#visualresponse

Week 3 - Visual Response

Use of photography for truth-telling purposes, “reality” as subject matter ?

With reference to these two images in particular above but also addressing photojournalism and documentary photography as a whole, we see what the photographer wants us to see. Even though they are the same images, just one has been cropped in more to focus on the subject matter it does change your viewpoint on the image. So I believe that every documentary image is truthful when reality is the subject matter but as to how truthful it is, is the real question.

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Visual interpretation of The Great Spirit Prayer

Inspired by the prayer traditionally attributed to Yellow Lark (Lakota Sioux).

Non-commercial work created as artistic response and study.

Images created using Canva elements and AI tools.

Week 12- Visual Response

Consider  whether photography can by “useful?”, “Should photographs be labelled as writing, as either non-fiction or fiction or are they always a hybrid of the two?”

Strictly speaking from a documentary/ photojournalist perspective I feel there should be a label distinguishing whether or not its a fiction, non-fiction, or hybrid image. But then there would have to be rules on what criteria is needed in order for it to fir into that category. In general a lot of the images presented to us by the media are “hybrid” images. The photographer can change the crop, composition, the lighting and angle which can all contribute to the story they are trying to tell but might not be what’s actually going on. The biggest thing to keep in mind though when bringing up this idea of labels though is context. I feel depending on the situation the context is always changing so it would be hard to categorise into fiction and non-fiction as if they were black and white categories.

Visual Response- Week 2, How do images make “meanings”?

Going back to Paul Hansens image of “The death of Fabienne Cherisma” I have found three other photographers who also documented the tragic event. Breaking down each photo and evaluating them based on their photographic conventions (lens choice, D.O.F, lighting, cropping, colour, post production) it really changes the meaning, and success of making it a memorable image. 

Quoting Roland Barthes on stadium and punctum.

Stadium: “the cultural, linguistic, and political interpretation of a photograph”. I’ll glance through them but don’t recall them.

Punctum: an “element which rises from the scene” which is “poignant to me”. Often it is a detail. It is rarely intentional but engages a personal response and hence is a private experience. 

Visual Response- Week 1, What is Photography?

Halley Docherty- “Classic paintings of the world cities meet Google street view- in pictures”

After looking at “No Mans Land, 2012” by Mishka Henner it sparked the conversation of found objects and turning them into art. Which is what the dada art movement was all about.  Dadaists made a mockery of materialistic items and nationalists attitudes. Which is what Marcel Duchamp did with his artwork titled “The Fountain” (which is a urinal). Sticking with the idea of using someone elses images or art and claiming it as you own. 

Re - strict: To keep or confine within limits