David maisel

'David Maisel’s large-scaled, otherworldly photographs chronicle the complex relationships between natural systems and human intervention, piecing together the fractured logic that informs them both. 

Maisel’s aerial images of environmentally impacted sites explore the aesthetics and politics of open pit mines, clear-cut forests, and zones of water reclamation, framing the issues of contemporary landscape with equal measures of documentation and metaphor. As Leah Ollman states in the Los Angeles Times, “Maisel’s work over the past two decades has argued for an expanded definition of beauty, one that bypasses glamour to encompass the damaged, the transmuted, the decomposed.”

We looked at David Maisel's photographic work 'Library Of Dust' in photography specialisation, i was already familiar with this series of work as he was mentioned in black and white photography last year. 

I think the 'Library of Dust' series is really amazing. Aswell as the story behind it. 

The canisters are from the Oregon State Asylum. This operated until the early 1970's. The patients who died in the asylum were cremated and their ashes were kept in copper canisters. The Copper canisters left behind are ashes of the patients who were unclaimed by their families. The canisters were placed in a room on shelves when they were unclaimed and there they sat for over a century.  

I find this story really sad, as the ashes were never collected by their loved ones, they were forgotten and left behind for over a century. Even though it's a sad story the canisters containing the ashes are really beautiful with vibrant colours. This occured due to the reaction of the ashes and the copper. 

Examples of Typology Photography

Bernd and Hilla Becher

'The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, who began working together in 1959 and married in 1961, are best known for their "typologies"—grids of black-and-white photographs of variant examples of a single type of industrial structure. To create these works, the artists traveled to large mines and steel mills, and systematically photographed the major structures, such as the winding towers that haul coal and iron ore to the surface and the blast furnaces that transform the ore into metal. The rigorous frontality of the individual images gives them the simplicity of diagrams, while their density of detail offers encyclopedic richness. At each site the Bechers also created overall landscape views of the entire plant, which set the structures in their context and show how they relate to each other. The typologies emulate the clarity of an engineer's drawing, while the landscapes evoke the experience of a particular place. The exhibition presents these two formats together; because they lie at the polar extremes of photographic description, each underscores the creative potential of the other'

Assignment 2: typology.

The Holga Camera 
 
For Assignment 2 i have decided to use one of the Holga camera as im interested in seeing how the photos change each shot with it.

We will be using the Holga 120N

There are many different types of Holga and each photo taken differs slightly each time. 

The Holga 120N

Examples of Photos taken with a range of different Holgas

Week 5: Photography Specialisation

Stephen Dupont

I enjoyed the photographic work of Stephen Dupont. We saw a short video which showed the techniques Stephen Dupont uses, i found his darkroom techniques particualrly interesting, as he processes his photographs to a quite large scale which is tricky and time consuming. 

In his 'Axe Me Biggie, Or Take My Picture' collection we saw the process of this series when we went to Afghanistan. It was interesting to see everyone so eager to have their photo taken. Using a small sheetof material as a backdrop the subjects would sit down or stand to get their portait. This shows that keeping it simple can be very effective.

"Stephen Dupont was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1967. Over the past two decades, Dupont has produced a remarkable body of visual work; hauntingly beautiful photographs of fragile cultures and marginalized peoples. He skillfully captures the human dignity of his subjects with great intimacy and often in some of the world’s most dangerous regions. His images have received international acclaim for their artistic integrity and valuable insight into the people, culture and communities that have existed for hundreds of years, yet are fast disappearing from our world" 


'Axe me Biggie, Or take My Picture' 
 Some of My favourites from this series

  










Richard Avedon
some personal favourites of Richard Avedons work include:

'Donald Fischer 1981'

'Dovima with Elephants' 1955

Found Object/ Still Life Photography

Kate Breakey

Kate Breakey photographs dead animals in black and white then hand colours them in. The colours look amazing as if they were shot that way. The animals in the photographs are all dead, however some look alive. Even though they are dead they are still beautiful. I find some of her photographs sad. 

"The natural world is chaotic and unrelenting and randomly cruel. I know this from living in the brutally harsh desert, where the little deaths are constantly tugging at my heart.  In an attempt to compensate, I have collected up the dead and given them kindness and attention. I have constructed symmetrical shrines where they can have their memories and dreams in a kind of imaginary afterlife. Here in my theatre, the quail chicks have flight and love, the Cottontail is off to find his mate- as if in a children’s storybook- rodents sing and the geckos are lovers. Greek mythology, Aboriginal Dreamtime legends, Aesop’s Fables, are all here in my studio where I can have my own memories and dreams with these animal spirits".

Kate Breakey 2006

'Small Deaths'