Author: yasintagrosser

Uses of photography- BLOG POST WEEK 8

BLOG POST WEEK 8

During week 8 I was unable to attend class but was able to follow the online powerpoint and refer to the readings and other resources through Canvas. 

This week focused on the way that photography has been rapidly boosted into the world of AI generation in the past few months. The debate around the fine line between forgery and creativity can be discussed, and the new age and definition of promptography was addressed. 

During class, I believe we looked at ways we could prompt AI to use our previous photography work and other images from the internet to create promptography photographs for us. This would have been insightful, as we would have been able to observe just how easy it is to create images that can provide meaning and imitate real life shoots. 

Unable to attend class and the excursion to the state library mirror exhibition, I was luckily able to to find the MIRROR exhibition online and view the photographs from there. This gave me insight into the different ways that photography can convey a story and I look forward to aiming to create more personal moments in my images in future. 

When looking into the numerous ways in which promptography is starting to become the new source of many photographers work,  I found it interesting to pair this with the article ‘Boris Eldagsen turned down a prize for his AI-generated image, and started a whole new conversation about art’ by Luke Siddha Dundon and Arianna Lucente.  This article focussed on how photographer Boris Eldagen created the ‘first AI-generated image to win in a prestigious international photography competition’  An interview in this article involved Eldagsen explaining how although he loves creating AI-generated images he ‘realised, they’re not the same’. Eldagen described the art of promptography as ‘writing with prompts’ whereas photography is writing with light. I found this really interesting and it definitely made me start to consider how AI may become a danger in future when it comes to the authenticity of photographs. 

Siddman L and Lucente A (15 May 2023) ‘Boris Eldagsen turned down a prize for his AI-generated image, and started a whole new conversation about art’, ABC News, accessed 24 September 2023, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-15/what-is-promptography-artificial-intelligence-boris-eldagsen/10230516.                                                                   4

BLOG POST WEEK 7

BLOG POST WEEK 7

What is expanded photography?

During week seven of uses of photography, we focused on the way that photography can be incorporated and combined with different forms of media. During class time we watched  La Jetée (1962, dir C Marker) a photographic film that played images with a VoiceOver presenting a story.  This was incredibly insightful for me as it opened up a whole new world of possibilities that can be explored by pairing other aspects of media with photographs. Through an incredibly large amount of images Marker was able to create a number of personal and shaking moments throughout his photographic movie. I was fascinated by this, and although slightly freaked out by the storyline, I was overall very intrigued. 

One of week 7’s readings ‘The truth of experience. Notes on expanded photography’ by Alfredo Cramerotti commented on how [photography] transcends its established definition’ as it has in more recent years become a major tool in highlighting and passing on information.  Considering the ways that photography has played such a vital role throughout its history, whether that be through the images taken during overseas military combat or photographs taken of a car crash. ‘It can no longer be solely attached to a camera based activity’. Cramerotti continues to highlight how “it is essential to understand the forms of communication that bring us information’. Through both the photographic film and Cramerotti’s reading I was able to start two picture ways I could apply other forms of media to my photographs. Overall, it has been interesting to considered the vast variety of roles photography can play, whilst expanded using other media articles.

For example, a way I could apply other media such as music or animations to my photography could aid my creative process of different future projects of mine.

Camerotti,A (2011) ‘The truth of experience. Notes of expanded photography’, Digicult.

BLOG POST WEEK 6

Week 6 was primarily used for planning our Strangers and stories assignment. Although I found this assignment quite challenging, I have honestly found it relatively enjoyable to complete. I found that the class material we worked on and learnt aided my assignment as I was able to apply some of that knowledge to my own shoot. I found that during this assignment I was able to properly picture what I had to do and wanted to do, and used the feedback from MIMESIS to see the areas I wanted to actively improve. 

Some key discoveries I made during this assessment were my preparation and planning. I tried to prepare this assignment weeks in advance. This gave me more time to figure out what readings I had to refer to in my blog posts and how I would flesh out those posts with what I had learnt that week. I decided in order to improve from last time I would try to split both my 300 word blog posts into two sections, one being that weeks reading and how I relate that to my own work and course work, and the other being that weeks practical activity. Something to improve on next time would be to lock down a model for my shoot a lot earlier on. I found that it came down to a week before Strangers and stories portfolio was due and I still didn’t have a person to model for me. Another thing I could improve on in future could be the way I plan my shoots. I organised to meet with Phoebe (the subject of my photos) at around 3:00pm  on the day and shot photos around her residents. I hadn’t actually planned what I wanted the images to convey and what exactly I was going to take photos of. This meant that a little time was wasted during the shoot as I tried to figure out what I wanted. In future I could plan a specific location and also each shot I wanted to get prior to the meeting and shoot time.

