Blog Entry #3

Cole Thompson




Auschwitz 13, Poland, 2008
cole Thompson

primary subject matter: a ghost coming out of one of Auschwitz's gas chamber's door.

form:
1.Color- black and white
2.Motion
3.Contrast
4.focus
5.directional forces

Interpretation
This image is a reminder of the lives that still linger in the death camps and the events they had to face.Thompson put ghost like figures to give life back into the now quiet Auschwitz.

Thompson choice to shoot the photograph in black and white to help set the mood. It gives it more of a eerie feel and brings you back to the 1940's.I think color would have made the ghost figures less effective and color would have been distracting.The motion is very important because it creates the ghost figures. Thompson captures the ghost walking into the door. It gives you the feeling that you are going with this soul back into the gas chamber. The contrast is very powerful by having everything in light or middle grays, except the door opening. It expresses the darkness that once happened in that room. It also helps make the ghost pop out more. It makes the life seems innocent and you feel piety for this life that is about to befall a very dark event. The heaviest part of the ghost is in the middle of the doorway, which brings more focus onto the life and what it is about to walk into. This focus does not want the viewer to forget the horrible things that happened in the gas chambers. The smokiness of the ghost figure moves from the edge of the right side and moves the eye into the doorway. The ghost is walking the viewer into the chamber with them. The ghost is trying to remind the viewer of what went on inside and what tragedy it had endured during the holocaust.

Blog Entry #2

Julee Holcombe

Self as Narcissus
2005, c-print
http://www.connercontemporary.com/artists/julee-holcombe/?view=images

Subject Matter: Photographer looking at reflection while holding a computer mouse, as replicating the scene from the painting Narcissus by Caravaggio.

Form:
1.Sharpness
2.relation of elements within the frame
3.balance
4.positive/negative space
5.focus

Interpretation

Self as Narcissus' meaning has to do with the digital age's obsession with the perfection of the female body through editing. In the photograph, Julee is editing her own body with a mouse. Narcissus is when one is solely focused on ones own looks.
A key importance is the role of the pixelated refection of Julee. She didn't keep herself sharp to show the that a photoshopped female body is not the true reflection of a model. The relation of the elements in the frame, goes nicely together. They take up a majority of the frame and cut the frame into two equal halves of different worlds. The top half is more of a realistic portrayal of a female,whereas the bottom half is the unrealistic portrayal of females in the digital world. This goes along with the balance in the image. She aligns herself up perfectly with the pixelated self. Is creates a proper reflection and balance to the separate worlds that are within this one image. The negative space around the artist is pitch black which goes along with the original paining but also the darkness helps draws you to the positive space which is the main focus. With her reflection being altered, it gives more focus onto the true her. This is to make people see that they should be more focused on their true self then on how they can alter themselves or look like altered women they see in magazines or on the internet. There is obsession with altering images now a days but I think Julee would have people looking at themselves then altered reflections.

Blog Entry #1

Francesc Torres

Dark is the room where we sleep, 2007

http://www.icp.org/atf/cf/%7BA0B4EE7B-5A90-46AB-AF37-7115A2D48F94%7D/torres_popup4.jpg

Primary subject matter- A line of skeletons from a mass grave in Villamayor de los Montes. The grave was from 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. Pictured are forensic anthropologists uncovering the graves in the year 2004.

Form:
1.directional forces
2.emphasis
3.frame and edge
4.depth of field
5.repetition

Interpretation
This photograph is a grave remainder of the consequences of social and political conflict. The photograph captured the image in a way that the row of skeletons seems infinite and unforgotten. The skeletons are arranged in what was once a long straight ditch. Each skeleton is arranged differently as they were just thrown into the grave without care. Torres shot the grave in a diagonal shot with deep depth of field. He also chose to have the Anthropologists in the back as they uncover more bodies to the grave. The bodies were supporters of Spain's Republican government.

Torres was not only literally documenting the finding of the archeological site but to document how consequences of a conflict can not be hidden. The strong directional force of the diagonal grave that bisects the image, gives the illusion that the grave is on-going. Adding to the continuity is the placement of the archeologists; by choosing to shoot them in the back it shows that they are still working more to find skeletons. Finding of conflict are always being constantly unveiled as is the rest of the skeletons in this image. The emphasis of the image is the victims more than their discovers. Torres wanted you to focus on the skeletons to realize the price of conflicting politics on a larger scale. For the depth of field he kept everything in focus, because he wanted the viewer to focus on all the details of the conflict: losing side, victims, and the future. The future being the archeologist uncovering the bodies and interpreting what happened to them during the conflict.The bottom left cut off the remaining skeletons of the grave, as if to show that the past conflicts still remain and need to be resolved. The repetitive row of arranged bodies also enforces the repetitive occurrence of fatal consequence of social and political conflicts.