Modernism: 400,000 Voltes

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Behind Stirling University

Wallace St, Stirling FK8, UK

Suchov-Sendeturm, Alexander Rodchenko

I took insperation for these photos from Alexander Rodchenko. Rodchenko explored how non-traditional angles such as high above or far below. I wanted to explore the taking pictures of pylons from underneath. The reason I chose pylons is because there made up a pattern of interconnected bars. When the photos are taken from different angles, because it's a 3 dimensional structure these bars can created different an interesting patterns from different angles. People don't usually stare up at a tall structure from directly underneath it so when pictures are taken from these odd angles it can make familiar structures look foreign, the idea of presenting something familiar in an unfamiliar is a common theme in modernism.

Modernism is known for celebrating the mundane, some examples include Twentysix Gasoline Stations which as the title suggests is a photo series of different gas stations. In Twentysix Gasoline Stations any one of the images may seem dull by its self but when faced with all the pictures together the differences and similarities between all the photos becomes more apparent and makes the photo series more interesting. This forces comparison between seemingly mundane objects is what is was going is what is was going for with the satellite dish compilation, my plan was to take pictures of dishes facing slightly different directions in order to form a circle when all the pictures are viewed together. Unfortunately though satellite dishes where common it was hard for me to find a way of taking any shots from above them, I also found that the modernist photographers who worked with photo series where predominantly from the 60s and I wanted to take my influents from the 20-30s.

Part of modernism was the rejection of realism so it is interesting that photography, something that is inherently realistic would become part of the modernist movement.  What the modernist photographers managed to do though was to reject realism by though untraditional use of prospective. Another part of modernism was the rejection of convention which poses a paradox for anyone trying to imitate modernism because are you still rejecting convention when the convention is to reject convection? Maybe modernism is just the rejection of the conventions that came before a certain time period. I suppose that’s where post-modernism comes in, but that’s another story. Alexander Rodchenko push the boundaries on more than just photography but also painting as well, his goal was to reduce reduced painting to it “logical conclusion”. In 1921 he released the first monochrome painting which consists of three solid blocks of red, yellow and blue. This was supposed to simlalize the end of painting or art in its simplest form. His pattern of reducing art could not be continued because it would case to be art, in fact many would argue that a monochrome painting already isn’t art. (Akbar 2009)


Refrentes


Akbar, Arifa. "Drawing a Blank: Russian Constructivist Makes Late Tate Debut."The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 27 Jan. 2009. Web. 03 July 2016.

Pictorialist Photography

The Flatiron, 1904 Edward J. Steichen (American, born Luxembourg, 1879–1973) Gum bichromate over platinum print via

I originally set out to create set out to create a subtle tint in order to emulate the likes of Edward J. Steichen whose photos almost look like paintings. I with obscuring pies of plastic that let very little light through. Once I started experimenting I found that the most interesting pictures were ones with bright light sources directly behind then.

Some of my first pictures where of the sun and the sky but later a found that you can also get a cool effect by simply having one source of light in a dark room. I started becoming interested in the rectangle produced by a blind or a door in a dark room. The darker room also means that the camera will have use a longer exposure which can be taken advantage of by slightly shifting the camera while taking a photo, this creates an interesting blurring effect. The longer exposure can be taken advantage of in another way to, while the photo is being taken I tried spending half a second using one filter and the other half using another filter. None of the photos I took using this strategy where particularly interesting but you can distinctly see the effects of both filters in a few of them, so I think with more experimentation it could produce a very cool effect.

I feel that although I set out to emulate pastoralist photography there was a big disconnect between my photos and pictorealist ones. I feel I became caught up just in how the filters could be used with simple lighting rather than how they could be used to enhance photography, particularly urban photography. The filters where so extreme they draw your attention to the foreground living very little attention left for the composition of the picture. It was a theme of extremes, the filters started out extreme and demanded an extreme background in order to make them interesting.

Camera Obscura Assignment: by Gabriel Keith

Glasgow




University of Glasgow, Glasgow



University Gardens, Glasgow

University of Glasgow, Glasgow

Glasgow
Because there is no zoom on the camera obscura objects in the distance appear very small.

Glasgow

Glasgow

These Images turned out surprisingly well, there was a halo effect but not to the extent that the image is completely obscured. The camera obscura's focal range seemed much smaller than that of most digital cameras and with large objects such as buildings it was often difficult to keep the entire object in focus, this coupled with the halo effect made the periphery hard to make out but left the centre visible. Because the interior box wasn't completely rectangular the plastic screen was crinkled when it was fitted into the outer box. The crinkles become more apparent when looking at the screen from an angle. Fortunately however while the viewed head on it seemed to have very little impact on the quality of the image.

I didn't resolve all the problems this time but I'm sure if I where to make another camera obscura I could have done a better job. I don't know exactly what caused the halo effect but it seemed to be a more of an issue in brighter spaces, therefore I theorize that if a small piece with a hole was fitted on the front end over the lens it would have produced a more balanced image. The crinkling is a simpler problem to fix, if the interior and exterior chambers had been exactly the same shape only on a different scale the screen wouldn't have been distorted when they where fitted together.

Understanding the camera obscura helped me understand the history of photography and the pursuit of capturing images. The camera obscura was first invented by Ibn al-Haytham in the 10th century and it was used to further our knowledge how light works. In the 16th the pinhole was replaced by a lens which allows the camera obscura to produce both a clear and bright image. It's widely speculated that painters in the 17th century that it's used the camera obscura to create very realist paintings (Jelley 2013). I believe the camera obscura was fusion of elements from scientist and of art. Both scientist and artists seek to understand the on some deeper level scientist want to understand the way light works and artist want to understand the way prospective works, which are really only two sides of the same coin. I believe both were drawn to the camera obscura because it offered it's self as a tool to understand the world. Artiest such as Johannes Vermeer where able to use the camera obscura as a soled foundation for there masterpieces and scientists such as Giambattista della Porta where able to uses the concepts behind the camera obscura to understand the human eye.

The camera obscura was vital to the development on modern day cameras, although the obscura is a functioning device in its self it's also possible to think is it as an incomplete camera. All the concepts of using a lens to project an inverted copy of an image are the same, what separates an camera obscura from a camera is a photographic plate or some kind of recording medium. In the 17th century that recording medium was a human painter but today we can do it with an electronic device but the goals haven't changed, that is to preserve reality in a image.

Jelley, Jane. From Perception to Paint: the Practical Use of the Camera Obscura in the Time of Vermeer. Oxford: Brill, 2013. PDF.