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Conceptual Photography

Simply put, conceptual photography is a type of photography that illustrates an idea. But, don’t most photographs illustrate an idea, or at least a thought, an event, a person, place or thing? Can a person, place or thing also be an idea?

According to Merriam Webster (if you haven’t already guessed, I love the dictionary. Both a real paper dictionary, and the app on my phone!):

            Idea (noun) – something you imagine or picture in your mind.

So with this definition, I’m going to say yes, a person, place or thing can be imagined or pictured in my mind. And, with some creative effort, illustrated via the photographic process into a tangible image. Conceptual photography is a lot of fun. It’s often creating a photo illustration that tells a story, or something that is symbolic, or often it is an idea or symbol that can have different meanings to different people.

Take the image I’ve posted for example. I found this little church on a field trip with my students, and I noticed at just the right angle, I could get a cross within a cross. Now, for some, this image can symbolize a strongly held religious belief – for example both a present (close up cross) and future (distant cross) life in the church, or it could reference the constraints of religion – one cross “boxing in” the other. So, either way, you could read this image to mean two completely different ideas. How would you know what I meant? Well, you don’t, unless this image was to illustrate an idea or story that accompanies the image, or maybe if you knew me really well. But then, you still might not know the answer. Either way, it’s up to you to decide what the image means to you!

Religion
Religion

I have always enjoyed looking for symbols, or the meaning of the arrangement or placement of objects in a photograph, or other work of art like a painting. I just saw this interesting YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ_ftM0ZXy8) about this very idea. It is interesting how the curator describes what each element in a still life might mean. So, next time you look at a photograph of a bowl of fruit, or a simple insect sitting on a table, think about what the artist may have intended for that simple object to mean. Or, look for these subtle arrangements like my cross within a cross when you’re out and about, camera in hand!

Words of Wisdom

Anticipation
Anticipation

More than once I’ve thought of a statement I’ve heard on many occasions, “The best camera you have is the one that is with you.” Several people have been credited with saying this, or some variation of this statement, but bottom line, it’s the truth! Especially important today, in this new world of cellphone cameras, and pretty darn amazing, compact or mini-DSLRs!

Coming from me, this is a pretty bold leap, as I’ve always, always considered myself a purist of sorts. Someone who cherishes each and every one of my film cameras, and who loves the experience in the darkroom. I’ve grown to love my DSLR, too! What an amazing tool, and how much fun I’ve had using it, especially to photograph my dogs. But, what about this iPhone camera? You know, it’s easy for people like me, yes, I admit it, to look at those cameras as less than. Less than what? Less than a traditional process using silver halides and light sensitive emulsions? But then, I say, heck Angela, you shoot with a $20 plastic Holga and enjoy the heck out of it. Oh, and don’t try to buy a Holga today for $20…that was in 1991. Today, you can expect to pay closer to $40. But, I digress. Yes, the iPhone can produce amazing images and sometimes it’s the only thing on your person!

Like, take for instance, this wonderful image I attached. We were headed to Denver to pick up our newest addition to the family, a 5 month old Dalmatian we named Brooks. Olive and Maggie went along for the ride, of course, to check out this brother-to-be. We made a stop and I was sitting in the drivers seat waiting on my husband, and I looked up and saw this perfect shot! Now, I didn’t have a film camera with me, nor did I have my fancy, cool DSLR with me. What I did have though was my iPhone! So, I used it! What a great shot!

So, there, I said it, iPhones give us the opportunity to capture images we would otherwise miss when all our awesome gear is tucked away back at home. So, take that sage advice, and remember, “The best camera you have is the one that is with you!”

And, to take it a step further, I recall a class day when a student mentioned that the prior weekend wasn’t a good shooting weekend, for whatever reasons…weather, etc. I simply said any day you shoot is a good day. Forget the weather, forget the mood you’re in, and use whatever camera you have on you!

Hello, Photography!

Today is a special day in the history of photography. January 7th, 177 years ago, “members of the French Académie des Sciences were shown products of an invention that would forever change the nature of visual representation: photography.” (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) On January 7, 1839, François Arago of the Académie des Sciences announced Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre’s creation of a process that captures and preserves the views seen in the camera obscura.

