Artist Lecture no. 3: Brian Ulrich

 I found this lecture to be rather interesting, but by far this was my favorite statement, "if you use an 8x10 film camera you can take photos of junk and it becomes art." He somehow implies that the very nature of large format adds value to his images. Even when I asked about this specifically Brian goes on to discuss why he won't participate in consumer culture and buy digital, but he never mentioned the nature of his large, night exposed, images being better suited for the high quality of large format film. I find this concept baffling, even as one who utilizes and prefers film. I thoroughly enjoyed his sense of humor and his light hearted take on such a serious subject matter. I was again taken aback when he said he never gets model releases or property releases. It seems that someone gaining such prominence would be more conscious of ethical concerns. Photographers do have a right to snap away in public but in private stores we do not, it would be such a shame to not use his images because he doesn't have permission. I really enjoyed how he discussed his approach to work, and the way he transitions from one series to another. He mentioned how he composes a street photography shot, and then waits for something interesting to walk across his "trap." This is a brilliant approach to this type of photography. I always feel so intrusive when I photograph strangers, you don't want them to think, "what is she doing? She just followed me click- click- clicking away!"

Artist Research no.7: Michael Guidetti

Wow. I remember when I found this guy off of www.FECALFACE.com which is where I get almost all of my art knowledge, but I was straight up flabbergasted by the brilliance! His use of multiple mediums is seamless, and really flows with his ideas. This is really what I am moving towards, illustrating the 3-D world in a 2-D realm.

Research no.6: Cheap Prints!

It's this simple guys..

1. Click on the link embedded in the title of this post.

2. Be transported to the Richmond Camera Pro Lab sign up

3. Fill out simple information, no business/ income/ verification of professionalism required!

4. Check e-mail for account user name and password

5. Log in to http://www.richmondprolab.com/index.html and you are ready to save a ton of dollars, so you can spend it on things like....

Just be honest with yourself and admit there is nothing you want more than a beer Koozi with YOUR face on it.

Here is a list of prices you pay now:

This is the money you could be saving if you got GEIC- I mean Richmond Pro Lab:

And who doesn't love metallic prints? You can't even order them anymore through their regular online system, so here's how much those would run you:

Next day turnaround is no charge, they provide you with a soft proof profile and a profile for sending your prints in digitally. They have extensive resources pertaining to color management and how to get your prints ready to send. They also will send you 2 - 8 x 10's for FREE so you can compare to your monitor and make necessary adjustments prior to ordering again, they will also send you their own color targets that you can also download online so you can compare to your monitor and calibrate if necessary. I've always found other in town shops to be prohibitively expensive, but have used ELCO in the past. This is still cheaper, and you'd still have to pay shipping.

This is ELCO's straight to print service:

There you have it.. Cheaper, faster printing, done locally, with Koozi options!

Artist Lecture no. 2: Paula Lerner

I attended the artist lecture of Paula Lerner put on by the Central Virginia Chapter of the ASMP last Thursday and just found out today it would be an appropriate blog post. I will not be posting any of Paula's images as she has a very strict copyright over her images and educational use is not allowed, actually when you go to her portfolio as I hope you will, you agree to a Terms of Use in which all Fair Use and Educational Use are expressly forbidden. I've embedded her URL above, so please do go look at her work, it is all incredible. The lecture I attended was about multimedia in photography, essentially combining sound with your still images. The images are not videos, they may pan across the screen, zoom in or out, but they don't actually function like videos, or stop motion. They were so visually powerful and striking in conjunction with audio, whether ambient noise or recorded monologues, I remember these as video. I actually had to go back to her website to investigate my memory's faults. She has travelled to Afghanistan 3 times to document activities of BPEACE, the Buisness Council for Peace. Much of her work revolves around women's issues. Her piece the Women of Kabul was published on the Washington Post website in 2006 and received a Webby award. She spoke on the techniques she employs to capture sound, the importance of ambient sounds such as feet pattering, sewing machines humming, livestock clucking and mooing, to couch intensely rich imagery.

This is a new medium beginning to show itself commercially as well as in photojournalistic realms, the Washington Post sponsors www.MediaStorm.com which also has many examples of this type of work.

Artist Lecture no. 1: Penelope Umbrico

Wow. She is just so darn clever! I found it interesting to hear that she was a trained painter, a lot of her work seems much more rooted in form and shape than in recognizable objects. She seems to use the camera more as a machine to record, with no artistic hand than as a tool for art itself. Works like the Honeymoon Suites, Broken Sets, and The Ends of Things seem much more relatable to painting than photography. Her work was slightly exclusive, and it was nice to hear her say she was aware of this, it is not readily available for any viewer, one has to do a bit of digging to understand everything they are looking at. Without statements a lot of her work is misconstrued and possibly brushed over. She spoke intelligently and assertively, she seemed completely aware of all the reasons behind her work and themes they represented. I was really interested in the ideas of consumerism she approached with clippings from home decor magazines, this unconscious desire to purchase items that 1,000's of other people have, in order to attempt to live your life as the magazines portray them.

Image 1: Penelope Umbrico, Ends of Things Photography

Image 2: Penelope Umbrico, “Bed/Pillows/Paint”, magazine pages, house paint, 2006-07 

Image 3: Penelope Umbrico, Broken Sets (Ebay) Photography

Image 4: Penelope Umbrico, Broken Sets (Ebay) Photography

Image 5: Penelope Umbrico, Honeymoon Suites Photography

Image 6: Penelope Umbrico, Honeymoon Suites Photography

Artist Research no.6: Duane Michals

'I am a reflection photographing other reflections within a reflection' - Duane Michals

Duane Michals explores the limits of photography, and constantly satires the art world. His images are not necessarily showing an emotion or an idea, but how this emotion feels. He began photography in the time of portraiture and documentation, but his work is far from representational. He never formally learned photography, and says this contributed to his success because he never had to "unlearn" anything. When he did start commercial photography for fashion he hardly ever shot in studios, preferring to capture his subjects in their own environment. He never claims to be a photographer, and compares his work to poetry most readily, but also eastern religions, quantum physics, painting, and philosophy.  He incorporates text into work often, and it often serves to question the authenticity of photography itself. He wrote "How Photography Lost its Virginity on the Way to the Bank"

in 2007, it criticizes the art critics, the art market, and many photographers, especially those who confuse fashion with art, he calls them fartsters. Here are a few more gems from the book:

• Never trust any photograph so large it can only fit inside a museum;
  
• The announced demise of the decisive moment is premature; and
  
• Museums should never exhibit photographs of visitors looking at art in museums to visitors who are looking at art in museums.

All images copyright Duane Michals

Here are some more smart things he said:

“If we use observable fact to dictate what the possibilities of life are, then we are stuck with those that believe the earth was flat. It’s like saying when we shut off the radio, the music no longer exists because it only came from the tubes within.”

“You can’t go through life bowing your head and accepting what someone in supposed authority tells you. That’s being an automaton. The great marvel of being alive is that one does have the right to ask questions and be audacious in the questions.”  

This one is the smartest:

“To photograph reality is to photograph nothing.” 

Research no.5: Pinholes

I've been cutting 4 x 5 sheets of ilford paper and shoving them into my film holders, then using them as if they were actually film. I obviously didn't have the reciprocity down, or something, because only one image showed up.. and I don't know what it is of.  I've ordered some fuji instant film, hopefully once this arrives I will be able to more readily check my composition/ exposure, rather than it being a whole day turn around prior to seeing my images. I've found this incredibly informative site about reciprocity, hopefully it will help.