Filling in my gaps

1. Evan- Intro, recap of main points of week before (2-3 minutes), responsibilities and roles of the photographer (2-3 minutes), examination of a few photographs (3-5minutes).

2. Meredith- Holocaust examination and the documentations behind it (5-10 minutes).

3. Chelsea- Documentation of genocide (I forget where Darfur? Rwanda? somewhere in Africa I believe 5-10 minutes)

4. Carolina- Will speak about the TRUTH of documentary photography and the authenticity of the event (5-10 minutes)

5. Brian-????

6. Joanna- Will speak about social documentary photography as a social investigation of personal expression, by applying concepts to Scott Schuman's Sartorialist Blog and Book. Will discuss:

• Bill Cunningham of NYT as predecessor
  
• technology enabling rapid exposure of photographer's work via blog
• reportage, as he visually accounts style movements in fashion capitals of the world.
• journalistic move to storytelling; he captures a person's story with one image.
• will show sartorialist blog through out talk (5-10 minutes). Quote...
  
  "On the surface it's about fashion, but when you really look at someone, it's also a window into that person's life," said Schuman (to be tied into act 2)
  

7. Mags-????

Brian, Joanna, and Mags- If each of you could post on the blog what you want to present to the class, that would be awesome so we are all on the same page.

After the class presentations, we will have the class take a 10 minute break at which time we will set up our stations for Act 2. Here, we will break the class up into three groups and they will visit each of our group stations to learn more about everyone's individual artist, era of examination, documented event, etc, that they studied. Each group should be able to speak for at least 10-15 minutes to each of their audiences. Remember we have three hours to do this so time is really not an issue. Again, here is what I have for every one's station topics (please correct and post if I am wrong):

Group 1
Carolina- Nan Golden
Joanna- Will take one photograph by Scott Schuman and ask each group to make up a story about the person in the photograph. Will tell them the truth about said person after they are done. (Can take a while if need be, every person could make up a story about a different subject and present there ideas to the group). Will show the veneer of objectivity and Schuman's style of photography's ability to aesthetisize all his subjects.

Mags-Mary Ellen Mark

Group 2
Meredith- Holocaust
Chelsea- Genocide
(Same topics as their presentations)

Group 3
Brian- Will bring in different cameras and examples of the different types of pictures each camera can take (hopefully these can be relevant documentary pictures if he can find some and the artists the took them)
Evan- Social and Civil Rights awareness, WeeGee, early work place employee/employer documentation.

Meeting tomorrow.......

Sounds great you two....it reminds me of an episode of The Office when they were celebrating Diversity Day......and it got inappropriate real quick. I loved it!

I was just sending this out as a reminder about our meeting around 5:45-6:00 tomorrow. I talked to Brian this evening and he will have his laptop with him and he said that everyone can bring pictures then if you have them. If not, then we can upload whatever we need to before our class on Wednesday.

I believe that the plan was to go over and bring our talking points tomorrow so we can all get a feel for what we are each speaking about and if you need to go over anything with group members, we would have an opportunity to do so at that time as well.

I will post this on the blog as well. I am looking forward to finishing this and being able to chill and get this out of the way for the semester........

Evan

Chelsea & Meredith's Act II / Last Act

Hi guys.
It's Chelsea and Meredith!

We just wanted to tell everyone a bit about what we are planning for our Act 2. We can formally introduce it, as well as answer any questions you guys might have about it, at the meeting on Monday. We just wanted to send it out now so everyone would have a heads up and so everyone's prepared.

I also sent this out to everyone through e-mail, just in case not everyone sees it here.

We wanted to do something that the entire class could all be involved in at once, as well as something fun that the rest of you guys could be involved in, too. Also, we thought it would be a good way to reinforce what the class had learned from our presentations, and see how well they were paying attention. ^_~

Hope you all like it. ^^


______________________________

LAST ACT:

(we would go after everyone else does their Act 2, so as to not take up too much time or detract from what you guys are doing. I think this should end up to be around a 30 to 35 minute game.)

