Week 3

     

Anna Krachey: "Mattress" 

Post Written by Hannah Zimmerman

     For my third blog post I am interested in writing about photographer, Anna Krachey, another one of my three mentors. Anna Krachey is an Austin-based artist who photographs domestic and common objects by setting up still-life setups. Anna is able to show the unexpected beauty or aesthetic of these objects by the way she photographs them. Anna Krachey’s photographs inspire my own work because I too have an interest in the everyday object and how I can change the function or meaning it gives. Within my sculptures, I strive to alter the narrative of objects, function of objects and how we view these objects by altering their appearance or way in which people view them altogether. Additionally, I pair a video element to further add questions or meaning to my pieces. I aim to comment on everyday human vulnerabilities or psychological challenges through these pieces. My goal this semester is to discover my own way of doing this within the context of photography. So, a mentor like Anna Krachey is a good inspiration.

     This week I chose to write about Anna’s photograph titled “Mattress”. While this photograph is a fairly minimalistic picture of what appears to be a turquoise colored mattress, the way Anna set up soft lighting to illustrate the color tones strengthened the photograph. Also, by angling the circular mattress pattern, it helped create a more interesting composition that allows the viewers eye to spend more time observing the mattress. By doing this, I feel that Anna causes the viewer to look at the picture longer and begin observing why this mattress might be interesting or what its backstory might be. Also, by keeping a tighter composition and only photographing part of the mattress, it causes me to think about who may own it or whom has owned it. The close composition adds to the more personal feel of the photograph. I feel that not only does Anna add interest to a mundane object, but she creates the possibility of the viewer adding a narrative or even their own personal experiences to similar objects. Additionally, this causes the viewer to think about WHY they are thinking about their own personal experiences with similar things.

     Also, because of the clean and simplified aesthetic of this photograph it helps to inspire me when photographing this week under the modernist movement. This movement contains these characteristics and other elements seen in this picture. 

Her photograph can be seen on her website: http://www.annakrachey.com/ 

My photograph of the week: 

Week 2:

Elspeth Diederix: "lilac"

Post Written By: Hannah Zimmerman

For my second blog post of the semester I chose another picture taken by my mentor Elspeth Diederix titled “lilac.” I chose another one of her pictures because I resonated with many of the photographs I saw on her website and I want to use her style and content as inspiration for my own personal work this semester in my photography class.

Our weekly assignment for this second week is to practice taking photos in the style of the pictorialism movement. This photography movement originated during the late 19^th and early 20^th century. It was important because photographers were challenging the way photographs were taken and “how” they should appear. It was taking the process of photography and experimenting with how the image could appear to create a more painterly effect. Parts or whole images could be fuzzy or blurred out through various methods and were manipulated to a point that it almost seemed like brush strokes made up the image. It was considered Fine Art because it was challenging the viewers imagination and this was done through alternative ways of taking pictures for a purpose.

The reason I chose the photograph lilac was because it reminded me of a painting. While this photograph doesn’t use any blurring effects or filters traditionally used in the pictorialist movement, the way Elspeth set up the lighting and tonality of this picture reminded me of what pictorialism is about. Additionally, this photograph uses a found object along with a flower arrangement, which using found objects is something I am interested in attempting to do this semester within my own work.

The photograph appears to be natural sunlight shining through a window adding soft lighting to a light wood chair supporting a structure of purple lilacs covering up the right side of the chair. The floor is concrete with a white cement wall with a nice composition consisting of a crack running up the wall to the right of the chair and lilac sculpture.

I find this photograph beautiful because of the artist’s ability to set up a well-balanced composition and cohesive use of tone and color within the photograph. Superficially, the photograph is pretty and attractive, but Elspeth Diederix’s work is about pushing past the everyday use of objects and challenging viewers to look at the objects/arrangements in her photos differently. She sets out to challenge the imagination and embrace the poetics of arranging objects differently in her compositions in order to get viewers to think about things in ways they normally wouldn’t.

This photograph causes me to think about the concealment of things, that once uncovered are beautiful beneath the surface. However, sometimes the things that hide behind the beauty are kept there for a reason, because people are embarrassed or scared to expose themselves.

The power of the effect this photograph can have on the viewer further reminds me why I think of Elspeth Diederix  as a mentor to my own work. I intend to use her power of capturing the invisible poetry of “things” as inspiration and motivation in the photographs I take this week.

Photo of the Week: 

 Week 1: 

 Elspeth Diederix: "black bowl" 

Post Written By: Hannah Zimmerman

For my first blog post, the mentor that I have chosen to write about is Elspeth Diederix. When researching this photographer on her website, http://www.elspethdiederix.com/ , and observing the content of her pictures I found a lot of inspiration.

Much of my current artwork revolves around using found objects in my sculptures and videos that represent non-physical interactions between people and creating discussions around subject matters that are not easily brought up in everyday life. My goal is to encourage dialogue about things that are sometimes difficult to discuss by creating these pieces. Additionally, I often manipulate the appearance of these things and how they are normally used through video and sculpture to help challenge the viewer in what is being represented. So, when beginning my search for photographers who would inspire me in the new realm of photography, I searched for artists who included objects or things within their personal work. I came across Elspeth Diederix in my search and many of her photographs helped me realize that it is possible to continue the content of my own work in a different medium, photography.

In further researching the content of Elspeth’s work and the meaning behind it, I read her artist statement. One of the lines about her work read “through her photography Diederix is looking for the moment in which everyday phenomenon loose their ordinary appearance, the moment in which they show their true selves.” The similarity of this line to my own art struck home.

I knew I wanted to use one of Elspeth’s photographs to talk about for this first blog post because I felt that it would help inspire me in my first weekly assignment, in taking ten photographs.

The photograph that I chose to write about this week is from the year 2008 and it is titled, black bowl. In this picture a ceramic black bowl appears to be full of water. Inside, floats what seems to be a white egg. Also, the black bowl is sitting on what looks to be black leather. The lighting is high contrast, with large areas of dark shadow and others that are extremely bright from the light source that was used when taking the picture. This picture exemplifies the artist’s ability to “shake us out of our worn and preconditioned ways of perceiving” (quoted from her artist statement). Her photograph caused me to think about the underlying surface of things, in this particular photo, this white egg that hides just beneath the surface of water. Aside, from having a nice composition and good lighting, the content of this photograph caused me to think about the everyday objects differently than I normally would. So much so that I thought less about the “things” in front of me but instead what message or concept they could be representing. Additionally, the photograph had a somber tone, which lead me to think about things being simple and beautiful beneath shallow surfaces and dark surroundings. There is an unseen beauty to this photograph because of its simplicity and content.

Moving forward within my own work, I hope to accomplish some of these possibilities in my own way. Also, I will be looking at more of this artist’s other work to encourage and find inspiration in the search for what I want to photograph and how.

The photograph I talked about, her artist statement, and her other work can be found on her website:

http://www.elspethdiederix.com/

Additionally, the other two mentors that I intend to write about this semester are Dudi Ben Simon and Anna Krachey. 




Photo Of Week: