Marin Klimas - "Flower Vases"

The German photographer, Martin Klimas, likes to experiment with simultaneous presence of two distinct states, capturing chaos within a motionless, still life. He does a great job in illustrating this in his work, Flower Vases.  The project Flower Vases is about capturing the split second of the vase shattering into pieces, as the flowers in the vase are shown untouched. Klimas’ main object of this project was the flower arrangements in the vases. The flower arrangements are placed in the center of the photo against more neutral colors, which we have learned is to keep from taking the attention of the viewer away from the photo and object itself. The photo was then taken at the exact moment the vase was hit. Klimas would aim a spring-powered firing device at the vase. Once the steel ball would hit the vase, the vase would burst into thousands of pieces. Klimas would capture the moment with one photo. The camera would be set off by the noise of the projectile hitting the vase at the point of destruction. Within this seven-thousandth of a second Klimas was able to capture the chaos of the water and vase spewing everywhere in the bottom of the photo, while above it was poised and unharmed. Klimas was interested in the transformation of the objet in that fraction of a second, because in the next second the flowers would be thrown down without the support of the vase keeping them upright. Without a camera with a high-speed exposure, we would not be able to see this motion or capture it because it happens so quickly. It is also unique that he experimented with different types of vases. How a glass vase shattered into many smaller pieces, while ceramic and stone vases burst into larger pieces.

            Klimas tells us that one of his most important inspirations was Eadweard Muybridge. He uses Muybridge’s idea of test set-ups. Klimas set up his scenes of the flower arrangements and justified the moment of destruction, just as Muybridge proved that horses lift all four hooves off the ground when they gallop, a question that had been debated by artists back in that time. Martin Klimas’ work also resembles the work of the Japanese photographer Naoya Hatakeyama. He would go to quarry explosions and document the stone flying everywhere with his remote- controlled camera. The photo would show the stone at a standstill just as Klimas captures the vases at standstills in his photographs. Klimas likes the idea of objects transforming into something new.

            When reading about Marin Klimas’ interpretation of his art it was similar to what I thought about the work. His whole project is about experimenting with shattering vases. Klimas only has one chance to get a great photo, once the vases shatter there is no getting them back. Because he can only get one chance to produce a great photo from one vase, Klimas calls his work “Temporary Sculptures,” he can never get the way the vase shatters back again. Martin Klimas likes the idea of experimenting with shattering objects. Not only does he shatter vases, but he shatters figurines, as well. He enjoys seeing the change of peace and calmness turn into chaos and shards flying everywhere as the view looks from top to bottom at the photograph.

            In my opinion, I believe Martin Klimas’ work is successful. He wanted to portray how different materials break and show how you can capture two different emotions in one photograph, if taken at the right moment in time, and he did just that. He was able to capture the different qualities of the vases and flowers. He was able to experiment and find out the exact second to photograph, to capture the vase shattering into pieces, while the pieces are still in the air. He was able to capture everything that he had set out to do, and in my opinion, that is being successful.

"Like Flowers, Like Humans"

In the beginning of my project, “Like Flower, Like Human,” I was looking around for inspiration. I had finally found the inspiration I was looking for when I sat down at my desk and just looked down at it. There I saw the rock I got from a High School retreat. When receiving this rock, they told us that these rocks would somehow lead us in a way and we wouldn't expect it when they did. The rock I received had the word inspire engraved on it. This rock somehow got my mind thinking that I could use my rock along with my friends' rocks that they received, in “Like Flower, Like Human.” The idea of these inspirational words engraved on stones, a “hard” object, relates to the fact that it is “hard” to put these words and ideas into action when you are developing as a person. However, we still push through and develop into unique individuals; no one individual is alike, just like flowers. The inspirational words coincide with the flowers showing how we, as people, grow and develop over time and become these well-rounded, beautiful people just as flowers start out as buds, grow and develop into these beautiful things that we decorate our houses with, just like we decorate our lives with beautiful people. Without knowing it we take these ideas of words to grow into the people we become. I've always liked to watch people develop into who they are today and how they change over time, just like flowers. One of my favorite quotes fits perfectly into this project, “Like photography, we develop from the negatives.” This quote is illustrated in my photos. The black and white photo is the negatives and as we develop we gain the color, life, and positives just as the photographs in this project return to color. People develop when they become inspired, have hope for the future, believe in what is going to happen, and trust that everything will work out in the end.

