Mentor update

This semester I have been meeting with André Ruesch. He has been helpful and insightful. We started off with an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of my past work. He gave special attention to my overall vision bringing out both the strengths and weaknesses. He has directed my thinking with pointed questions that have lead to new directions and avenues to explore in my work. He pushed my self directed studio work with new specific assignments. We began getting to know each other as I shared my career and general professional goals. He has helped me greatly putting words to the concepts that I have been exploring. Though our conversations,
Here are some of his thoughts from my mid-term report:
"Of late Mark has engaged in more conceptualized work, leaving the camera on a tripod and capturing images via time-lapse settings. This approach is interesting in that it automates and mechanizes the capture of photographs. It represents a form of empowerment by employing the same observational tactics that capture all of us on security cameras multiple times each day as we go about our daily business. Mark takes this further by deciding on the staging, the canvas in a manner of speaking, and then abdicates control by letting the preset time-lapse intervals impose the regimented rhythm of advancing time to inform his work and his viewers. The implications of abdicating authorship at a certain point are rife with questions about control, the illusion thereof, and the prized photographic “decisive moment” heralded as the ultimate measure of a good street/ documentary photograph and beyond. Still, though very interesting, the lack of authorship represents certain challenges. It is the quality control, or in Mark’s case, conceptual, editorial and sequential decision-making where his ownership re-engages.
Having photographed the outside of things, documented and interpreted them, Mark is interested in addressing the personal and psychological this semester. The dichotomy between the two, the assumption of authorship, and ultimately the integration of these approaches as a sustained inquiry rather than compartmentalization have been central to our dialogue so far."
One aspect that I have been challenged to do is to be more considerate of the place and context where I place my camera for collecting images. The images need to be more compelling with a tighter edit. I need to decide on my authorship and commit to it with deliberate intent. The viewer can't be left with too little. As I approach documentary photography in a new way, I need to find one aspect of concern and if need be, discover this as an editor.
I also discussed with André how I feel like I have two different sides to my practice as an artist. On the one hand I have an interest in documentary, portraiture, and the social practice. On the other hand I have a deep desire to seek and create meaning through a process of internal intuitive exploration. He gave me an assignment to find images of photographers that resonated with me on each side of the spectrum.
It was really interesting to plum the depths of my photo history knowledge to discover how certain photographers have influenced my thinking and my work.
Below are some of the pairings that I considered:

 

  

  

Gold to Blue

I'm exploring the opposite side of the spectrum, moving away from the street and society to look at the simple aesthetics of the changes of light. Below is a 30 sec loop exploring the passing of the "golden hour" into the "blue hour" shot from 30,000ft.

Narrative

I picked out some images from a time lapse series that I shot and put them together into a series that I think tells a story. It may not have a beginning and end, but I think it has potential to intrigue the viewer.

Crops

I've been thinking about how to proceed with further work and one suggestion was to pick one element that interests me from the previous images.
Below are a few trials:

Sun Dial:

Lens Flare:

Work shown at the 2nd residency

Home window: Sodium vapor night, dawn, tungsten light.

This is exhibited horizontally with 1 photo taken every 6 minutes 

Sundial Intersection: Pedestrians, Traffic, Subway

Exhibited in 6x10 grid and book

And as a slideshow:

Below are the individual images:

June '14 Residency Summary

For my second residency I brought a body of work that moved in a vastly different direction from what I came with into the program. In the new series, I was interested in the camera's recording of the aesthetics of the passage of time and observing an urban environment's potential narrative. The following are the themes and issues that came up across critique sessions:

Conceptual:

• The lack of control/authorship is interesting.
• Refine the structure of the process before collaborating with other artists.
• Define the process conceptually with what I am trying to accomplish.
• There is not enough specificity.
• Define what I want to say about time, society or surveillance.

Viewer/Audience:

• How much does the viewer complete the work?
• There isn't enough payoff for the viewer.
• There is too much information.
• The series need to be translated with a focal point.
• I need to define what I want the viewer to walk away with.
• Viewers need more help to arrive at the conclusion that I desire. A title and description could be helpful. The artist statement should more effectively direct the viewer.

Display System:

• It needs to be more polished and worked out with more visual dynamism and sophistication.
• People said the book was more effective.

Moving forward:

• Continue to experiment more in different contexts.
• What really speaks to me?
• Get more complex.
• Take more risks in the location with higher stakes and a location with more meaning.
• Be accountable for everything static detail in the frame.
• Think about the installation.
• I need to engage in a process that works for me.
• I need to define my engagement in social space, whether that be with social media, a local community, or public and private space.
• What questions do I want to raise with the work?
• What is the significance of the location, time, or people?
• What is significant to me with what I'm exploring?
• What degree of engagement do I want with the people in the photos?
• Find a way to have a humanistic sense with generosity and community.

