Wells Embodying Social Difference

When reading the section “Embodying Social Difference” in Wells’ Photography: a Critical Introduction I was intrigued by the statement “before the development of buses, railroads, and trams in the nineteenth century, people had never been in a position of having to look at each other for long minutes or even hours without speaking to one another”. I never considered the fact that people only really looked at each other closely when they were speaking to one another before the invention of photography. However, this sentence was put into the context of explaining phrenology and physiognomy, which were Victorian sciences that eventually were used as forms of “social control”. It is disturbing to me that with the technology to really look at things differently than with one’s own eye’s, that this power was used to oppress people and justify racism. I feel that the ability to “objectify” people and be able to see them and analyze them in real life dehumanizes the subjects of the photographs in the mind of the viewer, and is a possible contribution to this flawed thinking.

It was also interesting to me that phrenology and physiognomy were tools used in identifying criminals. This system of photography was called “anthropometric” and displayed a front view and side profile of the criminal. It seems ridiculous to me that the appearance of someone due to genetics can determine whether they have committed a crime. That is purely prejudice towards certain types of people and bias in the favor of others. I suppose it should not surprise me that this happened, but it does upset me.     

Wells 167-204, La Cicciolina

I thought the case study assigned in our Wells reading was particularly fascinating. To refresh your memory, it was of La Cicciolina, the Italian Hungarian porn star, Illona Staller. The photos taken of her were over the top- described as ‘camp like’ (having a queer aesthetic) or ‘kitschy’ (ironic appreciation). The pictures of her have recently become popularized because of irony; “softcore porn, seen as one of the lowest and most irredeemable forms of popular culture… has become of capable of being rehabilitated through irony” (191).

I thought this was an interesting comment to make about popular culture of today. Speaking more generally than just photography, this obsession with ‘kitsch’ knowledge reminded me of a finding I made in the Masculinities class I took last year. For my research paper in that class, I looked into alternative masculinities (specifically in the arena of indie rock music), in order to understand how the ‘rules’ of acceptance change in terms of bodies and culture. One of the main findings in ethnographic studies I came across was that you are more accepted into this alternative masculine culture with the more you identify with ‘kitsch’ appreciation. It took me awhile to understand what ‘kitsch’ really meant, but I think Wells describes it nicely in this passage. These low-culture photos become more respectable when you apply this layer of ‘seeing past’ the ridiculousness, to the point where it makes fun of how “respectable softcore magazines such as Playboy” (191) display the same kinds of bodies in more normal contexts. This series re-contextualizes the ridiculous idea of these “smooth, unblemished, classical bodies” (191) so that you understand that it is not real. I like this concept, because it is a pretty obvious, in-your-face, vulgar example of how photographs are manipulated, and do not represent truth.

Photographers "Minimal Maps" single out the nation's forests, crops, and waterbodies.

http://www.citylab.com/design/2015/03/cornfields-trees-and-water-mapping-the-rest-of-america/388754/?utm_source=SFTwitter

War Photography and Lee Miller

I truly appreciated Miller’s essay about her experience at the siege of St. Malo because of its honesty and rich description of what it was really like witnessing accounts of war. There is a sense that being a photographer in the war is a glamorous job, but after reading this, you start to put into perspective how bad war is for anyone involved in any capacity. The part that stuck out to me the most was the paragraph on page 182 starting with, “There was no one in the…” because of the unmistakable feelings of emptiness and lifelessness she describes so beautifully. She goes into detail of her feelings of anger and disgust at all of the destruction, as she heaves a detached hand across the street in helplessness. A flower pot in a roomless room, flies hovering dead bodies, lonesome flea-infested cats named Tarzan. It is all quite dramatic and captivating in a particularly disturbing way.

In a portion of the Wells reading, when introducing why war photography is significant to the development of photojournalism, one of the reasons given is because many people gain knowledge about war from photos, rather than literature.  I personally kept coming back to this point while reading Miller’s essay, since I think the type of information you receive by reading a story rather than interpreting it from a photograph are much different, yet the same. I Google searched some of the photos she took after this battle ended, and the destruction shown matched what you read in her writing. Though, there is a certain element of personalization, a kind of unique voice, given when you read her story rather than view her photographs. That is not to say that one is more valuable, but I do believe that there is a difference, and this should be recognized.

