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Assignment 5: Family resemblance

My project portrays a subject I find very interesting and limitless since family resemblance is so unpredictable. Even though science has improved drastically, genetics was never able to foretell how a newborn will look, the similarities or the differences between him/her and his parents. These portraits convey the notion of family resemblance, the philosophical concept that things appear to be similar because one mutual feature may look that way because of the existence of numerous mutual similar features that intersect. In accordance, I was aiming in these photographs to compare and contrast between the members of the family to highlight the different overlapping traits resulting in the resemblance or divergence. At a first thought, the first way that comes to one’s mind to explain the resemblance and contrasts is to compare the features with the mother and father as well as the siblings. Comparing one’s features with her/his parent can sometimes be subjective that sometimes one person might see something that another person doesn’t. Thus, each person must compare himself as each person looks and compare people from different perspectives. This inspired me to create these “genetic portraits” bringing side-by-side family members and leaving to the audience the opportunity to spot the resemblance and divergence themselves. The notion of “family resemblance” is in fact an interactive one calling people who are thinking about it to use their imagination and good observation.

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Moez street

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Drafts of assignment 5

I was working at first on a photo essay then went back to portraits. What do you think was the photo essay about?

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It's amazing how a sunset picture is always different and never look alike. Same place, same time on different days gives a completely different aesthetic

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Assignment 5: Proposal

Option 1: Family resemblance and contrasts

Research: Rachael Rifkin

https://www.boredpanda.com/family-resemblance-photo-project-rachael-rifkin/

In her family resemblance project Rachael Rifkin is recreating old pictures for each family member. However, this research is the reason why I’ll be doing minimalist portrays as looking at her project I believe that the imitating the expression, postures, hairstyles as well as using accessories changes the perception of the audience. In my project I will work on having an objective portrait that leaves the question of resemblance to the audience to decide unlike this project enhancing the similarities.

 Research 2: Ulric Colette https://www.designboom.com/art/ulric-collette-genetic-portraits-05-02-2019/

In his “genetic portraits”, Ulric Collette blended digitally the two family members to point out the family resemblance side by side. This is a really inspiring project that made me think to try to blend my portraits in a creative way at the end as it is so cachy and interactive with the audience.

Proposal: One of the most intriguing aspect that comes to one mind when thinking about a family is the resemblance and contrasts. This subject of family diversity and uniformity is always a topic of interest among people as well as in all disciplines. Thus, I was thinking of taking portrays of family members throughout generations in order to be able to compare and see the similarities and variance transmitted throughout each generation. Besides the inherited resemblance among generations, this project will also look at the resemblance from both sides (the mother’s and the father’s). It will be divided into two parts: the main person in comparison to his/her mother side and the father’s. I chose this topic because it is no “right” answer for the resemblance question but on the contrary looking at these portrays each person might see a resemblance in a family member that others can’t.

In order to have the main focus on the contrast. I will use medium shots and an eye level camera shot on a white background.

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Original:

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Reflection: What makes a photo iconic?

Each element of a photograph adds to the final result. Therefore, there is no specific aspect that makes a photo iconic but all elements are of equal importance and how they are put together makes the photo outstanding.

One of the most important elements contributing to an iconic photo is the ability to capture and manipulate the right light. I was able to understand throughout the assignment how choosing the light direction transforms the photo that it might change completely the audience's perspective.

The right composition is a second element I appreciated throughout the course as it gives each object a different meaning. In this assignment for example the composition of Martin Parr’s (the one I am replicating) puts a direct view on the topic. I realized while constructing the photo that the composition and arrangement of each object within the frame make each thing more or less interesting and which affect the viewers' look. This sheds light on the importance of composition in making a photo iconic as it is where the creativity of the photography comes in.

The angle is a very important aspect to take into consideration while working on taking an iconic photo as the choice of lens and where the photographer is positioned in relation to the scene can completely change everything about the photo.

It is in fact the different elements like the light, the composition, the movement, the angle combined together into an aesthetically attractive whole that makes a photograph iconic as not anyone in the same location at the same time gets the same results.

