Work Cited
Popova, Maria. “Brain Pickings.” Brain Pickings RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014.
Scott, A. O. “‘Capturing a Single Moment Of Perfect Stillness’” The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 May 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
A.O. Scott investigates the many questions about the increase of photos due to digital photography. Scott uses the article, “On Photography” as his vehicle and partially his source to navigate through. Ever since digital photography began there has been many wondering and taking sides on the matter. Professional photographers have been asking from the beginning, what the impact of anyone who gets a hold of a camera affects their career. When film cameras became accessable by even a poor family, professionals became worried apparently because they claimed it wouldn’t stand the test of time etc. Well weren’t they wrong! Now bringing us to the present Scott retells the Susan Sontag’s view on digital phtography and multimedia.
The article “On (Digital) Photography: Sontag, 34 Years Later,” A. O. Scott asks more questions than answering them. Scott regurgitates similar points Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” in 1977. Then again he is mainly but not limited to referencing Sontag. Scott mentions how Sontag predicted this overwhelming array of photography as technology in the future. And here we are smack in the middle observing her written word, knowledge. The surplus of images plus recycling of pictures floods our web experience thus leaving people like Sontag and Scott asking questions. Like why don’t we preserve the art of photography or is photography a craft anymore? Does technology and the internet take away from the strength of individual photos or the whole subject entirely? Sontag was a writer, observer, and a critic. Her work covers photography, media, illnesses, and aids. Sontag was acknowledged for her many works. She received many awards recognizing her scholastic and creative talents. But this article isn’t about all her work but a specific monograph. Scott concentrates on photography and what it was then and what it is now.
Digital photography gives the everyday person access to take decent if not great pictures. I don’t particularly think that great photography is diminished by the lesser advanced images or plagiarism as Scott speaks of cutting and pasting photos online. If you’re a successful photographer then will take precautions to keep your work safe. The recycling of an image doesn’t make it yours, it’s stealing! Sontag claims that industrialism brings forth accessibility to the camera. And that social convention demands more people to obtain and take their own photo’s. And subconsciously photography-as-art is born at least Sontag maps out this theory. It just sounds to me that the few engineer’s and professional photographer’s of the mid 1800′s were threatened by households taking over their own family portrait’s. In this day and age there is always that reluctant question, did the digital camera kill the art of film photography? No, I have to agree with Scott here and there people still treat it like a great endeavor, a ritual even. There is still certain artist’s like Sally Mann who use film and vintage camera’s at that. As consumer’s and viewer’s we have to decide on basis to basis what is everyday family photo’s compared to art. It’s a lot to file through but there is ammeter’s and then there is professional’s. Digital cameras and technology hasn’t killed the art form as far as I am concerned. It just makes the archive of scenes to look through immense and overwhelming like Scott recites.
The Grimshaw Gudewicz Art Gallery at BCC is currently exhibiting artwork from Joan Backes and Todd Moore. My sound design class had gone to see the art exhibit last Friday. So I took advantage of this occasion to observe this interaction. This class is new to BCC. It’s literally the first semester that BCC student’s have this opportunity. The class covers more of the concept of sound design. Which has created a smug attitude amongst the majority of my classmate’s who expected to learn the technical part of producing and creating tracks. Our instructor Mary Edwards most likely decided to teach the class in this manner because not everyone has the same experience level. There is no prerequisite for this course.
The art gallery is located in the H building in the northeast part of BCCs campus. It’s on the first floor off to the right of the building. This particular building is reserved for the art, theater, and music classes. But there is a few other classes taught in this building also like history and sociology. The auditorium is also here in the center of the first floor. The presentation was a bit cold with muted colors. Backes work consisted of the frames of a typical and simple structure of a home. While Moore’s paintings were of New England’s rocky coast. The gallery walls are white and so is the ceiling. The combination of the white space and dull colors begins a drab experience for the viewer.
My classmates walked around inspecting the work. As far as I could tell no one really seemed stimulated by any of it. I could over hear students say, “this blows”. People walked through these house structure’s uninterested. Some of them viewed the display’s in a linear fashion while others shuffled around in a non-linear movement. Most of them whispered amongst each other in disbelief. One student implied that this was a stupid exercise. The student’s were very bored with this examination intended to inspire our mid-term paper. The class also was very confused to what our instructor meant through this exercise. But that’s because no one really wanted to do this. A young lady turned to another and questioned when were we getting into the recording and technical aspect of the course. It was very clear to me that it was just a tool to motivate us as individuals to write about our sound design process. Still I could hear them complaining about the purpose in the gallery. The word’s dumb and stupid were tossed around by more than half the class. Some of us did take picture’s and notes until Edwards told us the mid-term paper didn’t need to be based on the exhibit.
These kid’s are young and some are really immature. The arrogance is rampant in this class. A specific young man we will call Jay rolls his eye’s and talks other peoples work down in class. Someone was showing her animation to the class. Jay like usual made a face and when she was done with her presentation he says to all of us,”I don’t use that program it has presets. The software I use is so much more difficult that was nothing.” I could see in her face that she was a little hurt and embarrassed. I really felt bad for her. It’s so unsettling to me how Jay acts but a lot of them go along with him. And I just ignore him. But I tried not to be a part of this observational act. I didn’t engage in their remarks. I just kept watching them and analyzing the framework, painting’s, and my classmate’s.
