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."

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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.

More Houses

And more questions. I have been shooting in plenty of homes, but I still have not really answered: what is the question that I am asking my photographing these homes?

I figured that as I kept going the question would more or less answer itself, but not yet. 

And so I move on to more houses.

Simon Menner: Images from the secret STASI archives

"Sure, we all know what an image taken by a surveillance camera looks like, nevertheless I thought that there must be more than this. In a catchphrase: I was wondering, if Big Brother watches you, what does he see?"

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Critique Feburary 4, 2011

More or less I feel that critique was a wake up call to the fact that I should not feel so comfortable with the status of my thesis project because there is still work to be done.

For critique, I showed all the photographs that I have selected and edited for my thesis. It was the first time I had seen all of them together and in a lot of it is a matter of narrowing down what use. I presented my idea of displaying my work as an installation of 4 photographs hung on wood the same wood paneling that is familar to many of my pictures and one very good point was brought up: the idea that creating an installation would take away from the meaning, intimacy, and focus of the photographs making it more about the space as opposed to my father because the space that I am recreating already exists in the photographs, which I never really thought of before. Some considerations that were recommended were possibly printing on different objects that might be meaningful to my relationship with my dad and including old photographs of him, but generally that I need to rethink things.

With those photographs I also showed some experimenting with photographing objects that my dad owns or collects, which might be useful with text, however, I shot them on backdrops as opposed to in their actual spaces. I'm scrapping this idea more or less. I'm annoyed at myself for having wasted time setting things up, but now I am going to focus 1) On more meaningful objects and 2) on photographing objects in their own spaces. When I look at it now I don't quite understand why I did it, I suppose when considering making a book I was planning on captioning, so I was hoping I could possibly write about the meaning of this object to my father. However, I showed my dad the pictures and he couldn't really remember where he got any of these objects except the ship clocks... Another suggestion for the book portion of my project was the idea of it being hand made--when I think of it existing as a book I cannot help to refer to Phillip Toledano, who's book Days with my Father is very clean cut and "commercial." I like the idea of making it by hand as opposed to sending it away and having it printed professionally. It would contribute to its meaning, exemplify the relationship I am trying to capture more, and add to the idea of memories and remembrance.

Basically I have some organizing and deeper thinking to do.