Reading Response: ETHICS & ISSUES AROUND REPURPOSING PRE-EXISTING PHOTOGRAPHS

All of these articles reinforced the fact that it is unethical to steal other artists works. If you are using another photographers photos it is very important to give them credit for their work. I would like to think that if someone were to use my photos that they would cite my name and give me credit. While I was reading these articles I had to think about the fact that I have used so many random photos from the internet for so many projects and never cited them. I never really thought about whether or not I was stealing other peoples works. If I decide to use photos from the internet for my project or for my photobooks I will for sure give credit to the original photographer.

Brain Fittness Debreifing Resonse #5

During my time with T we talked about several of his photo albums. We talked about several of his trips and vacations that he went on with his wife and family and he showed me several albums. WE were unable to talk about the edited down photos but I did tell him that that is what we are going to go through next week. The plan for next week is to go through the top photos that I pick and talk about labels to put on them and specific memories that go with them. We will also talk about who is in each photo and where they were taken. I have decided to do one large photobook rather than doing two.

Reading Response: Editing Handout

I think that this sheet was helpful in the process of organizing my thought process when editing my photos. I like that the author called editing the creating of meaning. The author sttted out by talking about the photo taking process and about how taking a photo I see a house and that it is an expression of value.
The article then went on to talk about the methods of the photo editing process. It talked about how to make a good proof sheet and it also talked about how important it is to print out the proof sheet in order to see how the photos will print. This helps the artist to gage how the photos will be printed on larger scales. When I read this I kind of thought that it is a waste of paper to print out all the proofs but then I thought about the fact that I have had to re print my larger photos because they didn't turn out how I wanted. So, maybe next time I should print out proofs. 
The author talked about how important it is to take time to make a descent proof sheet so that you can really look through and edit all of your photos. The article also talked about the fact that you cannot just take the perfect photos but sometimes it is in the imperfections where the beauty lies. the process of making images is very different from evaluating and editing them but the initial edit is choosing what to capture. When taking a photo you want to show your intention in a photo without being too obvious or being too mysterious.

Overall I found this handout very helpful in organizing my plan for editing my photos.

Photobook Assignment #1

HUSTLERS by Eve Fowler

This book has a series of photos from the "streets". The men in these photos have a grunge look to them with a gangster feel. They are all pretty young and their photos are quite explicit. All of these guys are for sure trying to look cool in their photos either by wearing sunglasses, smoking cigarettes or being shirtless.

The photos in this book go from intense and closed off to more soft and relatable. It starts off with photos that are in black and white. This section contains a short story which helps the reader put the rest of the book into perspective. The following photos are all in color. The photos of the men start with more intense and serious photos. These photos are more closed off to the audience. Then towards the middle of the book I saw a change in mood. The photos started to look more relatable and these guys just looked like average men just living life.

Some of these photos only take up one page and then the other page is left blank and others take up a full two pages. Almost all the two page photos were taken landscape but there are a few portrait photos which were put on two pages as well.

The author also repeated similar photographs and repeated subjects throughout the book which I found very interesting. It gave some familiarity to the photos that I was looking at even though I didin't know any of these men. I think this is a good strategy to use for my photobook. I want to repeat people throughout the books in order to show familiarity. I think that by doing this I will help my partner at the Brain Fitness Club remember his family and friends.

Brain Fittness Debreifing Resonse #4

During my time with T we talked about several of his photo albums. He went through a lot of his ad ventures that he has been of and then took me through a lot of his older photos. I got to see an album with pictures from his childhood and it helped me get to know him a lot better. We bonded over many similarities in our lives and talked and laughed about some funny photos. He showed me photos of his huge family and the photos helped him start to talk about them and the stories that he has with them. He has such a large family and I fear that it will be hard for him to remember all of them in later years so I know for sure that I want to include them in the book and maybe their names and descriptions as well because I know how passionate he is about his family members.

I had a hard time deciding what the themes of the two books will be but I am starting to narrow down my topics. I am going to continue to create specific photos that I want to ask and start to narrow down the topics. The problem with this is that I am still getting a lot of new information from T about his life and there is so much that I still have to learn about him. I really want to make these photos good for him and actually useful so I am really trying to put a lot of thought into them.

Brain Fittness Debreifing Resonse #3

During my session with T, we talked for so long that I ended up being the last person to leave the facility. I enjoyed our conversation so much and I wish that we had more time to talk. T brought several photo albums to our session yet we were only able to go through one of them because he talked about each and every photo. The photobook that he showed me was of his trip abroad when he went to his sisters wedding. At first he had a hard time remembering specifics but then he was on a roll and kept talking about all the places that he saw and all the activities that he, his wife and family did. It was really cool to see!
As we were talking I would take photos of pictures that he showed me that had significant memories attached to them. I also jotted down notes of specific things that he told me. At the end of each session I look back at my notes and write down questions that I want to ask in during my next session.

Seeing Photographs Response

This reading helped give me some insight into what details I should be looking for when analyzing a photograph and it helped me think about the different strategies I can use in order to show meaning in my photos. This last week I have been having a hard time trying to convey meaning through my photographs. Reading about the different approaches then heled me to make them more meaningful. When I wanted to emphasize one thing then I would try to blur out the rest by changing the focus, or I tried to contrast different colors and changing the angels. I also thought about whether the photo would look better in color of in black and white. For the photos that were taken in my room, I worked with the different light sources. I turned my main light on and off and played with my tinkle lights in order to get the perfect lighting for my shot. After going through my photos I started thinking about how I wanted to crop some of the shots in order to get the right framing. I still have more photos to take but I am excited to work with these different approaches that I learnt about order to help with my assignment and to later on help me make my final photobook.