The class trip to the gallery is what these kid’s would call an epic fail. I didn’t share with my classmates how boring I found the visual. They already made that clear by being disrespectful and calling the work stupid less than. This was not the point. I was there to see how people interacted with the whole situation. The whisper’s echoed throughout the gallery but you couldn’t define what was being said. Unless you were a few feet away from the person. I have to say that a part of me hoped that our Professor didn’t hear them. At one point she went back upstairs to the class without us. A few student’s left right after her. But they didn’t go to class. One young man just left and didn’t return to class at all. The others just hung out in the parking lot until they realized most of us returned to class. I was one of the last student’s to go back to the room. For the obvious reason’s that I continued this assignment.
How Norman Rockwell Captured the Inner Life of a Nation
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/12/americas-artist/354673/
The article “On (Digital) Photography: Sontag, 34 Years Later,” A. O. Scott asks more questions than answering them. Scott regurgitates similar points Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” in 1977. Then again he is mainly but not limited to referencing Sontag. Scott mentions how Sontag predicted this overwhelming array of photography as technology in the future. And here we are smack in the middle observing her written word, knowledge. The surplus of images plus recycling of pictures floods our web experience thus leaving people like Sontag and Scott asking questions. Like why don’t we preserve the art of photography or is photography a craft anymore? Does technology and the internet take away from the strength of individual photo’s or the whole subject entirely? I don’t particularly think that great photography is diminished by the lesser advanced images. Or plagiarism as Scott speaks of cutting and pasting photos online. The recycling of an image doesn’t make it yours, it’s stealing! Sontag claims that industrialism brings forth accessibility to the camera. And that social convention demands more people to obtain and take their own photo’s. And subconsciously photography-as-art is born at least Sontag maps out this theory. It just sounds to me that the few engineer’s and professional photographer’s of the mid 1800’s were threatened by households taking over their own family portrait’s. In this day and age there is always that reluctant question, did the digital camera kill the art of film photography? No, I have to agree with Scott here and there people still treat it like a great endeavor, a ritual even. There is still certain artist’s like Sally Mann who use film and vintage camera’s at that. As consumer’s and viewer’s we have to decide on basis to basis what is everyday family photo’s compared to art. It’s a lot to file through but there is ammeter’s and then there is professional’s. Digital cameras and technology hasn’t killed the art form as far as I am concerned. It just makes the archive of scenes to look through immense and overwhelming like Scott recites.
Ethnography Draft
The Grimshaw Gudewicz Art Gallery at BCC is currently exhibiting artwork from Joan Backes and Todd Moore. My sound design class had gone to see the art exhibit last Friday. So I took advantage of the situation and observed this interaction. The presentation was a bit cold with muted colors. Backes work consisted of the frames of a typical and simple structure of a home. While Moore’s paintings were of New England’s rocky coast. The gallery walls are white and so is the ceiling. The combination of the white space and dull colors begins a drab experience for the viewer.
My classmates walked around inspecting the work. As far as I could tell no one really seemed stimulated by any of it. People walked through these house structure’s uninterested. Some of them viewed the display’s in a linear fashion while others shuffled around in a non-linear movement’s. Most of them whispered amongst each other in disbelief. The student’s were very bored with this examination intended to inspire out mid-term paper. The class also was very confused to what our instructor meant through this exercise. It was very clear to me that it was just a tool motivate us as individuals to write about our sound design process. This went over most of their heads.
We are talking about individual’s that are young. The age range is about 17 – 22 years old. This class in particular I find and especially this day to be very judgmental and critical of others work. The arrogance is rampant in these student’s. I haven’t felt this way of my other classes but this is a tough crowd to say the least. It’s almost as if they think they’re better than the next person. It’s so unsettling to me. I really can’t relate on any level with these kid’s. But I tried to not be a part of this observational act I didn’t engage in their remarks. I just kept watching them and analyzing the framework and painting’s.
The material used for the different frames varied. Backes uses aluminum, polar, oak, and plexi. Moore’s materials mainly are the universal canvas but a few piece’s are painted onto birch. This gives those specific painting’s more texture then than the rest. Even though his color choices are bland there is subtle treasure’s hidden in his landscape pictures. There is awakening yellows and dreamy blues which is gratifying as I notice them. The permanence of our rocky shores is not the message. Moore interprets the weakness of his own observational skills. As for Backes house frames they are so ordinary. There is not much to it unless you have a great imagination.
The experience like I said before was pretty much negative. Everyone seemed to agree that this wasn’t what they expected from a sound design class. Plus this exhibit did not speak to these young adult’s. They definetely didn’t care for what the subject matter is in these piece’s. People sighed as they passed another rock painting or another basic house structure. They were not impressed with the art or the exercise itself that our instructor Mary Edward’s planned on this day. Edward’s intentions I understood and saw it as a tool or even a guideline. Her instructions were simple. Go to the gallery read the artist’s statement and understand their motivation behind their work. We could write a paper on the actual exhibit or use the whole experience as a reference. But most of them didn’t get it. It seemed to go over their head’s. Eventually the whole class was on the same page.