 

Final Project- Work In Progress

My Final Project deals with the idea of how people grow into beautiful people just as flowers grow into these beautiful objects.Without knowing it we take these ideas of words to grow into the people we become. People develop when they become inspired, have hope for the future, believe in what is going to happen, and trust that everything will work out in the end. These words or ideas are set hard to deal with just as stones are, but we still push through and develop into unique individuals, no one individual is alike, just like flowers. With finishing my project, I plan on choosing the 8-10 photos to print and make one large print of a flower and then other small photos of flowers.

I was thinking about making one photo black and white making it look like a negative with the colored photo right next to it just like the saying "Life is like photography, we develop from the negatives," but I'm still not sure if that is a good idea or not. I guess I'd want other people's ideas on this and how they think would be the best way to present this concept.

Andy Grundberg's Crisis of the Real

1.What is postmodernism? 
Andy Grundberg's writing Crisis of the Real I believe when he talks about postmodernism there is multiple definitions. The word postmodernism has many different meanings in different artistic medias. For example, in the field of architecture, postmodernism meant "eclecticism, the use of stylistic flourishes and decorative ornament with a kind of carefree, slapdash, and ultimately value free abandon" (165). In dance, it was "an attempt to throw off the heroicism and expressionism of modernist dance by making dance more vernacular" (165).  In art, postmodernism means "an attack on modernism, an undercutting of its basic assumptions about the role of the art in the culture and about the role of the artist in relation to his or her art" (166). Therefore, trying to make one final definition from all of these cultures into account would be difficult, but if I had to it would be something around this: postmodernism- to do something different than the norm, being free to do whatever the artist pleases, and making the people think about the art you are creating, not just telling the whole story with the photo, let the viewer try to figure out what it means. 

2. How does postmodernism relate to, and challenge, the tradition of photographic practice?
Postmodernism is all about capturing out of the norm objects. Therefore, it challenges traditional photographic practice. Traditional was all about everything staged and able to retake the photo if necessary. However, with postmodernism it was about taking the photos that weren't staged. The ones that showed how people really were, not just how they want everyone to see them. Postmodern photography wouldn't be able to be restage the exact photo, but maybe a look alike. And because photographers wouldn't have a set style with postmodernism then the photographers wouldn't be able to put their signature, or style, on the photograph. However, with postmodern it challenged the thought of traditional photography because traditional photography practices were all about being doing their own thing, but still being within certain norms. But with postmodernism, photographers could take pictures of pictures and be unique in that way, it took ideas from before and expanded on it if not just copied it. Plus with traditional photography people just take the snapshots of things they like and then go on their way. But with postmodernism they went outside the box and took photos of things they liked and things that others wouldn't like as well, just to push the limits and do things outside of the norm.

Final Project Proposal

For my final project I wasn't sure where to start. I was looking around for inspiration. Finally, I sat down at my desk and just looked down at it. There I saw the rock I got from a retreat I went on, in High School. They told us that these rocks would somehow lead us in a way and we wouldn't expect it when they did. Well, my rock said inspire. This rock somehow got my mind working to use my rock and my friends' rocks in this project. I am going to use photos of the inspirational rocks and collage them with photos of flowers that I will take at a florist shop. The inspirational words will coincide with the flowers showing how we, as people, grow and develop over time and become these well-rounded, beautiful people just as flowers start out and are buds and grow and develop into these beautiful things that we decorate our houses with, just like we decorate our lives with beautiful people. I've always liked to watch people develop into who they are today and how they change over time, just like flowers. People develop when they become inspired, have hope for the future, believe in what is going to happen, and trust that everything will work out in the end.

