Work of Larry Sultan

I had never heard of this photographer, Larry Sultan before.  After looking through his work I got the sense that it was somewhat documentary.  As in he was taking in his surroundings and documenting what was happening as it was happening.  He has one series where it looks like he is documenting pornos being made.  This series, 'The Valley' has mostly photos of nude women and some men in these huge houses in California, with some film sets and what looks like directors.  He was photographing what was going on behind the scenes instead of capturing what the movie was filming, he was catching moments behind everything else.

I didn't really relate my own photography to  this series but coming across another series called 'Pictures from Home', I started seeing more things that are similar to my aesthetic.  This series includes many images mostly of Larry Sultan's parents in (probably) their home.  The first photo that caught my eye is below:

 And some more from the series:

These photographs in particular caught my eye because of their compositions, and subject matter.  Each one is weird and takes you a moment to understand what is going on in the photo.  I am not sure what Larry Sultan's process is in terms of setting photos up, I am not sure if he intentionally set all of these up, or saw something interesting happen and was just able to capture it.  But these remind me of photographs that I intend to make when I am inspired.  Sometimes I will get to a place and can't help but feel inspired and into everything I see.  And it's great if I am with someone who knows me well and who I know well because whether it's a home where someone is comfortable and doing household activities, or it is a new strange place and there is more exploring going on, I can ask that person to just do their activity and I will most likely see something they do as interesting for a photo.  It seems like in this series, Larry visited his parents in a house that he knows well and was able to just photograph what was interesting.  But each one has a strange, uncertain vibe.  The parents looking at the sunset should be soothing but because of the angle and intensity of color in the background and shocking light in the foreground, it is almost an uncomfortable photo, it's worrisome, almost like the parents are looking at a fire in the distance.  

These photographs reminded me of my aesthetic because I like to find strange shadows and juxtaposing things in an everyday action or scene that isn't always turned into an image to be seen.  Things are passed by a lot of the time and I hate passing them by.  I like seeing extreme anger and extreme happiness happen between people and capturing it.  I like seeing someone sitting in a weird way and getting it.  I like the nervousness that something weird has been captured in a camera for people to see when awkward things are not something people normally want to continue to think about.

Work of Cindy Sherman

I first heard about Cindy Sherman in the first photography class I ever took.  It was a great free summer program held in a high school in Queens, NYC.  There was a girl in the class who had been inspired by the work of Cindy Sherman for a couple of years and wanted to take self-portraits as well in her photography.  I didn't take a big interest in Cindy Sherman because I didn't really understand self-portraiture then (I only have a slightly better understanding of it now) and her photos also just freaked me out, because of the crazy colorful costumes and makeup used.  A few photos below are from the series which have a few different names after researching, but could be known as Disasters and Sex Pictures, and Myths and Fairytales.  These photos were pretty disturbing to me, but interesting.

I don't see a similarity with her color photographs to my own photography, but I really like her famous 'Untitled Film Stills' series made in the late 1970s.  This series is all black and white photos of Cindy dressed up as similar to or exact female roles from different mostly well-known movies.

I do see that in some of my work I interested in a similar thing that Cindy is portraying/showing in these photos.  I like to photograph in a narrative sometimes, because I also like to shoot video so I sometimes approach my photograph-making the same way I make videos, finding a specific moment that could be awkward or like you're looking into someones life when you shouldn't be.  In this series of film stills, Cindy catches certain awkwardness and discomfort that all human beings have, but she's photographing herself, not someone else.  And she is able to become a different person in every single on of the pictures.  I love that she chooses to use certain scenes that show what movies wanted this specific women to look like and act like.  Which was sometimes, unaware, naive, the sex object, materialistic/shallow, and the stay-at-home cooking mother.  But even though the roles she is embodying in the scene pretty much look down on women and their worth, she is strong in every single photo.  She is owning her sexuality, her body, whatever emotion she is feeling, she just looks sure of herself like she is in control instead of looking embarrassed.  Though there still is that discomfort because the photographs all seem to be attached to time.  Which is why they are called film stills.

What is really interesting to me about Cindy Sherman is how different her photos can look from each other.  Comparing the two sets of photos I included in this post are so different from each other, but all include the uncomfortable element.  I am attracted to the darkness in her photos.  I like the ones that are just blatantly about sex and bodies and the scary, maybe perverted, sick world that sex can be and seem like.  And I think it is amazing that she is one of the most well-known female photographers.  It is great to have this female perspective who is commenting on sex, bodies, pressures of society, certain traits or myths of femininity.

Response to Stephen Shore interview

     After reading the interview between Stephen Shore and Luc Sante, I had a lot of new ways to think of photographs.  Stephen Shore introduces an idea about how a piece of paper has three dimensions, it is an object with an image embedded on it, which I had never thought about before.  

It was interesting when he was talking about framing and how the frame depends on what you are paying attention to.  It's different if you are taking a portrait of someone with a neutral background but if there is a lot going on in the background, that has to come into play when you are figuring out what to include in the photo.  

     Also when Shore is talking about forming a mental idea of what an image will look like.  An image that is in a photographers head, conscious or unconscious.  This made me think of my own experience and thought process.  I mostly don't like to plan out a photo unless I know I'll get exactly what i want.  I will make some small plans normally, but sometimes I'm let down if I come up with something in my head and I realize I won't be able to create it in a photo at that time.  As a photographer I also more often work with things I already see on a daily basis.  At this point in my photographing, more of my interest comes from what I will see everyday happen, without me instructing anything.  I love the beauty of normal interactions and sometimes being able to capture them at the right moment not looking like a boring snapshot, but something interesting.  

     I liked what they were both saying about the fear that there is nothing left to photograph, and young students always wondering if there is anything new.  Even though there was a time when photographers would go out to the West, for example, and come back to show this new area to people, it was new to them.  That doesn't mean that there aren't other new places to photograph.  There will always be new ideas, good and bad things happening in the world that will keep people motivated and inspired.  

     I like this photograph because it is a really interesting thing to look at, though you're not sure what you should be thinking about it or what you're even looking at.  You don't really know who or what to focus on, because there is just a man with his back the camera and a street with some parked cars, and some stores.  There isn't anything specifically happening but it is still a really interesting picture.  You wonder who the man is with his back to us, you wonder why there is a big leafless tree in the middle of a sidewalk, you wonder what city this was taken in, in what year.  Because there isn't really anything to understand or not understand about it.  I just think that sometimes its okay for a picture to just be a picture, there doesn't have to be a big explanation or a big issue exposed in it.  This specific photo can be seen as happy or sad.  I also really enjoy the colors in it, the yellows seem to pull you through the street, and the blue sky is faded, so it isn't too invasive.