In this weeks class we learned about the art form of digital photography from professor Craig Hickman.  Before going into this I viewed digital photography as photos being printed from a digital camera.  I never thought that by putting in text and editing photos would still be considered digital photography.  When I hear the word photography I think of the raw print and seeing the photo not go through editing.  But now, I see it as an art when artists add elements to the photo.  During professor Hickman’s presentation I was honestly very confused and lost.  By seeing how the past few presentations went his was very different.  I was expecting him to explain his artist life, and then show a couple of his own work but instead he showed us work that he admired.  By showing the work of other photographers I felt a little disappointed because I wanted to see what he does and how he views the art of digital photography.  As the presentation went on some of the photographers work caught my eye but others were kind of boring.  The works that caught my eye was by Joseph Holmes, and Caleb Charland.

            I admired Joseph Holmes’s work because it captured the everyday life.  For me I think the purpose of photos is to capture moments in life that are worth remembering or makes a statement.  What I mean by makes a statement, is the photo has meaning, or an emotion being emitted from the photo. If a person who views that photo and can sense what the subject is feeling then that's a photograph.  In Holmes’s work he captures the life of hardworking average people in places who’s existence is rarely noticed.  His photo entitled NYC Xmas Tree Vendors is physically very simple, but yet so powerful.  All the photos capture a wide range of emotions. Some looked unsatisfied with what they were doing, while some looked happy and content with their job.  I thought it was really interesting how the photos were taken in a busy city like NYC but the made me think about the joy and happiness during Christmas time.  In each photo it made me think about how the simple things in life are sometimes the most important.  Without a Christmas tree, Christmas is not the same for me, I can’t imagine going home seeing no tree.  That's why I enjoyed this collection of photographs because it captured people who wouldn’t necessarily be noticed for being a powerful figure in society.

NYC Xmas Photo.

            I admired Caleb Charland’s work because not only are they really cool, but it made me think and ask a whole lot of questions.  His work captured light in ways I didn’t even know could be done.  From the very first picture I was asking How did he do that, what kind of camera did he use, where are the people, how is the light there on its own, and many more.  His photos don’t capture human emotions like Holmes but it had the same effect when viewing his work.  There wasn't one specific photo I liked because all of them were really captivating and kept me staring at it for a very long time.  I thought that his work symbolized the everyday skill of asking questions, kind of making the imaginable into something real.  Also his work uses things that people look past and don’t notice as something that can contribute to art.  It just proves that everything and anything is a form of art.

Charland's piece done with a cigarette lighter. AMAZING!

            Another artist we studied this week was Alfredo Jaar.  Jaar does installation pieces that use photography.   When viewing his pieces its obvious that he doesn’t just show the pictures as is, but he makes them into physical art pieces that the viewer can interact with.  Not only is he showing the image but also he is giving the viewer the opportunity to be in the photo and feel the emotion first hand.  In his piece entitled Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom I felt the emotions he was trying to portray.  The connection he made between the flowers placed on a graveyard and our society is just incredible.  I think he really succeeded in showing the different struggles people around the world are going through.  By using a graveyard setting, which is already powerful it and then adding the different effects affecting the flowers completed the emotion.  His work takes the photograph one step further by making it into a physical environment.

Let One Hundred Flowers Bloom by Alfredo Jaar

            Lastly, when viewing articles concerning manipulated photos and its credibility I think it brought up a really interesting point.  Are photos as real as they seem to be?  People are accustomed to believing a photograph because it's a physical object capturing still images of life.  But now with the software to edit photos, it is rare to see images in their raw state.  In the article talking about the photo of the missiles being fired, to me it looked real until I read it was fake.  It astounds me how much power this photo had, all major news companies printed this photo as being legit.  Personally I found it amusing because who ever manipulated the photo really succeeded because this person cause a worldwide commotion.  And this connects to the Dove commercial where they showed the process of retouching and how it can change a person so drastically.  Watching it at first, I thought, wow this is really interesting but then I thought about it more and it made me sad.  The reason why I was sad was that because of all these retouching and manipulating news surfacing what if the credibility of photos starts to decrease? If people start questioning photos the true meaning of photography get lost.  But yet another side of me thinks that it's an art form when manipulating photos to make people think a certain way.  It proves the power of a photograph and the capabilities it has.

            When viewing all these artists I thought about this image I manipulated two years ago.  It was during the summer before I came to college and half of my friends already left for college.  With my friends who were still home, we went to the beach and took a picture of all us together.  I later posted the picture on Facebook and one of my friends who was in college says put me in that photo, I was like ok sure.  So I photoshopped him in and then later posted it and then everyone was so confused because they thought he left.  I don't know, it's a corny story but reading how photos are so powerful and have such a high credibility this story came into my head because I experienced it first hand.  Knowing it’s not the real picture but everyone is convinced it is is really an amusing feeling. 

This was the manipulated photo. I won't say who isn't supposed to be there, but I'm sure you can guess.