Everyone in the class participates in the "Post-it Game." Group 2 members are the facilitators of the game, while the rest of the class become the players.

Step 1: Set-up.

Move all the chairs into a circle, with each player in a chair. Group 2 members will be outside of the circle.


Step 2: Group 2 members choose 4 roles, each, to be used.

Each member of Group 2 will choose 4 roles, relating to their Act 1 Presentation, and written on 4 individual post-it notes, to be assigned to the players. (Chelsea and Meredith will furnish the post-it notes.) For example, Chelsea's 4 roles to be assigned will be:

Brian Steidle, (photographer,);
Mia Farrow, (photographer,);
a Darfurian refugee;
and a member of the Janjaweed,(Arab militia.)


Step 3: The post-it notes are shuffled.


Step 4: The game begins.

A player will be chosen to start the game. Chelsea will put a post-it note, with the role to be played written on it, on the player's forehead.

The player with the post-it note on their forehead is encouraged to ask questions to help them figure out who they are, followed by everyone in the class offerring hints to help them figure out their identity. For example, if the role assigned to the player is Mia Farrow, the player with the post-it note on their forehead might ask, "Am I an actress?" Then the whole group shouts, "Yes!"

If the player wearing the post-it note is too shy to ask questions, anyone in the class can give them hints. For example, someone can shout, "You are an actress!"

Hopefully, each person with a role playing post-it note on their forehead will ask several questions about their identity, followed by everyone offering hints about their identity.

When the role player guesses their identity, they get a prize, and the game continues, clockwise, to the next player. For example, Evan will put a post-it note, with a new role to be played, on the next player's forehead.

The process repeats until everyone has played and received a prize.


The End.

Outline, lecture topics, and order of class presentations

Good evening all,

I trust that everyone had a good weekend as that all is just swell. So, some of us met in the cafeteria earlier this evening and we tossed around the topics that we wanted to speak about, the order of presentations, and a day and time for us to pull everything together before next Wednesday. I like how Chelsea put it...referred to each segment as an Act. So here is what we came up with:

The class presentations (Act 1) will be the portion where each of us will speak to the class for 5-10 minutes on some aspect of documentary, social documentary, the common place, human condition, objective vs subjective, truth, a specific artist(s) or photo)s) etc...... Each person is at liberty to speak about what they like just as long as it ties with the theme of our assignment. Here is what we came up with for a line up and order of presenters so far:

1. Evan- Intro, recap of main points of week before (2-3 minutes), responsibilities and roles of the photographer (2-3 minutes), examination of a few photographs (3-5minutes).

2. Meredith- Holocaust examination and the documentations behind it (5-10 minutes).

3. Chelsea- Documentation of genocide (I forget where Darfur? Rwanda? somewhere in Africa I believe 5-10 minutes)

4. Carolina- Will speak about the TRUTH of documentary photography and the authenticity of the event (5-10 minutes)

5. Brian-????

6. Joanna-????

7. Mags-????

Brian, Joanna, and Mags- If each of you could post on the blog what you want to present to the class, that would be awesome so we are all on the same page.

After the class presentations, we will have the class take a 10 minute break at which time we will set up our stations for Act 2. Here, we will break the class up into three groups and they will visit each of our group stations to learn more about everyone's individual artist, era of examination, documented event, etc, that they studied. Each group should be able to speak for at least 10-15 minutes to each of their audiences. Remember we have three hours to do this so time is really not an issue. Again, here is what I have for every one's station topics (please correct and post if I am wrong):

Group 1
Carolina- Nan Golden
Joanna- FSA
Mags-Mary Ellen Mark

Group 2
Meredith- Holocaust
Chelsea- Genocide
(Same topics as their presentations)

Group 3
Brian- Will bring in different cameras and examples of the different types of pictures each camera can take (hopefully these can be relevant documentary pictures if he can find some and the artists the took them)
Evan- Social and Civil Rights awareness, WeeGee, early work place employee/employer documentation.

