Montage: Activity 4

Activity 4

• Find two examples of photomontages that are either from a commercial source or from a fine art background. Discuss in what context they have been produced and what techniques they share with political photomontages.
• What messages, if any, are communicated through these photomontages and how effective do you think they are? Consider different ways that each image could have been tackled by the artist and come up with an idea for ‘another in the series’.

My Response

Dream Big - Connor Lesley

The image above is a photomontage created from 4 pictures. One of the ball court, one of the shoes, one of the little girl about to high five her friend, and one of Kobe Bryant about to dunk the ball. The image conveys the message to "Dream Big", and the use of images provides a huge assistance to that message, as it depicts a little girl attempting to block a dunk from professional basketball player Kobe Bryant; if that's not an example of dreaming big I don't know what is. However, the placement of the shoes in the foreground makes the image seem like an advertisement for Kobe's Nike brand shoes. Commercial photomontages such as this are fairly similar to political photomontages because they manipulate an image (or several images) to produce a different message than the original image provided, and of course, these messages are usually up for interpretation.

Just A Touch - Agence Alfred

The image comes from a fine art background, and is composed of 2 images. The first image of a hand holding a paintbrush and the second of the street and buildings. Personally, I don't see a very noticeable message in this picture other than "It's amazing what one stroke of a brush can lead to" or something like that. If I was to offer any advice on how to approach the image differently, I'd recommend erasing some of the background to make it seem like the hand still has more work to do. As for another image to accompany this one in a series, I'd picture this one as the end of the series while the one I recommended would come before it. 

Montage: Activity 3

Activity 3

• As editors exercise their ever-increasing power over information control, what limits would you impose on them as to the extent to which they can manipulate the photographic image? 
• Devise a series of guidelines that will control the release of images that have been constructed for media use so that the public is aware as to the extent of the manipulation.
  

  

  Doctored Image of President Hosni Mubarak at Mideast peace talks!

  

  Un-doctored Photo

  
  
  My Response
  As editors gain more and more control over what they can change within an image, it is important for us to be able to distinguish a difference between the real thing and the forgeries. Of course, setting regulations for these editors would be a great help in this situation. If I was in the position to tell these people what they can and can't alter I would say one thing, don't change anything that doesn't need to be changed. I say this because there are things that should not be on the cover of a magazine or the public news broadcast (such as an angry pedestrian flipping the bird or even nudity). Manipulating an image isn't entirely a bad thing, it can help clarify what certain objects are (by zooming in) or it just makes the image look more appealing (changing vibrance, contrast, etc.), these kind of edits are acceptable for publicly released media; cropping an image and moving the president of Egypt to make it look like he is leading other men into a peace talk isn't right, it's flat out lying. In conclusion, I don't think images should be changed or manipulated a lot from what they originally were, a few touch ups never hurt but moving/adding things to create a whole new meaning to the picture is wrong if used for the wrong purposes (entertainment vs. fooling the public). Below are some pictures I think are manipulated the right way and the wrong way..
  
  

  

  World Trade Center Hoax - WTCHoax.com
  

  This image is manipulated in the wrong way, instead of editing the color or brightness, an airplane was added into the background. A simple tourist image is turned into an almost surreal image all because an airplane was added, making the viewer feel like this image was taken at just the right time and that the man is now dead, which is not the case.

  

  World Trade Center - AVAXNews.com
  

  Not the most beautiful image I've ever seen but it follows the suggestions from above. The image was edited for color, and exposure. The explosions weren't added, the debris isn't fake, this picture is real and I feel like it has just as much of an impact as the fake one above and looks to be of better quality too.

  
  

Montage: Activity 2

Activity 2: Blog Entry

• Find two examples of political photomontages that are either from a historical or contemporary source. 
• Discuss in what context they have been produced and how effective you think they communicate their intended message. 
• Discuss the techniques that have been used to assemble the examples you have chosen and offer alternative ways that the artist could have put over the same message.

My Response

Protect And Survive - Peter Kennard

The picture above features a skeleton reading a magazine that says "Protect and Survive". The picture has an anti-war message, revealed mostly by replacing "Serve" with "Survive" from the phrase "Protect And Serve". It's not as impactful as depicting Hitler as a butcher, but it gets the artists' point across.

Explosive Minds - Peter Kennard

Another picture featuring a skeleton, yay! This one is interesting because it features a picture of a nuke going off but a skeleton is featured in the foreground. The photographer has managed to blend the skeleton's skull and neck with the "mushroom cloud" of the nuke, which makes for an interesting image and a subtle yet loud message: "One explosion in one man's head that has been translated into reality, can be the death of us all"

Montage: Activity 1

Activity 1: Blog Entry

• Briefly discuss why you think painters of the Victorian period might have criticized these early photomontages and why the pictures were popular with the general public. (This technique of piecing together separate images to create one picture is again very popular with both artists and the media). 
• What two reasons can you think of for this revival of an old technique?

My Response


• I think painters of the Victorian period criticized early montages because they didn't like the idea of taking an old picture, cutting certain things (such as people) from the picture, then setting these new cut-outs on a new background and taking a picture of it. With that being said, I believe the general public liked these pictures because they looked nice, and couldn't tell that one picture was really composed of multiple pictures. In a nutshell (and my own words), the Victorian painters were probably being kinda snobbish and saying things like "This is atrocious, it's not art, it's not original. This is just a bunch of cut out pictures on the same piece of paper." while a normal person would have just said "This looks cool, I like it."