Daguerre’s actual process, how to make a daguerreotype, would remain a bit of a secret until later that year when on August 19, 1839 the process was revealed to the public. And, during this same eight-month period, another inventor in the annals of the history of photography also put his process, the photogenic drawing, later to become the calotype (with improvements), out to the public as well. William Henry Fox Talbot was working on a process that would eventually become the basis for what we use today, the negative/positive process. While both men should and do receive the credit, along with many others who much earlier than 1839 were working out the details of capturing light permanently onto a medium, Louis Daguerre would receive the most acclaim, as well as a fine pension from the French government.

Henry Fox Talbot had actually achieved a permanent photograph earlier than 1839 like Daguerre, and his partner Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (who, by the way, is credited with the first permanent photograph dated to 1826), but alas he was caught resting on his laurels and didn’t announce his findings until the painter and self-promoter Louis Daguerre went public. His process, while beneficial to the future negative/positive process in photography, wasn’t the early hit like the daguerreotype. With faster exposures, crisper details, and “daguerreotypemania” hitting both Europe and America, portraits in this new process became all the rage! And, budding photographers found a new income stream in a very new art form.

I read a quote so interesting recently about this wonderful history and rivalry between the early inventors of photography. This amazing process became the go-to for portraits, affordable portraits for people who didn’t have the means to commission a painted portrait. Interesting. This process “leveled the playing field between rich and poor.”

           “Photography was to become the first democratic art.” Roger Watson/Helen Rappaport in Capturing the Light: The Birth of Photography, A True Story of Genius and Rivalry.

I’d like to give a nod to these early inventors, chemists, scientists, artists, and open-minded, never-give-in-creative-types who paved the way for all of us. When I think of how far photography has come in just 177 short years, wow! It’s mindboggling! Here we are today, shooting these amazing digital cameras, tethered to computers and we see our images in vivid color instantly! While, I do love the historical techniques of the past, and enjoy practicing traditional darkroom techniques for the bulk of my own work, I can certainly appreciate the amazing strides that have been made in this relatively young, visual medium! And, when I ponder the thought that photography is, “…the first democratic art,” I think about all the applications of photography today, and how we have created a visual language that binds people together through socio-economic, -geographic and -cultural differences. A single photograph can make us feel instant joy, empathy, sadness, or inspiration!

So, lift a glass today or tonight, and give props to these geniuses that persevered to create a most beautiful art form!

The images I’ve selected to show this week are simply images of wonder and discovery. Finding something interesting in something ordinary, and I have Daguerre, Niépce, Talbot, Archer, Herschel, Wedgwood and many others to thank! And, those of you past History of Photography students…I expect you to remember each and every one of the names mentioned above!

 

Pipe
Pipe
Stain
Stain
Victor, Colorado
Victor, Colorado

Unusual Perspectives

Unusual Perspectives
Unusual Perspectives

I challenge you all to take a new perspective on things as we enter a fresh New Year! I do love a new year – a time for new beginnings, a clean slate, a challenge to ourselves to do things we may not have gotten to in the previous year, a chance to shake the dust off and reinvent our lives! And, to all my photo friends, students and folks who just like to look at things, do it from a new perspective! Whether you are high up, or lying on the ground and watching the clouds sail across the sky, try to look at life from a new perspective.

I am reminded of the photographs of a Russian artist from my History of Photography lectures. Aleksandr Rodchenko had such a disdain for the “normal view” photograph that he referred to these images as “belly-button shots.” These are the normal views taken with a waist-level viewfinder.

        “One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again.” – Aleksandr Rodchenko

So, rather than looking at your world from 5’5”, 6’0”, or whatever height you are, imagine a world from other angles and views. And, of course, if you haven’t already figured it out, this applies not only to photography, but how you might decide to approach life in general!

For all you photographers out there, this is also a great time to commit to a project. Maybe the 365 project – a shot a day for the year, or a weekly blog post, or a couple big projects that have been rattling around in your brain, well, put them on paper! Write out your ideas, sketch (stick-figures count for photographers!) your comps, and get busy! I’m taking my own advice and I plan to keep up with my weekly blog as well as tackle and complete a couple big projects that I have rattling around…first of which, the specimens! I have a bone graveyard in my basement right now, so it’s time to put all that collecting to good use!