Here we have the opportunity to be creative and show our "expertise" on the artists/events we researched. We can be creative with our little stations and have some fun with it.

Act 3, we will bring the class back together and have a little Q&A time where those students that payed attention can win some major swag (you all can give prizes for your correctly answered questions if you want to. I am for sure going to the dollar store or somewhere cheap and get a few corny/fun things to pass out). I figure that everyone can ask 2-3 questions here, if so inclined.

I am willing to type up a rundown/schedule of events for Chris that is due to him on Wednesday....but I need everyone to fill in the blanks where there are question marks above.

Also, we need to think of a time to meet back up for 30-45 minutes to go over everything and our final products (especially for the lectures) so that it runs smoothly. Can everyone do next Monday again at 5:45? As of now, I will be in the cafeteria then to meet for a short bit. I believe that Meredith and Chelsea said that they can make it too.

Good night,

Evan

Next week meetings

Hello all,

Okay so just to clarify, we are going to be meeting next Monday in the cafeteria at 5:45. During this meeting, we should start to go over our outline for our presentation and topics of discussion. I spoke with Chris after class submit and he said that a heads up of our plan would be great to get to him before we present (like a plan of the way the lecture will go, not necessarily all of the specifics of artists, small group topics, etc.....).

Chris also said that his lecture from next week will spill over to the first 45 minutes of our class lecture time becasue of the quanity of info and the movies he is showing us....just a heads up.

So when we meet on Monday, how's about everyone bring their talking points for their section of the class lecture portion of our project. Remember during your 5-10 minute individual presentation, you are at liberty to speak about whatever you want as long as it has to do with social documentary and the human condition. Feel free to include any PPT or other pictures or info you want to include.

See you all then and if there any questions or concerns, feel free to post and we can all discuss.

Evan

Sorry so late for this.........

Hey all, I really wanted to do this during last week but life has been real hectic.....

So here are the groups that we came up with to present information to each of the class groups:

Meredeth and Chelesa: War and the Holocost (photographers and images to go with)

Johanna, Mags, and Carolina: Johanna (FSA scholars) Mags (Mary Ellen Mark and it looks like one other photographer to focus on life on the streets) Carolina (I don't know what to put here)

Evan and Brian: Brian (will bring in different cameras for students to experience tools used to create images) Evan (will present photographers that caught civil rights and images from the workplace through history). We will create a display and include images that we want to show as well.

Each group will be responsible to create their own group mini display and educate each class group on their choices.

I beleive that Mags posted the previous comment about meeting tonight and working on the outline for the whole class presentation. I think that is a great idea so we can get started on what everyone wants to say and get some sort of plan of attack. I really wanted to talk about how social documentation has brought to light certian concerns and awareness through history. So in my presentation section, if i get time, I want to make a little slide show of some artists and photos to go with them while giving some history about there works. I am going to be there in the cafeteria as close to 5:45 as possible.

Evan

Homelessness part of the group presentation

Hi guys,
Since our last meeting we decided on some areas or aspects we will each represent for our group presentation. I've selected Homelessness/Street Photography. I've already researched Mary Ellen Marks and I will use her photographs of the homeless along with two other photographers that I've found to be inspiring to me in this area. I will introduce works of David Entrikin who worked on his homelessness exhibit in the Seattle area from around 2005 forward. Mary Ellen Marks photos are around the 1980s. Also, Chuck Ferris is another photographer who sparked my interest in this area. He is a part time photographer who lives and works in the San Francisco area and he started up his photography of the homeless in 2001 to present times.
My idea of how I would like to present this is by first visually capturing the class's vision in 3-D format by printing up my photos and pasting them on cardboard boxes in various sizes. I think this will bring the photographs alive and also help the class visualize the importance of these people and their untold and unwanted stories.
If I get any audio then I would like to present other photos with that audio.
I'm working on my outline for my part of the presentation so we can fit it in and have a good flow for our group presentation.
I look forward to seeing you guys at our next meeting before class on Wednesday (10-7)...I'm guessing this is where we should get our outline together so that we can present it to Chris. I'm not sure after this week when we want to meet up to make sure we have this group presentation ready to go. Just some thoughts for Wednesday.

