Kerry Kilburn Weekly Blog Post 3/28/2016

Andrea Star Reese website
Disorder article by Andrea Star Reese
The Urban Cave article by Andrea Star Reese
NY Times Lens Blog interview

Andrea Star Reese

Disorder

Disorder

The Urban Cave

The Urban Cave

Andrea Star Reese is a photojournalist/documentary photographer working out of New York City whose projects take her all over the world. Originally a filmmaker, she attended the International Center of Photography and was a 2010 Fellow in Photography with the New York Foundation for the Arts; she is currently a reGeneration2 photographer. The multiyear Urban Cave project received the David Pike Award for Excellence in Journalism Photography in 2014; both it and Disorder have been exhibited internationally.

The Urban Cave, the first of the two series, began as a photography school project and turned into a multiyear project on the "long term unsheltered men and women living in makeshift housing in New York City." To make the series, she got to know individuals in the homeless community, earnings, she writes, their acceptance one person at a time. Ultimately, the story is one of resilience and humanity, rather than about deprivation. She writes in more detail and shares more images from the series in the article linked above.

Disorder, a much more disturbing series, documents the state of "care" (or, really, lack thereof) for the mentally ill in Indonesia, which has perhaps 600-800 mental health practitioners, over half of whom practice only in Jakarta. Diagnosis and treatment is virtually nonexistent in most places; even where diagnosis is available, medicines are not. While mental illness still carries a strong stigma, spirit possession and other "supernatural" problems do not, so many people still turn to shamans and other folk healers for remedy. The care individuals receive, regardless of who "treats" them, is horrifying; I've shared some of the less harrowing images here. This is the series discussed in the Lens Blog interview and the article linked above.

For the Urban Cave series, at least, Reese uses 35mm digital prints, and writes that "It is my intention that the photographic style represents the society and the story, both complex, contradictory, surprising, and nuanced." What I love about her work is that her compositions combine intense human narratives (sometimes harrowing, sometimes sad, sometimes happy, always thought-provoking) with beautiful formal elements (light, line, color, texture) to create images that stop me, at least, dead in my tracks and make me spend time exploring each one - even when the image is so horrific that I really want to look away. I can almost imagine being able to photograph homeless communities - I can't even begin to imagine experiencing the kinds of conditions she saw in Indonesia and staying sane. Kudos to Ms. Reese for creating this body of work.

Catherine Meadows Weekly Post 9

Seth Casteel

Time of the most adorable blog post ever!

1)  Artist biography and background
Seth Casteel is just an all around awesome individual. He's been volunteering with animal shelters for years now. I've seen this underwater dog series before but I was never able to attach a name to the work. After publishing this series, his career as a lifestyle pet photographer really began. He's been published in National Geographic and New York Times and has appeared on numerous tv shows. He currently lives and works in Venice, CA with his rescue dog, Nala.

2)  Artist’s intent, thematic and technical choices
Seth Casteel is super passionate about helping animals, so we'd pretty much be best friends if we were to ever meet. With his underwater dog series, I think his intent was the show the hilarity that is a dog's face underwater. Some, if not all of the dogs in this series are ones who at the time were available for adoption. Another intent of his I feel was to show how great and fun adopting a dog can be.

3)  My personal response
I LOVE THIS SERIES. If you know me, then you know I have an enormous love for dogs. For my final project, I'm wanting to do something with animals, specifically homeless animals. I'm still trying to figure out where exactly to go with my final project, so I thought that by researching some photographers who have photographed animals, I'd get some ideas. I may not have gotten an idea from the underwater dog series exactly, but after looking through his website, I was able to learn that he's partnered with a couple groups that focus on photographing homeless animals. Normally, on a animal shelter's website, they'll include fuzzy images of the terrified animals behind a cage. Some people won't look twice at an animal who looks terrified and dirty. What Seth does with these other organizations is he grooms the animals and photographs them in a nice environment, which believe it or not increases their chances of getting adopted. I'd love to do something similar and think that I could with the Peninsula SPCA.

I'd like to end this post with a quote by Seth that can be found on his website:

"I LOVE PUPPIES!!!!!!!!! PUPPIES ARE THE MOST AMAZING CREATURES ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH!"

He's my hero.