Phone Reactions

In the photos that I took, I tried to show that when people get text messages that their faces change. Whether the text be a cute one from your significant other, a text that makes no sense at all, or maybe even a text that is completely dumb. However, because this was a fiction project I had to ask the people to look at their phones and act like they are responding to a text. When I told people to make a face reacting to a text, some were unsure and did not know what to do, some even refused to participate in my project. Most of my participants were good sports and made some great faces, but others seemed to just look at their phones and be Debby Downers. That is okay though, because for some of the faces I was able to catch made up for the plain Jane faces.

I tried to capture the emotions that can come out while reading a text. However, this was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. I did not just want pictures that were face on and looking straight at the subject. I wanted to get the phone in the photo and see the reaction as well. At first I started taking pictures at different angles from above and below, but then I realized that when I am photographing from above the subject I cannot fully see their reaction but I can see that there is no text on the phone. Therefore, it would not actually work for my project. I continued to take pictures, but instead I tried to get below my subjects for from angles that I could see the reaction but not see the screen of the phone.

When I first started this project I was trying to capture my dogs like they were fighting over a cardboard sub and chips, a sign I took home from work with me from Subway. They were going to both be licking the food, but then my Yorkie was going to start a fight with my Sheltie and end up killing her. I was excited to try to capture this, but when it came time to take the photos my dogs would not cooperate with me. The Sheltie loves the camera and just wants to be happy in front of it, while the Yorkie gets scared and runs. That's when I came up with the reactions to the texts. I decided to put a phone in front of the dogs to see what they'd do. I even put a piece of sausage on my phone to get my dog to look like she was looking at it! I got the scared expression from my Yorkie while she hid under the table and I quick put my phone in front of her to get the picture. This is how my new idea for my project started out. Funny what can become inspirational.

On Photography

Question 1:
 When Sontag states that "Even when photographers are most concerned with mirroring reality, they are still haunted by tacit imperatives of taste and conscience," she means that photographers want to photograph reality, but they don't seem to be happy until they get the picture they want. Photographers try to separate themselves when photographing, but we still make decisions and choices. Photographers try not to put too much into it, yet they still choose if they like the picture or not. They do this without thinking. They unknowingly put themselves into the photo. For example, the Farm Security Administration photographic project. It tried to illustrate the depression and poverty, yet the photographers were given specific requirements to go by. The photographers would go out and take dozens of photos and wouldn't be satisfied til they got a picture of what they thought the depression and poverty should look like. I agree with Sontag's claim. Even though photographers think they are being objective, they are still including a sliver of their opinions into the photograph.

Question 2:
In this quote, Sontag says that with photography a person can verify that they have done something or gone somewhere.  Sontag then goes on to say that the pictures are evidence that the vacation or trip was made and that they had fun. She says that when people are on vacation they can take pictures to show that they are having fun. She says "They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures." I agree with Sontag's claim. Many people use photography to show that they were there and to show others what they were able to see. My grandparents travel all over the world. They always take pictures to show everyone what they did, where they went, and on what days they did what. My step-grandma makes a schedule and puts that in the scrap book as well as the pictures of her and my grandpa for example when they were in Italy they got someone else to take their picture while in front of the leaning tower and to make sure everyone could see that they were there, that it wasn't just a picture offline. These pictures clarified to everyone that they were in Italy and they had actually saw all these beautiful things and they had fun while in Italy.

Everyone Screams Red!

When this project was first explained to the class, I immediately thought of having my subjects all have the color red on to unify my photos. I thought of this so quickly because I had just put the red Ohio State sweatshirt on my dog, Buttercup, seen in the first photo. That day there was a chill in the air. When it starts getting cold out, Yorkies need to have something on them so they don't get too cold or freeze. We don't usually put the hood up on Buttercup, but it gives a good laugh. However, once I started thinking about all the different photos I could take I started to realize that I was going to have more photos than I would knew what to do with. For example, on Wednesday, I sat in the hallway of Ovalwood and when classes let out the color red was screaming throughout the halls. There were people walking all over the place, that those who weren't wearing red kept getting in the way of the shot of those who were. It was also tricky trying to shoot with a fast shutter speed with the lighting in the hallway. However, I adjusted my settings and tried to work with what I had.

