Lens Based Photo Series :
Exhibition Text :
My lens base photography series, ¨Is Someone There..?¨ revolves around the theme of being watched by someone you cannot make out. Composed with the strategic blurriness of Ernst Haas, the movement reflects around multiple perspectives of a moment in time in which causes panic. Within that, showing a slow realization to the viewer of what is going on to the piece with closer looks at silhouettes.
: Artist Inspiration :
The inspiration I had for this project was Ernst Haas, a photographer acclaimed to be the most influential and celebrated photographers of the 20th century. Born in Vienna, 1921, Ernest grew to love the color of the world and really enjoyed putting that into his photography during a time in which color was not exactly the appraised way for most famous photos. Ernst is best remembered for the experimentation he had with color film and abstract compositions. Ernst also used blurriness and selective focus within his works, he also includes his interest of poetry in photography in which it´s almost as if he paints with photos. The blurred motion and color is what I wanted to capture through the photo series, as I had limited space, I wanted to turn blurred motion as if someone was watching someone through a specific area. To take a look at this blurriness, I took a look into Ernst´s works:
In Ernst´s piece "The Rush Hour,¨ he uses the functions of movement, color, and form to show he rush of New York City. We are shown obvious blurred movement that is able to capture the rush and motion of where people are going and gives a sense of moving time. Ernst also uses form within the smoke and outline of people that almost blend in to the dark-colored city. We can see the silhouette of the person through the hints given by the cities environment. Ernst also uses color to show a dark scenery at night, to which looks the most busy with car lights and bright-colored buildings. This enhances the busy look of the piece and captures the pieces name within a rushing hour. The way he gives blurred movement as a sense of time and rush is what I want to see throughout my piece as time moves on. |
In another piece ¨La suerte De Capa,¨ in Spain shows even more vivid movement than the piece depicted before. The movement of the piece depicts a story in which someone is rushing for control, and it gives a perspective of huge movement towards the viewer. Within that, the form is hardly given, but is seen between the entities shown, as we can outline the form of a man controlling what looks almost like a bull. This form of photography is clever for perspective, and I wanted to capture that perspective through my piece at the end. Make the viewer almost look deeper into what the form is trying to make out. Color does not place a main role here, as the value between colors only separate the two forms within each other and the background within the piece. i like that within the piece, and would form that within placing a form with a corrupt background. |
Planning Phase:
Planning photo one includes the actual basis from the project before I actually had chosen my first inspiration for the actual project. I still had the theme of perhaps a wedding setting or at least a happy moment, but the page consists of various ideas I had and what I wanted around them. I wanted to capture a light to dark and within that the photo would gain something creepy in the background. I wanted to capture the disruption overall theme with that creepy thing and i wanted to almost portray those finding slenderman photos from years and years ago. Though then I would include my actual first inspiration.
|
To show the artist I first had chosen, Elizabeth Messina was an amazing wedding photographer. With her photography, I really wanted to turn a light moment to a dark and scary moment. Her brightness was something I wanted through the first part of the piece, but with my idea completely shifting to a more darker perspective, I had to scrap her as my inspiration. Still, her work is really beautiful and I would like to perhaps take inspiration for my self-portrait. Still, this page was an in-depth look to her, her resources, and her work in general as she really loved composition and light in her works.
|
Learning that my friend was going to help me take these photos, an actual wedding outfit was not going to be an easy thing. So this was an official concept page against that. (This also included after my inspiration was changed)
|
Process:
The first thing I had done was lay out where my friend, Jay, would have to eventually walk to. The plan went like this:
|
Through one of the photos seen to the right, we can see how this part of the phase was Jay coming back to the couch. Through other photos I would connect to the blurred movement of my inspiration. She was directed to go back through the hallway and go back to sit down. While this was happening, I was outside the door taking various photos of the situation going on. I cannot share the mistakes because to keep the project all neatly suited I kept the best material, but various photos were chosen from. After the photos were taken I would adjust the saturation and certain parts of the photo to add to the creepy essence of the night.