Katelyn Curtis Blog Post

 

           Unadulterated Attention: Collier Schorr’s 8 Women

                                                                By:Katelyn Curtis

 

                                                       

 

                                                  

 

                   

              The artist is choosing female models to act out her concepts of questioning themes of idenity through acts of performance, ritual or gestures of representation. She accomplishes this by having some of the woman face the camera directly, others look outwards and away, some are bent or posed in a more feministic pose, or even highlighting a female quailty about themselves.  Some of the woman are trans gender and showing their transitions of how they are connected more as a woman mentally and physically except their genitals being converted. Every single photo in the series has a singular subject in relation to the individual, the photo then brings the view to connect with the photo on an individual basis.

                 Schorr is "ultimately is disinterested in anything resembling closure" and instead "interested in woman whose professions or vocations require a capacity to perform to an audience". She wants the people to view these pictures and seee the relationship ties of self idenity through the use of their physical self and their body language. Some are completely naked hiding behind nothing. This series is interesting in the fact that some of the pictures are shown in black and white while some other are shown in pictures. Also, the series to me feels incomplete and unorganized with the way it flows and it makes me wonder why I get this feeling. This series is purposeful cropped in at different angles, mixture of vertical and horizontal, different color schemes throughout, and completely inconsistent, which makes me think of showing different woman from totally different backgrounds and how they identify as being a woman. I have to assume this is all purposeful and intentional.

                Now this is just me personal opinion, but this series feels like a beginning of something, but no were near the end. I think putting some more work into this can bring the viewer further in thought, reflection, and in connection to the material.  I feel as if a lot of other artists has taken this subject on and I wish Schorr would push it a bit further.  I feel the woman in red is doing something completely different for me than the woman standing completely naked with their "genitals" area showing. The concept is thought out through the photos taken but I would personally like to see it continued more in depth. 

 

Diana Macaraeg - Weekly Post

Kenneth Bamberg

Kenneth Bamberg is based in Finland. He is famously known for his reoccurring themes of masculinity and searches for the different views of masculinity in different countries. 

Bamberg chooses to play with the subject title, linking the picture of the rooster "cock," with photos of men in the sauna. He approaches the portraits of these men as if they were of strong, wealthy, rich loyal men, even though it's only located in a sauna. He highlights the physical differences between the old and the younger subjects. On the younger boy, you can clearly see the acne on his face, while the older gentleman has greying hair, body hair, and wrinkles on his body.

I find it interesting to finally focus on men almost nude. I've seen many naked women, or the "beauty" of a woman's body photography, but it's rare to find any photographers trying to capture a man without projecting a manly action or scene to portray "strength". 

Bradley Manley Weekly Artist Post

Tim Barber

Tim Barber is a New York photographer who is not only known for fashion photography, but has number of projects and personal work. These three pictures are the beautiful fashion shots from his work for Constance.

These shots not only included the latest fashion they can easily be accepted as fine art with the artist elements Barber has added while making the picture of the model. He combines amazing composition and lighting to get beautiful dramatic shots that showcase not only the fashion but personality as well.

These shots are gorgeous in every aspect. When i look at these photos, i notice the fashion, but i am able to look pass that to see beautiful lighting and the dramatic facial expression of his subject. This allows me to access her emotions and engage with the fashion aspect.

Christian Moll Weekly Artist Post

Trevor Williams

Trevor Williams is commercial photographer based out Okayama, Japan. Currently Williams is member of the Japan -based light painting group Fiz-iks. He is one of the most prominent light painting photographers working today. He also gave a big boost to the light painting community by creating the widely known Flickr group, Light Junkies, a haven for anybody interested in exploring or sharing their own light experiments.
 
You’d be smart to join the group, if for no other reason than to see Trevor's work. The attention he pays to his surroundings and the way he incorporates them often takes his photos to the next level and is partially why his work is so notable. Other photographers would be wise to try and do the same.

My favorites of his series are his light painting and after sundown. It inspired me to experiment more with long exposures and time-lapse photography this past week. I have learned some new techniques that have really changed my outlook for what I am going to put into my final project. Since then I have been doing a lot of research and experimentation with light painting photography and trying to push the boundaries of this type of craft.

Brandon Mabrouk- Artist Post 3/21/2016

Christina Mittermeier

Christina Mittermeier's work is inspiring, it reverts back to my previous post when I spoke about caring for what you photograph and caring for the subject. it can be really interesting when the viewer can relate to what the photographer is capturing. Mittermeier is a marine biologist and she makes photos of what she cares about and that is wildlife. Her job is to tell a story about how these animals that live in their habitats and people that interact with the wildlife by using the photographic process.

She has combined humans and nature to make these magnificent photos. Really is an inspiration to see someone making photos of what they love. I can appreciate her for doing as I will continue to capture what inspires me.