During the shoot, two key things I learnt in relation to working or collaborating with your participant would be; to be well prepared and to create a comfortable environment. During the shoot I realised that I was not as well prepared as I could have been and this lead to a bit of time wasting. The participant is ultimately there just to have photos taken of them so I realised there wasn’t much time to be indecisive about what I wanted in each shot. It is also important to be extremely gracious as the participant is giving crucial time out of their day to be photographed. I also found thats it’s important to create an environment where the participant feels comfortable to put them self out there and try new things. For me this meant having a quick chat before hand and subtly getting to know them better. This made the environment relaxing ad helped me to get more natural images.

Overall, I found this assignment both challenging and also extremely beneficial. I look forward to improving my work even more next time.

USES OF PHOTOGRAPHY WEEK 5

USES OF PHOTOGRAPHY – WEEK 5

During week five of uses of photography, we focused on the ways photography can be a narrative form. Through looking at different examples we learnt how photographic essays work, and how groups of photos can tell a lot more than singular images. Week fives set text ‘”Reading” the Photobook’ by Gerry Badger comments upon the reasons for the development of the photo essay. Badger states that ‘The photoessay was developed to allow more narrative potential for the photograph’ Badger (2011) Badger brought to light the different reasons photographers began to explore photographic essays highlighting the way movies ‘challenged photographers to be more diligent in controlling the meaning of their images’Badger (2011) I found that this inspired me to look for the meaning and storyline behind the images I was and am taking, and look to challenge myself to tell a movie like story in my photos. A quote that I found encouraging was Badgers comment that ‘a photograph is strictly limited, joined at the hip to what has been photographed, yet at the same time it is limitless’ Badger (2011) This touches on how different individuals perceive the art in different ways and how endless amounts of stories can be portrayed through the work. I am now encouraged to find new ways to take photographs so that they can hold many different stories.

During week 5 we did a class activity focussing around lighting setups. During this activity we learnt about how to use strobes, off-camera flash, LED panels, Ambient light and other various monitors. This was so cool for me because ive never got to work with such high end photography gear. It was really insightful to see how the different photography tools can impact various qualities of photos. Overall, during week five I found it super interesting figuring out how to adjust lighting in photographs and also convey stories through my images.

Badger,G (2011) ‘Reading’ the Photobook, pg3, Ideal Bookshelf

YASINTA’S WEEK 4 BLOG POST

Street smarts and photography.

During week 4 we explored the topic of privacy in relation to street photography. The screening Finding Vivian Maier (2013) was incredibly insightful as it highlighted not only the change in the ethics of street photography when it comes to  the subjects of the photos, but also the artists work once they have passed away. During class we discussed questions relating to the ways photography, gender and the arts were displayed in the film. We weighed up the idea that if a photographer’s work is never publicly shown by themselves, should it ever be shown at all and can they really be considered a photographer? Vivian Maier never developed her photographs which raised the question of ‘was photography just a hobby for her?’ We debated reasons Vivian did not share her work considering her gender, ability or personal reasons and commented on the difference in street photography today.

Week 4’s reading was an article by Jessica Lake which commented on the need for further debate surrounding the topic of street photography’s privacy rules. I found the debate between privacy and freedom incredibly interesting. Lake explains how ‘a right to privacy has always been weighed against the competing right to freedom’ Lake (2014) This though encouraged me to consider the privacy of others more when taking photographs in public places. Although I have  the right to freely take images of whatever I want, I now will consider more deeply how this may affect the subject of the image. Lake highlights how ‘the annoyance of street photography is almost as old as the camera itself’ and how in 2014 individuals who had had pictures of them taken on the street felt ‘violated and sickened’ Lake (2014) Considering this I thought about the art of street photography has always been fascinating to photographers as it captures an individuals most natural existence. Although it may violate that subjects privacy, by asking permission to take that photo you loose the whole natural vibe of the image. ‘We need to begin an informed debate in Australia about the appropriate balance of legal rights in a photograph. Lake (2014)

Overall, week 4 gave me lots to think about in relation to ethics and privacy of not only those captured in street photography images, but also the photographers taking those images.

Lake J (2014) ‘Is it OK for people to take pictures of you in public and publish them?’, THE CONVERSATION, Accessed on 23 Aug 2023.

Uses of Photography- Week Three Yasinta Grosser

WEEK THREE- USES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

The Journey so far…

Over the course of the three weeks of uses of photography leading up to the MIMESIS project, I was able to combine both my practical and theoretical learnings into my work to successfully plan and execute my recreation of Australian photographer Andrew Barnes work.

