Blog Post #8 Recreate

My friend who happens to do photography as more than just a hobby, took this picture of me. I wanted to use it to give the viewer the concept of :"Your Picture Here". Photography gives people, more specifically girls, the desire to be like the people in the photos they see. I didn't copy a specific pose or photo taken by a model, but rather I wanted to portray the people in society who think that professional photography is the only way to express beauty and make it seem like I had the desire to fulfill this. While working with this friend, I had asked for the pictures immediately but realized that a photographer would never give someone a photo with having edited it first. At first I couldn't understand this because I thought the concept of photography was to capture something real in front of you and make it available for others to interpret, but my friend said that the picture would only be complete after editing. Just by this, I can conclude that even to photographers, nothing is good enough with having being messed with first.  

Free Choice

The point trying to be proved is that photographers don't share or expose pictures that portray the truth of the person/object being captured. If you think about it, photography is a hobby that is intended to make pictures look nothing like they do in real life. This photo shows the process a wedding photographer makes in attempt to make the bride come across as angelic.

When you compare the two, the first looks like a picture that could have been taken with an 8 megapixel camera. In the last photo, the bride doesn't even look remotely real. It is obvious that she is airbrushed. As the pictures progress, we can see that the first contains shadows. In the second, these shadows as well as some blemishes on her face begin to disappear. By the third photo, all shadows have been removed and if you look closely, what seems to be a mole at the top right of her mouth, has been removed.

In my opinion, photography's only purpose should be to enhance the quality of a photo. Every other factor beside that is used to make the object or person look fake. This also leads to the social issue that women and young girls have this idea or picture in their heads of what beauty is supposed to look like, due to photos such as this one. A lot of times, people forget all of the editing that goes into these photos and should remember that the edited version of a photo is never the real version.

Blog Post 7: Free Choice

Focusing on the main point of this blog- real versus fake images, it becomes apparent through this image from a Dove Real Beauty advertisement that images are not always what they are portrayed as. Before I begin analyzing the image, I would like to point out the irony behind the title of the ad... "Real Beauty". Im sorry but nothing about this image on the left is real. Regardless, the image on the right side shows the woman's natural face, completely unaltered and simple while the left side of the image shows her face after being photo shopped. Personally I believe that most images are tampered with to fit what society declares as beautiful. Whether it be a picture of a flower or a portrait, these photographs are edited and cropped to glorify the actually image and depict it as something it truly is not. 

Photography is very complicated in this way. What defines something as being beautiful? The natural beauty it posses or how it is depicted after being messed with and altered? Photo shop and different editing softwares give people a corrupted meaning to what beauty is and how people should look. Referring back to the image above, specifically the left side, it is obvious that the image has been tampered with and edited. No one could ever look that flawless without being messed with. This again plays with the idea that people are given a false description of beauty. Many girls look up to images like these and desire to look like that girl. When in reality she does not exist. This image on the left is a fake girl with fake features that have been enhanced as a direct result of editing tools and photo shop techniques. 

Admittedly the image on the left is definitely more appealing that the one on the rifht. However, this idea of editing images and making them fake proves that photography is not necessarily real. 

Post 6: Remix

Many people know what occurred during the LA riots. Many people know what caused these riots. Rodney King's incident was very controversial and created an upheaval in Los Angeles. Rodney King was in a high speed pursuit and once the police were able to stop him they used excessive force to control King. He was a victim of police brutality and citizens of Los Angeles, mostly African-Americans, decided  riot when the police officers' jury was happening.

The collage of pictures that is shown here displays the different events that led to the riots and they also show the chaos of the riots. All a good story needs pictures and bias information. For example, Rodney King's incident and the LA Riots had a lot of media coverage. Therefore, there were many photographers on the streets taking pictures of the events that were happening. A good photograph is worth more than a thousand words and these pictures explain a lot of what happened during the incidents. Was a still frame of the video of Rodney King being beaten enough to start a riot? Was it a newspaper article filled with pictures able to create such an upheaval? A photographer can sway a viewer's opinion by the photographs they take. It can stir up many biases, but the photographs taken of the riots are not the photographer's interpretation of the riots. These photographs represent the reality and chaos of the LA riots. Therefore, these photographs are real.