Here’s to a happy, healthy, prosperous and adventure-filled 2016!

      “We must revolutionize our optical perception. We must remove the veil from our eyes.” – Aleksandr Rodchenko

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and High ISOs…

Happy Holidays!
Happy Holidays!

I want to take this opportunity to wish my family and friends a very Merry Christmas. Some of you I will see this week, and some of you are far away, but close in my heart! I also want to wish a very Happy Holiday season to everyone who might be reading this blog, and say a big thank you for taking your time to read my thoughts and look at my photographs.

I do love all the memories of Christmas that I think about during this time of the year. From those childhood moments of waiting on Santa, like the year my brother, Fred, and I each received Big Wheels, and took them on a spin through the house, barefoot, only to step on a tack! And, all those wonderful big, family celebrations and how they got even bigger when I got married! But, today, a very thankful and blessed Christmas as my husband is recuperating and recovering from a total knee replacement last week. I will make my traditional shrimp creole on Friday, my southern grandmother’s recipe, and we’ll celebrate with stories, good food, good drink, great company and games of trivia. I do love trivia…and my history of photography students know how much I like to throw in a good dose of trivia now and then!

Oh, and as for the high ISOs, sitting here in my living room and looking at the Christmas tree got me to thinking. After squinting at the lights, and thinking about how cool they all look, I grabbed my camera, and decided to turn off all the lights in the house and run the ISO up to 4000, and give it a whirl. I do love these mind-boggling, epic (yes, I used that word!) digital cameras and their ISO capabilities! Here is a shot at ISO 4000 and it looks really cool, and pretty darn clean! I mean, I love grain, you remember good old, tried and true, Tri-X 400!  Heck, I love TMAX 3200 for all its grainy glory. But this shot, it’s so clean for ISO 4000, who would have thought? I liked this shot, as it is patriotic and festive all at once. I’m a collector of antique glass ornaments, and this little beauty is one of a pair that my husband and I scored years ago in our quest for antique glass!

Here’s to a week of joy, wonder and being with those we love and cherish! Enjoy your holidays, and let’s all look forward to a happy, healthy and peaceful 2016!

“May your days be merry and bright.” – Irving Berlin

Finding Joy

Finding Joy
Finding Joy

Joy (noun)

A feeling of great happiness.

A source or cause of great happiness: something or someone that gives joy to someone.

Success in doing, finding, or getting something.   – Merriam Webster

This is the time of year that we think about the word joy. We often liken the Christmas holidays to bringing joy to our lives and the lives of those we love for all the festivities and warmth we experience during this time. Joy also comes in the form of the feeling we get when reunited with friends and relatives that we have not seen in a long time. We also get plenty of subliminal messages of joy ringing in our ears as we pop in and out of shops this season.

I am feeling quite joyful with many good blessings that my husband Randy just received a successful knee replacement surgery yesterday. This will put him on the path to strength, health, well being, and a pain-free life. He will be able to enjoy many of the things he has had to forgo in recent years such as skiing, and hiking 14’ers, and the simple things like waking up pain free each morning.

And, as for the holidays, we will be sharing Christmas with family. My family will join us, and my husband’s parents are driving in from Atlanta to celebrate. So, a house full of joyous occasion – dinners, gatherings, music and merrymaking at its finest.

But, let’s get to photography for a minute. When I find a place that inspires me to take photograph after photograph, or, when I loupe newly developed film on the light box and instantly see “the one,” or when I have a spark of creativity that ignites an idea that unfolds into multiple ideas and shots, well, all those experiences for me…joy! Joy is a great way to describe that creative process. My study of photography and capturing light constantly rewards me with feelings of happiness. It is the source and cause for much of my personal contentment, and simply put, joy!

So, I wish for you all a season of joy, and love, family, friends and good health! It’s a simple word with a lot of punch! Pay a little joy forward when given the chance.

And, “love the one you’re with…” – Stephen Stills

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