• The only two reasons I could think of as to why montages came back into style are: they were probably cheaper to make since you didn't have to pay for a set or models and that they were so different from what everyone else was taking pictures of. Basically montages allowed photographers to do with a camera what painters do with a brush, create a unique image with your imagination rather than by positioning people or waiting for something interesting to happen.

Portrait & Studio Photography: Activity 3

Activity 3

Collect four portrait images with two to five subjects. In at least one image the subject should have been placed in the foreground. Comment on the arrangement of the subjects in relation to the camera and the effectiveness of the design

Leading Man - Jeff Meyer

Based on the title of the image above, I'm going to assume that the man in the foreground is the lead singer or a band. The remainder of the band probably aren't too fond of the arrangement, since it may seem like the lead singer is more important (and you can barely see their faces), but I'm sure they'll get over it...

Bullet Club - NJPW

The image above is of The Bullet Club, a professional wrestling stable from New Japan Professional Wrestling (however, none of the men above are Japanese). Since my brother and I watched the event (via iPPV) that this picture was taken at, I can say that the placement of Nick Jackson, Prince Devitt, and Matt Jackson (the front 3 men) makes perfect sense because they actually wrestled at the show, the other 4 were just there to watch and lend support to their fellow Bullet Club members.

Painkiller - Three Days Grace

This is a picture released by Three Days Grace upon the announcement that Matt Walst would be joining the band as lead singer, Adam Gontier's official replacement. The announcement was met with a very mixed reaction by fans, so to me, the placement of the band members is almost symbolic; the three founding members of the band standing behind the new guy, almost as if to say "We're behind him, you guys should be too". Eventually this image would become the album cover for their song "Painkiller", the band's first song with Matt Walst on vocals.

Group Photo - Pinterest.com

Finally, a picture with girls in dresses! It's a fairly simple group portrait, all four women are on the same plane, they're all dressed up, but something just seems out of the ordinary. I know, three of  the girls are grouped on one side looking kinda judgy at the fourth girl. Maybe she smells weird, or they're just jel? (South Park reference below). Whatever it is, the looks on the three girls faces caught my eye and added something special to this group picture.

Portrait & Studio Photography: Activity 2

Activity 2 
Find four portraits that demonstrate the different ways a photographer has framed the image to alter the design and content. Discuss the vantage point, depth of field and subject placement in all of the images.

Unique Self Portrait - from Pixshark.com

The image above was either edited with photoshop or the poor man in the picture was holding a camera while hanging upside down in the forest, if the latter is the case this is quite possibly the coolest selfie ever taken. The depth of field is great and the subject is right in the middle, the most important part of this picture is the vantage point which makes the man appear to be falling.

Creative Self Portrait - from Pelfind.com

The image above was actually shot in a park on a foggy day (according to the website). The tree acts as a frame for the girl (which I believe is the subject of the image). The depth of field is hard to determine since the fog renders the background kind of hazy, but I'd guess the image uses great depth of field. The vantage point is pretty basic, just a slight distance away from the subject, but it gives the viewer a sense that the woman is trying to get out of the woods and that she's almost there.

A Looking In View - Joseph M Porter

This image has a very noticeable frame before the subject. The frame was most likely a column gate, which would make the viewer feel as if they were about to enter the property which the subject lies on.

John Morrison (Champion) - Deviantart.com

The image above shows John Morrison (no relation to Jim Morrison, despite the uncanny resemblance) posing with a championship belt. The vantage point of the image (below eye level of Morrison) and the subject placement (center of the ring) help to produce an image of a proud champion ready, willing, and able to overcome any obstacles that may approach him.

Portrait & Studio Photography: Activity 1

Activity 1
Look through assorted media, magazines, internet and collect four portrait photographs. The environment should be a key feature in two of the four images. Describe the subject’s character in each of the images. What can you see within each image that leads you to these conclusions about the subjects’ character.

Empire Magazine, April 2013 Edition - Empireonline.com

This magazine cover features Robert Downey Jr. on the cover in his Iron Man armor. The background features a dark sky and the foreground has sparks, to signify that there is trouble. Obviously the cover promotes Iron Man 3, so it's supposed to show that he is heroic (RDJ's pose), he is in for one heck of a fight (the sparks and slight scratches on the armor), and the situation may seem hopeless but he will keep going (the dark sky with a little bit of sun on a cloud).

Jared Leto, Oscars 2014 - Hollywoodreporter.com

This is a photo of Jared Leto during his acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actor at the 2014 Oscars. Leto is the focus of the picture, as shown by the shallow depth of field, which is a good idea since he's up on the stage to accept an award.

Untitled - Patrizia Burra

This is a photo by Patricia Burra, and it utilizes studio lighting to put emphasis on certain parts of a girls face. There are shadows around the girls eyes and under her lips which adds some depth to the picture so the viewer can see that the girl is making a pouty face.

Adam Gontier - Larry Marano

This is a photo of former Three Days Grace Singer, Adam Gontier. The photo depicts Gontier backstage  before performing at The Sound Advice Amphitheater in Florida. Gontier's relaxed pose in the picture shows that he isn't worried about going out to perform because he's used to it.