Dorothea Lange

It was very interesting to read Dorothea Lange’s opinion on her journey for the Farm Security Administration.  Lange, 1895-1965, was a very important documentary photographer with a continued historic relevance today.  Migrant Mother is a photo that has been seen around the world and lies in most historical textbooks about the United States of America.  Lange did not fully appreciate her one hit wonder because of the neglect received with her other photographs.  Although her one friend told her “ time is the greatest of editors and most reliable.  When a photograph stands this test, recognize and celebrate it” (151, Heron).  I think this a powerful truthful statement because I know I would rather one piece of artwork of mine to live on forever then none.  Of course as an artist we would like all of our pieces to be loved and carried on but the human attention span does not work that way.  I can still understand why it must have been frustrating especially if she was trying to do work on her own and nobody cared for it. 

            I found the story behind Migrant Mother to be more interesting when Lange explained it.  On her seven hour journey home she had an instinct to pull over once more for a photo opportunity.  She declined her instincts until she was twenty miles past the destination.  Her intuition had her U-turn around and head back to the sign that read PEA-PICKERS CAMP.  She explains how little dialogue was spoken in their exchange and that it felt like a magnet drew her to this woman.  Something I do not understand is how Lange felt like the mother was helping her out because she knew it would help herself.  I do not see how the Migrant Mother could have been helped without Lange getting the woman’s name or any historical information on her.  She felt an equality about the exchange which is good but I don’t see how that transcribed to anything for the Migrant Mother.

            The message Lange finishes with is an important one to artists and how intuitions and working hard pays off.  The “inner compulsion” is an important ingredient to an artist work.  I fully agree with this and find that in my art practice I work better off intuition and that when you plan a piece out it never is how you expected it because intuitions during the creation process lead to bigger and better ideas.

Discussing Photography Education – Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men

As Deborah Bright discusses landscape photography in the text, Illuminations, I found myself spending a fair amount of time trying to digest her argument which spans pages 346 & 347. Bright introduces the concept of addressing other fields which utilize image-making outside of the realm of art. The examples include areas that are concerned with the development and analysis of the landscape and terrain, such as landscape architecture and urban planning. Of course it makes sense that these fields would employ photography in a methodical and objective nature, as the images act as tools for analysis and understanding. 

Bright goes on to state that art photographers are inherently afraid of having their images paired with text, because that would be essentially devaluing them (as I understand her argument). In light of this fear, Bright makes a two-part statement about university photography programs neglecting to include courses on art theory and art history; she writes that these schools fail to teach their students to ‘formulate coherent responses about what they are doing and why’ or to ‘write around their photographing.’ Bright then says that most art-photographers enter the art arena without any sense or regard for understanding what they are photographing, that these photographers are purely concerned with the formal discourse of their work.

While I was offended by this statement at first, I wanted to look at this situation from a larger perspective. Not only was this passage written two decades ago in 1985, but Bright is essentially critical of all aspects of landscape photography as she is arguing to change its course. I do not agree with Bright’s judgement of art-photography education, as I have been challenged time and again to articulate what my work is saying and doing, much more than just about the formal qualities. In fact, it is often that I am concerned with the aesthetics of an image much after I have sorted out the content and context. With that being said, I also recognize that I do not attend a school that is strictly and ‘art’ school and am not in a program that is strictly ‘photography.’ In spite of the difference in opinions, I do think that landscape photography has shifted from where it was when Bright wrote this piece, and I do believe that landscape photography can be much more than just a formalist image or an analytical tool.

The Real and the Digital: Issues & Definitions of Documentary & Photojournalism

In this section of the text, Liz Wells describes the impact of the Digital Age on the genres of documentary photography and photojournalism. She discusses the ways that Photoshop and the like have vastly expanded the possibilities for extreme manipulation and creation of images, and implores the reader to decide if these progressions discredit the forms of photography which are usually considered to be the more objective or indexical genres of the medium.

Wells asks, “Does all this not destroy the claim of photography to have a special ability to show things as they are and raise serious doubts about those genres with a particular investment in the ‘real’ – documentary and photojournalism?” It is true that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish an untouched image from a doctored one; as I have suggested before, we are likely to decide if we trust an image based on its context and on what we can infer as its intended purpose. When reflecting on the broader history of photography and art, there were times in the past when people relied on other analog media, such as painting and drawing, to express reality and to distribute information. Man has since found more accurate ways to represent the real, and since then has found ways to disrupt that reality; this is a cyclical process that will continue to repeat itself. Eventually, we will develop a technology which will eclipse photography, and even that newer technology will be eclipsed by something even more advanced. 

The point here is this: yes, it is true that the forms of photography which are relied upon to represent the truth are becoming harder and harder to trust as manipulation becomes more accessible and more prevalent. However, it is also important to recognize that there are contexts in which the truth trumps the parlor tricks of Photoshop, and that eventually there will be a technology that will replace photography as the new teller of truths.

Lucy Lippard’s Partial Recall & Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory

Lucy Lippard’s essay Partial Recall was perhaps one of my favorite readings thus far. I have been fascinated by the intersection between the modes of subject, photographer, and viewer; the conversation of the viewer’s decontextualized perception undoubtedly fits into the discussion of that intersection. In my own work have studied Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory, where Wilber discusses the relationships between the perceptions and intellectual boundaries of the I, We, You, and They functions, just as Lippard’s friend describes the dialogue of Warren’s image in the 'Second Take'. 

As an artist, it is important to frequently examine the ways that art functions in the different cultural spaces that Lippard and Wilber write about. The individual personal ‘I’ is the purest piece of this equation in my opinion, as it is the source of the work and of the motives behind it, which are sometimes never known to anyone but the artist. This is evident in the discussion of Warren’s image, as Lippard is forced to make inferences about the image in the beginning of the essay due to lack of information and context. The collective personal ‘We’ is the consideration of the individual in a larger cultural collective, while the collective ‘They’ is the consideration of the external culture and the world at large. The individual ‘You’ as it functions in Warren’s image is the subject of the image, which is a family of a culture that is removed from both the artist and the viewer in this case.

Lippard adds a hugely interesting layer to this discussion, which is the discussion of time. As with all art, the context of the work can, and usually does, change or disappear over time, causing the art to lose or change meaning. This is essentially the big struggle for Lippard, as she discusses the various spaces of time that separate her from the photographer and the family in the image. By lacking the information that is needed to make informed conclusions about the Beaver family, Lippard must rely almost solely upon her own knowledge and experiences to make inferences about the Beavers and about Warren. In making art, it is important to consider this issue of the evolution of meaning through time and context.

Food Matters Discussion - Cat Boyce

I attended the Food Matters, The True Cost of Industrializing our Food Supply panel discussion last Tuesday, March 10^th at the William Benton Museum.  I found myself sitting next to a prior student of Anne D’Alleva, as well as one of the panelists, Phoebe Godfrey. She raved about both D’Alleva and Godfrey, and after sitting through the panel, I could certainly see why. (If I had another semester, I would have loved the opportunity to take one of Professor Godfrey’s classes because it was so evident that she not only taught hands on but also really cared about her students and the issues).  The discussion featured moderator Shoshana Levinson, a dietitian, nutritionist and wellness coach, and panelists, Phoebe Godfrey, a Uconn Professor of Sociology, Fadi A. Al Khayer, who received his M.D. in endocrinology, specializing in research about diabetes and metabolism, and Renee Gross, Coordinator of Legal Initiatives at Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.

Gross spoke first about her initiatives with food policy and obesity. What caught my interest about what she discussed was the conversation about taxing sugary drinks.  One town in California recently just passed the tax and Connecticut is watching closely how it plays out. According to Gross, Connecticut may be the first state to employ this tax if it seems as if it can work on a state level. The tax would only be applicable on regular soda (not diet) and any other sugary drinks such as lemonade. Gross also believes that companies should not be able to market sugary drinks or foods to vulnerable children. She shared surprising statistics that the average child sees 13 food commercials per day and teens more than 16 food commercials.  Out of that 13 food commercials, only 1 promotes healthy food, communities, schools, and family programs. Schools systems have been implementing new ideas for breakfast and lunch standards to fight childhood obesity. However, Industries complained that a lot more food would go to waste because the students would not want to eat their veggies. There was a study of 2 groups of children, one who wanted veggies without being told, and ones who didn’t ask for veggies. When the total volume of veggies handed out to students was the exact same, they didn’t see any increase in plate waste.  In addition, Gross reiterated the importance of supporting and having relationships with local farmers. She shared that local farmers in New York were willing to cut their prices down 40% to those individuals who use snap, food stamps to allow them access to local farmers markets and healthier food.