Meeting tonight?

Hello all and good morning,

Was everyone still going to be available to meet before class tonight at 5:45 in the cafeteria for a bit before class to split up and layout a plan for the lecture portion of our presentation? Maybe we can also chat about geting our choosen pictures together and coordinating the images for our lecture portions as well.

I was thinking that with everyone having about 10 minutes to speak to the class each person may want to either speak of a certian artist, what social documentation entails, maybe certian themes through the history of social documentation, etc. I think we should each bring something unique to each of our presentations as well as our individual stations that we are constructing as well.

See you all tonight......

Evan

Nan Goldin (Posting for Carolina)

Here are some pix from the photographer Nan Goldin, wasnt able to upload them into the blog sry!! Below is a little overview of her work!!

(I was not able to transfer her pictures)

This photograph is done by Nan Goldin from her Ballad of Sexuality series. Nan Goldin is one of the most prominent snapshot photographers. She is the person who took the snapshot and made it remarkable. Nan Goldin doesn't worry about the colors or cropping but just sees special moments, good and bad and captures the moment. This photograph is of her dear friends who are gay and both have Aids, later on in the series she photographs the death of both of them. This portrait is very compelling because anyone who has a heart will feel for this couple and understand what is happening. This is what makes her work strong, her honesty to the photographs.

Here are a few more...

Lee Friedlander

I looked at a few sources, basically it seems Friedlander began doing Jazz portraits for Atlantic records. His work is varied, though; there are images taken from inside cars with it int he frame, as well as his own shadow taking place over his subject. It sounds like his style keeps morphing and I saw somehwere that he does high end fashion photography now...
-Joanna

(b Aberdeen, WA, 14 July 1934). American photographer. He first became interested in photography in 1948, and from 1953 to 1955 he studied under Edward Kaminski at the Art Center of Los Angeles. In 1956 he settled in New York and supported himself by producing photographs of jazz musicians for record jackets, for example Count Basie (1957; see Malle, pl. 39). He also produced photographs influenced by Eug?ne Atget, Walker Evans and Robert Frank and, like his subsequent works, these were all in black and white. In 1958 he discovered the work of the little-known photographer E. J. Bellocq from whose gelatin dry-plate negatives of the brothels of New Orleans he took prints, which were included in the exhibition E. J. Bellocq: Storyville Portraits at MOMA in New York in 1970. In 1960, 1962 and 1977 Friedlander was awarded Guggenheim Memorial Foundation grants, and his works began to appear in such periodicals as Esquire, Art in America and Sports Illustrated. He had his first one-man show in 1963 at the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House in Rochester, NY. From the 1960s Friedlander started taking photographs of the 'social landscape' of the USA, detached images of urban life which, like Pop art works, captured the feel and look of modern society, though often with depressing effect. Newark, New Jersey (1962; see Friedlander, 1978, pl. 2) is characteristic of these and includes shop-window reflections, posters and signs, which tend to compress spatial depth. In atmosphere and subject-matter these works have affinities with the work of Friedlander's friend Garry Winogrand. Friedlander's collaboration with Jim Dine further emphasized his links with Pop art, and in 1969 they published Works from the Same House. This included etchings by Dine and photographs by Friedlander, so arranged that examples of each faced one another, creating a suggestive juxtaposition of imagery.

FSA Photography

What I'm getting from the two sources I have below (linked up the text) is the FSA was a Government funded project intended to document the way people were living in what was called "the dust bowl", meaning rural areas out of the cities. There was, however, photographers in every state (44 at the time, I believe). Everything looks like it is covered in dirt.

-Joanna







Initially created as the Resettlement Administration (RA) in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) was an effort during the Depression to combat American rural poverty.

