanted to ask people what they would do if there was nothing stopping them. I just got back from Peru; I had saved up all my money to buy a one-way ticket there. I volunteered, I did backpacking-" he gestured to a large backpack. -"I'm back but I'm going to leave again, and before I go I wanted to go around and pose this kind of question to other people."

Fun fact, after taking to him I looked up theworldonmyback.com. You can see a pic of the campus.

Leia

"So do you want me riding, or?..."

Oh, whatever you're most comfortable with.

"I'm always more comfortable riding."

And with that she hopped on and ride a few laps while I shot.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Color Critique

For our critique we mostly found things we liked about how we each handled color and composition. Maritza has a keen eye for color and composition, and Enrique's photos had a balance of darks and bold colors that gave it a cool, urban look. All their photos were taken with the focal point clear and crisp on the screen.
My personal favorite of Maritza's was the one with the rubber duck, not solely because the image was a warm, tropical feel, but because of the difficulty of putting together such a polished image. To get the shot she had to carefully hold her camera and the duck underwater to that they wouldn't float to the top or sink to the bottom. The result suggests far less effort than the photo itself must have taken. Maritza's presentation on a whole was enjoyable with a boatload of polish and a keen eye for the colors represented and how they sat in the picture plane. You can tell a lot of thought went into her work.
Enrique stunned me with his image of the door covered in graffiti. I recall seeing it before he worked in the color balance; the colors were washed out and the lighting was kind of gray; I remember someone encouraging him to keep it even though he wasn't sure about it. Good advice. The piece isn't bold and vibrant, but it has pops of color that make the piece. The way it was shot has a unique story as well; he took it in a bad part of town, and the locals kept looking at him. Apparently he had to take it and run. Enrique's photos all have a similar feel to them; the composition is solid, and the focal points- the colors- scream at you in a defiant and prismatic display.
Personally I was looking forward to seeing what all my classmates did for this project. Color isn't difficult, but doing color well is.