Artists:

Julia Cher, Robert Frank, James Bolog, Jan Dibbets, Roberth Smith, Pierre Huyghe, Zoe Leonard, Richard Mizrat, Sophie Calle, Trever Paylon, TJ Wilcox, Martin Kersels, Alan Sekula Soo Kim, Louis Boltz, John Dicola, Philip LiCordia, Teh Ching Shih, Dan Graham, Nakahira Takuma, Theaster Gates,

Rick Lowe, Steven Berens, Ed Ruscha, Roland Barthes “Mythologies”, Judith Williamson “Decoding Advertisements”, Structuralist photography, Serial photography, Harun Farocki, Carol Squires “What is a Photograph?”, Wolfgang Staehle.

Semester #1 Summary

After the first residency there were a lot of issues to sort out, dealing both with my personal work and in general with the medium of photography. Being confronted with these issues that before I brushed off, led on a path to seek out a dialogue and revisit both foundational texts on photographic criticism and current day, postmodern issues around photography. Ideas that were of particular interest were photography's relevance to social practice, the believability of the photographic image, and the relationship of photographers to their subjects. My artist mentor for the semester was Christine Collins. She has been really insightful directing me to artists and articles related to my work. Her critiques have pushed me to think about the questions that come up in each series I pursue.

In my studio work I began by taking street portraits on the fourth of July. This was an emotionally charged public gathering after the Boston Marathon bombing. Among the crowd of thousands, I decided that I would ask everyone that was wearing an American flag if I could take their picture and allow them to present themselves as they wish. This was a good exercise to make some portraits within a system set up for myself. One particular striking image was of two arab young women covered with patriotic symbols. Other days I spent many hours on the streets of Boston and Cambridge, but there was not a lot that caught my intuition. While I am still interested community portraiture, I became interested in exploring new ideas and directions after synthesizing the critiques from the residency and exploring the issues that were brought up in my research.

One project that I pursued is to set up a camera in a highly trafficked public space and to take a time lapse series. The images were immediately uploaded to a Facebook page. The technical aspects took a lot of trial and error to find the right combination of programing. For several sessions, I set this up in the storefront window of the Cambridge community access television station. In the window there was a computer monitor with a timer and the last image that was shot. This allowed people to be aware of the camera and know when a picture would be taken. Ideally I wanted to slowly fill a gallery until every inch of space was filled with thousands of photos and have a gallery opening where the public would be welcome to come and receive the photos. My mentor encouraged me to just go for it and not worry about the end result. The results were not as I had expected. Most people passed by with out noticing or caring about the camera, and the social media aspect did not develop much traction. It could be that I need to work on better signage or publicity. Also I need to experiment with other places and possibly leave the camera for a longer time.


In addition to leaving the camera with a sign and timer, I also experimented with placing the camera in other situations without letting people know about the camera. The images show a public urban environment over time. The most aesthetically interesting aspect for me was the passing of day to night and night to day.

For my final meeting with Christine, I brought 122 prints from four different series of the project that I have been focusing on this semester. We reviewed many of the issues that we discussed in passed sessions including the idea of authorship, surveillance and privacy. Phillip-Lorca diCorcia series “Heads.” is good to contrast my work against. We discussed titling and different ways the viewer would react to the pieces. In my series of images there are hints of narratives with a visual conversation about the light. The works leave the viewer with questions with of what appears in the images and questions about what continues in the incomplete information of the set of images. Two other photographers that have elements of time in their work are Nick Nickson and his yearly photo of the Brown Sisters and the self portraits of Karl Baden.

We discussed exhibition options with huge prints of color fields and other walls with grids. We also talked about how to bring particular attention to a set of images in a series by moving away from a straight line of frames. There are layers of experiencing the work with a controlled and prescribed way of looking. There is an embedded anticipation about what will happen next. In one of the series I used a heavier edit with less images to push forth a narrative. We both felt that it was not as strong as the other systematic series. We discussed other places and ways to continue the project. I tried it at the ocean, but it seemed too simply about aesthetics. In urban environments, the stakes are different. Cambridge is where I live. I thought about exploring places where something of interest happened and looking at that place for an hour. Also would it be possible to bring my interests in documentary and portraiture into this project?




Artist Statement:

What does an hour look like? This series of work explores the passing of time in urban environments. After choosing a location and setting the camera to capture images on an interval, the camera is left without my intervention. Reflecting on the body of images produced, I am interested in the narratives that develop as time passes with people, cars and light moving through the chosen space. Privacy, public spaces and surveillance are some of the issues that the viewer encounters.

Each work is a series of images showing changes in the view over time bringing out the observational, potential narratives and simple aesthetics in the changes of light. Time becomes visible.







Bibliography:
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. Dir. Alison Klayman. Expressions United Media, 2012. Netflix.

“AP News Values and Principles.” Associated Press. Web. 2013.

Augscholl, Daniel and Jashbar, Anya. “Interview with Judith Joy Ross.” Ahorn Magazine. 2011. Web.

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang, 1980. Print.

