Traditionally, photographs and photography are linked to the idea of recording some person, place, or event. As such, the photograph is often used as a documentary tool to record the things that they witnessed and many would believe photography to be an objective eye. I would argue, though, that photography has always been subjective, and influenced by the choices made by the photographer - such as framing, point of view, cropping, and context - in addition to overt manipulation in the darkroom. With the advent of digital imaging, people are becoming more aware that photographs can be manipulated, and that when viewing a photograph, we need to consider the point of view and biases of the photographer to fully understand it.
Photographer Pedro Meyer proposes that the digital medium gives photographers an opportunity to "revise" and “complete” the moment. Meyer argues that each of us sees events and form impressions, and photography gives us the tools to show others what we saw. He then extends that to say that digital tools allow us to assemble our individual visions in a way more meaningful than just “capturing” events as they unfold.
As an alternative to Henri Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment," a prescription for optimal capture that requires the awareness of a Zen master and the reflexes of a gunfighter, Meyer proposes an elastic "digital moment," with limitless opportunities for revision. In Meyer's infinite moment, an image can be tweaked forever, or until it meets its creator's minimum spec as a fair and accurate representation of reality. And in Meyer's view, spliced images that join elements from different timeframes come close to representing how our brains assemble reality.
A key element of Meyer's vision, though, is the idea of a "fair" and “accurate” representation of reality. For him, it creates a "moment that never was" but it is still grounded in the reality of that situation by expressing how the vision of the creator. According to Meyer, you must trust the creator, "not the medium."
The theme of
your project is Popular Culture, which asks you to explore
your relationship to contemporary lifestyle and cultural objects in the
United States. Also consider cultural patterns that are widespread within
our society. Each of these final images should get at your understanding
of a given situation within popular culture and explore the idea of "truth"
in photographs.
For the project, I'm asking you to consider all of these ideas and make
a series of images that appear to be photographic, but have been subtly
manipulated by combining different elements. Each image should combine
at least three different elements to create a new image. The images should
be seamlessly blended using all of the techniques in Photoshop that we
have been discussing to date. YOUR IMAGES MUST APPEAR TO BE PHOTOGRAPHIC.
You are required to generate all of your own imagery for the
project; do not use net images.
You will submit
three matted prints for this project. All prints must be window matted
and submitted in a portfolio container.
Deadline: Monday, April 21st
Related Artists
Former Student Work
Image by Ann Rotolante
Image by Adriane Hawthorne
Image by Melissa Emory
Image by Miles Pfefferle
Questions? Shoot me an e-mail.