After Gross, Godfrey began illustrating the costs from our “food” today. These costs included farmers committing suicide as a result of being unable to support their families, industrialization of life, climate change refugees (over 300 million soon), food deserts, environment (pollution, climate change), animals (majority of people believe food comes from packages, animals have lost their sacredness), obesity vs. starvation, child slave labor, dairy cows, food culture, global inequalities, and more.  Godfrey had students from her sociology in food course dress up in a shirt stating the cost of their choice and then explaining its influence. One that caught my attention was the child slave labor cost. Apparently, some chocolate companies trick children into becoming slave labors. I’m appalled that that isn’t something I had known about until then. Additionally, one of the students wrote a poem about his friend who committed suicide attributed to food problems he was dealing with. As a result, a grad student in the audience shared that she was studying the relationship between obesity and suicide/mental health. I think this is really interesting topic because a lot of the statistics I have heard or learned about pertain strictly to the physical health, whether it be diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure etc. However, the two are definitely linked. Our society is so consumed with the commodity and culture of food, that it influences eating disorders, obesity, mental health and more. I was just having a conversation with someone the other day, about how all the businesses that prosper in my town are chains like McDonalds, and big businesses like WalMart. It is sad to see small local businesses go because of the competition.

Lastly, Khayer, emphasized how the US will become bankrupt from diabetes if something doesn’t change. 1 in 3 children born in 2000 will develop diabetes and according to him, diabetes is the most expensive illness.  It is currently a dilemma in China with over 100 million people suffering. However, he explained that in China, McDonalds is almost seen as a fancy restaurant to Americans. Khayer explained that if you have 3/5 symptoms of diabetes, you have metabolic syndrome. Some doctors don’t even tell their patients about this. It should be required because knowledge is power. They include blood pressure, sugar, waist circumference etc. Type 2 diabetes is now happening in children at age 5. It used to be known as not occurring in young people but that is rapidly changing. Our society has grown to be addicted to sugar and it is a huge problem. The mediator pointed out that when her mother died her son only remembered grandma as the “candy giver.” That story resonates with me because my mother’s mom died when I was really young, and all I remember was she would give me candy every time I came over. It’s unfortunate that kids are driven by candy and sugar now a days and that food has become so far removed from "food." I am glad I went to this panel discussion because it not only was interesting, but I learned a lot and it opened my eyes more about the problems and what is being done to fix them. 

Ansel Adams Music and Art

Nancy Newhall

          Newhall Passionate advocate of formalist photography, a curator at MOMA, and close companion of Ansel Adams.  Ansel Adams had a deep love for music, which influenced his photography work.  He relates photography with music, “the negative is the score; the print is the performance.” Time has led Adams to be more of himself even though the world was changing around him which seems like a similar life circumstance that many artist can relate to.  Newhall also writes in a way that she knows Adams very well.

            Something that has spoke to me while reading this essay is how passionate Adams seems to be.  As an artist, being passionate about the work you create is important because it allows the work to hold emotion and energy.  The beauty that he finds in the world is inspiring.  I also like how he does not appear to be full of himself.  He believed that too many artists were only concerned with expressions of their own egos.  For him there is too much beauty around to waste time on “self illusion”.  For me I think that the blend between the two is what is important.  Anything that an artist creates comes internally and externally.  Perceiving the external internally and then making it external again in order to show what is happening internally is what art is. 

           I can relate on another level with Adams perceptions of art with music.  Music is a really important part of my everyday life.  Listening to music helps with my creative process of creating art.  It motivates my movements and emotions to have a rhythm.  In my recent animation projects, I have been creating my own soundtracks and the power that art has when it syncs more than one sense is powerful.  I can visualize music in my head very well and when I draw in my sketchbook while listening to music I imagine my drawing as the music itself translating onto my paper. 