I came to the conclusion that these young kid’s have no interest in this type of work. I think it doesn’t help that the subject matter wasn’t something they could relate to or are not interested in. They voiced their opinion’s on how this class isn’t going fast enough for the technical side of sound design. But the fact is that everyone in the class is not on the same level. Some of them play instrument’s others just know the programs. Then there is people like me who it’s all new to them. Edward’s is adapting to the diversity in our group.
The class trip to the gallery is what these kid’s would call an epic fail. I didn’t share with my classmates how boring I found the visual. This was not the point. I was there to see how people interacted with the whole situation. The whisper’s echoed throughout the gallery but you couldn’t define what was being said. Unless you were a few feet away from the person. I have to say that a part of me hoped that our Professor didn’t hear them. At one point she went back upstairs to the class without us. A few student’s left right after her. But they didn’t go to class. One young man just left and didn’t return to class. The others just hung out in the parking lot until they realized most of us returned to class. I was one of the last student’s to go back to the room. For the obvious reason’s that I continued this assignment.
I was thinking for the Ethnography essay I could do of two things. Thursday’s Digital Photography class we will be attending Aha night in New Bedford taking street photos. So I’ll be out in the streets with the hustle and bustle of people going to all the museum’s and quant shops. Or my Friday Sound Design class I believe we will be attending the new art exhibit at BCC’s art gallery. I was hoping to attend both and decide which one I want to write about.
Memoir Essay
A typical day with my daughter London is filled with imagination and creativity. Let’s take a look at an average Saturday. When London wakes we have breakfast together and I allow her to pick a movie to watch. Periodically during the movie I begin to gather art supplies so we can begin the craft of the day. She usually manages to watch the whole movie. If not that’s okay with me because I would rather spend our time creating a piece of art. If I have a specific project in mind I just guide her through it. But other times we go on a little field trip to the local dollar stores or for a walk on the beach depending on the weather of course. I believe London enjoys these treasure hunt’s as she calls them just as much as making her piece’s.
The process begins once we decide on what medium we are tackling. She mainly works with finger paint and acrylic paint. One instance she used different shaped sponges and finger paint to create a wonderful picture for her dad. London favored the star shape and red paint. She giggled when some of the blue paint overlapped the red making purple. I tried to explain how the primary colors mixed with each other develops the secondary colors. This concept gets lost in the explanation but I believe after a while my three year old will get it. She is still very young and has plenty of time to acquire the knowledge and ability of color theory. These tools will be more apparent to her as she learns more about Art and Design. Which I can see her gaining this information when most of the time she sees me doing assignment’s for school and my own work for myself. Plus she is always opting to get into it all.
Once we were done with the sponges and paint I attempt to motivate her to clean. This isn’t always successful but I have to try. I can’t see her making a mess and walking away from it. She can be difficult during cleanup but I per-sway her with music and new supplies. London tends to get excited about more things to make her design’s. Next we clean her up because as you know children especially small children make lots of messes. And she is no different.
It’s close to lunch and we plan out what we will consume. We eat and London starts to talk about a new idea for our afternoon session. And like you might have guessed she wants to paint. After a while I get tired of painting but it’s her favorite thing to do. She doesn’t get that love from me. I lean towards photography and Adobe software that imitates illustration and drawing. My tool of choice is the computer but she adores her brushes. So I encourage this because it’s true what they say, “practice makes perfect.”
So the afternoon has sneaked up on us and my kid is ready for another painting marathon. If I leave her to her own devices she is fine. London is very independent but I have to guide her in her artwork. I notice she flourishes when she is playing with her crafts. My participation helps her carryout the task and finalization of whatever she is doing at the moment. Which is very gratifying to accomplish something small or big with my daughter. The reaction I get is huge kisses and hugs and this mommy isn’t complaining. It’s exciting to see artwork through your child’s eyes. They’re so inventive. They see stuff in everything around them. The clouds become Dumbo flying or a dinosaur. Doll’s speak to each other and have teatime. Neverland is always around the bend. I consider pretending to be a great tool for anyone that wants to become creative adults. That’s what the majority of her evening consists of. She plays pretend or sings us songs. London is very theatrical bowing after every performance. It’s very exciting for her to express herself.
Initially we begin with painting and the afternoon is more painting with cutouts. London picks the shapes she wants and I prepare these for her. Showing her step by step, we make pretty much anything she can come up with. Last Saturday she made me a bunch of butterflies out of triangles, circles, and ovals. Those butterflies are very colorful and geometric. They’re hanging on my dining room wall where I showcase her favorite project’s. We have chosen a specific wall she can display her art. I see the pride in her face when it goes up or when someone inquires about them. These are the moment’s in my everyday life that are priceless. I hope art can be as therapeutic for her as it has been for me. I’ve been giving her opportunities to cultivate any artistic abilities she may possess. She is imaginative and feels satisfied at the end of each piece of work. Always presenting her craft as gifts to family and friends for this all I’m grateful.