Errol Morris on Photography

In the video, "Errol Morris on Photography"Errol Morris explains the difference between photo collages and video. He explained that he could make a more realistic interpretation of something than a video camera could. The test subject was one of his friends walking down stairs and bring him a coffee. First Morris uses a video camera to tape his friend in motion, and then after that his friend repeated the same scene and he took multiple pictures of the action. His plan did not work how he wanted it to, because some of his film was damaged, but he was still able to complete the project. I feel like this video related the most to our project because he was actually making photo collages. He used pictures in the same way we are supposed, to show time and movement. Watching how he did it, gave me a better idea of how to do my project, and probably was the only reason I reached my final idea.

Ways of seeing Review

The video "Ways of Seeing", is a 30 minute video narrated by John Berger. The video talks about how it is so much easier to see things now than it used to be. He explains that when it came to paintings, originally you could only see them if you went to the museum where it resided. Now with the internet, film, and other forms of sharing you can see any image at any time. Not only can everyone see these images, but they can see them at the same time. The video questions if everyone being able to see any icon makes the images less relevant. I thought it was an interesting video. I never lived in a time where you could not see any image that you wanted to, so I never thought about this. I guess being able to see anything when you want, could lower the value of the image. However, I think being able to see the original of something does have a special meaning. For example when I went to Paris, I was so excited to see the Mona Lisa, because of how people had built up. However, when I got there I was beyond disappointed. It was a small painting, that did not look so spectacular, and on the wall behind the painting there was a Mural that took up the entire wall, but no one found that interesting because it does not have the reputation that the Mona Lisa has.

Review of Visit to the Spencer Museum

For class one day we took a field trip to the Spencer Art Museum. The point of the trip was to go to the print room, and look at photos that also showed photo collage like images. When we got to the print room there was a woman who took us through to look at all of the photos. There were photos all around the room, and they all looked very different. There were a few that looked like they were the same types of collages as what we were supposed to use. the woman than had as talk about the photos, which we liked and which we did not. I thought all of the photos were interesting, but there was really only one I found that resembled how I was going to do my project. However, I know it helped a lot of other people, so I would say it was a good trip to go on.

Photography changed everything review

The article "Photography changed everything" explains how exactly photography changed everything. In the article the author gives examples of how photography did in fact change everything. There is not a lot in this article about how the beginning of photography changed anything, instead it focuses more on photography in todays age. They start off explaining how photography is not good for everyone, giving the example of the congressman who lost his spot in congress due to images he sent to some young women. Without photography things like that would not be happening. It also explains how with social media like Facebook and Instagram photos have become the easiest way to let people know what a person is up to. Instagram and snap chats are full apps that only use photos. The article also explains how artistic photography shows great feeling in the objects being photographed. At the end of the article it talks about how photography "changes what we do", "changes where we go", "Changes what we remember". These are all to show how photography has a much bigger impact than some people give it credit. I thought this article was very interesting. I also think that it is completely right. I may be biased because of my love for photography, but images show us more than any other type of media. With photos we can see parts of the world that we will never be able to see because of how far away they are and the lack of means we have to get there. Because of photos we all know what mars looks like, but very few of us will ever actually go there. I think this article is a good way of showing how photography has impacted society, because sometimes we need examples to understand how much something impacts us.

On Photography

The article by Susan Sontag covers a large variety of topics, from the point of photography to the evolution of photos. She starts by explaining the importance of images in general, and how anything can be an image. She also talks about the difference between photos as compares to paintings and videos. Sontag explains that photos are one of the best ways to give proof to an event. Saying that sometimes we do not really believe something, but than someone gives a photo of it and we start to believe whatever it was that we did not believe at first. Books have been shown as the most used way to show photos, but Sontag believes that having a photo fitted and copied to fit the mass production of books hurts the image more than it helps it. At the end of the article she shows how far photography has come. How it started out as a hobby for rich man that can afford all of the equipment. In todays world with camera phones, anyone can take a picture as any moment, and upload it to the internet so everyone can see it, making photography a much different part of society than it started out as. I thought this was a good article. Sontag is good about getting her point across without using too many words. Also, she made a convincing argument for why photography is a good medium, and how it is helpful to the world. I thought the way she compared it to film and paintings was interesting, because I never would have thought about comparing them even with all of their similarities. Even when she compared them, she was able to show how they were different without getting off subject by talking too much about paintings and film. Overall it was an interesting article.

A viewers guide to looking at photographs

In the article "A Viewers guide to looking at photographs" the author, James Brooke explains how he feels is the appropriate way to look at a photograph. Brooke starts out by explaining that he does not believe that you can make an educated opinion about a photograph within five minutes. He says that it could take up to weeks to fully understand a photograph. He goes into great detail about how you can't look at the picture as a whole, but that you have to focus on things that make up the picture. Things like color, lighting, line, and clearness. After looking at all of these steps, he thinks that you are more adequately prepared to give an opinion on a photo. I did not particularly enjoy this article, I do agree that you must look at a photo in detail, and you do need to look at all of the things that he talked about, but I also think that it does not take a specialist who spends weeks looking at one photo. Maybe I was misinterpreting the article, but to me it seemed pretentious.

Photo collages

Abandoned: This picture is of a house in Lawrence that is supposedly abandoned. The image is distraught because it is a a sad thought to know that many people don't have houses that need them, and there are many houses that need people. Having some of the pieces missing shows that.

Sky: This collage shows the sky throughout the day from night, to morning, to afternoon. This shows the time line of a day, it is at a long angel because of the length of the day.

David Pye Article

In David Pye’s article he explains in depth his views on carpentry and sort of how he relates carpentry to the world. He starts the article by explaining how there are no project that we are physically incapable of doing. He then goes on to say while we are physically capable sometimes we are not economically capable. This is very true, but then he goes on to say that you can find a way around the money aspect of building and still be able to accomplish something amazing. After that he continues to talk about different ways you can make things without spending a large amount of money. Pye also explains that it is a good designer that builds a product in a new way. He explains how your materials sort of control what you can make, but not necessarily how you make it. I feel like this article is a good life lesson at time. Personally, I feel like he was using carpentry as a metaphor for life. There were a few places that I did not understand what he was getting out, like when he says “It is not enough to say to a man ‘I have fed you, I have helped you, I have set you free and made you a man again’”. I feel like that was off base, but maybe I just did not understand the context that it was in. Overall, I think he made some interesting points and he did talk about wood in a way that helps you better understand it for this project.

Photo project locations

The nature of design and aesthetics review

In David Pye's article he explains in depth his views on carpentry and sort of how he relates carpentry to the world. He starts the article by explaining how there are no project that we are physically incapable of doing. He then goes on to say while we are physically capable sometimes we are not economically capable. This is very true, but then he goes on to say that you can find a way around the money aspect of building and still be able to accomplish something amazing. After that he continues to talk about different ways you can make things without spending a large amount of money. Pye also explains that it is a good designer that builds a product in a new way. He explains how your materials sort of control what you can make, but not necessarily how you make it.
I feel like this article is a good life lesson at time. Personally, I feel like he was using carpentry as a metaphor for life. There were a few places that I did not understand what he was getting out, like when he says "It is not enough to say to a man 'I have fed you, I have helped you, I have set you free and made you a man again'". I feel like that was off base, but maybe I just did not understand the context that it was in. Overall, I think he made some interesting points and he did talk about wood in a way that helps you better understand it for this project.