PHOTOGRAPHY

SHOOTING THE TRUTH

WEEK 3 – DB3

Dyllin Aleluia, Michael Bastin,

Matthew Brackett, Rhys Davis

S O M A N Y T I M E S  When something is reproduced for so many times is that art? •  We think about art as something that takes a creative person to

produce. Art is a form of self-expression that relates to how the person may have been feeling at the time. Art is never finished; people interpretations of art can be very different from what the artiest indented it to be. Original art is always unique and has deep meaning behind it. Some examples are paintings, sculptures, and photos. When art is taken from its original form or meaning and reproduces many times the art loses its value and legitimacy. The art is now apart of the mass market of reprints and reproductions. The art loses its meaning its just another thing hanging on the wall.

What's the importance of the mechanical reproducibility of the art? •  The importance of mechanical reproduction of art allows the artiest to

become well recognized and become a part of the commercial scene. The artiest will become apart of the mass market of prints and will gain popularity. The artiest work will become public domain and not been hidden from mass eyes. Anyone can buy the artwork and place it in there home.

What was the impact on mechanical reproducibility on the society? •  The impact on mechanical reproduction on the society is great because

everyone can now have that famous piece of artwork in there home, with out having to pay millions. But with the work going into the public there are many chances that people will make counterfeits of the artwork. This is a growing crime; this is because of the easy access to editing tools, and online software.

 BEFORE          AFTER  

h*p://www.merceronline.com/Photorepro.htm  

By:  Dyllin  Aleluia  

S O M A N Y T I M E S CONT…  

When something is reproduced for so many times is that art? •  I think it depends on the photo itself. Photography can be split into 3 different

types or genres: Commercial photography, Photo journalism photography and Fine Arts photography. Commercial photography is meant to be mass produced and is the least artistic of the three. Commercial photography has no story behind it, The focus is to create a nice sharp image to show the product in the best possible way. Photojournalist photography is also meant to be somewhat mass produced, but still can be very artistic if done well. Contrary to commercial photography, photojournalism photography is all about telling a story. The way they choose to tell the story is up to the artist but the story can be very broad or very obvious. While with photojournalism, following basic artistic guidelines can take a back seat, this type of photography can usually benefit from a nice composition and other traits common in commercial photography. Fine Arts is the most subjective and harder to generalize compared to the other types. In my opinion, Fine arts benefits the least when it is mass reproduced. The sole purpose of most fine arts photos is the artistic experience. Fine arts often strives to break rules and the stories they tell can be very subjective. This makes this type of photo very suitable for galleries or personal art collections but not for mass production.

What's the importance of the mechanical reproducibility of the art? •  Mechanical reproduction of photography is very important for communication. The

fact that we are able to know and see what's going on during an election or a disaster on the other side of the world or even a sports event brings the world closer together. For a lot of people, words can only tell so much and it is beneficial for us see what is happening. It is also beneficial for commercial photographers by allowing them to sell stock photos to a much larger audience than they could have otherwise.

What was the impact on mechanical reproducibility on the society? •  There are a many number of impacts mechanical reproducibility has had, and not

just in the photography fields. It has given everyone exposure to photography where in the past it would have been only those who could afford it. It allows people to see things that they never would have otherwise. Obviously it has grown interest in photography to help turn it into what it is today. It has allowed us to make interesting book covers, help us identify criminals, give us useful photo identification, help travel agencies show different exotic locations, sell products we could not see first hand and countless other things.

By:  Mike  BasAn  

Commercial    

Fine  Art  

Photo  Journ.  

W H AT I S I T ?  

