Photography As Art: Part 4_Entry 2_Week 20

“…Many painters valued photography- but chiefly as a tool, useful to supply an image for an artist to work from in constructing a painting” (Orvell, 81). From the mid- to late nineteenth century, artists would use the view through the camera lens to mirror an image and to paint over the scene. The art of painting eventually broke away from realism and evolved into forms of Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstraction. Photography has been influenced by stylistic changes in painting as well as by independent inspirations (Orvell, 81-82).

            For one French painter, Paul Delaroche, he considered the art of painting to be lost since the aid of the camera to paint pictures. “From today, painting is dead,” he declared (Orvell, 81). On the contrary, photographer Alfred Stieglitz believed that photography was merely another form of art. He had a “desire to elevate photography to the level of the fine arts, combined with a belief in the democratic potential of the medium to reach out beyond the single print to a larger audience” (Orvell, 87). Stieglitz founded the Camera Work, a magazine that argued his belief that “photography should stand among the other arts an equal, publishing… the work of the major Pictorialists who were part of his own exclusive Photo- Secessionist circle, along with the work of the new French painters and sculptors whose Cubist innovations were changing the nature of art” (Orvell, 87).

It was only after the turn of the century that photography began to breach the walls of the gallery and museum world in America, and even then with limited success. Now, however, photographs can sell for six figures — not in the same league as the millions for a Van Gogh painting, but not exactly chump change either — and be presented in fine art museums, not industrial expositions (Olsen, 1).

Works Cited

Beckman, Tad. “Photography as Art.” HMC. Harvey Mudd College, 24   Nov. 2004. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Olsen, Chuck. “American Photography- A Century of Images: Art.”    KNPB. Kodak, CPB, PBS, National Endowment for the Arts,    The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the   George Gun    Foundation. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Orvell, Miles. American Photography. Oxford: Oxford University     Press, 2003. Print.

The New Webster’s Library of Practical Information. New York: Lexicon Publications, Inc., 1990. Print.

Thripp, Richard. “10 Reasons Why Photography Sucks and Isn’t an    Art Form.” Thripp Photography. Richard Thripp, 20 June   2008. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

My Second Attempt At Writng A Graduation Speech_Entry 1_Week 20

“What.” W-H-A-T. A simple, four letter word used in the English language on a regular day-to-day basis. In the fourth grade, I did not know how to spell that word, let along many others similar to it. I struggled to figure out what nine multiplied by two equaled, and my social skills were horrendous due to the fact that I was too shy to interact with children my own age. If someone had told me when I was younger that I would have the opportunity to attend the best school in Washoe County, I would have found it very hard to believe them. I thought I was an unintelligent kid who was going nowhere in life. But when I came here, to AACT, both my teachers and my classmates have shown me that I have the potential to lead, to think for myself, and to make something of my future.

             We were considered to be the “different” kids- the ones who drew in the margins of our homework papers; the ones who would rather repair an old bike than buy a new one; the ones who would rather spend their Saturday night learning how to bake a new recipe that they discovered rather than partying.  We were the kids who weren’t quite sure what we wanted to do, or if we could even do it, but we knew we wanted to do something. Something great.

We often question ourselves, wondering if we are brilliant enough, gorgeous enough, talented enough, and fabulous enough. One such person, by the name of Marianne Williamson, responds to human’s constant negative thought- process with a brilliant answer: “… Who are you not to be (brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous)? ...  As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Every graduating student in this room had to endure the nerve- wracking interview process in hopes of getting accepted into this wonderful five star career- technical based high school, just so we could have a chance of being a part of one of the best educational programs in Northern Nevada. We were accepted because the teachers and the school saw something special, something different, and something wonderful about each and every one of us. They saw the potential that some of us couldn’t see in ourselves.

             We have worked hard to be where we are at now, and after four years, we are finally at the finish line of our high school career and the starting line of the rest of our lives. As a class, we have created community service projects, have received hands- on experience through internships and job shadowing, and have competed in various organizations such as SkillsUSA, ProStart, HOSA, FFA, and Moon Buggy. As individuals, we have endured twelve years of emotional breakdowns, inadequate pencil stubs, crumpled up pieces of paper, and have had late night coffee shots to help keep us awake in order to finish that one essay we only remembered to do at 11 p.m.

Life isn’t always going to be easy- and it certainly isn’t ever going to go exactly as you planned. But that’s alright, and you’ll be alright. Just remember to always do what makes you happy, and the rest will fall in place.

I wish each and every one of you the best of luck. Not only are we the class of 2014, but we are the graduates of we made it.
 

Photography As Art: Part 3_Entry 2_Week 19

“…Many painters valued photography- but chiefly as a tool, useful to supply an image for an artist to work from in constructing a painting” (Orvell, 81). From the mid- to late nineteenth century, artists would use the view through the camera lens to mirror an image and to paint over the scene. The art of painting eventually broke away from realism and evolved into forms of Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Abstraction. Photography has been influenced by stylistic changes in painting as well as by independent inspirations (Orvell, 81-82).

