cinco

leningradskoye optiko-mekhanicheskoye obedinyeniye

I like that the Lomo has a cultish phenomenon. Its die hard fans and followers have made the camera a part of how the look at the world around them. The spontaneous shooting that they perform to record random moments to look back on. It takes the predictability out of taking a picture and provides an random snapshot. Lomography illustrates an emphasis on recording a moment in time rather than composing a picture. The imprecise nature of the camera confines the photographer to simply let the picture occur naturally. I like how this opens up the possibilities to gain a perspective into a random moment without disturbing the environment in which it is occurring.

erik hansen

The fact that Hansen's pictures were achieved in a dark room and not with photoshop or digital manipulation is remarkable. The ambient lighting that he is able to create gives it a quality of another world. I found the rich blacks and pure whites that he uses and the range of grays in between satisfying to see. The fact that the pictures were black and white gave it a sense of realism, but at the same time they retained a sense of wonder and question. The pictures seemed heavily produced, as there was much intentional composition in the sets that he creates. Hansen's pictures, while visually stimulating and satisfying, didn't really hold my interest for very long. I didn't feel as if they were much more than an aesthetic thrill, and a demonstration of masterful printing technique.

f i v e

fs5

times article

The article made me think about the possibilities in photoshop and the 'lies' you can create working in a digital medium. The work this semester has forced us to present these adjustments in a more subtle fashion, but working within the framework or preserving the integrity of what is represented. They are also quite different than the lies that Goldberg discusses. These are manipulations within the photo that change the picture completely. The two girls made a poor, yet innocent, attempt at tricking the viewer, and the result was not eloquent or even nearly unprecedented. I think the lies that photoshop enables the photographer to use must be entirely cohesive with the picture, or they are meaningless. There is a fine line between a meaningful lie and an error in the production of a picture. After all, a lie that doesn't fool isn't a lie at all, and one that doesn't have meaning isn't necessary.