Abbot Response

Kaitrin Acuna

One part of history that Abbot mentions in "Photography at the Crossroads" is the fantastic era when near everyone was able to afford images of themselves. What was typically left to the wealthy, people suddenly had access to. You could know what your sibling or mother looked like twenty years ago, without the costly skill of a professional painter. And to an even greater extent, these images were "speaking likenesses." There wasn't a painter who could match the precision of a daguerreotype, in any quick amount of time at least.

This revolution of commercial portrait photography has allowed us to see our great-great grandparents and distant relatives. We can marvel at what physical facial features we shared, and revisit exact locations where they were photographed. I was able to do this in Ireland, and photographed places my great-great grandmother had visited. This access to personal visual records is incredible, and I wish there were more photographs (or if there were existent videos!) of my ancestors from those times.

It often occurs to me how my own eventual great grandchildren will have this same experience, but ten-fold of what I have had. Even with media like Facebook, where I've put images and stray thoughts at least weekly since I was sixteen. I often imagine what it would be like, to have the same arsenal of thoughts and musing from my ancestors. How entertaining and amazing of an experience that would be, to know what my great grandmother thought on a certain day when she was sixteen years old, all the way up to her oldest years.

The huge abundance of images and video will be phenomenal as well. Our posterity will know how we looked at each year of our lives. They'll know us from formal pictures, and far more from casual snapshots. And they'll know our voices from our videos. We are in an ever continuing era of available photography--but how greatly I wish there was more 200 years ago for us to look back upon.

McCausland - Documentary Photography

Kaitrin Acuna

At the end of McCausland's piece on Documentary Photography she states that among the medium's "...greatest objectives" is to "...acquaint us with the wide variety of human existence." I think that this is a fantastic way of phrasing it, and is absolutely what documentary strives to do. This led me to think that perhaps all photography does this. The wide variety of human existence is essentially everywhere. It's in the abstracted, formalist bowls, made by human hands. It's in the pained expressions of the FSA subjects, and in our reactions and ability to remember those image. It's in images of Wall Street, The Steerage, everything that man or woman has ever done or built. Is it possible to even have an image that does not speak to the variety of human existence?

At first I thought, perhaps landscape or nature photography escapes this. But even these moments, and our desire to find them worthy of documenting, is a distinct part of being human. The urge of those photographers to find that spot, while not made by human, has been admired by human. What we find to be beauty is incredibly subjective, and thus lends to be apart of this varied human experience.

Is there any art though, that does not "...acquaint us with the wide variety of human existence?" I believe that in dance, the movement of bodies will do this. The emotions we feel in music does this. Other visual mediums, do this in the same way that photography does. McCausland is right, perhaps documentary photography does this with more direct intention than other mediums. What other mediums do by default, documentary photography seeks to highlight and revel in. But to say this about human existence, I am now considering it to be just an eloquent way to state what is obvious about art.

Re-reading Edward Weston - Feminism, Photography and Psychoanalysis - Response by Cristobal Ortega

I am disturbed and glad that I have read Roberta McGrath’s essay on Edward Weston. I have always been suspicious of Weston’s nudes, and McGrath approaches Weston from a feminist perspective that breathes indignation. I do not know Weston in person, but I am aware of his multitude of nude photographs that he intentionally curated and printed. It is in background quotes from Weston like “all she wants is sex; all her gestures are directed by sex,” paired with perspective McGrath gleans about Edward Weston and his second wife Charis Wilson that they both believe “If the face appears, the picture is inevitably a portrait and the expression of the face will dictate the viewer’s response to the body.” 

While I believe many of McGrath’s arguments, I believe that she has a few points that are difficult to validate. McGrath argues that because Weston printed on high gloss paper, that he is subscribing even further to sexualization and fetishism of his subjects. An issue of technical reproduction of what the human eye sees is something that cannot be only opted as a sexual connotation but a formalist, technical one as well. It is an issue that is not unique to photography, but also printmaking.

