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"