The FSA stressed "rural rehabilitation" efforts to improve the lifestyle of sharecroppers, tenants, and very poor landowning farmers, and a program to purchase submarginal land owned by poor farmers and resettle them in group farms on land more suitable for efficient farming. Critics, including the Farm Bureau strongly opposed the FSA as an experiment in collectivizing agriculture — that is, in bringing farmers together to work on large government-owned farms using modern techniques under the supervision of experts. The program failed because the farmers wanted ownership; after the Conservative coalition took control of Congress it transformed the FSA into a program to help poor farmers buy land, and continues in operation in the 21st century as the Farmers Home Administration.

The FSA is famous for its small but highly influential photography program, 1935-44, that portrayed the challenges of rural poverty.
Contents
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FSA
Nearly 180, 000 photographs produced 1935-43 under the direction of Roy Stryker, first in the FSA, and later in the Office of War Information (OWI), represent the first major body of photographic images specifically labelled ‘documentary photography’.

During its lifetime, the Historical Section employed 44 photographers; a majority of photographs in the file are the work of fifteen men and women. The agency's work took place in two locations: at its Washington, DC headquarters, where Stryker directed operations, including a darkroom and the growing file of photographs; and in the field in the (then) 48 states and Puerto Rico.

After 1937 the photographers included more images of the community life of rural small towns, and a few urban centres. From 1940, as Stryker first subcontracted the section's photographic services to wartime agencies, then worked within OWI, hundreds of images also documented the nation's industrial production and home front activities. As the file at headquarters grew, so too did its use and reputation. FSA images were freely available, and appeared widely in newspapers and magazines, in government pamphlets, in posters promoting agency accomplishments, and even in a giant photographic mural in Grand Central Station in New York.

So here is some info on the images below:
Image 1 is an anti-Vietnam propaganda image from a protest in Wichita, KS in 1967. I think that the sinage and the props being used here speak for itself and the protestors sendiments.

Image 2 is from the 1989 massacre at Tiananmen Square China, where at least a reported 400-800 peaceful demonstrators were murdered in protest of the murder of government reformer Hu Yaobang. I remember watching this image unfold via the BBC newscast as it happened. This student is making a powerful statement and is willing to give the ultimate sacrifice. This image, the monks protests in Vietnam, and the 1968 Mexico City Black Power equal rights image are histories most moving for me.

Image 3 is by WeeGee, AKA Arthur Fellig. He was a street photographer and documented realistic urban life in its true form......as it happened. I like this one because it seems like there is a whole lot of goings on where there should not be (hence the mans reaction to the picture in the doorway). He once said "People that work in the daytime are suckers." One look at his works and you can see what he means, he likes the raw, dark, grimey parts of life.

Image 4 was taken at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. Here, Tommie Smith (gold medalist) and John Carlos (bronze medalist) make a huge statement that sent ripples through the world and controversy and were eventually banned from the Games. All three athletes wore Human rights pins, but it was Smith and Carlos that stood shoeless to symbolize black poverty, beads to honor those lynched and hung, and Carlos with an open jacket to symbolize blue collar America. All three suffered major backlash and were ostracized in their sporting establishments.

Image 5 Bob Dylan singing "Only a Pawn in Their Game," July 2, 1963 a song about the murder of activist Medgar Evers. Being an activist and revolutionary this is part of a series of political and civil statements that Dylan had made throu out his career. I really am moved by the looks on everyones faces during this Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh, NC.