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Assignment 4

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Assignment 2 archives

While working on assignment 2 I took this picture. What I really liked in this photo is the connection between the dog and the girl, it is actually very interesting to me how a photo can capture a feeling or emotion and convey it to the viewer.

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Bonus assignment

4)Double exposure photo

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Class Activity #2 Photographic History

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Class Activity #2 Photographic History

Is a Constructed Photograph (Gregory Crewson) of the same value as a natural photo? Explain your answer and give examples from the documentary.

I believe Constructed Photograph is of the same value as a natural photo as it is just a different process but leads to the same result. Natural photos or constructed ones both are pictures made using a camera in order to make the audience engage with it as well as inspire them. The camera is just a tool to capture an intriguing moment to stimulate a reaction, in other words as said by Gregory Crewson, the camera is “an instrument”. 

Constructed Photographs are in fact valuable as natural photos since it paves the way to creativity and thus every detail might carry and convey meaning. Staged photo is where cinema and photography meet because it merges the different cinematic values like production and direction film crews as well as lighting and location to shoot cinematically constructed images. In this sense, the one staging the photo is the creator of the scene which is one of the advantages go constructed photos as he is in control of expressing his vision.“I love the idea of creating a moment that has no before and after. I do everything I can to make it as powerful as possible,” said Crewdson. Therefore, in a constructed photograph it is not about taking the photo itself but staging the idea behind it strongly and dynamically thus unlike natural photographs, it requires deep thoughts before and attention to minor controllable details. This is why Gregory Crewson described himself as having “a disconnected relationship to photography” as he doesn’t take the photo but instead goes through a sophisticated process to visualize the idea to be executed. 

Mimic (1982) is an example mentioned in the documentary belonging to Jeff Wall’s street pictures highlighting demonstrating that constructed photographs are worthy. Wall’s used constructed photographs to recreate scenes that he witnessed in an explicit way like in Mimic in which the racial hatred gesture is noticeable. Thus, constructed photos just like natural ones transmit a message and discuss realistic issues as they are inspired from real life: it “resembled street photography, or at least had an interesting relationship with what street photography was attempting.” (Wall, 2016) He is simply reconstructing a photograph that recalls an image in the audience conscious minds to widen their thoughts about an issue.

Constructed photography is as valuable because it took photography to a different level making it comparable to cinematic work as well as paintings. Wall’s work for example has solid connections to the historical backdrop of paintings in the manner that he moves toward his representation. Acquiring the scale of room-filling artwork inspired by historical paintings, pieces like Mimic for example was represented in a way to be displayed like paintings. By making huge arrangement pictures, Wall overthrow the thoughts of the ordinary street photographs and gives his constructed photography more value.

In conclusion, constructed photographs proved its capability to be effective, engaging, and realistic just like natural photographs as demonstrated by Wall’s photographs perceived as artistic work. This type of photograph gives the photographer more authority regarding the compositional choices that make him more like an artist or a filmmaker and impose cinematic and artistic reading to the pieces. Constructed photographs are highly interactive because of the blending as well as the contrast of many various aspects such as location, theme, arrangement, light, movement. Mimic for example may appear straightforward in terms of compositional components, however,  Wall seeks new methods to significantly add depth to the simple situations he creates. In this way, this type of photography is as valuable as natural photography because of its meaningful aspects communicating truthfully with the audience. 

Sources:

https://americansuburbx.com/2016/06/evocations-of-the-everyday-the-street-pictures-of-jeff-wall-2009.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/arts/design/gregory-crewdson-berkshires-photography.html

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/jeff-wall/jeff-wall-room-guide/jeff-wall-room-guide-room-3

[nadiawael]

Class Activity #2 Photographic History

Is a Constructed Photograph (Gregory Crewson) of the same value as a natural photo? Explain your answer and give examples from the documentary.

I believe Constructed Photograph is of the same value as a natural photo as it is just a different process but leads to the same result. Natural photos or constructed ones both are pictures made using a camera in order to make the audience engage with it as well as inspire them. The camera is just a tool to capture an intriguing moment to stimulate a reaction, in other words as said by Gregory Crewson, the camera is “an instrument”. 

