Artist Analysis: Cindy Sherman

Untitled #424
Clowns collection

This is a self-portrait of Cindy Sherman, like all of her photographs but she is in clown makeup, clearly. Sherman states that she feels like clowns have an "underlying sense of sadness when they are trying to cheer people up." I feel like she was trying to show the person underneath the clown facade, the funniest people are always the most miserable inside. All of her photos are self-portraits. She likes to play around with different personas and be completely different people in the photographs. For me personally, it is a clown and clowns are supposed to be happy but I feel sad when I look at this photo. So in that sense, Sherman really got the emotion she was trying to portray. I think it shows that no matter how much you try to hide what you're really feeling inside that it will always shine through.

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Sorry it's so tiny!

Artist Analysis: Morimura Yasumasa

Self-Portrait – After Marilyn Monroe, 1996

Gelatin-silver print

Morimura Yasumasa is a Japanese artist. He took famous pictures and inserted himself in a reconstruction of them by putting on costumes, wigs and makeup. He posed as iconic movies stars and he was interested in the idea of fame. In this case he is posing as Marilyn Monroe. He said that all people had the desire to transform into other people. He liked to draw people in with the familiarity of the people he captured. I think that this image is really beautiful in it's construction. I'm not sure if this was his hope but it shows that really anyone can be made to look beautiful with the right settings and props. Obviously, he doesn't look like Marilyn Monroe but you know automatically who he is portraying.

Artist Analysis: Nan Goldin

Nan One Month after Being Battered, 1984

 

This is actually a self portrait of Nan Goldin taken a month after she had been beaten by her partner. This image is part of a larger body of work, " The Ballad of Sexual Dependency." In this body of work she wanted to document sexuality, drug use, domesticity and the sometimes violent relationships of Goldin and those she hung out with. She started out using prints but then she switched to using slide shows to showcase her work. This image stood out to me because Nan managed to make something so awful sort of beautiful in a way. I was a little surprised that this was a self portrait. I like that because I know how awkward it was for me to do a self portrait that showed something personal and that was just for my class to see, I can't imagine showcasing that for the entire world to see. I find that to be very admirable.

Artist Analysis: James Nachtwey

 

This image is of a patient coinfected with TB and HIV that is given a daily injection at Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital, Manzini, Swaziland. In this photo the man became agitated and had to be restrained. Nachtwey is a photojournalist that takes images of conflicts and major social issues in many countries. In this photo series, he is trying to get a message out, the message that TB is not just a disease of the past, this man is infected with a very serious form of TB and many other people in developing nations are infected as well. Nachtwey wanted to break the story of this disease and show that photographs could be really powerful. 

In all of the photos in this series Nachtwey captures this sense of pain and sadness. This picture in particular stood out for me because I can really feel this man's pain and after reading the description of this photo i felt it twofold. I feel like I really understand him, I've seen someone go through something similar and I can see how he would become agitated. These photos really make you feel something and I find that to be beautiful

Photo A Day

 

For this project we had to take a photo everyday. Most of mine are from my Grandma's house. I was going for sort of a vintage in the modern day appeal. I was also trying to capture the feeling of emptiness that I feel there after my Grandpa's passing.

Robert Adams: Artist Analysis

Robert Adams
Sally, Weld County, Colorado
1984
 gelatin-silver print

"No place is boring, if you’ve had a good night’s sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film." -Robert Adams 

Robert Adams focused on the changing landscape of the American West. Adams moved to Colorado in 1964. His photos, although some may be free of humans, his images show the impact humans have had on nature. In this image, there are no humans but you can tell that humans are not far because of the house cat wandering down the road. I think that these pictures are beautiful because Adams captures something that is slowly dwindling. I know, in my mind, I can picture somewhere like this that I have been but I'm not sure that many people can.

Steven Shore: Artist Analysis

Stephen Shore
Westbank Motel Room 125
July 18th, 1973
Idaho Falls, Idaho, USA

 Most of Shore's work showcases his journeys through North America, this picture was taken in a small motel room in Idaho. He paved the way for color photographers as he was one of the first photographers to shoot with color film. Shore seems to make very ordinary scenes look amazing. Shore cropped out the person's body to make sure that that was not the subject. The subject of this photograph is in fact this little motel room, even whatever is beyond the window is not visible to make sure of that. I think it almost feels like you could be the one laying on the bed watching TV. Even though lots of time has passed, you know you could still find a little motel that looks similar to this. Shore took this picture along with many others on a road trip from New York to Texas and he documented his whole trip. I almost get the feeling of loneliness from this photo. 

Gregory Crewdson: Artist Analysis

By: Gregory Crewdson

Title:Untitled (Ophelia)

Series: Twighlight (2001)

Medium: Digital chromogenic print

Crewdson is known for making big productions of of his photos. He stages these elaborate scenes of American homes and neighborhoods, in western Massachusetts towns of Pittsfield, Lee, and surrounding areas. Crewdson tends to shut down entire streets when he's staging a scene and he gets an entire crew together to help him manufacture his vision. His multilayered, highly detailed work depicts surreal, mysterious scenes that show their suburban settings. I think this photo depicts how she's just floating in the boring nothingness of everyday life in the suburbs.

Ed Burtynsky: Artist Analysis

By: Ed Burtynsky 

Oxford Tire Pile No. 8

Westley, California

1999

The subject of this photo is a gigantic pile of tires in California. The photographer, Ed Burtynsky, often take pictures of industrial landscapes. His work depicts the link between nature and industry. His images are "meant as metaphors to the dilemma of our modern existence," says Burtynsky. He is showing how humans have altered nature but he also shows that although industry has destroyed nature, it too, can be beautiful.  The bulk of his exhibited photography was taken with a large format field camera on large 4x5-inch sheet film and developed into high-resolution, large-dimension prints. This image stood put for me because even though seeing a huge pile of tires doesn't usually strike me a beautiful but this image really captured the mundane as beautiful and the road draws your eyes to the space beyond the tires.

Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison

"Flying Lesson"

From the series "Earth Elegies"

2000

Photogravure print

The subject in this photo is a man that seems to be holding birds on strings where you would think to see balloons. The artists created this images and their many like it by carefully cutting and pasting different negatives together to create one image. The ParkeHarrison's whom are husband and wife have created a multitude of photos like this one. Most of their work focuses on humans and the environment. I think that this photo symbolizes how humans are affecting the environment. In this work the man seems to be wrangling in the birds as if he was going to put them in the cage in the photo, the same way that we are slowly wrangling wildlife into certain areas but tearing down their homes and whatnot. Many of their other works seem to show man trying to mend the Earth single handedly but I don't feel that this is the case in regards to this photo.

Martin Parr Critique

Martin Parr
From the series "Playas"
Medium: Digital
Copacabana Beach, 2007

The subjects of this photo are these two people showering after hitting the beach in Brazil. This photo comes from Parr's series entitled "Playas", in which he showcases what is commonly not seen at the beach. He captures what can be described as the candid awkward moments at the beach. Martin Parr commonly photographs irony of tourism. This photo represents how traveling isn't always as glamourous as it comes off to be and the image of the jet setter isn't always as beautiful as they are portrayed. 

My first blog. :) (a little late, I know)

Hello there, I am currently in my fourth year of college. I probably have three hundred more, or at least it feels like I do. I'm double majoring in criminology and psychology and hopefully I'll be headed to law school in once I'm done with my undergrad. I love photography, in fact this blog has been set up for one of my photo classes. I'll be sharing my own photos and others' work with my thoughts. Hope you enjoy.