Blog 6: Re-mix

This here, is a picture of Rosie Huntington-Whitely. A Victoria Secret Model or what most refer to her as, the current "Transformers girl". Look closely. I combined the pictures so that one side (the left) displays her made up at a formal event, and the other side (right) displays the same girl without all the makeup and glamour.

In this case, the photographer has chosen to manipulate the appearance of a person, rather than a scenery. In all cases, photographers are capable of adding effects and  convincing the viewer to visualize something that is not actually true. When compared, the bags under her eyes are gone, her tan has obtained and even glow (probably due to the lighting added to the photo) and every blemish she has, has seemed to disappear. The question that may be asked is, is the picture fake or is the model herself fake? The answer is, both. The photographer has done enough editing to make her look completely different to the person she really is. 

Post 6: Re-Mix

This is a photograph goes against conventional ideas of what photography is. This image shows a photo within a photo and also plays with different techniques. The idea behind this image is to focus on a small part of a greater picture. These photographs are of the same scene but presented within one another to show depth as well as focus and color. 

A typical photograph would simply depict any scene with a single shot photo that focuses on one subject. However, the blending of the same picture onto another plays with the viewers emotions and seems to make them step back and look at the picture as a whole. Not only was the technique manipulated, but so were the colors. The image in the foreground is in color while the background image is black and white. The purpose of this is to show how photographs can easily be altered to fit the artists desires. Therefore proving that photography is not always real and it could easily be manipulated in any way. 

Post 5: React

This photograph was taken by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. The photograph is known as Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. It displays five U.S. Marines and a Navy Corpsman raising the United States flag on the summit of Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. People may believe that only one flag was raised that day, but that is not true. A first flag was raised prior to this one. A few hours later the second flag (shown here) was raised. This photograph depicts the bravery and heroism that these soldiers had. Three of the six men survived the battle to witness the fame and glory that was brought by this photograph. The photograph may be the most reproduced photograph of all time. It was the first photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year it was published. This is a true and real piece of photography.  This image would be impossible to replicate even if professional photographers tried to to replicate it. The image gives off so much emotion that it makes the viewer want to be part of the scene. It must have reached out to many Americans since it won an honorable prize the same year it was published. Since it was able to accomplish that, this image must be a real piece of photography.

Blog Post 5: React

This is a photograph captured by Richard Lam in Vancouver after serious riots spread throughout the city as a result of the tragic loss of their city team in the Stanley Cup. This image portrays a moment or serenity and passion while surrounded by utter chaos and tragedy. At first this picture looks pleasant simply because of all the bright colors and lights. However, that is not the case. After closer analyzation of the image, it becomes apparent that all those lights and colors depict angry rioters and police officers that are trying to control the scene. Additionally, the fact only the subject in this photograph is in focus but not necessarily in the middle makes it more private but prominent in capturing the essence of this special moment shared between this couple. This image illustrates the idea that even though there is all this fighting surrounding the couple, it does not stop them from loving each other. I feel as if the image is trying to explain that when you are in love, nothing else matters around you. 

Blog Post 5: Relevant Image

This is one photo, known as the end of World War II celebration kiss, that conveys an idea that photography is indeed real. One factor that supports this claim is the fact that color wasn't accessible in photos so there was no way for it to take away from the meaning of the photo. In this case the viewer could assume the photographer happened to be in the right place at the right time just by the looks of the by passer. The onlookers don't look prepared for the photographer to take the shot and seem to be in motion by the blurriness of their step. At first glance, the photo seems so natural that it gives off such a relaxing feeling and sense of hope. Because the photo is so natural I have no difficulty appreciating it -never mind the fact that any female would enjoy this because it portrays hope, love and romance. Unfortunately modern photographers are always editing photos and trying to make them appear better than what they do naturally. It could be argued that natural, or real, photography is often over analyzed and ends up ruining the true meaning behind a photo. Back then photos were taken, appreciated and open to any individual's interpretation.