I refuse to believe that Weston pushed his photography into galleries and publicity without acknowledging that they would be viewed as sexual in some nature. Given the modernist discourse of the time that could ignore content, Weston still chose to photograph nudes and also photographed other still lives that still succeeded formalist, modernist qualities like his peppers. Weston was one of many, many male photographers to represent the female figure, but the part that makes me frustrated is that he took their identity away from them by covering their faces in the frame. For every woman who modeled for Weston it is arguable that these photographs are just formal studies of photographic qualities and process. The feminist argument that slams Weston entirely is problematic, because there are merits to formal study of any nude. However, the complicated crossroads of all of these influences, pictures, and relationships strike me as very sexual, voyeuristic, and formal. While I want to write off Weston as a fetishist, I cannot do so entirely.

A Strategy of Appearances - The Australian Bicentenary - Response by Cristobal Ortega

Anne-Marie Willis writes broad and specific strokes about Australian uses of photography during colonization and decolonization. Willis sustains that Australian photography has to be viewed in the context of the time the image was made as well as the current historical analysis. In the strength of those two contexts, a larger, more disturbing truth can be announced about genres of landscape and portrait photography concerning Australia.

Australian colonists received much of their culture from Western Europe and in their attempts to recreate and establish an identity - advertised themselves using photographers and agencies to push images of the familiar and specifically unfamiliar. The familiar photographs represented people in front of their main street, their buildings, their order from chaos that the contrasting landscapes represented. Even in portraiture the Australian Aboriginals were misrepresented in an archaeological context, lit in studios mimicking collections for scholars. This misappropriation of photography at an institutional scale strikes me as one that speaks to the strength of propaganda and influence.

If the history of an entire nation can be confused because of the nature of its record-keeping through photography, then how are we to be convinced the images and pictures we consume are whole heartedly representative and conceived from clear minds? The legitimacy of old photographs simply because time has been applied to them gives them no more legacy than a photograph that is new and informs more to the viewer than previously. While we should appreciate and value our own histories, we should be critical of every text we read and photograph we engage in. I have seen photographs representing Aboriginals as human specimen, and it disgusts me and charms me. In what odd condition can a human be immortalized and also humiliated at the same time but in photography, art making, and writing?

Life Begins - Response by Cristobal Ortega

Margaret Bourke-White is one of my heroes. I find it difficult to respond to this passage of hers mainly because I simply want to absorb all of it. There are a few quotes that I respond to “In general, the farther away I am sent to cover an assignment, the better I like it,” among other gems in her arsenal. Bourke-White is a photographer who exhibits an adventurous spirit who elicits photo essays and stories from working souls in bars, clubs, construction projects, shipping docks, and wherever she went on assignment. I was surprised and intrigued that in her first assignment she brought back photos of daily life as well as the construction project even though she was only assigned to the latter. Who knows how the influences of photojournalism would have been different if photographers had simply done as they were told?

Reading Bourke-White confirms in my mind documentary photography as personal, intimate work that requires a tough body and a gentle, welcoming smile. It is also not surprising to me that Bourke-White writes in storytelling passages, she is coming from a storytelling magazine after all. After looking at more of her work - I realized that her photographs must have inspired New York Times, AP, Getty, VII, and Magnum photographers who click shutters today. The photographs are always undeniably about us, about people and our own interactions with others, or with land and space. The formalist qualities of her photographs are much more about complementing story as a writer uses details and quotes to supplement the main story arc.

Bourke-White is commemorated through Time’s website and some of her photographs are available there to view. From there - I found an album on speakeasies during prohibition. It is one example of many where Bourke-White gained tremendous access and trust with her subjects and photographed them well. In her writing she details the difficulties of photographing as a female and in some contexts, like presidential speeches, she highlights the hierarchies of visual news photographers. She claims moving picture were treated well compared to the Indian caste referencing untouchable still photographers. I cannot imagine how my assignments would be different if I were a woman, but it is enlightening to read about her struggles as a male newsreel photographer would shove her away. I know there are amazing female photojournalists who struggle with patriarchal influences, and I wince every time I hear horror stories about men harassing them.

Remembrance - Response by Cristobal Ortega

Annette Kuhn’s essay discusses the practical matters of remembering, using a photograph. At the core of Kuhn’s essay she empowers the photograph as a tool of remembrance. In her eyes, the photograph may lack meaning given the viewer in different contexts. This is a common theme across photography in art galleries, in photojournalism, and in advertising and stock photography. However, the intimacies of family photography delve into personal relationships and the motive behind remembering events. Unfortunately, the commercialism of photography, beginning with the Kodak Brownie enabled an industry to encourage only making happy photographs. These photographs are edited down into a family album, where individuals are blessed with a tool to extend their memory, or not.