|
A little quick thing that´s is important to my process was that my dog actually played a pretty important role through the piece. He did an amazing job looking at the camera and was the first hint to Jay in who the figure at the door is. The photo turned out well and used color and value to show a presentable moment to the viewer. |
Experimentation:
My first plot came to an end when the other angles i was working for had not exactly captured what I wanted it to. When I came outside to go for the first angle, it literally showed absolutely no reflection, which is why I changed it to all just be one angle taken. This was very unfortunate because I wanted t go almost full stalker-like but I could not capture it so instead, I went for something else that kept me terrified..the door window. (In which is seen with the final photos) Something else within the series was that other than Jay, my sister, Mya was supposed to be the second person that would gradually be within the series, and the first to notice the figure at the door. She had other plans so we had to scrap that as well. |
Critique:
Similarities:
|
Differences:
- Ernst uses a variety of outside forms to give new outlines to perspective that are captured more perfectly than the movement I was going for.
- My piece uses more saturated colors while Ernst´s pieces use more real and classic colors that give a more realistic value to his pieces.
- My piece also captures a variety of different parts while Ernst has just one photo showing a moment.
Reflection:
This photography piece was definitely a new experience from me as I am not much of a casual photographer. Someone who actually is in my family is my sister, she actually takes photos causally before quarentine had started. Back to myself, taking photos like these were a new experience because i really took in new perspectives I would not really go into. By this I mean I took these photos at night, that does not sound so bad, but if you were me, that is not something I would do. In this photo series, to get the reflection of inside the house I had to go outside my house alone, basically locked out. I am an easily scared character and also very anti-social so that was something I was not really looking forward to. On a positive note, I did it and everything turned out fine, but it was definitely a new experience. Also it felt really fun to direct this photo series in telling Jay where she had to go and when the photos had actually been taken. I really enjoyed the process of this photo lens based series and I actually find a real interest into capturing beautiful moments in photography.
Going back to new viewpoints, I am going to explore more within my inspiration and its change within my series. I really had to scrap the entire first photographer and shift from my original idea entirely. This was very unfortunate and something I had not done before so it was very hard to adjust with, not to mention the project was closed to due. I was able to look for a new photographer but it was a very sad moment to scrap all the ideas I had in class. Still my management skills pulled through, but per usual my time management skills did not pull through. I am still happy with the progress of the piece but I also wish I was able to capture more photos to make the scene more clear. Not to mention, it is pretty difficult to see my reflection through the last two photos, but you can still make out the hands which I actually liked. So in conclusion, I actually did enjoy this project but still have some quarrels with the final result.
Going back to new viewpoints, I am going to explore more within my inspiration and its change within my series. I really had to scrap the entire first photographer and shift from my original idea entirely. This was very unfortunate and something I had not done before so it was very hard to adjust with, not to mention the project was closed to due. I was able to look for a new photographer but it was a very sad moment to scrap all the ideas I had in class. Still my management skills pulled through, but per usual my time management skills did not pull through. I am still happy with the progress of the piece but I also wish I was able to capture more photos to make the scene more clear. Not to mention, it is pretty difficult to see my reflection through the last two photos, but you can still make out the hands which I actually liked. So in conclusion, I actually did enjoy this project but still have some quarrels with the final result.
: Connection to the ACT :
- Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
The inspiration really fits into my piece because the movement and color was something I really wanted to capture with the new idea I had formed, and it would help capture that idea,
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Ernst really took an interest into color from a world that put value into black and white photos, he saw the colorful world and really wanted to include that with his photos.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
It is very interesting to see how many types of different photography is out there, and just how many ideas get played out within taking photos. While looking through the most popular photographers I could really get in depth to what other photographers took into play.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Many of my recent projects have been about lighter themes and I really wanted to take in an example of that within my photography piece. I really wanted to look into the way photographers use shadows, darkness, and movement to show their idea.
5. What kind of inferences ( conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning ) did you make while reading your research?
Photography can literally be of anything, shadows, weddings, and flowers, photography si just a way to capture moments and thoughts in the world.
:Citations in MLA Format:
O'Toole, ─── by Isabel. “Ernst Haas: Master of Photography.” The Independent Photographer, 28 Oct. 2021, https://independent-photo.com/news/ernst-haas-master-of-photography/.
“Ernst Haas.” Robert Klein Gallery, https://www.robertkleingallery.com/ernst-haas.
“Ernst Haas.” Robert Klein Gallery, https://www.robertkleingallery.com/ernst-haas.