Brian Yen

This image by Brian Yen is called "People people people and more people." It was taken in the busy, overcrowded streets of Hong Kong. I like the movement and stillness of the image all at the same time. The crowd of people walking causes the blurriness of so many people all in one place over time, yet the buildings and the place remains still and clear.  People are constantly moving and living while the material objects around us are lifeless and stable. Pictures usually freeze a specific moment in time for the viewer to experience it forever, but this image does not freeze time it captures the notion of time and how it elapses. it is interesting to see the juxtaposition of things that move and things that remain motionless and the idea of the passing of time.

Johannes Bojesen

This image by Johannes Bojesen was taken in Denmark, of a sheep trying to cross a canal in a meadow swamp. The sheep obviously drowned which I find interesting because the canal is small and looks shallow, which makes me wonder if the sheep attempted to cross at this spot or if it drowned in a larger or deeper area and was transported to this spot. Was the sheep being chased? Did it get tangled in the floating debris of plant? I find this image to be very complex due to the many different situations and possibilities which may have produced this image. This image also stood out to me because it is a good representation of nature and the complex cycle of life. The fleshy back of the sheep which was exposed to air and the terrestrial realm has been eaten or has decayed, exposing the spine of the sheep While the rest of the body which is submerged underwater remains preserved and in tact. This image is very eerie due to the circumstances of biological processes and it is also very dark and moody, due to the gray sky and lack of life elsewhere in the frame. The image itself captures death and how nutrients are recycled and redistributed to continue the cycle of life. I am very interested in art and biology and I think this image is a great representation of both subjects which is why I am so drawn to it. As far as the topic of art, this image is visually interesting and well composed and shot, and it questions the elements of life and death and the overall existence of objects in the world. From a biological standpoint this image captures the situations which enable and restrict decay, which I think is most likely the presence and absence of oxygen in this situation. The portion of the sheep above water is available to microorganisms and birds and insects, while the portion of the sheep submerged underwater is limited to the organisms that thrive in the water. Another aspect from the biological standpoint is questioning the circumstances that caused this sheep to cross the canal and drown. What is foraging? migrating? trying to escape a predator? Did it drown in this exact spot or was it transported by the water after it drowned somewhere else? This image raises all of these questions and confronts the beauty, fragility, and delicacy of life and decay of death.

Boris Mikhailov

Boris Mikhailov documented the Soviet Union after the fall of communism. I like this image because because it displays the struggle that Russians went through and the poverty that followed the collapse of the Soviet government. The man being carried is wearing minimal clothing in the snow, while the others carrying him are wearing heavy winter clothing, which puts this man in a position which looks very unfortunate. The expression on the man's face lacks emotion which is interesting because it makes me wonder what circumstances occured to create such a scene in which a poorly clothed man would need to be to be carried in the winter snow, by other people in this unfortunate situation. I think the overall quality of the image, such as the lack of contrasting color and the graininess of the image, reinforces the feeling of misfortune and poverty. This image has two qualities that make it a very powerful image: it stands as a documentary image which describes the situation of people living in the Soviet Union at that time, and it also implies a biblical reference which gives the image deeper meaning and value. The image reminds me of Jesus Christ being escorted to be prosecuted and hung on a cross. I think this is mainly due to the expression on the man's face and his limp body being carried through the snow. The man looks weak but not quite helpless. He looks as if he is indifferent, or knows that emotion and reaction would not help his cause. The fact that this image reflects a historical story of prosecution adds to the effectiveness of capturing the struggles of Russia's homeless people after a revolutionary event in the history of the Soviet Union.

Arthur Tress

This image from Arthur Tress's Hospital Constructions series is very interesting because it is very colorful and the object in the photo reminds me of the toys that kids play with in the waiting rooms of doctors or dentists offices, where you push a wooden bead along a maze of wires. So at first glance the images looks playful and fun, but then you start to notice the diagrams of organs in the backdrop and the models of organs that a medical student would use to study with. If you look really close you can see figurine toys on the organs which also gives the image a child-like feel. I think the image references childrens' toys, especially with the colors and figurines, but the content of organs and body parts is very mature, which gives the image a creepy and contradictory feeling. Arthur Tress found these objects in an abandoned hospital which also adds to the eerie feeling of this image. I like the use of color in this image, because the pinks and blues remind me of veins and blood vessels, and the overall yellowish and green tones give the image warmth. If you view the image from far away the lines and colors blend together a little bit and the image looks nice like a painting, but as you get closer you can see the fine details in the diagrams of the organs, and the found objects look old and used. I like this image because it is very complex and has many layers. I can look at this photo for a long time and see things that I missed or find new details that may be overlooked if not studied carefully.

John Pfahl

 I enjoy Pfahl's work because although images of landscapes are beautiful, they can easily become boring to look at and he transforms the  landscape by manipulating it in some way to make it more interesting. I chose these two images by the landscape photographer John Pfahl, because I think it is also interesting to look at the influence of technology on Pfahl's work as it becomes more advanced over time.

