4/28 Show Entry

I have entered a show that was listed in The Center for Fine Art Photography. It is an international call for entries for a show called Dreams.

THEME:

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Dreams

Dreams are a creation of images, ideas, sensations and emotions that occur in our conscious and subconscious mind. They can be the manifestation of our aspirations, goals, andfears both realistic and fantastic.

JUROR:

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Aline Smithson

Aline Smithson has been the Gallery Editor for Light Leaks magazine, writes and edits the blog, Lenscratch, and has curated exhibitions for a number of galleries and on-line magazines. Smithson is a national reviewer of photography and is a contributing writer of Diffusion, Too Much, Chocolate, Lucida, and F Stop Magazine. Her photographs have been featured in numerous publications including the PDN Photo Annual, Communication Arts Photo Annual, Eyemazing, Artworks, Shots, Pozytyw, and Silvershotz magazines. Her work has widely been exhibited nationally in museums and galleries.

idea 4/13 - Time

Time.

It's expressed in a linear fashion, but does it really move in that format?

Time is a theme that seems to be overwhelming my series this semester. Both conceptually and throughout the process. The entire series itself is a reflection upon my past and where it has led me to this point.

This Point.

Maybe that is where my mental/creative block is coming from. I have been solely creating memories from my past, which though there may seem like a lot... in reality I am 21 years old and have barely experienced life.

What if I was to create "memories from the future"? How would that affect my series and how the audience reacts to it? What would I include? How would I justify each image as holding the same importance of events I have actually experienced and learned from already? If time only is represented in a linear fashion, but infacts moves in all directions then who is to say that I can't produce images of things I have yet to experience but still anticipate experiencing?

My work this semester is so time based, that it makes me wonder where it is safe to end my series. Whether I should end it at present day, before present day but at a pivotal life moment, or somewhere I have not had the opportunity to explore yet.

As the semester draws to a close, I am full of all sorts of anticipations of where my life is headed and how much time I have for this and that. I feel this subject is something I have to address in my series. I'm just not really sure how to go about it.

Visiting Artist - Trevor Paglen

Trevor Paglen

When Trevor Paglen first started talking about his work, I was immediately lost. I was a bit concerned that I may indeed be in the wrong lecture. I'm not going to lie, there were moments in the lecture where I wanted to ask "is this a government lesson or is this an artist lecture?" It was not until the end that my questions were answered. Paglen spent an admirable amount of time researching his concept and photographing methods. But I question wether or not going through half an hour on Government Secrecy was necessary before getting to his art. But then again "would his art stand alone, without explaination" is what one student questioned.

As far as Paglen's art goes, I am especially fond of his work using high powered telescopes to photograph locations you cannot get to. The images are beautiful in a very backwards way. You end up seeing a town, or a power plant, but the way the light starts to bend in the image creates this hazy and dream-like quality that I am really fond of. Paglens lecture definitely sparked my imagination on what is in my photographs that I am not able to see with the naked eye.

Artist 4/3 - Brian Ulrich

Brian Ulrich - Photographer

http://notifbutwhen.com/

Brian Ulrich is an artist born in New York in 1971. He got BFA at the University of Akron and his MFA in photography at Columbia College Chicago. His work has been included in many publications such as Aperture, The Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times. Ulrich has also been displayed in many museums and group and solo shows.

I am a big fan of Brian Ulriches work for many reasons. From the aesthetic to the concept, I feel very engaged with his work. I find his work very inspiring to the work I am doing and the work that I generally produce. Though Ulrich and I have vastly different aesthetic appeal, we have one underlying factor: human interaction. I think that is why I thoroughly enjoy Ulriches work. Because he appeals to my curiosity of humanity and human interaction. I really enjoy his images without people in them as well. There's something profound about the absence of human presence. It causes wonder and forces the viewer to create a short narrative about why people are not in the frame and where they might be. I have done the same in my work in the past and have contemplated doing the same in my new series. Though I feel with this series it would not produce the effect I am working for.

"...not just the changing retail landscape, but also the change in our economy and an economic model that has been in place since the mid-20th century. It's an economy based on disposable goods, and a society that has a continual influx of leisure time and cash to spend on new stuff. But things are changing and happening so fast, it's insane. Literally, timing the photography of a lot of these sites and locations is key -- the places get bulldozed."

Apple, Lauren. An Interview With Brian Ulrich. Chicagoist. http://chicagoist.com/2009/04/17/post_12.php. April 2009. Web.

"The idea went back to 2005 when I drove weekly past a large closed supermarket on the North Side of Chicago. At night the space really transformed from one of neglect and misuse to something incredibly visual that described a Rothko-esque painting space divided in three parts (parking lot, building, and sky). I spent a few nights making some photographs to try and replicate what I saw. I had been working on a larger project dealing with American consumerism, and it was no surprise to me that these spaces would fail and dwindle as fast they arise. I was in the midst of a deeper project, photographing in thrift stores and recycling shops as part of my “Copia” series, so I shelved the idea."

Samadzadeh, Nozlee. Ghosts of Shopping Past. The Morning News. http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/galleries/ghosts_of_shopping_past/ December 2009. Web.