Sothy

So I do not know if I am just flickr-inadequite or what but I could only get the thumbnail of his image.  This was my favorite image out of every ingle photograph I have looked at today.  Between the quality of light and the earthtones I am instantly grabbed.  I feel like this suitcase was placed in someone's backyard and shot quickly- but at a closer glance I am convinced it is more thought out than that.  The camera angle puts us as viewers at eye level with this suitcase- we are supposed to feel it's presence more  so than normal.  The quality of light is not that of a snapshot at all.  The scene is well illuminated which is good because I am interested in the context of this suitcase.  It feels at home- where the image was made and where the suitcase belongs.  

This photograph is part of a story.  It not only gives us the meaning of the encounter or the focal point of the conversation- but it also creates a really nice setting.  We know now that the scene takes place over water on a bridge and this is indirectly important to the story whether the photographer knows it or not.  I also am responding visually to the horizontal ripples and the strong railing versus the vertical elements.  Plus the color seems to be working in a nondescript manner, and the division of space is refreshing.

Again i rebel against Flickr and therefore do not know how to use it.  But this image was interesting to me.  It is expressive in a documentarian way.  The text almost works better with the image- being that we learn a lot about the subject from the text.  But the image really tells us about the photographer; central/slighted/small figure, almost monochromatic, and not interesting on it's own.  That is why it goes with the text so well.  Both aspects of the piece tell us a life story about the model and the photographer.

Raw.  A person with a camera taking pictures- a person with a camera taking pictures.  One is maybe a photographer and the other one is not- or is he/she?  The line is blurred here completely and this image challenges the viewer.  If he doesn't use the strap then why the fuck does he have it on the camera?  Did the person on the left take a picture at the exact time the other person hit the shutter and fired the flash?  If so then a whole other dimension is added to this photograph that is making my head spin in an awesome way but it is too late bye.

   

Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs: The Great Unreal

These photographers work together creating odd images.  Their oddness is achieved through technical work which I like and relate to.  This one is more of an odd observation but it demonstrates their ability to speak with the language of photography.  Composition, color, crispness, and use of space all work together to tell us something about the obscurity of this scene.  They picked a perspective that insinuates something unreal- a community on a cliff.  A huge drop off by a street is unreal but with their chosen camera angle it becomes a reality.  This reminds me of the article because the idea probably came from a very simple observation- then grew into a book of cohesive beautiful work.

This image and the next one demonstrate the growth of the project.  Instead of sticking to manipulating truth through camera angle they move to technical manipulations.  But they still incorporate great use of composition, color and crispness as a control.  The variable in this photograph is the level of obscurity and truth.  Besides how this photograph relates to the article, I can relate to it with one of my projects. 

In this image the project grows even further and the photographers do not shun it.  This photograph does not have the quality that the others do as far as exposure and composition- but it is heavily manipulated.  The effect and the meaning of the project is hammered into the viewers mind and now we get it.  We understand the project and we understand the photographers are very open-minded to changes for the better.  Onorato and Rebes allowed their project to change in many different ways, however, the meaning of the project remained stable.

This is some other work that illustrates their oddness.  This photograph makes it clearer to understand the different paths the above project went down.  Untraditional might be a good word- but still excellent photographers who know what they are doing technically and conceptually.

Here is their skill level to say the least.  I think they are awesome and this photograph definitely proves that if the others do not.  Color relationships are pretty powerful in this photo and the composition is strong.  And in a weird way the bed and the figure have this similar stillness to them.  They are both horizontal elements in similar spots and the frozenness of the figure seems to relate to the bed.  This idea reminds me of the Great Unreal project.  The fact that we know that figure is in motion yet in the photograph it is frozen.  Manipulating truth with the camera to make an amazing photograph is very interesting to me- and these guys do it very well.