spent last sunday in seattle on a school field trip. went to seattle art museum (sam!). saw a small edward hopper exhibition, focused on his paintings of women. the most interesting part was the curators contextualized the paintings with photography from the same era. turns out, hopper really admired a number of contemporaneous street photographers (evans, model, etc). he was even quoted as saying he wished he could paint more like a photographer - to capture the moment as accurately as a photograph (ha!). there were also some great quotes (did not write them down due to overcrowded gallery) about his love of watching. how he would go to crowded places just to watch people, where he would study their expressions/emotions during moments of repose. all of this obviously shows up in his work. but what i found so interesting were similar quotes from walker evans. how the two were kind of just obsessed with watching people, in their own way. i guess, we
all do it, right?
thought all of this was relevant to our recent discussions regarding capturing the reality of a moment and being fascinated by the people around us.
in addition the hopper, exhibit, i saw this ceramic camera:
titled "likeaflex superzoom." fantastic, right?!
and in honor of the great watchers, i had a blast wandering around a city that's pretty foreign to me taking photos. no purpose. just practicing taking photos of the things that normally, i'm just watching.
still don't know what or why i'm doing this. and yet it seems important. like practice for something.
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First three and bottom three stand out in your 'practice' trials :) I really enjoy the blurry dogs. It brings me back to science and arts ever bounding connection. When you are getting ready to take these, what are you looking for or is it based upon your connections in seeing the world in a compostion? Have you found that you look at particular people or scenerios? Most of them seem from a far minus the baby and dogs, is there a fear of adults? :) Maybe. It's hard to get up close sometimes. Possibly as you continue on this, you can give yourself challenges that can narrow your shooting option a little, such as I will get 10 close ups today or silly guidlines. Can't wait to see more!
ReplyDeleteToday when I was walking down the street I saw this pole that was in a great relation to the lines in the sidewalk. It had a little deep blue and was dark silver and it was night, total Tricia picture!
ReplyDeleteI've been looking at this post and keeping it on my mind so I could think of how I feel of your new more spontaneous shots. I really find it interesting and I'd like to see you explore this in the way that you have with the still quiet shots, almost like you could make a collection for a book. It seems like a good departure.
The dog on a leash reminded me immediately of http://www.mishabittleston.com/artists/giacomo_balla/images/Giacomo_Balla-Dynamism_of_a_Dog_on_a_Leash-Oil_on_canvas-1912.jpg
I think it would be great to see the care for vibrant dark colors with just a few intense and that strange feeling with this shooting thats more free in nature.
The last one is really dead on for me, except the lights. I think that the forms are so freaky, ghostlike, and ... painterly :) But the lights contextualize the process and setting too much. But it is a really compelling idea.
The photo with the child seems too tight, under that I really like the subject, and the man who is looking out the window.
Keep em comin.
gab - i don't remember what i was looking at. with the exception of the dogs - they had sweaters and were totally cute...what can i say, i'm a sucker. i think maybe i see the stuff far away sooner that the things right next to me, when i'm walking. i don't know why. i am a little scared to photograph people when they're real close to me. also, with that digital lens, the wide angle isn't really as wide as it could be and i end up backing away in order to get more in the frame...hence far away. i haven't shot much like this since seattle. busy with other things. more soon, i hope.
ReplyDeleteerin, i totally thought of that giacomo photo as soon as i took it. have always loved that piece. funny that the last one doesn't work for you. i think as a composition, it sucks. but, i'm enamored with the idea of making the images painterly. :) we'll see where it goes.
thanks for the feedback, ladies!