I tried to make the color red as exciting as possible. I tried to get different angles of my subjects and add my dad in. He always seems to get his personality across to the viewer even through a simple photo. Two examples of this is my third and last photo, the one of my dad and the other of a kid going down the stairs. My mom even got in on my project. She had my camera and began to take pictures of my sisters and I while sitting on my grandparents couch. Ironically, we all had red near us at the time. I also tried to zoom in on my subjects so that other distracting objects couldn't be seen. I also made the photos black and white to take away distracting objects and to emphasize the red. I think that by doing this it helped illustrate the unifying red in my photos.

When I first began shooting for this project, I was trying to get my subjects in red and not to realize that I was taking the picture. However, trying to take pictures of people while they don't know is pretty difficult, and it made me look like a creep. So my idea that people wouldn't know I was taking their photo didn't happen like I planned. In most cases I asked the person to stop and not look at me so I could take their photo. Most people laughed and agreed, others were unsure but still were good sports about it and let me take their photo. One girl had on an all red dress and she wasn't sure what to do when I asked to take her picture. So she walked through the door extra fast and unfortunately my shutter speed wasn't fast enough and the picture is a bit blurry. This project made me realize that trying to take candid pictures is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. However, most of my subjects worked very well with me and allowed me to take a good photo, just like my dad and his weird, yet funny faces.

Gas Stations

I believe Gas Stations are a common place for all Americans to go. For me, it is a weekly ritual to fill up my tank. With the gas prices increasing and decreasing everyday, it is difficult to determine when the best possible moment to fill up your tank is. In this project, I wanted to show the relationship we have with gas stations, for the fact that they have become an important place in everyone's driving life. I chose the photos that I believe show the steps that everyone goes through while standing at the pump.

When I first started taking these photographs, I was taking them straight on. I realized that this won't capture what I was trying to say, so I tried taking them from different angles and zooming in on a specific object. This really helped me try to take what could be distracting out of the photo and let the viewer focus more on the detail of the subject. I also let more light into some of my photos so the colors were able to pop out more, like the third photo with the gasoline buttons. I really wanted the viewer to look right at the buttons and different kinds of gasoline then what was in the background that wasn't important to the photograph. I really wanted my photos to intrigue the viewer.

While taking these photographs, I wasn't sure how I was going to show that gas stations are a part of everyday life. I ended up taking around 200 pictures without even know it. I was really getting into trying to capture the gas stations and everything that tend to come with them, such as the air tanks, the different signs, the promotions they were advertising, and just regular advertisements like Sunoco being the official fuel for NASCAR. Usually, people have a routine, and once they get in that routine they don't usually see the details that can be around. I wanted to show the detail in my photographs.  Then, when I went to look through all my photographs I was able to see even more detail that I hadn't saw when I took the photographs. For example. in the last photo with the receipt, in the glass covering the amount of the sale, the reflection of the car is showing. It surprised me that it came together like that and fit in perfectly. For this reason, it is probably my favorite photo that I took.

Old News Interpretation

Jeff Sprang's exhibit "Old News" really had me wondering about all the photographs that were hung around the gallery. The photograph that really stuck out to me was Life Flight. It was taken on July 24, 1985, after an automobile accident in northern Richland County. You can tell that it had been taken many years back due to the style of car that was apart of the crash and the emergency vehicles that were on site, as well as the style of short shorts the males in the photo were wearing. The shorts also tell the viewer that it was a summer month.The digital silver gelatin print allows the viewer to focus on what is really happening in the photograph, not the bright colors that would have taken been in the photograph due to the season. The point of view of this photograph allows you to see the emergency response teams, the ambulance, firetruck, and most importantly the life flight helicopter. As well as seeing the response vehicles, the viewer is also able to see the car smashed into the tree and how much damage was done from this accident, along with everyone that was at the accident helping out. There are so many different objects to look at in this photograph, but your attention soon becomes turned to the helicopter that is rising in the air.

