Famous Photographers Assignment

Photography 1

Instructor: Shannon Duncan

sladuncan@gmail.com

Famous Photographers

This is a project you can have a good time with, because you get to pretend you are a famous photographer. You will become acquainted with the work of at least 20 photographers and then pick the one you like the best for your own project.

Here's how it works: I provide you with a generous list of photographers from which to choose and show you lots of images. You go to libraries, bookstores, websites, etc., and take a critical look at work by at least 20 of them, jotting down a sentence or two (or more if you want) about their work. I want you to develop a habit of articulating what you see -- developing a critical visual vocabulary will benefit you in any field of visual arts and enrich your personal experiences.

Do not absolutely decide on your photographer until you have had time to see the work of 20 of them. Even then, if none of the images turn you on, keep looking until you find some that do. This is strictly about your personal taste and preferences. Consider that criterion before you weigh practical aspects of what will be involved in emulating someone's work. Feel free to consult with me about any aspect of this project while you are working on it. Once you decide on a photographer, write a short proposal identifying your choice and reasons for making it.  (DUE 10/25)

Then photograph something your famous photographer would have photographed, using the same style. Try to "become" the artist and think, see, photograph and print the way he or she would. Shoot at least 144 negatives (6 rolls of 24, 4 rolls of 36) and make a cohesive group of at least 5 final prints that look like they belong together. You may crop and otherwise manipulate your prints as necessary. I will be looking to see how well you captured the "spirit" of your photographer's vision, formally of course (composition, scale, lighting, etc.), as well as in print quality and content.

In addition, type a one-page, double-spaced statement, explaining why you chose your photographer. Some issues to consider might be: What do you identify with? What about the style do you most like? Is it the content or the form that you are drawn to? What issues are being dealt with by this person? How is the work looked at by contemporary culture? If necessary, bring a book of his or her photographs to class during critique. Your statement is due at the crit. It is best to write a rough draft a week in advance, and then come back to it shortly before the crit for your final edit.

Here are some websites that might be helpful:

www.masters-of-photography.com

www.mastersofphotography.com (not the same as the preceding site)

www.corbis.com

www.eyestorm.com

www.moma.org > site overview > photography

www.mfah.org > art at the MFAH > collections > photography

www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/mediums

Berenice Abbott

Ansel Adams

Robert Adams

Shelby Lee Adams

Diane Arbus

Eugene Atget

Richard Avedon

John Baldessari

Lewis Baltz

Tina Barney

Hans Bellmer

E. J. Bellocq

Edouard Boubat

Ruth Bernhard

Margaret Bourke-White

Bill Brandt

Brassai

Manual Alvarez Bravo

Anne Brigman

Wynn Bullock

Harry Callahan

Julia Margaret Cameron

Paul Caponigro

Keith Carter

Elinor Carucci

Henri Cartier-Bresson

William Christenberry

Larry Clark

Linda Conner

Barbara Crane

Imogene Cunningham

Judy Dater

Bruce Davidson

Roy DeCarava

Robert Doisneau

Elliot Erwitt

Walker Evans

Wendy Ewald

Larry Fink

Robert Frank

Lee Friedlander

Lewis Hine

Ralph Gibson

Laura Gilpin

Frank Gohlke

Jim Goldberg

Nan Goldin

Emmit Gowin

Jan Groover

Sid Grossman

Ernst Haas

Robert Heinecken

Eikoh Hosoe

Graciella Iturbide

Michael Kenna

Andre Kertesz

William Klein

Mark Klett

Joseph Koudelka

George Krause

Les Krims

Barbara Kruger

Dorothea Lange

Clarence John Laughlin

Annie Leibovitz

David Levinthal

Sherrie Levine

Helen Levitt

Lisa Lewenz

George Platt Lynes

Danny Lyon

Nathan Lyons

Sally Mann

MANUAL (Hill/Bloom)

