Artist Statement

Sarah Siddons as the Grecian Daughter

William Hamilton

Sarah Siddons as the Grecian Daughter remake
Lo Kemsley

Tradgey

Lo Kemsley

Title: Sarah Siddons as the Grecian Daughter

I chose this piece because I loved how the artist made it look like she had a flash that lit her up and highlighted certain parts of her body. The story behind the photo is the subject is a famous actress in the 1700s and was playing a man's daughter who loved her very much but was sentenced to prison for crimes he never committed. Later, he was killed and that strong relationship with his daughter was broken. The play is a tragedy so I decided to play along those lines with my second piece. The train station depicted in my photo Tradgey is a "train wreck" (no pun intended) in that I feel it's a tragedy just to look at. The concept of being left alone with no one to help or protect you or even to keep you running so to speak, is what I was going for in my interpretation. The same idea of losing something great for unexplainable reasons is the idea of Sarah Siddons as the Grecian Daughter.

"Stampeder Motel Ontario, Oregon, July 19, 1979"

Artist: Stephen Shore

Title: Stampeder Motel Ontario, Oregon, July 19, 1979

Stephen Shore's photo Stampeder Motel taken here in 1979 show a different perspective on the art of photography. Almost all of Shores photos can be described as simplistic, vintage, mundane, or ordinary. The slight color mask that goes with shooting form the 1970s, which is kind of a hazy brownish color that overrules everything in the photo, gives a vintage look to this piece. On top of that there is a great one point perspective leading the eye straight to the old TV while the unique objects on and around the wall give the eye more to look at, keeping the audience engaged. 

The lighting of this photo adds to the mundane feeling. You can almost see what the rest of the house looks like just from the light source- there might be a big window to the left and the diffused light gives every object even lighting and nice shadows. This almost looks like a movie still with the way everything is laid out and set up.

As far as the content, the way it was shot is excellent. The mural on the one right side makes you feel like whoever lives there wants to get away or have some sort of scenery to look at. This gives great context to the setting. On the other wall we have dead animals which could give more meaning to where the photo takes place and who the residents are and what they like to do. The photo is almost ironic in that since it's a motel, the owners are trying to set different feelings to please the guests. The overall look and tone of the photo with the slight sepia tone and the similarly colored furniture and furnishings brings the photo together successfully. 

One word, one photo

This week's one word one photo assignment. The word was empathy

Bram Stocker's Chair Series

Artist: Sam Taylor Wood

Title: Bram Stocker's Chair Series

Sam Taylor Wood is a very unique photohgrapher. I chose this certain piece from her Bram Stocker's Chair series because it caught my special attention for several reasons. The first being her uncanny ablility to confuse the eye in what appears to be an optical illusion. You are able to see the shadow of the girl, but not of the chair. As a graphic artist I have special appreciation for this technique. I also was drawn to the use of space. The girl is closer to a horizontal position than a vertical one, yet Wood still took a portrait style photo. She was successful in maintaining all the space and balancing the white wall with the dark shadow of the girl. Also, she didn't crop anything out of the photo; the chair is almost cut off but the full figure still stands which keeps the balance of her shadow all the way on the right almost cut off. The content alone stood out the most for me. This series contains only four photos, each having a different pose with the same girl and the same chair. It's also interesting to note that in all the photos, her face is never showing. It's almost as if her shadow is showing more personality than she is. Overall, I found this entire series very interesting, creative, and innovated. Her unique use of space, contrast, and content keep the viewer engaged constantly while also providing closure to the entire photo and work. Well done!

Magic

The one word one photo assignment for this week was "Magic".

"Untitled"

Artist: Sandy Skoglund

Title: Untitled
No date specified

Sandy Skoglund, an artist from Quincy Massachusetts, has a very unique style of photography. She combines various styles of art with her photography along with brights colors and interesting subject matters. This piece, named Untitled, is one of her more political statements. Automatically the pointing rockets and the army men draw your eye to the center of the photo, however since the model is dressed in the same yellow color as the background, your eye continues to moves around the photo looking at every small detail. The fact that Skoglund hand crafts each piece out of clay amazes me. The time and effort that goes into these photos must be astounding. Though she usually only uses two contradicting brights colors in each of her photos, she is still able to keep the audience engaged with the entire work. In some of her other work, Skoglund uses animals or people each with very different expressions which adds so much character and personality to each piece. As far as the meaning of the photo, I believe it to be a very political statement perhaps on the effects of war or the fear of it on both national stances and personal, individual views. Each work can be interpreted in different ways which gives the viewer the freedom to think whatever they wish. 

Light Orbs

Thanks to Wyndham and Robert, I was able to make my own light orb tonight! I'll be redoing this project (hopefully turning it into a series), so stay tuned for that! This was super fun and it gave me a lot of ideas for future shoots. 


All I did was put a quarter on the ground, tied 2 lights to a string, set my camera to a 30 sec. exposure, and swung the lights around over the quarter while moving in a circle. It took a couple tries but I think I got it!

Shot with 50mm, f/11, ISO 100, 30 sec. exposure