MIDTERM SHOWCASE : CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITURE : INDECISIVE MOMENT : FINALS SHOWCASE
 Jeff Wall, Detail from "A Sudden Gust of Wind" |
One Week Sketch In 1952, Henri Cartier-Bresson published a book called The Decisive Moment, a title that captures the reliance of his photographic oeuvre on the formal element of time. Theoretians such as Roland Barthes have pointed out how the photograph refers to a specific time and place. But what happens to the idea of a "decisive moment" in contemporary photography, where artists direct, stage, and composite their photographs? In this assignment, the artist is asked to create a series of 5 images that break the conventions of time and space in photography-- to create an "indecisive moment" that could not have existed without the will and hand of the photographer. Example artists: Jeff Wall, Anthony Giocolea, Arthur Tress, Patrick Nagatani |
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The indecisive moment, in contrast with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment, shows that there is not one particular instant for the photographer to capture. My goal for this project was to portray this by showing that the photographer creates the decisive moment, it doesn’t merely exist as Cartier-Bresson asserted. To achieve this I shot a series of motion photographs and used Photoshop to blend them into one singular image. By fusing these images together and showing the subject in multiple places, I wanted to show that multiple there was no single decisive moment, but rather there could be many. Thus, I created a series of indecisive images. I used Photoshop to my advantage by combining different photographs which really added to the overall effect of my images. By showing multiple subjects in sequence, this broke both the conventions of time and space.
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When going through the indecisive moment slides the photos that most struck me were the ones that Tess produced. He took an idea from a painting and reproduced it into an image. This idea struck me and decided to use Bruce Nauman; “Human/Need/Desire” neon tubing and wire words caught my eye. Nauman believes that language is “a very powerful tool” and he was inspired to use neon lights because it shows a realistic message. The words he used were “need, dream, hope desire and human.” For my photos I wanted to convey that words into pictures by showing what I believe these five words mean. |
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In creating my vision for the indecisive moment, I wanted to create images that illustrate anger and frustration. The thought process that led me to this plan was actually in class, just joking around with my classmates. I wanted to set up a scene with a person setting up a scene with little action figures, and after, show that same person stepping all over the scene, destroying it. I thought it would be fun to set up a scene and shoot someone expressing their anger and frustration in many different ways. The first, trashing her room with clothes, the second, red-faced, pulling on her hair, the third, many different poses as she paces a room, the fourth, screaming into a pillow, and finally, smashing a water bottle on the ground. I wanted to use some of the techniques of the photographers we viewed in class, so in some of the photos, I used multiple copies of the same person, and I also wanted to further experiment with stopped and extended motion. In these photos I hoped to show several different ways people show their anger and frustration when no one else is watching. |
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This series of photographs is meant to manipulate reflections to create bizarre moments in time and space. Most often, when we look at our reflection we examine our appearance and expression based exactly on what we see. These photographs were choreographed to combine different actions and body language that reveal more than just physical appearance. By mismatching the reflections with the actual expression and body language of the subjects, a paradox is created between how we feel and how we view ourselves. By looking in a mirror, we see our self both realistically and imaginatively, and in this way we are able to alter self-image. |
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For my project, I wanted to capture everyday things a student would do. Often times, students are lulled by the constant repetition and forget that every opportunity you have during the day to do something is a gift. I wanted to highlight the “gifts” that we often feel bored by. I decided to represent the student through the shoes they might wear during the day. The series of pictures represents, waking up in the morning, walking to class with friends, studying Vietnamese, going to sports practice, and using the bathroom. Everyday things are often overlooked and by capturing the essentials that create character it offers a deeper meaning into what life may be. |
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This project chronicles the exploits of a group of muscle cars as they cruise the streets of Geneva on a sunny weekend afternoon. Of course I did not really just happen to spot these rare cars out on the street one day, they are Merely larger-than-life versions of toy cars manipulated into photos of scenes from around Geneva. The cars may appear to be normal cars in their position on a roadway or at a gas station, and they have been scaled up to the appropriate size; but there are still clues as to their true identity. For instance, the hard plastic wheels do not contact the ground quite the same way as a real car’s soft rubber tires. Also, while these cars had flashy paint schemes to begin with, one of my intentions was to purposefully make them appear almost “too vibrant;” artificial and out of place. In a few instances they sort of blend in, but mostly they stand out from the background. It is a purposefully staged injection of fantasy into the darker, duller existence in the real world. |
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For the theme of this project I decided to break the conventions of time and space by conveying what happens in the head of a bipolar person. I took multiple shots in one location, combined them, and added alterations to make one image. |
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Yin and Yang |
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Physically putting people into places they are not usually found is the underlying theme of my project. A washing machine, recycle bin, sink, cone, and nude in a auditorium are not where people typically spend their days; they’re never or rarely found in these situations. By staging these scenarios, an indecisive moment is captured. We should begin to experience more foreign situations and explore our surroundings in a more engaging manner. By climbing into thing usually reserved for inanimate objects, we develop a different perspective of the world around us. And by going about naked, we develop a different perspective of the people around us. Who is to judge us? What will everyone else think? Most importantly, what will you discover? I believe you will have to try it to decide. |
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