Is photography art, or contribution to art? Is it just a tool used by artists? •  Photography is absolutely a form of art. Whether it’s used alongside other forms to

aid in production, compliment or contrast them, or used solely. Photography is no more a tool used by artists than the act of painting, it is a process. The camera is the tool artists choose to wield, as is the paintbrush.  There are many forms of photography, not all of which can or should be considered art. There is no question that in the hands of a creative mind, a camera can be used to capture beautiful works of art.  Early forms of photo masking and combination printing were pioneered and painstakingly developed by hand. These processes, as used by Gustave Le Gray of Paris and Oscar G Rejlander of Sweden were comprised of several negatives, each composed specifically and intentionally, and later printed one after the other into a final composition. Some such compositions used upwards of 30 separate negatives, often picturing a number of subjects across various settings and landscapes. One of Rejlander’s such compositions “The Two ways of Life” (1857) took six weeks to develop, compose and finally print the final piece, not including the setup time required for planning and arranging his numerous subjects and set.  Henry Peach Robinson, one of the most influential photographers of the second half of the 19th century commonly began his process of creating these combinations by drawing a sketch of the final composition before ever picking up the camera. With such an elaborate, meticulous process and the amount of creativity & thought behind them, it would be insulting to refer to these works as anything other than beautiful works of art.  It’s far too easy for people to undermine the credibility of the art form because of its accessibility and extreme technological advances. The same processes described above can now be accomplished with a few clicks of a mouse, but the creativity required to imagine, compose, frame, light, and shoot such works can never be overlooked.

By:  Rhys  Davis  

“A work of art is a work of order, and if the artist is to put the stamp of his own mind on his work he must arrange, modify, and dispose of his materials so that they may appear in a more agreeable and beautiful manner than they would have assumed without his interference.” - Henry Peach Robinson  

FA D I N G AWAY  

How and why Henry Peach Robinson created Fading Away? What was the reason? •  Robinson's photograph titled "Fading Away" depicted a young girl near

death with her family comforting her around her. Fading Away was the photo Robinson was most famous for, many people finding it controversial because at the time people saw photography as a medium to show things how they are, and the models in the photo were only posing. The photo was created using 5 negatives. Other techniques he used included soft focus, lens filters and darkroom manipulation.Robinson wanted photos to have the same appeal as paintings. He removed parts of a scene that were unnecessary by posing his models. It was the same idea as using Photoshop to fix imperfections.

By:  Mike  BasAn  

I M PAC T T H E WO R L D  

Photography has impacted the world of art and influenced some changes in the area of accessibility to art. If mechanical reproduction created

revolution, what is happening now with the digitalization? •  The digitalization in photography is bringing a faster and ever expanding

generation of photographers into the world. The cameras are easily accessible and the software in today’s world can make any amateur photographer look like a pro. When walking around on the streets or different neighborhoods of Toronto, you are bound too see someone shooting with a standard basic camera. With company’s like Canon and Nikon releasing standard starting camera like the Canon XS or the NikonD3000 in bundles for great prices anybody can start to be a photographer. Along with easily accessible standard cameras the design programs are almost an instant download away. When shooting today and something doesn’t come out as planned, it easily fixed in Photoshop. Having a design suite is making digital photography easier and easier. Back in the day when analog cameras were the only product on the market, shooting a perfect photo was crucial. When shooting on an analog camera if you didn’t get your shot the first time, you would have to go back and reshoot. A contemporary photographer today can now edit all mistakes and make a photo look perfect with this very software. Digitalization in photography has its pros and cons. The pros of digital photography are as followed, easy access, cheaper and fast. Today a photography shooting a fashion line can easily see what they have shot, as well then can edit it almost on the spot. Back in the day the photographer would have to shoot, send away film to be developed and then select their photographs. If the photographer made a mistake, they would have to reshoot the entire line of fashion. The cons to shooting digital photography are as followed, easily ripped off, over crowded and less creative. Today anybody with a standard camera can be a photographer, overcrowding the true artists in the field. The major con to digital photography is the simple fact that it is less creative. Analog photography is an art, in how you control your light. Digital photography and editing simply make every digital print worthless.

By:  Ma*hew  Bracke*  

THANK YOU !  Sources: •  http://ezinearticles.com/?His-Most-Famous-Photograph-%28Fading-Away%29---

Henry-Peach-Robinson&id=2785850 •  http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Collection/Photography/

RoyalPhotographicSociety/CollectionItem.aspx?id=2003-5001%2F2%2F23282 •  http://blogs.creativepool.co.uk/blog/the-most-reproduced-image-in-the-history-

of-photography/ •  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEA79UkCnbg •  http://www.photoquotes.com •  http://google.com •  http://google.com/images

•  Art Photography - The History of Photography by: Beaumont NewhallEncyclopedia Britannica