Constructed Photographs are in fact valuable as natural photos since it paves the way to creativity and thus every detail might carry and convey meaning. Staged photo is where cinema and photography meet because it merges the different cinematic values like production and direction film crews as well as lighting and location to shoot cinematically constructed images. In this sense, the one staging the photo is the creator of the scene which is one of the advantages go constructed photos as he is in control of expressing his vision.“I love the idea of creating a moment that has no before and after. I do everything I can to make it as powerful as possible,” said Crewdson. Therefore, in a constructed photograph it is not about taking the photo itself but staging the idea behind it strongly and dynamically thus unlike natural photographs, it requires deep thoughts before and attention to minor controllable details. This is why Gregory Crewson described himself as having “a disconnected relationship to photography” as he doesn’t take the photo but instead goes through a sophisticated process to visualize the idea to be executed. 

Mimic (1982) is an example mentioned in the documentary belonging to Jeff Wall’s street pictures highlighting demonstrating that constructed photographs are worthy. Wall’s used constructed photographs to recreate scenes that he witnessed in an explicit way like in Mimic in which the racial hatred gesture is noticeable. Thus, constructed photos just like natural ones transmit a message and discuss realistic issues as they are inspired from real life: it “resembled street photography, or at least had an interesting relationship with what street photography was attempting.” (Wall, 2016) He is simply reconstructing a photograph that recalls an image in the audience conscious minds to widen their thoughts about an issue.

Constructed photography is as valuable because it took photography to a different level making it comparable to cinematic work as well as paintings. Wall’s work for example has solid connections to the historical backdrop of paintings in the manner that he moves toward his representation. Acquiring the scale of room-filling artwork inspired by historical paintings, pieces like Mimic for example was represented in a way to be displayed like paintings. By making huge arrangement pictures, Wall overthrow the thoughts of the ordinary street photographs and gives his constructed photography more value.

In conclusion, constructed photographs proved its capability to be effective, engaging, and realistic just like natural photographs as demonstrated by Wall’s photographs perceived as artistic work. This type of photograph gives the photographer more authority regarding the compositional choices that make him more like an artist or a filmmaker and impose cinematic and artistic reading to the pieces. Constructed photographs are highly interactive because of the blending as well as the contrast of many various aspects such as location, theme, arrangement, light, movement. Mimic for example may appear straightforward in terms of compositional components, however,  Wall seeks new methods to significantly add depth to the simple situations he creates. In this way, this type of photography is as valuable as natural photography because of its meaningful aspects communicating truthfully with the audience. 

Sources:

https://americansuburbx.com/2016/06/evocations-of-the-everyday-the-street-pictures-of-jeff-wall-2009.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/20/arts/design/gregory-crewdson-berkshires-photography.html

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/jeff-wall/jeff-wall-room-guide/jeff-wall-room-guide-room-3

[nadiawael]

Students exhibition

This photo also was a good one to visually represent the pandemic as it marked a "stop" in everyone's life. People's life styles changed in a different ways and each person stoped a certain activity or practice he was used to. We "stopped" goung to the university, we "stopped" going to the gyms and clubs, we "stopped" going out...

[nadiawael]

Students exhibition

These three photos also catched my attention because it seems so realistic for me and relatable during the pandemic.

These photos depicts the new generation's social life during the pandemic and which lasts till now. Boys today spend tones of time playing playstation and girls doing tiktoks and putting makeup. This became an actual social issue nowadays that bothe most of the parents thus I liked the choice of the of the topic and and the reality and accuracy it reflects.

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Studen's exhibition

This was my favorite photo in the exhibition. I really liked the contrast beteeen the difference in skins tone in the photo on the left caused by vitiligo, skin discoloration disease, and the photo on the right caused by the sun shade.

Choosing the sun shade was a creative way to visualize the different skin tones in a beautiful manner. This comparison discusses an important topic which is self confidence which people suffer from because of any skin problems like vitiligo, acne, birthmarks...

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Assignment 2

Photo 1: light direction (#2)

Photo 2: Rule of thirds

Photo 3: Color

Photo 4: Negative space (#2)

Photo 5: Frame in frame