Robert Mapplethorpe

Mary Ellen Mark

Frank Martin

Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Susan Meiselas

Ray Metzker

Pedro Meyer

Joel Meyerowitz

Duane Michals

Richard Misrach

Tina Modotti

Lynette Molnar

Barbara Morgan

Wright Morris

Arnold Newman

Nicholas Nixon

Bill Owens

Paul Outerbridge

Gordon Parks

Irving Penn

John Pfahl

Chris Ranier

Man Ray

Eugene Richards

Jacob Riis

Herb Ritts

Alexander Rodchenko

Sebastiao Salgado

August Sander

Andres Serrano

John Sexton

Cindy Sherman

Laurie Simmons

Lorna Simpson

Sandy Skoglund

Neal Slavin

W. Eugene Smith

Frederick Sommer

Mike and Doug Starn

Ralph Steiner

Paul Strand

Edward Steichen

Alfred Stieglitz

Jock Sturges

Josef Sudek

Arthur Tress

Jerry Uelsmann

Wendy Watriss

Bruce Weber

Weegee

Carrie Mae Weems

Eudora Welty

Henry Wessel

Edward Weston

Clarence White

Minor White

Geoff Winningham

Garry Winogrand

Joel-Peter Witkin

Criticizing Photographs Excerpts from Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images by Professor Terry Barrett of The University of Ohio (Mayfield Publishing Co., 3rd ed., 2000). (This text is recommended for Fundamentals of Photography and required for Intermediate Photography.) Introduction: “One of the best ways to appreciate an image is to observe, think, and talk about it. This is what art criticism entails…. (T)he four activities of criticism – describing, interpreting, evaluating, and theorizing – can be thought of as seeking answers to four basic questions: What is here? What is it about? How good is it? Is it art?” Defining Criticism: “Unfortunately, we usually don’t equate criticism with appreciation because in everyday language the term criticism has negative connotations…. Critics are writers who like art and choose to spend their lives thinking and writing about it…. (I)n the language of art critics, criticism usually refers to a much broader range of activities than just the act of judging…. Criticism is informed discourse about art to increase understanding and appreciation of art.” Sources of Criticism: “Photography criticism can be found in many places – in photography classrooms, lecture halls, and publications. Published criticism appears in books, exhibition catalogues, art magazine, photography magazines, and the popular press.” The Value of Criticism: “The value of reading good criticism is increased knowledge and appreciation of art…. There are also considerable advantages for doing criticism…. An immediate advantage of thoughtful engagement with an artwork is that the observer’s viewing time is slowed down and measurably prolonged. This point is obvious but important: Most people visiting museums consider an artwork in less than five seconds. Five seconds of viewing compared to hours and hours of crafting by the artist seems woefully out of balance.” Describing Photographs: “To describe a photograph or an exhibition is to notice things about it and to tell another, out loud or in print, what one notices…. Descriptive information includes statements about the photograph’s subject matter, medium, and form, and then more generally, about the photograph’s causal environment, including information about the photographer who made it, the times during which it was made, and the social milieu from which it emerged. Descriptive information is true (or false), accurate (or inaccurate), factual (or contrary to fact)…. Describing is a logical place to start when viewing an exhibition or a particular photograph because it is a means of gathering basic information on which understanding is built…. Describing photographs and reading descriptions of photographs are particularly important activities because people tend to look through photographs as if they were windows rather than pictures…. (B)ecause people know that photographs are made with a machine, people tend to consider photographs as if they were real events or living people rather than pictures of events or people. Pictures are not nature and they are not natural; they are human constructs. Photographs, no matter how objective or scientific, are the constructions of individuals with beliefs and biases, and we need to consider them as such.” Interpreting Photographs: “As a culture we are perhaps more accustomed to thinking of interpreting poems and paintings than photographs. But all photographs – even simple ones – demand interpretation in order to be fully understood and appreciated…. Photographs made in a straightforward, stylistically realistic manner are in special need of interpretation…. When looking at photographs, we tend to think of them as ‘innocent’ – that is, as bare facts…. But there is no such thing as an innocent eye. We cannot see the world and at the same time ignore our prior experience in and knowledge of the world…. (T)hink of all photographs as metaphors in need of being deciphered…. Roland Barthes, the late French scholar … paid particular attention to how photographs signify. He identified two signifying practices: denotations and connotations. A photographed still-life arrangement may denote (show) flowers in a vase on a wooden table; it may connote (suggest, imply) peace, tranquility, and the delightfulness of the simple…. When people talk about art in a democratic society such as our own, they tend to unthinkingly hold that everyone’s opinion is a good as everyone else’s. Thus, in a discussion in which we are trying to interpret or evaluate an artwork and a point of view is offered that is contrary to our own, we might say, ‘That’s just your opinion,’ implying that all opinions are equal and especially that our own is equal to any other. Opinions that are not backed with reasons, however, are not particularly useful or meaningful…. Another widespread and false assumption in our culture about discussing art goes something like this: ‘It doesn’t matter what you say about art, because it’s all subjective anyway.’ … Talk about art can be verifiable, if the viewer relates his or her statements to the artwork. Although each of us comes to artworks with our own knowledge, beliefs, values, and attitudes, we can talk and be understood in a way that helps make sense of photographs….” Evaluating Photographs: “When critics criticize photographs they sometimes but not always judge them. When critics do judge photographs, they usually praise them but sometimes condemn them. The terms evaluation and judgment are synonymous…. Judgments, like interpretations, depend on reasons. To declare something ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ ‘original’ or ‘remarkable,’ without giving reasons as to why it is thought to be so … is not very revealing or helpful…. Critical judgments are different from preferences. Preferences do not require reasons…. (S)tatements of preference tell us more about the person making the statements than about the object in question…. The distinction between preferences and values can be personally liberating because the distinction allows us to dislike certain things even though it is understood that they are good; and to like and enjoy certain things even though it is understood that they are not particularly worthwhile from a critical standpoint

How You Will Be Graded

Film Processing

Assignment #1

Exposure Log