When I look at that photograph so many questions run through my mind. What happened that the car crashed? What was happening at that exact moment in time that the photo was taken? Are the people that were in the vehicle alright? What I believe happened in this photograph is that maybe the driver was driving too fast and lost control, or tried to get out of the way of another car. I think these things because from what I saw in the photograph it didn't look like it had been raining so the roads would not have been slick, it almost looked like a nice sunny day out. One thing I love about this photograph is that everyone in the photo has their backs turned away from the camera. This usually doesn't happen in most photos. However, due to the severity of the event that had just occurred no one is focused on who is taking pictures. In doing so, it allows Sprang to make more emphasis on what is going on and takes the attention of the viewer straight to where everyone is looking, the life flight helicopter. This photograph was taken to document the accident and to tell others about it. Many people use photographs like these to try to promote better driving or for people to slow down, because in an instant things can go terribly wrong.

When I look at this photograph it makes me realize that even though you don't think so, bad things can still happen to you. It also reminds me that when driving, you don't just have to watch out for what you're doing and how fast you're going, but also be alert to what is going on around you and trusting in the other drivers that they are being mindful while they are driving, as well. Three questions that I would like to ask Mr. Sprang would be:
1. How do you hear about the events occurring? Are you walking around seeing them happen or getting alerts from others?
2. What would be your advice to those beginning to take photographs?
3. What made you want to become a photographer?

Assignment 2

Frame

Vantage Point

Detail

Fast Shutter Speed

Slow Shutter Speed

Hand Held Night Photography

Night Photography with Tripod

Depth of Field Aperture set at F8.0

Depth of Field Aperture set at F4.0

Flash

The Thing Itself

What I got out of John Szarkowski's statement that the factuality of images, "no matter how convincing and unarguable, is a different thing than reality itself,"is that sometimes what seems to look like a simple scene, has a greater meaning behind it. For example, the photo I took may seem like a garden and field with a rock in the foreground saying "Let it Rain." However, The "Let it Rain" rock is telling the viewer that in order for our fields and gardens to be bountiful with crops we need the rain to come and help the crops grow. The image doesn't always just show the obvious, the viewer may need to think about the photograph to find the deeper meaning it is trying to tell.

Toilets!

This photograph was taken at the business Heitsche Crushing. It is a pile of toilets that have been broken or just ones that are no longer used. They will eventually be crushed into stone that people will buy. 

The Photographer's Eye

In The Photographer's Eye, John Szarkowski tells of what photography looks like and why it looks the way it does. He compares photography to paintings and tells of how they differ. Szarkowski tells of how photography has become another way to make pictures. However, the two processes of making that picture is completely different. With painting, the end picture is "made," the artist can pick and choose how the final product looks depending on the skills and attitudes the artist decides to use, but with photographs the end picture is "taken," the artist could only choose the scene. Because photography had become easy, something new, and interesting, it was estimated that three million daguerreotypes were being produced, in 1853. Many people had learned to use the daguerreotypes and made skilled and sensible photographs, yet other photographs were made because of accidents.

Painting had become a thing of the past because it was difficult and expensive, while photography became easy, cheap, and you could record anything not just important events. Learning to photograph was not difficult at all. There were two ways to learn how to photograph back then. One way was to learn from working with the daguerreotype. By working with it, the photographer could find out simple ways to eliminate problems that would arise. The second way would be to learn from other photographers who already knew much about the daguerreotype.  

While learning and working with the daguerreotype, the problems that the photographers had to overcome were “The Thing Itself,” detail, frame, time, and vantage point. “The Thing Itself” and detail go hand in hand. They both tell of how photography was to be considered to be the truth. When taking a picture, the photographer could only document what was there and couldn’t add anything to the picture. Most people back then were used to being able to insert wanted objects into the scene, however, with photography they had to learn that what you see is what you get. That is why photography was such a great aid in the wars, photos told the truth, real story of what was happening in the war. The issue with the frame was that the daguerreotype could only get so much into the picture. The photographer had to pick and choose what he was going to have in the photo and what he was going to get rid of, it forced him to make decisions. Time, another issue, dealt with how long it took to take a picture. If the subject moved at any point in time, the photography would come out to be blurry or a person could have extra limbs. Lastly, the final issue Szarkowski tells us about is vantage point. Using different vantage points helps the audience look at scenes from different viewpoints, but are still able to see the story behind the photograph.
            I believe Szarkowski does a great job in helping people learn about the development and growth of photography. He is able to teach both about the history of photography but also helps teach about how to make a good photo today.