            For one French painter, Paul Delaroche, he considered the art of painting to be lost since the aid of the camera to paint pictures. “From today, painting is dead,” he declared (Orvell, 81). On the contrary, photographer Alfred Stieglitz believed that photography was merely another form of art. He had a “desire to elevate photography to the level of the fine arts, combined with a belief in the democratic potential of the medium to reach out beyond the single print to a larger audience” (Orvell, 87). Stieglitz founded the Camera Work, a magazine that argued his belief that “photography should stand among the other arts an equal, publishing… the work of the major Pictorialists who were part of his own exclusive Photo- Secessionist circle, along with the work of the new French painters and sculptors whose Cubist innovations were changing the nature of art” (Orvell, 87).

It was only after the turn of the century that photography began to breach the walls of the gallery and museum world in America, and even then with limited success. Now, however, photographs can sell for six figures — not in the same league as the millions for a Van Gogh painting, but not exactly chump change either — and be presented in fine art museums, not industrial expositions (Olsen, 1). 

Works Cited

Beckman, Tad. “Photography as Art.” HMC. Harvey Mudd College, 24   Nov. 2004. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Olsen, Chuck. “American Photography- A Century of Images: Art.”    KNPB. Kodak, CPB, PBS, National Endowment for the Arts,    The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the   George Gun    Foundation. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Orvell, Miles. American Photography. Oxford: Oxford University     Press, 2003. Print.

The New Webster’s Library of Practical Information. New York: Lexicon Publications, Inc., 1990. Print.

Thripp, Richard. “10 Reasons Why Photography Sucks and Isn’t an    Art Form.” Thripp Photography. Richard Thripp, 20 June   2008. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

The Worse Graduation Speech That You'll Ever Read_ Entry 1_ Week 19

For the past eighteen years, our lives have been pretty smooth. Mom has faithfully made your chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast and dad has been your personal ATM machine ensuring that you stay in the green. Friends have been ever faithful in keeping alive the memory of that time you got hit in the face with a dodge ball in P.E., and teachers have been even more faithful in ensuring our graduation rate is one- hundred percent.

As individuals, we have endured twelve years of emotional breakdowns, inadequate pencil stubs, crumpled up pieces of paper (at this moment Mr. Burge would normally make the statement that this could be a symbol of frustration), and have had late night coffee shots to help keep us awake in order to finish that one essay we only remembered to do at 11 p.m. As a class, we’re here. In this auditorium. In these gowns. After four years of hard, well- earned work. We came to AACT in search of a great education, and in return we now have a better chance at a great future.

A future filled with hope and dreams and accomplishments. And hot pockets. Because I highly doubt that any of us will make our first million until our mid-twenties- at the latest. But don’t allow yourself to be filled with greed for material things. Life isn’t always about getting the girl or even becoming a world- renowned film director… it is about doing what makes you happy and sharing that happiness with the people around you.

As Marianne Williamson once said: “We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? ...  As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Not only are we the class of 2014, but we are the graduates of we made it.

Photography As Art: Part 2_Entry 2_Week 18

Art- so went the argument- requires the workings of the hand, in service to the artist’s imagination; it is not a merely literal record of reality. As long as photographers were using the camera to create pictures that imitated the canons and themes of the fine arts, the medium could go only so far in establishing its claim. To demonstrate that photography was an art, photographers must overcome the mechanical nature of the medium and exhibit the photographic print as a handmade object (Orvell, 83-84).

            The use of angels, lighting, and color are major contributors to the surreal feeling some photographers want to give viewers and critics alike. Pictures were first used to depict scenes of everyday reality, but now are becoming more popular in staging realms of bizarre imagery and fantasy (Olsen, 1). Similarly, art requires the use of the same techniques except in a different manner. Painters must utilize various shades of color (their use of creating “light”) in order to obtain a three- dimensional ambiance to their picture. Additionally, angels are essential to creating depth and color provides a mix of emotions to audiences. For example, dark tints of color give off a sense of evil or depression as opposed to bright colors which give off a sense of happiness or lightheartedness. Pictures demand corresponding attention of the eye when taking a photograph.

To encourage people that photography should be considered art, photographers would experiment in more ways than one to emphasize their views concerning the controversy. Photographers would use gum- bichromate to soften the surface of a print, or tone a picture that resulted in a sliver or golden hue. Certain pictures were purposefully taken to depict a dreamy, soft- focused view. The surfaces of negatives were occasionally scratched in order to look like an engraving had been etched onto the picture. Photographers believed this revealed “the artist’s hand at work” (Orvell, 84).

Works Cited

Beckman, Tad. “Photography as Art.” HMC. Harvey Mudd College, 24   Nov. 2004. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Olsen, Chuck. “American Photography- A Century of Images: Art.”    KNPB. Kodak, CPB, PBS, National Endowment for the Arts,    The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the   George Gun    Foundation. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Orvell, Miles. American Photography. Oxford: Oxford University     Press, 2003. Print.