Kuhn’s father was a photographer who made many photographs of her, and in her own young family album, she selected more photographs with her father than her mother. While Kuhn admits this may not necessarily be because she had photographs with her mother in it, she still acknowledges later photographs of her mother without her in it. The intimate, emotional intent for making photographs and albums relating our loved ones are the driving factors behind issues of representation.

How do we represent our parents?

How do we want to be represented with our siblings?

Why do we want to be smiling in every picture?

Each photograph emits an energy, composed from the print quality, composition, line quality, color, formal qualities, and ultimately content and subjects of the photographs. The family with means to hire a photographer may choose to represent themselves knowing fully the plasticity of the image. These images are not necessarily representative of entire truths, and far from it - they are staged and created with intent to render memories only fond in our mind. The family album with photographs of sad moments as well as happier moments are less imaginable. I am not convinced a photographer - unless their professionalism bleeds into their personal work and inspires it - would have the opportunity to share negative connotations in a domestic and public album. 

Photojournalist Christopher Capozziello photographed his brother with cerebral palsy intimately, passionately, and published the book “The Distance Between Us.” Capozziello in turn, uses photography over many years to help him understand the differences and meaning behind being the “healthy” born brother. This instance of family photography is published, public, and is a story that is shared meaningfully and includes moments of grief as well as pleasure. “The Distance Between Us” collides with traditional values of family portraiture and documentary photography in a gritty, black and white book that reveals more than either separately could have. I’ve included a link to his book.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1189718059/the-distance-between-us

Of Mother Nature and Marlboro Men: An Inquiry into the Cultural Meanings of Landscape Photography - Cris Ortega Response

Deborah Bright starts her essay with a quote from J.B. Jackson “I suspect no landscape… can be comprehended unless we perceive it as an organization of space; unless we ask ourselves who owns or uses the spaces, how they were created and how they change.” This preface accurately foreshadows Bright’s interaction with perspective and history.

The origin of the landscape referenced Dutch paintings and formalist concerned representations of property in space, like a windmill or house. These idyllic paintings along with other famous painters like Norman Rockwell, Bright sustains, is undeniably part of the history photographers drew upon. These formalist tendencies built up a visual repertoire for photographers eyes and lead many landscape photographers to follow in these conceptual footsteps.

My favorite part of Bright’s essay is when she blatantly argues about Robert Adams and other formalist landscape photographers “But there is no Form outside of representation. Formal orders are human arrangements and perceptions, not given essences.” I agree wholeheartedly with Bright. Representation through photography relies on context, and I believe context assumes intended perception. However - photography lies tangent to verbal context through captioning and titling of work. I have seen landscape photography in galleries, in newspapers, and online. Across all of these mediums it is in journalistic and storytelling mediums often that I discover more information about the information inside of the photograph. In a commercial and advertisement - it’s most common that the landscape is functionally used as eye candy and glitter for the product and subject to reside in.

This trend continues in video and filmmaking. In an Old Spice commercial the muscular, sexy, ambiguously exotic man brings the viewer from a bathroom to a beach. The final landscape is nearing sunset, the palm tree is swaying on the right side of the frame, and pearly sand’s only sin is from footsteps by man and horse. However, this commercial does not mention anything about this beach, imagined or not, and only intends to indoctrinate men and women into pleasuring their nasal cavities with Old Spice. Consequently, the aroma of the beach charges enough allegedly positive memories tangentially. 

Dodge 2013 Super Bowl commercial “God Made a Farmer” exploits contemporary documentary photography in order to sell pick up trucks. The moments the photographers captured were authentic, were staged only if the subject’s eyes gazed back into the camera through the frame of a portrait. The only associations the commercial directly makes with the landscape is that it is where farmers work, along with their positive family values, hardworking calvinism, and endearing, honest eyes. The final frame visually gives way to its commercial backing with the Dodge truck outweighing the background farm structures almost entirely. So God made a commercial photographer.

-Cristobal Ortega