The pre-production planning of my shoots involved an analysation of Andrew Barnes photography. I chose Andrew Barnes’ work to attempt to recreate as I found his images closely aligned with the way I want my future photographs to imitate and look like. I find that my style of photography largely centres around nature landscapes and landmarks. Whilst planning how I wanted to recreate the images I focused on highlighting parts of the images that I wanted to imitate. The things I focused on attempting to recreate were, lighting, angles and overall aesthetic of the photograph. I chose to not try and recreate locations and exact placements of the images as I thought this would prove to be too complicated and cause issues down the track. I chose five of Andrew Barnes’ photographs that I knew to be similar to photos I had already and could easily take. The actual shoot took place around the area of my local hometown of Horsham. I travelled to a small town called Natimuk and drove up Mount Arapiles to catch the sunset to try and recreate the golden hour vibe of Barnes work. I also travelled to the Grampians, another mountain area to shoot. My last photos were taken at various locations such as Glenelg beach. Whilst planning my MIMESIS assignment out I considered using Australian photographer Max Dupain’s work to try and recreate. Unfortunately, I found that most of his work I wanted to copy or recreate required human involvement and a beach location. I was unable to travel to a beach location to capture these images due to me not being in close proximity to a beach and due to the time of year.

When taking the photos i looked for specific elements I wanted to match up in my work and had to refer Barnes’s’ images. This worked in my favour majority of the time but proved difficult in other circumstances. My last photo of a waterfall did not prove to provide me with the similar colours and shades I required to properly recreate the image. One of the recreated photos I’m quite proud of is one that captures the moon in a similar angle to one of Andrews Barnes’s photos. I was very excited to capture this photo.

When going through the photos I had taken I discovered that many of my images did not match up with Andrew Barnes’ photos. This meant that I had to scrap a lot of images I thought were amazing originally. Some photographs I thought were perfect ended up not working but then fitting with alternative Andrew Barnes images.

Overall, I found this assessment both incredibly challenging and rewarding. It helped me to both discover what photos I like to take as well as different technical camera things I struggle with and would like to learn more about.

 

Sources:

Andrew Barnes photography 

Uses of photography – Week Two Yasinta Grosser

WEEK TWO- USES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

During week two of Uses of Photography I found it incredibly interesting to learn in depth how aperture, shutter speed, exposure and many other useful photography techniques help to improve different aspects of images. The task ‘100 shots around the block’ was extremely insightful as it encouraged us to learn more about our cameras and how to use them manually. During this activity, the class divided into small groups and wandered the city searching for photo opportunities that could arise. This activity helped me to pay attention to smaller details such as the design and architecture of the buildings around me. I found that I was more prone to taking photos of buildings and landscapes then groups of/ or individual people, this made sense to me as I personally prefer to take images of nature and my surroundings then of staged shoots or people. This correlated with the week two reading ‘In Plato’s Cave’ by Susan Sontag which commented on how taking “a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or things) mortality, vulnerability, mutuality.”

During week two we presented our Pecha Kucha PowerPoints that focused on exploring a photographer and providing the rest of the class with insight into the lives and work of these photographers. My presentation centred around the photography of Max Dupain, an Australian photographer who focused some of his images around Australian life. Through creating this PowerPoint, I was able to draw understanding from the week two text again through Susan Sontag’s quote that “photographs actively promote nostalgia”. Dupain’s images captured a particular time in Australian history. His images encapsulate the Australian experience through shots of Bondi beach in the 1920s and groups of people gathering on the beach. Overall, through pairing the weeks reading with both the 100 shots around the block activity and my Pecha Kucha style PowerPoint I was able to discover how I can manually use my camera to capture both personal and nostalgic images.

Reference:

Sontag, S (1979) In Plato’s Cave; chapter 1, pp 3-24, Penguin, Harmondsworth

 

Uses of Photography- Yasinta Grosser Week One

WEEK ONE – USES OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Unfortunately, during week one I managed to attend the wrong class for a week. From what I have gathered during the first week of uses of photography, we learnt how photography has altered and been altered by society over time. Week ones reading by Joanna Zylinska quotes that “we are not just photographers today: we have also become distributors, archivists and curators of light traces immobilised on photosensitive surfaces. I found this quote to be extremely complex and was interested to dive deeper into the meaning it aimed to convey. This seemed to be a very technical way of describing photography. Looking back over the material of week one it appears there was a technique workshop called go manual. Similarly to week two I assume that this involved going out into the city streets to take the humans of New York style photos and also experience ways to photograph people and places without relying on auto focus and other camera qualities. Aligning with the quote “to live is to be photographed” by Susan Sontag, the screening ‘The Decisive Moment’ (1973) demonstrated how photographs of people doing ordinary activities such as cartwheeling or doing the washing can be very breathtaking. It became clear to me what the comment “photography slows time to a stand still in order to corral and flash freeze information.” (Heiferman, 2012). I found the content for week one very interesting as it began to morph my previous opinions on photography and open up a whole new world of techniques and uses for photographs.

Overall, during week one although I missed class time I found that I was introduced to the different purposes and qualities of photography and the way it can be used to tell stories and capture significant moments in time and history. I am definitely excited to learn more.

 

Kuc, Kamila, Zylinska, Joanna (2016) Photo Mediations: A reader, Open Humanities, Press.