The New Webster’s Library of Practical Information. New York: Lexicon Publications, Inc., 1990. Print.

Thripp, Richard. “10 Reasons Why Photography Sucks and Isn’t an    Art Form.” Thripp Photography. Richard Thripp, 20 June   2008. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Sincerely, I Don't Know What To Write_ Entry 1_ Week 18

Dear Whoever is Reading This:

I sincerely do not know what to write about. My mind is like a blank canvas at the moment that is lacking inspiration and color. I could always write about anything, because words can describe everything. But, unfortunately, at this moment in time... I have nothing.

Perhaps I could write about how a crack in the wall reminds me of Doctor Who and the impossibility of time being ruptured throughout the universe.  I could write about how angry I am that my headphones are refusing to work, and that I cannot simply watch any of my favorite television series without sound. I could also write about how hungry I am and how good a burger and a milkshake sounds at the moment, but that would only make me more hungry- even though the kitchen is literally down the hallway from my room and I am too lazy to get up and make myself something.

I could write a review on John Green's book, "The Fault in Our Stars", but that requires thinking and my brain cells are currently not functioning properly.

How do authors and poets and speakers come up with the right words to say? I never can think of anything creative or thought- provoking.

Maybe it is because at least two hundred and fifty words are required for me to write for each blog, and to be honest I am not intelligent enough to hash out two hundred and fifty words of pure savvy. 

I feel like I am on a ranting rampaging. But I really am not. To be honest I am attempting to fill up enough blank space with every letter of the alphabet until this Word document informs me that I have reached my goal of two hundred and fifty. 

Oh, look, I am at two hundred and ninety- nine plus words now.

Sincerely, 

What am I doing with my life?

Photography As Art: Part 1_Entry 2_Week 17

“There are three fundamental components of what we call art. First, is the artist; second, is the medium; and third, is the art work. All three, clearly, are interrelated” (Beckman, 1).      

 

When people first hear the word “art”, they involuntarily think of the stereotypical artist wearing a beret hat holding a paint brush in one hand and a painting palette covered in vibrant colors in the other. If the word “photography” is mentioned, the general public will have an image in their minds similar to that of either a camera or photos. Do they, however, think of the significance behind those two words? Do people ever wonder how or could “art” and “photography” possibly relate? Could a photographer also be considered an “artist”?

Photographer Edward Weston said, "Photography as a creative expression - or what you will - must be 'seeing' plus: seeing alone would mean factual recording - the illustrator of catalogues does that. The 'plus' is the basis of all arguments on 'what is art'" (Beckman, 1). Beckman, author of the web article, “Photography as Art”, argues that “what the artist brings to the audience is her response to the subject and not the subject itself.” Both photography and art are not simple displays of the world, but rather are communicating a message (Beckman, 1).

According to The New Webster’s Library of Practical Information, the term “art” simply means “the use of the imagination to make things of aesthetic significance”. Photography is “the art or process of producing photographs”, and an artist is “a person who uses deliberate skill in making things of beauty” (Webster’s Dictionary, 22, 301). Is it possible to be an artist who creates art with the simple stroke of a brush and a click of a camera button? Photography and art conjointly require imagination, creativity, and the skill to create a commonplace object into a thing of beauty.

Works Cited

Beckman, Tad. “Photography as Art.” HMC. Harvey Mudd College, 24   Nov. 2004. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Olsen, Chuck. “American Photography- A Century of Images: Art.”    KNPB. Kodak, CPB, PBS, National Endowment for the Arts,    The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the   George Gun    Foundation. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Orvell, Miles. American Photography. Oxford: Oxford University     Press, 2003. Print.

The New Webster’s Library of Practical Information. New York: Lexicon Publications, Inc., 1990. Print.

Thripp, Richard. “10 Reasons Why Photography Sucks and Isn’t an    Art Form.” Thripp Photography. Richard Thripp, 20 June   2008. Web. 26 Sep. 2012.

Why Does It Matter_Entry 1_Week 17

If I could honestly explain why half the things that are rolling carelessly around in my head bother me to the point I would rather walk on a tight rope across a fiery abyss than lay in my bed and think about them, I would not know what to say. Maybe it is the fact that I am afraid of facing what lies ahead of me and leaving the past behind me. Maybe it is the fact that I prefer to focus on the present, now, instead of constantly worrying about everything else that could and should and might possibly happen if I do or don’t do certain things.

For example, the idea of going to college just seems so bland to me. Taking another couple years to set aside specifically for educational purposes comes off as such a chore to me- not that I couldn’t do it, but it’s just that I am not interested. Why should I pursue something that doesn’t particularly interest me in the first place? How is that getting me to where I “need” to be in life?

Sure, that could always get me a great job that pays well so I can save up for a comfortable retirement, but in all honesty if that is what life is about- going through the same damn routine that everyone else zombies their way on through, then I don’t want any part of it.

But thanks to my dad, it looks like I will have to do it.