minniev wrote:...
The support materials will give you far more to reflect on that will an image review. The interview with John Paul Caponigro starts with discussing the common assumption (right or wrong) that photography provides an objective view of reality. Uelsmann goes on to provide insights into his own journey, thinking, and process. He acknowledges that his work was better accepted by artists than by his fellow photographers, even though, as he said: “Wait! Everything I have came from the camera store!”
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1. What do you think of “Journey Into Night”? Is it a photograph? An art work? Both? Neither? Why or why not?
If a photograph is a representation of time and art is a representation of the mind then everything Jerry does is art. Anyone can take a photo, artist create!
2. What is your feeling about combining photographic elements into new compositions? Is there anything ethically wrong with that? How important is disclosure?
What's interesting to me is the juxtaposition of the question versus the CGI we've all come to know. There's what you think is obvious and then there are those scenes you aren't quite sure but take for real. The world of what could be started for me with
Star Wars but was solidified in
Blade Runner and of course
The Matrix, but a recent one that sticks with me is
Ex Machina. It's not the scary movies with fantastical aliens that do it for me, but the scenes that could be, and so it's the same with Jerry's images. It's like looking into someone else's mind and feeling like you belong.
3. Is computer manipulation different from darkroom manipulation? We know it’s different technically but is it different from a point of classifying the result as art or photograph, as ethical or not?
The answer like so many things is yes and no. One is physical and one digital, but both come from the mind, the heart, and are a part of their soul.
4. Do you use compositing or montaging in your work? What are your feelings about your own work in that area? Have you ever been criticized for a lack of photographic “purity” or for dishonesty? Have you felt personally conflicted? Do you reveal what you did up front, in questioning, or not? What impacted your responses to such questions?
I don't know the steps to make a composite but have digitally removed things from my photos and wonder what the difference is of adding and removing?
5. If you have a photo composite you’ve created, or one you admire done by someone else, feel free to link/share it in the thread to advance any point of the discussion.
When I came back to photography I saw digital creations everywhere and was enamored with
Erik Johansson and his work, but as time went on I found myself drawn to the more subtle, the more realistic images and still find myself fascinated with this Charlie and the Chocolate Factory world we live in.