Critique Comments

Nina Kania: In critique I really liked the idea of describing her pictures as the "domestic landscape." Since the last critique we had, she really narrowed down her focus on what textures she wanted to use, which has helped to strengthen her idea. I love the close cropping and beautiful lighting and I feel she captures quite nicely, those moments in the morning lying in bed, thinking about your day, which I feel everyone can relate to.

Kristin Furbeck: I really like that Kristin decided to shoot medium format for her project because the intense detail you can achieve is very beneficial to that way that she depicts the body. During her critique we discussed the idea of prints versus using a slideshow in which Megan brought up the idea of how a good print can speak for itself. It seems that we can get so caught up in making things bigger and flashier that we forget about the basics. It will be interesting to see what she decides, but I feel that the prints will be effective paired with the audio of people describing what exactly it is about the body. I feel that it does not matter whether it corresponds to each picture perfectly because as you listen it can help to almost narrate where you are looking at the wall--I like the idea of the viewer having to look for the photograph that they are hearing about.

Memories

“Most of the time, people want to believe they remain the same, but sometimes they also want to believe they have changed, and they shuffle and edit the facts in their memory to fit whichever belief is more relevant.”

Baumesiter and Bushman

These are photographs tied to my memories. In the prints, the squares are physically cut out and are meant to be aesthetically displeasing, or even awkward. My intention was to obstruct your view and ruin the cohesiveness of the photograph. I took out what I felt were essential details forcing the viewer to see what they want to see by either filling in the blanks, or projecting their own memories into the images.

Carlos Chavarria

"The term 'Downtown' designates the central area of the large American cities...and where all realities coexist within the same city."

link

Some Final Images

A glimpse at the last few images I'll be adding to the book, which I will be ordering momentarily.

Critique March 4, 2011

I feel as if I am coming upon the final stages of my Thesis project.

For critique I presented a preview of the book I want to have printed to go with my installation.

My critique group agreed upon how I had it set up and the general order, however it was suggested that I try a white background and that I try making the photos full bleed.

Since Friday I have changed a few things about my book. Here I have two versions...a white background and a maroon/dark reddish color. I realize that on a screen the maroon looks nice, however in book form I realize that white is the standard color and may look better. My problem is that I don't like how the warmth of the majority of my photographs (the reoccuring wood particularly) contrasts against the white. Even in first version of the book I had a warm color, which I feel enhances the warmth. Also, I don't really like how the letters that I have collected contrast with the white, but that could easily be fixed by placing a slight boarder around the notes. I wasn't a fan of the full bleed image, but I settled on making it bigger, which I really like.

Also, suggested was that I don't install it with the wood panelling, which I am agreeing with after hearing several times because it is going to get repetitive as well as be a bit too much. My idea to use the end table from my house was well received and some suggestions were to add a chair as a way of inviting people to sit down and read the book.

Another part of my installation was to have 4 photos hanging on the wall to go with the book, but after some discussion I am going to play with the idea of the book existing on its own without the photographs. However, some of the photographs that I found were very strong are not included in the book, so I was considering having those as opposed to making reproductions of images already in the book.

Critique was actually really helpful. I was beginning to stress out a lot over my project, but I feel that it has clarified where I stand with my project and it seems to just be a matter of making final decisions and tying up loose ends.