Landscape

ARTIST STATEMENT

Casey Massimino

1: Weaknesses: Don’t know how to use proper/effective lighting. I have little concept of hierarchy. Sometimes there are problems finding meaning in what I am photographing.

2: Strengths: Great ideas. Good sense of composition. I know how to incorporate color and use it effectively to highlight or for contrast.

3: Statement: I tend to take serious photos with humorous content. Although I know how to use color effectively I enjoy taking black and white photos. I want to further explore using a film camera and artificial lighting. My favorite subjects are portraits and documentary. I tend to have good ideas but sometimes they have no connection to reason or intent, they are just aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes I feel as though my photos are all taken from the same depth of field. Hopefully with increased practice and technical skill I will be able to explore new angles and depths. My favorite assignment was the portraiture. I enjoyed connecting with my subject matter and being able to work in slightly extraneous conditions, because of the subject, while still creating an image that had a strong feeling and tone. I also like the idea of the wunderkammer and wish that my idea and concept had been more solidified so they would come across in my image. Compositionally, I tend to base everything on a specific axis. I take balanced photos rather than ones that have extreme tension, this can create a modular or grid feel. These can often become boring so I would like to explore other compositional approaches as well, perhaps transitional and bilateral.

Imagemaking Artist Statement

Jessica Dillon

Weaknesses:

1. The complexity of ideas I conjure tend to outweigh what I am capable of achieving through the medium.
2. I have little experience with artificial lighting, so I tend to utilize natural light.
3. I shoot in a very experimental manner, providing ample variety in my images, I then struggle with the editing process, as I sometimes have too much to choose from.

Strengths:

1. Good sense of composition.
2. Fairly good technical skill with the camera.
3. Interesting and thought provoking ideas.

Statement

When imagemaking, my subject matter tends to be extremely varied. Usually, my ideas are driven conceptually, then translated visually. The concept usually dictates what subject matter I will be working with. During this process, I tend to experiment a lot with point of view and depth of field, thus resulting in a wide variety of material to choose from. My images tend to be very serious. Throughout these experiments all of my work has been of this nature, with the exception of magical realism, which humor through exaggeration was simply part of the assignment. I really enjoyed the wunderkammer assignment, as I was able to experiment with different mediums to achieve a very conceptually driven “collection,” then translating it to photography. This gave me great insight into ways of using photography as a tool in my explorations through other mediums. Most of my work is compositionally strong, as my images usually are centered on a specific subject. The compositional approaches I repeatedly employ are radial and axial, I would like to experiment more with modular and transitional approaches. In general, my content varies in color, scale, and texture. I think I could improve upon the utilization of tone in my images.

Artist Statement

3 sentences describing your weaknesses as an imagemaker

• There is not any motion feeling in the photo.
• A lack of photoshop skills.
• There is not enough variety objects/backgrounds used

3 sentences describing your strengths (only one sentence about technical strengths).

• Tried to shoot a lot of photos, so the best one could be picked from a variety of photos.
• Explore different effects of the photo using different ISO value apart from the knowledge and automatic
• Try different cropping to make the best picture

There are a lot of varieties of style that I could choose from, therefore, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to use certain subjects only, so far, I do not have specific interest into certain subjects. Also, I seldom use irony or humor in my images. I tried to use them before, but I don’t think I can applied it on the photo correctly, so my final work usually does not include irony and humor. I see background as a very more important element in the photo, even more important than the foreground, this is the reason why I put more effort in setting up the background with different props to build up the mood when I take the photo. Furthermore, I like to take photos by using models because that is more static and less abstract. I can easily change the position or the outfit of the model to better fit my need, and on the contrary, I cannot change some of the natural scenary. In addition, I think Magic realism is the most rewarding assignment. I planned to take a picture of the opposite of this world, it is easier for me to see the result as there is a great contrast. It is easier for me to gain satisfaction through this kind of assignment. For the composition of my pictures, I tried to set up every details as precise as possible. I used models to help building the structure of the pictures. Models are usually the center. Moreover, I usually use a soft color tone, and do not use black and white or sepia tone. I think black and white or sepia do not have enough colors to catch people's attention. Also, I usually keep the same scale as the real setting of the photo. Last but not least, I always use glossy photo paper but not the matt paper as texture.

Yvonne Lee

RESEARCH PHASE 1: TUES/WED 26/27

ARTIST STATEMENT

1. Write 3 sentences describing your weaknesses as an imagemaker (only one sentence about technical difficulties).

2. Write 3 sentences describing your strengths (only one sentence about technical strengths).

3. Use your answers to the following questions to write a statement on consistencies in your work.

A. Conceptual style and content

Are you interested in certain subjects? Do you use irony or humor in your images?

Do you use mood - are there moods that you repeatedly display?

B. What type of images do you like to take?

C. Which assignment did you find most rewarding and why?

D. What visual approaches do you consistently employ? Which do you not employ?

Compositional, color, tone, scale, texture,

Your statement is due in one hour. It must be in paragraph form, not just in Q & A format.

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ARTIST PRESENTATION

Using what you wrote in your statement, find 3 artists whose work you admire. Consider choosing someone who shares some of your interests as an artist. It is probably best not to choose a photographer. You could choose a musician or writer, they do not have to be a visual artist. But they do need to have written substantially about their process and craft.

Go to the library and see what is available on the artist you chose. You can also use the internet to get an idea of what is out there. Exhibition catalogues can be a great resource for writing on your artist. You can choose someone who others have written extensively on, who do not necessarily write themselves. However, it will be easier for you if they have authored essays/artist statements on their own work.

HOMEWORK DUE the 3rd:

Present their work and ideas to the class (5-7 minutes)

1. Who were they inspired by? Who were their contemporaries?

2. What were they fighting against?

3. Why did they choose to make work?

4. What is their work about?

a. their point of view >> artist statements, interviews, essays

b. critics point of view >> art reviews, essays introducing exhibitions, collections of writings

c. Discuss what you have in common with this artist in terms of your own imagemaking process.

NOTE: do not want to hear story of their life, only their ideas >> you MUST have images/sound/text to support your representation of their ideas. You must have at least 10 examples in your presentation.

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HOMEWORK DUE 9/10: 10 photographs based their ideas >> your images must not resemble their work

D A R K W A T E R

portraiture