Assignment 5: Virtual Essay
1. Select a photographer.
2. Find images in his/her style
3. Post the images and links to the images of the selected photographer on your site.
4. Post the images and links to the images of the followers on your site (five or more).
Theme:
Surrealistic Photography
Selected Photographer:
Robert and Shana Parkeharrison
Photographers selected as followers:
Thomas Barbey Rodney Smith
Tommy Ingberg
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Examples of works with comparison.
(Provided is a short comparitive statement about each work.)
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(1)
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Flying lesson (2000)Robert & Shana ParkeHarrisoncompared with
(Suggestive of Liberation with consequences. This image is in extreme opposition with its comparison above and seems to suggest true and complete liberation. However there is the free fall that suggests consequences to too much freedom.)
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(2)
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(Procession) Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison
"Suggestive of uncontrolled flight the subjects showing a desire to steady their vantage but unsure of where to drop anchor"compared with,
(Blown away) Thomas Barbey
"I think it indicates a desire to take flight, perhaps suggesting that these are the same men who later sought to land in the comparison above"
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(3)
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Study for the Lesson (1995) Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison
"The subject is listening to his environment."
Unnamed by Tommy Ingberg
"In a similar vein to the comparison above save for the fact that the listener seems more eager, while his environment isn't as vocal as it was before."
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(4)
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Tethered Sky (2004) Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison
"The weight of the land keeps the subject from the freedom of the heavens."
"The weight of the land keeps the subject from the freedom of the heavens."
Unnamed by Tommy Ingberg.
"Again the subject is kept from floating away to freedom. Note that his choice of transport are balloons rather than clouds and though the weight of the land has been reduced to a single rock, it is just as effective.
Also the subject isn't struggling to break free.
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Also the subject isn't struggling to break free.
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(5)
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The navigator by Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison.
The subject looks for his destination above the clouds using a simple instrument (sextant) (simple compared to present day navigation tools)
The subject looks for his destination above the clouds using a simple instrument (sextant) (simple compared to present day navigation tools)
Unnamed by Rodney Smith
The same suited subject now seated comfortably on the ladder has traded his sextant for a pair of binoculars.
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Photographer bio's
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Chosen photographer:
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Robert and ShanaParkeharrison -
Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison began collaborating on photographs shortly after graduate school, when they began constructing and choreaographing scenarios about mans affect on the landscape. In these stagings, Robert would dress in a black suit and starched white shirt – often referred in the press as Everyman – and interact with the land, creating environmental performances [1]
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Followers:
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Thomas Barbey:
Traveling photographer Thomas Barbéy uses his keen, artistic eye to see the world a little differently than the rest of us. Along his travels, Barbéy proceeds to capture a variety of scenic images, still life, and portraiture, mixing and matching them all into some wildly creative composites. His resulting manipulated photo montages reveal a new world that feels both familiar and unusual. [2]
Rodney smith:
Rodney Smith graduated from the University of Virginia in 1970. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity in Theology from Yale University in 1973. While at Yale, Rodney also studied photography under Walker Evans. [3]
Tommy Ingberg:
Tommy Ingberg is a passionate Swedish photographer working primarily in black and white and is fond of creating surrealistic montages, which he often creates after photographing in his studio. [4]
5. Explain the similarities and differences between the photographs of the followers and the work of the selected photographer.
The main similarity between the photographs is that they are all taken in black and white.
Their subject is a man in a suit (save for one photograph where there are several men, though they symbolize a single subject as a collective)
Also the environment has significant impact on the state of the subject. This impact can be immdiately identified as being surpressive and isolating though the narrative created is, as a whole, open to interpretation of the viewer.
The photographs utilize the black and white medium to convey a sense of contrast and depth, the subject stands out as the focus of the photographs and as the center of the narative which the photographs seek to weave.
There are many differences in the degree of surrealism that the photographers seek to evoke through the photographs.
As far as the images of Robert and ShanaParkeharrison go, they prefer to utilize simpler compositions with little or no technical photomanipulation.
Their subject "the everyman" is a slave to his environment always striving to break free, or healing it of industrial abuse.
This is echoed in their own reasoning as
"These (our) surreal images addressed issues about the earth and mankind's responsibility to heal the damage he has done to the landscape.
Often acting as earths protector, healer and communicator, Everyman used low tech instruments, creating settings more akin to cinema than the family photo album." [1]
6. Explain why you believe that the followers were impacted by the selected photographer
7. You must explain the most important aspects of the work of the selected photographer through the images of his/her followers.
The significance of their work is emphasized further by comparing their distinctive reasoning behind the capture as opposed to the vision of their followers.
The reasoning Robert and ShanaParkeharrison is defined principally in the ethical and honorable purpose that fortifies the artistic composition.
It is the single most important aspect that distinguishes their work from those for their followers as described below which also underlines my selecting them as followers.
The works of Tommy Ingberg are even more simplistic in their portrayal of the solitude of the "Everyman" (or his distant relation) and utilize subtle or heavy photomanipulation to depict the the narrative in the scene.
The "Everyman" in this image isn't as affected by his environment as is seen from his lack of resistance sometimes culminating in the absence of his face and limbs.
This either signifies tolerance, apathetic acceptance or lack of awareness of the situation affecting him.
Tommy Ingberg's inspirations are books, movies and art in any form [1] He is not particularly driven by environmental hardships as are the images of Robert and ShanaParkeharrison.
As stated, "His artistic creativity strives for simple, scaled back compositions with few elements, where every part adds to the story, but where there are still gaps for the viewer to fill, many of which produce a “surrealist” end result."
Thomas Barbey chooses instead to view his compositions on a more humorous note. While his work does not focus on an interpretation of "Everyman", it does emphasize the effect of perspective within a scene establishing the enormity of the setting against a character or several characters placed within it and compelled to adapt to it.
Rodney Smith is versatile in his compositions, being described variously as a commercial, fine art and surrealistic photographer.
His works are not restricted to black and white photography, and his emphasis is again on the setting which he portrays variously emphasizing either the detail in the scene, or by presenting it with a simple prop and character with objective to complete it (as in the example)
He is known to emphasize on creating images that make little to no use of extensive photomanipulation for abstract or artistic effect.
In conclusion,
The works of these photographers are significant contributions to encourage the perceptions of the artistic eye of even the most uninitiated, broadening the scope of what purpose is to be accomplished by monochromatic visual narratives.
Sources and citations:
[1]http://www.parkeharrison.com/
[2]http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/thomas-barbey-surreal-photo-manipulation
[3]http://gedisas.wix.com/rsmith#!__home
[4]http://www.photographyoffice.com/2011/10/reality-rearranged-black-and-white-surrealist-photography-by-tommy-ingberg/
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