Contemporary Practice

 All I know is what's on the internet. _2019 The exhibition examines the work of 11 contemporary artists and the online platforms of the internet. Digital online culture is examined and its role in regurgitating online photographic imagery.  Photography for example has reinforced our view of the world through imagery. However, the challenge of online media now is the pressure it is under to process millions of images with the constraint of time. So many images, so little time! According to the website introduction "visual knowledge and authenticity is inextricably linked to a "like" economy, subject to the (largely invisible) actions of bots, crowd sourcing workers, western tec companies and "intelligent" machines.  All I Know Is What’s On The Internet | The Photographers Gallery Kate Elliot. 2018 Points that the online exhibition examines in the role of photography, the "agency of the photographer" and the role of the viewer. An interview with Ka...

    David Tesinsky is a photographer who has taken a selection of images taken in Paris. What is striking, especially in one of Europe's most affluent and culturally diverse cities is the amount of poverty in plain view. He creates an interesting duality of poverty and wealth in the same place.  Some time ago, he did some photographic work in Japan in slums. These were areas that the tour guides working for these cities tend to swerve and avoid. Tesinsky paints a disturbing but all too real view of our major cities in the C21.  David Tesinsky.  Photographer David Tesinsky captures powerful photos of poverty in Paris | Metro News According to the photographer " The most shocking moment for David was when he pictured a woman lying at the bus stop. She was cradling a baby and eventually let David come closer."  David Tesinsky.  Photographer David Tesinsky captures powerful photos of poverty in Paris | Metro News Such images show a...

 Roland Barthes-Camera Lucinda Reflections on Photography.  In reading Reflections of Photography, it is clear that the author is approaching the subject from a sociological perspective by breaking the whole process down of creating an image. Those engaged in the process are  1 The operator takes the image 2 The spectator is the viewer 3 The target is the person being photographed.  He explains he is not an armature or professional photographer in any way. He explains however the "chemical order of light on certain substances" and the effect of "images through an optical device"(Reflections of Photography). Every aspect of the process including the process of taking an image is referred to in scientific language. He sees that when a target is photographed by the operator, the target knows they are about to be photographed and react in anticipation. His view is this creates an unrealistic view compared to that of art. Where the artist is ...

 In Susan Sontag's essay On Photography, she recognises that photographs provide people (of all classes in society) with knowledge about the past and the present. She states it is more reliable than prose as it is "an interpretation" (Susan Sontag on Photography) where the image represents as she puts it "pieces of the world" Her view is one of an egalitarian practice that anybody with a camera can engage in and anybody can buy. Also, anybody can view an image, unlike some paintings that are locked away by the owners.  Sontag sees photographers as having the ability to manipulate an image to convey a standpoint.  For example, members of The Farm Security Administration Project (1930s) members Dorethy Lang and Russel Lee et al "would take dozens of frontal pictures of one of  their sharecropper subjects until satisfied that  they had gotten just the right look on film-the  precise expression on the subject's face that ...

                      Benjamine Walters-The Work of Art in its Technological Reproduction.  Walters, in his book above, talks about reproduction of art. He insists that to some degree, reproduction has taken place in the past of art such as woodcutters, copying wood statues. However, since the birth of the photograph in the nineteenth century, reproduction has become more popular.  With the birth of film and sound recording, the practice is extremely common.  Walters talks about the intrinsic value of the original, in a time of reproduction. He argues however that reproduction of a painting for example, does not affect the value of the original painting. He states that the history of a painting such as ownership, impacts on the intrinsic value of the painting. The price of a painting increases by where the painting is such as a gallery or stately house.  In terms of the system that allows...

 John Berger in his essay Understanding a Photograph outlines his view of photography being compared or equal to fine art of the Renaissance. He advocates photography is not a fine art such as works of the Renaissance but an activity that requires some recognition as an activity. His view is one which is a pragmatic stance as he sees the popularity of photography due to it outliving painting as "we think of it in Rennaissance terms".   Berger argues also that unlike the scarcity of a painting, photography can be replicated over and over. This means that there can be thousands of copies of one image-thus contributing to the intrinsic worth of a photo being 0 .  He argues that photographs are "records of things seen" (Understanding Photography). However, Berger agrees with the move that galleries now exhibit photographic works and recognise it in an artistic canon on its own.  The photo, as Berger argues is a recording of a particular event whe...

 We were asked to look at a series from John Bergers ground-breaking 1970s series Ways of Seeing. We looked at episode 3 which looked at our response to fine art of the Renaissance to the art of the mid C20 from Britain and Nazi Germany. Both claimed to be high art, which was of a high moral standing but, in reality, the Nazi orchestral music was derived from propaganda and had a function of influencing the people in Germany while Germany was at war. Berger concluded that we have to search for a motive in any artform to conclude its intentions.  Another example was paintings such as Hans Holbein's The Ambassadors, this painting shows two ambassadors-both French, both are rich and in powerful positions. The iconography of the objects placed in the picture show them engaged in colonial conquest and spreading the Christian religion and values throughout the new conquered territories. Such objects as a globe, seafaring items and books left open meaning spreading ideas and knowledg...

 Matthew Finn. According to  Proximity - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms | Vocabulary.com  proximity means "   nearness or closeness" through being in close contact and having with  the subject, the photographer is able to create intimate images which show a personal relationship where the guard is down. This is clear in the following images by Martin Finn and others.  Today we looked at the work of Matthew Finn. He is notable for doing portraits of individuals- most notable however, a selection of images which document the later years of his late mother. Matthews mother sadly declined over this period into dementia-this was documented by Finn over the years.  Finns mother in relatively good health. matthew finn photography - Bing images As time went on, the images take on a sad appearance of his mum becoming more ill. This is emotional not only for the photographer, but also the viewer, who sees at first hand the savage decline of Finns mother...