See you all tomorrow,

Evan

Hey there all,

Here are some picstures that I found compelling for our project. Joanna, were you still going to print these up and bring them to class? My printer is not working (I had to order a new one after only one year).....great! I'll bring scissors to cut things up (I think that we mentioned doing something like this last week). Okay, so here goes.......my pictures

The email from last week

Here is a link referring to some of the works from Lewis Hine. http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/ and http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/hinex/empire/biography.html
1. Was was a sociologist and photographer
2. He took famous Empire State Building Construction pics ( I am sure you all have seen them)
3. Did alot of work bringing to light child labor laws and abuse of child labor
4. He would follow emigrants from Ellis Island to Lower East Side Manhattan and document journies
5. Used photography as a means of social reform
6. Tried to document man and machine working together and their relationships

Photo Secessionists
1. Led by Alfred Stieglitz they were a group of photographers that sought to break away from the orthodox approach of photography.
2. What was important was the manipulation of the image by the photographer/artist to achieve a subjective vision
3. It helped to raise awareness and standards for "art" photography
4. Attempted to elevate photography to a fine art, moving it further away from the realm of painting
5. Selected individuals

So, tomorrow morning, I will post my few pics that I choosen and all of the info that goes with them.

BTW-I really hope that I am doing this correctly as I have not used this Blog before. I suspect that it may take a time or two for me to get the hang of posting pictures. Speaking of that, do I just cut and paste them into this text box for all to see?

Evan

my photos for class

Carrying a guitar and a M16 rifle, a Marine waits at a landing strip for a flight out of Khe Sanh, February 25th, 1968. Accompanying the music of the era was a new mood towards the war and a lack of faith in the objectives became more common among the servicemen than ever before.


Vietnam, 1969. Helmets were often used to express feelings and this soldier has written the word "HIPPIE" on his, in large letters.


The pilot of a US Cobra helicopter at Dau Tieng Vietnam, 1969. The stickers on his helmet read: "Bomb Saigon Now" - "Bomb Hanoi Now" - "Bomb Disneyland Now" - "Bomb Everything".



June 8th, 1972. A South Vietnamese air force plane has accidentally dropped a napalm bomb on the village 26 miles outside of Saigon. Twenty-five years later, the young girl running naked from her village, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, was named a UNESCO goodwill ambassador.


Saigon, October 5th, 1963. A young Buddhist monk sits impassively in the central market square, he has set himself on fire performing a ritual suicide in protest against governmental anti-Buddhist policies.


An adolescent boy scout, fighting on the side of the Buddhist rebels, stands in the street during the Da Nang Buddhist Insurrection, 1966.


I know there's more than three, but I really liked all of them and couldn't decide. >..< Well, I hope you all like them and I'll see everyone in class.

Chelsea. <3

Also, here is a little bit about the photographer, Tim Page:

Mr. Page managed under extraordinary circumstances, to bring back some of the most compelling photographs of the era. Most of these photographs and many more, can be seen in his book "NAM", published by Thames and Hudson Inc. Tim Page is a photographer, journalist, and author of Page After Page: Memoirs of a War-Torn Photographer. In 1965, Page began taking photographs of the border conflicts in Cambodia and Vietnam. Eventually, he became one of the most notorious combat photographers and renowned for the images he captured. In the movie epic "Apocalypse Now", the dope smoking, crazed photographer played by Dennis Hopper at the top of the river is said to be based on Page. Page's friend Michael Herr created the role and also wrote the well-known book "Dispatches", where Page is one of the main characters. Tim Page was wounded several times whilst working in Vietnam. Take a peek into the mind of Tim Page by reading "Memories of an acid-slaved war photographer".

Meredith((pics for class))

I think im doing this right....I hope >..<" http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e349/Scartaris/gh1386.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e349/Scartaris/marty3.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e349/Scartaris/vatican46_33.gif

Well I really hope i did this right and you guys like them^^
if i didnt do this right and you dont get them ill just bring them in on wensday.
((Sorry for my spelling, im really bad at it))

Mary Ellen Mark

Photographs:
First: Looking Out of Caged Peep Hole
Second: Portrait of Mona in Lace Lying in Bed 1976
Third: Rat and Mike With a Gun Seattle Washington
Fourth: Woman with Scarred Leg 1976

Group Blog

Good morning All,

As we discussed on Wednesday night, we will utilize this blog to share our individual progress/ideas to keep everyone informed and involved.

Lets try to have our 3 (minimum) preferred photographs on here by Tuesday night of next week, September 22.

Hope all is well,

Joanna