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art In The Age of Mechanical Reproduction. New York: Penguin Group, 2008. Print.

Brook, Peter. Fred Ritchin Redefines Digital Photography. Wired. Condé Nast. Web. 2 Sept. 2011.

Connor, Kevin. “What Is a Truthful Photo?” Fourandsix. Web. 21 May 2013.

Dexter, Emma and Weski, Thomas. Cruel and Tender. London: Tate Publishing, 2003. Print.

Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph. New York: Aperture, 1972. Print.

Estrin, James. The “Shame of Memory” Haunts a War Photographer. Lens. The New York Times. Web. 9 Sept. 2013.

“The Field of Social Practices.” California College of the Arts, n.d. Web. Aug. 15 2013.

Fineman, Mia. “The Portraits of Judith Joy Ross: Not Just Faces in the Crown.” The New York Times. Web. 2 April, 2009.

Gross, Frederick. Diane Artus's 1960s: Auguries of Experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012. Print.

Jones, Kelley. Dawould Bey: Portraits 1975-1995.Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1995. Print.

Kismaric, Susan. Judith Joy Ross: Contemporaries, a photography series. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1995. Print.

Loupe Journal of the Photographic Resource Center. Boston University, June 2013. Print.

Lynch, Janelle. Public Art: Its History and Reach. Loupe Journal of the Photographic Resource Center. Boston University, June 2013. Print.

Gordin, Misha. “Conceptual Photography: Idea, Process, Truth.” World Literature Today Vol. 87, No. 2 (March/April 2013)

Maenpaa, Jenni. “Photojournalism and the Notion of Objectivity.” Past,Future, and Change: Contemporary Analysis of Evolving Media Scapes. Ljubljana:University of Ljubljana Press. Online. 2013.

Mitchell, William. The Reconfigured Eye; Visual Truth in the Post Photographic Age. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1992. Print.

"NPPA Code of Ethics." National Press Photographers Association. Web. 2013.

Photographs by Iraqi Civilians, 2004. Daylight Community Arts Foundation. Petapixel. Web. 2004

Ritchen, Fred. After Photography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.

Rosenberg, Harold. “A Meditation on Likeness” Richard Avedon: Portraiture. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976. Print.

Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003. Print.

Sontag, Susan. On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. Print.

Tojner, Poul Erik. “Preface.” Richard Avedon Photographs 1946-2004. Ed. Michael Juul Holm. Humlebæk: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2007. Print.

Thurman, Judith. “Heart Shot.” Richard Avedon Photographs 1946-2004. Ed. Michael Juul Holm.

Humlebæk: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2007. Print.

Walden, Scott. Photography and Philosophy: Essays on the Pencil of Nature. West Sussex: Wiley- Blackwell, 2010. Print.

“Wendy Ewald.” Literacy Through Photography. Center for Documentary Studies. Duke

University, n.d. Web. 28 Aug. 2013

Exhibits:

Museum of Fine Arts. She Who Tells a Story: Women photographers from Iran and the Arab world, Boston, Sept 20, 2013.

Photographic Resource Center. Framed: Identity and the Photographic Portrait. Boston, Sept 21, 2013.

RISD Museum. General Collection. Providence, Nov 7, 2013.

Gallery at the New England of School of Photography. Miah Nate Johnson: Perceptions Garner. Boston, October 16th.

808 Gallery. 2013 Boston Young Contemporaries. Boston,

Boston Printmakers North American Print Biennial

Barrington Center for The Arts. Recent Work: Faculty and Alumni Exhibit. Wenham, Sept 5, 2013.

MIT Museum. Joël Tettamanti: Compass Points. Cambridge, August 15, 2013.




Artist Talks:

Mary Ellen Mark, Boston University Sept 26, 2013

Mark Dion, Boston Public Library October 29th




Also referenced:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/stunning-timelapse-video-shows-young-girl-aging-elderly-woman-article-1.1455387
http://www.thephotographsnottaken.com/
http://www.unphotographable.com/
Alec Soth: http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/niagara
http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/07/31/war-photographers
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/09/the-shame-of-memory-haunting-war-photographers/
http://mediastorm.com/clients/ripple-effect-images
Documentary on JR's worldwide collaborative project: "Inside Out: the People's Art Project."

Conscientious Photography Magazine: http://cphmag.com/

Brian Schumat's photo series: "Grays the Mountain Sends" http://www.bryanschutmaat.com/



Arnes Svenson series, "The Neighbors" http://arnesvenson.com/theneighbors.html and the following court case http://blogs.nppa.org/advocacy/2013/08/05/photographer-prevails-in-first-amendment-vs-privacy-case/
Michael Wolf's curation of google street view images. http://photomichaelwolf.com/#paris-street-view/1
documentary: "102 Minutes that Changed America"
Hitchcock's "Rear window"
http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/possibility.html#a and his book "The present" How little moments change with space and time.
Chauncey Hare, "Interior America" and "Corporate America"