"Identity, Mediated"
Paired up randomly, students take two pictures to represent their partners after interviewing each other.
The black & white portrait imitates the style of one of the following photographers whose work we have discussed in class: Julia Margaret Cameron, David Octavius Hill, Oscar Gustav Rejlander, Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Etienne Carjat, or Gaspard Félix Tournachon Nadar. Students choose their own style and approach they deem appropriate to portray their partners in the color picture.
Students are encouraged to use the essay to help the viewer understand who their partners are, or the essay can even contradict the way their partners are portrayed in their photographs. Alternatively, the photographs and words can give their partners a constructed identity that might be different from their own perception.
*Students: when commenting on the b&w pictures, think about whether or not the evocation of a specific photographer's work is successful. Consider how much effort the photographer/model put into staging the shot (dress/costume, props, lighting, etc.) and what you think should have been done to make the picture better. Consider the composition, contrast, saturation, and image/text relationship when commenting on each photograph.
(Note: the texts and comments have not been redacted, edited, or corrected for typos or errors)
Paired up randomly, students take two pictures to represent their partners after interviewing each other.
The black & white portrait imitates the style of one of the following photographers whose work we have discussed in class: Julia Margaret Cameron, David Octavius Hill, Oscar Gustav Rejlander, Matthew Brady, Alexander Gardner, Etienne Carjat, or Gaspard Félix Tournachon Nadar. Students choose their own style and approach they deem appropriate to portray their partners in the color picture.
Students are encouraged to use the essay to help the viewer understand who their partners are, or the essay can even contradict the way their partners are portrayed in their photographs. Alternatively, the photographs and words can give their partners a constructed identity that might be different from their own perception.
*Students: when commenting on the b&w pictures, think about whether or not the evocation of a specific photographer's work is successful. Consider how much effort the photographer/model put into staging the shot (dress/costume, props, lighting, etc.) and what you think should have been done to make the picture better. Consider the composition, contrast, saturation, and image/text relationship when commenting on each photograph.
(Note: the texts and comments have not been redacted, edited, or corrected for typos or errors)
Kathryn P.
More to Matt than a Moment
In a portrait, I have captured him as he is in that moment. By that medium he remains imprisoned from the future and suspended from his past; existing only in a moment that is not accurately “now,” but seemingly so, as he is maintained in portraiture in a perpetual sort of presence. And so I may say, “This is the man. This is Matt.” But this is all too obvious and all too prone to fallacy.
This cannot be true because this one moment is not the man, this one moment is not Matt. This is Matt at a moment, but there is more to matt than a moment. For in believing that I have captured him, and viewing all that the portrait conveys, you cannot know the man, but you can know Matt in that moment. Optimistic, carefree, easy going, present, radiant.
The naïveté lies in hope that the man can be captured in a moment. However, Matt is more than a moment, he is a series of moments always in motion – becoming, disappearing, evolving, conforming, breaking free. Even if the moments appear to yield the same Matt, know that there is more than one thing that can make this man’s eyes smile…an awkward situation, being home in Modesto with friends and family, studying neuroscience, or playing Counterstrike. There is more than one thing that can make him turn inward. There are millions of memories accumulated in 25 years of life that only Matt has access to. Matt, the man, whom you only have access to in that moment. Has he carried the entirety of his life and himself into that moment? – No. Not this man.
And so in a moment you may have captured Matt, but trust that there is more behind this man, more that can be seen in a moment.
More to Matt than a Moment
In a portrait, I have captured him as he is in that moment. By that medium he remains imprisoned from the future and suspended from his past; existing only in a moment that is not accurately “now,” but seemingly so, as he is maintained in portraiture in a perpetual sort of presence. And so I may say, “This is the man. This is Matt.” But this is all too obvious and all too prone to fallacy.
This cannot be true because this one moment is not the man, this one moment is not Matt. This is Matt at a moment, but there is more to matt than a moment. For in believing that I have captured him, and viewing all that the portrait conveys, you cannot know the man, but you can know Matt in that moment. Optimistic, carefree, easy going, present, radiant.
The naïveté lies in hope that the man can be captured in a moment. However, Matt is more than a moment, he is a series of moments always in motion – becoming, disappearing, evolving, conforming, breaking free. Even if the moments appear to yield the same Matt, know that there is more than one thing that can make this man’s eyes smile…an awkward situation, being home in Modesto with friends and family, studying neuroscience, or playing Counterstrike. There is more than one thing that can make him turn inward. There are millions of memories accumulated in 25 years of life that only Matt has access to. Matt, the man, whom you only have access to in that moment. Has he carried the entirety of his life and himself into that moment? – No. Not this man.
And so in a moment you may have captured Matt, but trust that there is more behind this man, more that can be seen in a moment.
Kathryn P.
More to Matt than a Moment
In a portrait, I have captured him as he is in that moment. By that medium he remains imprisoned from the future and suspended from his past; existing only in a moment that is not accurately “now,” but seemingly so, as he is maintained in portraiture in a perpetual sort of presence. And so I may say, “This is the man. This is Matt.” But this is all too obvious and all too prone to fallacy.
This cannot be true because this one moment is not the man, this one moment is not Matt. This is Matt at a moment, but there is more to matt than a moment. For in believing that I have captured him, and viewing all that the portrait conveys, you cannot know the man, but you can know Matt in that moment. Optimistic, carefree, easy going, present, radiant.
The naïveté lies in hope that the man can be captured in a moment. However, Matt is more than a moment, he is a series of moments always in motion – becoming, disappearing, evolving, conforming, breaking free. Even if the moments appear to yield the same Matt, know that there is more than one thing that can make this man’s eyes smile…an awkward situation, being home in Modesto with friends and family, studying neuroscience, or playing Counterstrike. There is more than one thing that can make him turn inward. There are millions of memories accumulated in 25 years of life that only Matt has access to. Matt, the man, whom you only have access to in that moment. Has he carried the entirety of his life and himself into that moment? – No. Not this man.
And so in a moment you may have captured Matt, but trust that there is more behind this man, more that can be seen in a moment.
More to Matt than a Moment
In a portrait, I have captured him as he is in that moment. By that medium he remains imprisoned from the future and suspended from his past; existing only in a moment that is not accurately “now,” but seemingly so, as he is maintained in portraiture in a perpetual sort of presence. And so I may say, “This is the man. This is Matt.” But this is all too obvious and all too prone to fallacy.
This cannot be true because this one moment is not the man, this one moment is not Matt. This is Matt at a moment, but there is more to matt than a moment. For in believing that I have captured him, and viewing all that the portrait conveys, you cannot know the man, but you can know Matt in that moment. Optimistic, carefree, easy going, present, radiant.
The naïveté lies in hope that the man can be captured in a moment. However, Matt is more than a moment, he is a series of moments always in motion – becoming, disappearing, evolving, conforming, breaking free. Even if the moments appear to yield the same Matt, know that there is more than one thing that can make this man’s eyes smile…an awkward situation, being home in Modesto with friends and family, studying neuroscience, or playing Counterstrike. There is more than one thing that can make him turn inward. There are millions of memories accumulated in 25 years of life that only Matt has access to. Matt, the man, whom you only have access to in that moment. Has he carried the entirety of his life and himself into that moment? – No. Not this man.
And so in a moment you may have captured Matt, but trust that there is more behind this man, more that can be seen in a moment.
