Month: May 2017

PB4: The Uses Of Photography That Most Intrigue and Inspire Me

“The framework of photomediations adopts a process- and time-based approach to images by tracing the technological, biological, cultural, social and political fows of data that produce photographic objects.”

                   ——-‘Photomediations: A Reader’ by Kamila Kuc & Joanna Zylinska

“Photography implies that we know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it. But this is the opposite of understanding, which starts from not accepting the world as it looks”

                                                         ——-‘On Photography’ by Susan Sontag

 

Photographs of absolutely anything and everything are taken to give proof of what we did, saw, ate, or looked like on that given day. A photograph appears to create proof of something, if we are shown a photograph of a time, person or event we are less likely to doubt it happened.If one tells a story it gains substance if there is an image to go with it, in the modern time we are more likely to believe what is seen rather than what is told, which becomes truer in today’s digital era of social media and short attention spans.

People said that photography is the fingerprints of civilization, I quite agree with this analogy.The invention of photography is a great progress of modern civilization because it appeared was deeply branded with the “civil” brand.

Photography is a common thing now, camera into each ordinary families spare nothing. People with family or as go out to play and take a few photos is very ordinary. People take photos during their daily time, traveling time and even important moment. People take photos of their happy time or sad moment. The photography accompanies with people in this century.

I think photography for me is to present the stories and thoughts behind the photos. Photos can not speak and move. However, as a photographer, we can give the photos their own life. And we can let the readers imagine through the photos. Everyone can express their own story and the feeling to the photos.  I think photography is a way for people to express and record their eyes of the world. We have our own mind of everything. We can shoot the photos just for a record. But for me now, as a photography studio student. I want to use the photos to express myself and my eyes of the world. I want to use my photos to communicate with people. That is I’m learning from this class through plenty of exercises and project brief. We are not just recording. We are talking through the shooting.

 

PB4：What A Photobook Is And How My PB4 Engaged With This

“A photobook is a book in which photographs make a significant contribution to the overall content.”

“The photobook, therefore, is a text in which the principal carrier of meaning is the photographic sequence contained between its covers.”

I think photobook is presenting the story or ideas of a photographer. This is a book and let readers understand the meaning of the book by photos without words. Like a normal book, the author is the photographer. They are expressing their thought through the book. Also, the reader can understand the photobook in their way. “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes.” This is the charming of photography.

I like the photobook because I think it is very glad for the photographer to show the audience their photos in a book type. It is clearly to show the ideas or stories. It’s more serious than post online. And it is also more meaningful to collect. As a photographer, I still like to see photographs on printing paper.

For my PB4 work, I do not know if I have time to print the photobook out. However, I feel very interesting on designing the photobook by myself. We need to think what photos on the cover, what type of words should show on the cover. How can we arrange the photos on the photobook. There are a lot of detail we should to thought on the photobook.

For my work, the theme is LIFE AS FLOWERS. I’m doing the life circle of the flowers. And I will do the flowers in the different situation. So I will put the same style of flowers together as a serious. For example, I will put the flowers on cardboard together and the flowers in natural environment together. And put them in order in their own serious, from the starting to bloom to the blooming flowers and to the fading of the flowers. I think this will help reader easy and clearly to understand the theme which I want to present. Also, the cover I will use the bright color of blooming flower to show the start of the life. And the back I will leave it all black to show the death. And these kind of ideas are very close to my whole theme. I want my PB4 photobook is a book which let the reader understand the ideas of me easily but still have some space to imagine.

 

PB4：Reflection On Photobook Presentation And Panel’s Response

My PB4 Idea （Photobook Presentation）And Reflection：

The photobook will still focus on flowers. Base on the PB2, I will do the work more creative. I will take photos of the flowers in the different situation:

1. Flowers in ice

I will the put the flowers into the water and freeze them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.Burning Flowers

I will spray some oil on the flowers and burn the flowers to shoot.

3. Flowers on cardboard

This picture is my work. This one is quite easy so I did them first. And I will use the different color of cardboards to present.

4. Flowers in natural

This is one is also my work. I will go to the garden again to shoot more flowers.

 

Panel’s Response：

The panel thought I can do all these types of flowers but need to focus on the details of the flowers. They told me flowers’ are hard to take photos. They suggest me think more about how to present the theme through flowers.

“Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves.”

                                                                                    ——— Rabindranath Tagore

The theme of my photobook is Life As Flowers. From this work, I want to present the different stages of flowers which are also present the life circles of the human beings.

The work I did is taking the photos of the different type of flowers which in different stages and in a different situation to present the theme. I use the background boards and the lights to present my theme through different color tones.

The first stage, some flowers are beginning to bloom, it means the new life arrive. At the second stage, some flowers are blossoming, it means the golden age of people’s life. At last stage, some flowers fade, it means the death. Also, i want to use the burning flowers and iced flowers to show the last stage of flowers also. Burning flowers mean the lost. And the iced flowers mean permanent.

Also, the work I want to do is using different color tones and different lights to present my theme. I want to people feel the emotion through my photography, for example, people can feel warm while looking the photos of flower buds and feel the happiness of the new life arrive. And that’s the theme I want to present, I hope people can feel what I want to present.