This image was taken in 1978 from Pfahl's lightning series. During this time, Pfahl would manipulate an image by adding an object, in this case a red string of some sort, directly onto an organic object, the tree. After Pfahl physically placed an object into a landscape, he would shoot the photo, and that would stand as the manipulation of a landscape. This is interesting to me because the red lightning shape becomes a part of the image and the light reflects off of the string as if was actually a part of the tree. I think this gives a different quality to the image than if someone were to photoshop a red line onto the tree because the line conforms to the shape of the tree and often times in Pfahl's images the physical object gets somewhat lost in the landscape. The red line is visible and would not naturally occur on its own, but the lines become a part of the tree and gets lost in the maze of thick and thin branches.

This image is from Pfahl's recent work Metamorphoses de la terre, done in 2010 at Zion Canyon. This image  is also a manipulated landscape but it is very different from the work done in 1978. It seems this image was taken, then digitally processed later to create the manipulation. The dragging of information into unnatural lines is somewhat interesting in the pattern it creates, and the manipulation causes me to try and imagine what the natural state of the canyon is. It is interesting to see the juxtaposition of digital and organic subject matter together, and without the digital manipulation I don't think this image would be interesting to me at all, but I do not find the post-processed image as interesting as the photo taken in 1978 which was physically manipulating then photographed. There are other photographs in the Metamorphoses series that are much more interesting to me because the image is slightly manipulated to where it could possibly be seen as a natural landscape, but the manipulation in this image very blatant, so I do not have to question whether or not the landscape is natural. I think this image is the weakest of the series and I enjoy Pfahl's earlier images more than his newer work, although I still like his newer work. These two images display the advancement in technology and the digital processes available to photographers nowadays. 

alec soth

This image is from Alec Soth's book Dog Days, Bogota. I view this image as an environmental portrait because living spaces say a lot about people and the intimacy of being in someones room. This image grabbed my attention because I think the room itself is interesting, and seeing this room makes me wonder who occupies it. The stains on the wall stand out against the all white interior which makes me think that the room is very old, despite the cartoon on the wall, which I would associate with a child's bedroom. The green light bulb is also interesting because who uses green light as a primary light? I also find the bareness of the room interesting. The light doesn't have a shade, the interior is all white, and except for stains and one cartoon image there is nothing on the wall. You cannot see what is plugged into the wall, and you barely get a glimpse of some sneakers in the lower left corner of the image. Even the bed is bare, except for one pillow which is covered by the comforter so it may not even be a pillow. I like the soft lighting coming from the window because it gives a slight glow, which is beautiful, yet it contrasts with the dirty walls. When I was studying black and white film I would often photograph bedrooms as a way to explore people and the interactions that take place in privacy so I appreciate this image. I feel like there is a story waiting to be told about this place or the person that lives in this place, but I like that it remains a mystery and relies on the viewers imagination to create the story. This image makes me think that someone has lived in this room for pretty much their whole life, and the accumulation of stains represent different events and a gradual wearing of just someone being there. Maybe the cartoon on the wall is the only thing that remained on the wall over time, or maybe it was the only thing put up at all. The size of the bed makes me wonder how many people sleep in that room. I like these questions the image force me to ask myself and the lighting and composition make the image beautiful and interesting to look at.

10/08/12

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/32445187?color=ffffff" width="500" height="369" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/32445187">underwater friends</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3191047">anne imal</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

I chose this video "underwater friends" because I think it relates to presenting a 2D image in 3D form. Videos in themselves are continuous images strung together, so if you were to pause this video at any time, I think it would make an interesting, abstracted image. I really like the strangeness of this video and how the creator took something that is already weird looking, and made it look even more foreign through manipulation of the imagery and the sound. The way jellyfish pulse through the water, paired with the pulse you hear from what sounds like the respirator of a scuba diver, are complimentary of each other. The tentacles of the jellyfish come together and separate, creating different shapes in a hypnotic way. I enjoy the progression of the video. In the beginning of the video it is evident that you are looking at a jellyfish in a tank. You see the bell of the jellyfish and can recognized it's movement, the background is blue like water, and you can clearly hear a divers respirator. As the video continues the subject becomes more focused on the tentacles of the jellyfish creating beautiful shapes, and the color shift can no longer be associated with a jellyfish in a tank. The video then becomes completely abstracted when the imagery and sound slows down. The respirated breathing turns into a very eerie sound, like an alien or creature in a science fiction movie and the isolated tentacles that fade in and out, and merge and separate are not recognizable. If I did not see the beginning of the video, and only the end, I would not know that the structures in the video were part of a jellyfish. I enjoyed this video because I went from recognizing it as a jellyfish in a tank, to feeling like I was experiencing something foreign, something that I didn't know. I think the progression that occurs in this video is also related to how an artist chooses to display their work, because an image that is displayed in a 3D way takes on a different meaning and life, just like the transformation of the jellyfish and how it is manipulated and turned into something else.