Map Assignment #3

I’m not much for deep analytical thinking (especially when it comes to my photography), but for this Map Assignment, my ideas had to do with places or objects that we see or use all the time but just never think about. My two objects were either stairs or doors, I settled on doors.

We go through them all the time without really thinking about do for us or how they effect our perceptions. The doors of our homes can help us feel secure; they allow us to close out the world. We often decorate them to give outsiders the feeling that they are welcome to visit. On the other hand many business and house doors are designed or decorated to make you feel unwanted; this may or not be intentional. We go in and out of them all the time but what do you really think about the object that separates one place from another? Or may bar your entrance, or keep you safe from strangers?

All of my doors are from businesses, three were from businesses that were closed and three from the alley side of the building.

Abstract

Ab-stract (ab-strakt’)

Webster’s definition of “abstract” reads: 1. Considered apart from concrete existence. 2. Not applied or practical. 3. Thought of or stated without reference to a specific instance, the concentrated essence of a larger whole. 4. A short summary or version prepared by cutting down a larger work. 5. A statement summarizing the important points of a given text.

Wikipedia’s definition of “abstract art” reads: uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which exists independently of visual references to the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality.

Roger’s Thesaurus reads: To remove from association with. Brief, condense, unreal, obscure, abbreviate

So for me the word abstract within my own photography takes a little bit of each of these definitions. I see abstract as a way of focusing on an area within the whole. Not the whole landscape but a small area within, not the whole building but a section of the window etc. Showing a concentrated area of a whole.

Influence - Bruce Barnbaum

Bruce Barnbaum is what I would call an old school photographer. He only uses a large format camera (never digital) and 8x10 film (almost exclusively black and white). He is a master printer in the same vein as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. He started photographing as a hobby and then made it his life’s work, he is also an environmentalist.

He and his wife live in Washington and travel all over the world photographing. A lot of the time they hike and camp out some where he thinks would be a good photographic area. In my very first black and white photography class, I saw one of his “Tone Poem” books and fell in love with his work. I also realized that that was the type of images that garnered the greatest emotional response from me. I would gladly hang as many of his photographs on my walls as would fit and never get tried of looking at them.

His work inspires me to look beyond just seeing the whole of something, to look closer at the details. The lines, shapes and contrasts within the scene. My favorite past time is hiking; when I am out I always take me camera. I love nature, being out in it and photographing it. As I’m out I often think about Bruce’s work and try to pre-visualize a scene as to in some small way emulate his work, but with my own interpretation or spin. Bruce’s work concentrates on lines, contrasting elements and how the light enhances the scene. When I’m photographing I attempt to see this way, but of course never get any where close to Bruce’s expertise. If I could photograph just a third as well as Bruce I would be ecstatic.

My summer

This summer I was very busy doing a photographic documentary about a large family run hay farm. I started in mid June and didn't finish until just before school started. The farm is just outside Klamath Falls, Oregon. They recently purchased an additional 550 acres making the farm a total of 850 acres. I followed the family members around taking photographs of them working and of scenes of the fields at different stages of hay farming. You can visit the web site I created for them to view the photo gallery.
www.3mcranches.com
I hope you enjoy viewing the photographs.