#responseblog

Whitney: structure, fleshy

I find that as much as art claims to be free the rules often aren't. You must be of a certain caliber and have a certain knowledge set to truly appreciate much of it. The goal of a public art museum is democratize art that means one must sacrifice to reach more people.I agree with the author in that allowing wifi in the gallery doesn't effect those who have more knowledge and appreciation for images. Is there a specific amount of time you should look at a picture? It depends on the person. Without art history one could stare for hours and still not fully enjoy a work of art. I think the museums job is to allow people to decide on their own.

While Maier photographed around the time Eggleston did she is a valid candidate for comparison because her work was discovered later in life. It is only because of the precedent of Eggleston that one can appreciate her work as art. It is fascinating to see two street photographers possess such an eye for composition and color. Vivian, however, tends to be more confrontational at times photographing the face and body, her subjects are aware of her presence. She does not only capture color but she captures the culture and personality with an intentional eye.This made me wonder if her status as a nanny and woman perhaps put her in the position of appearing non-threatening? Eggleston seems to be primarily concerned with light and color and shape the person comes second the personality is subverted behind the composition. This is evident in the examples above. Maier captures not just a red dress but, a polka dot red dress and nails the dress speaks strongly of its era provoking ideas of a woman’s place. Eggleston also captures a woman of red only he focuses on her vibrant hair and the light that hits it. He brings the composure together with echoes of red throughout the image only revealing her profile. This girl, however, is not presented in a way that emphasizes her culture. They both bring separate approaches to the same unique color playing field.

The phenomenon of seeing is more mental than physical. This means how I see Is influenced by my language,memory,and brain. That being said I don't trust my eye to be impartial when viewing color. If you think about it no one can be impartial.I do have some confidence because I have spent hours of study looking at colors,learning their names, examining their historic significance through different cultures. This widens my color association of memory and experience with color.

Color photography was a tempestuous invention. With the invention of Autochrome and Kodachrome color photography flooded the public view through magazines such as National Geographic and Companies such as Kodak and Conde Naste . It became useful for commercial and personal purposes. Despite its invention many critics still saw black and white as the “ Serious artistic” medium. Color to them lacked emotion and brought up new questions of manipulation through filters and its solidity as an art form compared to the fine arts and black and white photography.In its beginning color photography was acceptable as a commercial medium of communication. The mass began churning out images of everyday and the artist tried to define the medium in artistic standards. Around 1970 it was accepted that color photography was important yet lacked strength in direction, as its subject matter was often trivial, according to critics like curator Kevin Moore. The show featuring Egglestons work resparked the focus around color as he presented images with an artistic and formal thought process. Out cry came from critics because of the "snapshot" style. They feared the lost of emotional and meaningful content yet many had to admit they could see the artist hand at work in the color images in choice composition,line,subject, and color. All in all color photography has been a mix of the amateur and the professional it lacks boundaries and was seen as indistinguishable as high art. Eggleston walked the line between both yet clearly stood on the side that offered color photography as important as the work of black and white photographers.

 I chose this definition because Batchelor’s essay touches on the eerie sense of unnatural absence that accompanies the minimalist all white exterior. In his essay he compares the eerie sense of perfection that white creates with the unnatural sense of the body that the Western culture has assumed. He states, "You really could become lost in this apparent blank and empty white space. In it's need to differentiate itself from that which was without, nothing could be differentiated within. This space was clearly a model for how the body ought to be : enclosed,contained,sealed. The ideal body without flesh of any kind..." White from his view imposes an impossible standard that always reveals the nature of what it confronts. 

Sontag’s ideas about how photography is a part of society and culture as a rite of life apply even more so in today’s world than ever before. With modern innovations such as camera phones,Instagram, and Facebook camera’s and photo’s have gone to more unseen places than before, even causing people  harm, proved by how many people have injured themselves or worse trying to snag the perfect selfie from insane places. What is it people are after? The truth seems that people are not out to capture reality, for example, there are stories of people being addicted to capturing the perfect selfie, not simply taking a self-portrait and being satisfied. I believe, like Sontag says, that people are searching for comfort,familiarity, and control. They want a world or life that does not exist in reality, but when compiled over time, on places such as Instagram, and edited through selection, creates a “self” that is real to how they feel they should be represented. Many times this self is flawless, always happy, and always living an exciting life. Photo’s and collections of images are an escape to the way the world should be in the eye of the photographer.

Artists are notorious for looking to the past for inspiration. It is encouraged and deemed as absolutely necessary in any work of art. That being said, no, the golden age will not be over. Books are so ingratiated into society and technology is ever changing. There are still modern places that do not have internet access on a global scale, we are not as far ahead that books have been replaced, on a large scale they are still an unbeatable technology. Photographs have become necessary for us to empathize with our past tragedies and triumphs. Without access to chemical processes film is not democratized to all people, a photo book can be passed from generation to generation, shared among groups of people, and spread through different print mediums. This allows a photo book to adapt and survive beyond technological advances with an incredible amount of range in how cheap,expensive, simple and complex it can be. The combination of the printed word and printed image is an unbeatable combination for forever documented history. Whether a new technology makes film obsolete or a new computer is invented so long as language is passed on and humans can still see the photo book will survive.