Final Crit

Kristin Rossi

Critique on Final Project topics

3 students

Bernice is focusing on the beauty of music and musicians in her final project. The photos that she has shown in class are very noticeably staged and posed. Her first photo of the bunch is my favorite because of the beauty that it possesses. She has edited the photo to black and white, which gives it a more emotional feeling and shows the passion that this woman has about music and singing.

Bernice has mentioned in class that she is very passionate mainly on the instrumental portion of music and wanted to make sure that they are the main focus of each photo. I believe that she has done that well, but I think she can go even further with this project and really go deep with showing how passionate some people can be about music.

Evan has a series of photos where he is placed in a variety of places with a map. This project shows that Evan is trying to find himself, by not physically being lost but mentally being lost. He is placed in front of basic places such as the post office or a baseball field, and its ironic because she chooses very modern looking places but yes he is holding a map, which we all know, is extremely outdated.

Evan can better his photographs by showing his face and his emotion and or pain that he is feeling while he is trying to “find himself.” In class we discussed that he does not necessarily need the map, but I think that the map fits his project and makes it more whimsical and wacky. Evan is trying to portray a serious tone, but for me I didn’t necessarily fully get a serious tone from this. That is also something that Evan can work on for his final project.

Marie has some very beautiful photographs for her final project that represent nature/ spring/ enjoying the beautiful surroundings that are given to each person. In her photos she always has this beautiful pink flower, whether it is in her hand, or it is an entire tree of them and they always seem to either frame the photo or be the center of the photograph.

In some of the photographs she has people in them, one of them is a man relaxing under the tree and another is a woman painting the beauty of it. I appreciate the photos with people in them more rather than just the tree itself because to me it shows how the cherry blossom tree is affecting the people around it. These photos somewhat remind me of the book “The Giving Tree” where a simple tree affected a boy through out his whole life. Not that these trees are growing up with the people around them but they are affecting each person differently but in a good way.

Someone in class mentioned that she should focus more on the deeper meaning of what a cherry blossom means within ancient cultures and focus around that, I agree with that notion and I believe that she could really get some beautiful shots out of it,

Spring Breakers

Spring Breakers is a movie that focuses around the spring break of 4 "rebel" teenagers. These young girls don't hold anything back when it comes to partying, experimenting with drugs and sex. Over spring break they come across some shady characters and get into trouble that they have never imagined in their entire young lives.
The main characters of this movie are ironically Disney channel stars. Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez have really strayed away from their usual image as the good girl or the nice girl. By taking on these roles it makes the audience that watches them usually want to see them in a totally different light. This may or may not be a good thing to happen to them with their acting careers but it does show the world that they are versatile.
I personally do not think that this will be a successful nor a good movie at that. I think its very immature and has no real plot or story line that is good enough to make it big within the other great movies in the world.

Final Project

For my final project I am going to have a series of 10 photos that all involve stereotypes or “things that don’t belong.” In todays society, its sad to say but when we see someone that is different in a situation that they normally wouldn’t be in, we seem to think that something is wrong, or we have some kind of opinion, we don’t just let it go. For my final project I want to touch on that. I want 10 different situations that involve all types of different people and in each situation there will be that one person that is “different.” Instead of having that person seem uncomfortable or look as if they don’t belong, I am going to incorporate them as if they do feel comfortable and they own wherever they are at. I want the audience to look at the photo and get the feeling that the person in the picture “should” be getting by seeing how perfect they fit into the situation. For example, when we think of a gym scene we usually think of big muscle head guys in tank tops benching 200 pounds. We never see a flamboyant homosexual all decked out in pink and glitter at the gym, I want to change that I want to have that person at the gym and mixed upon the usual’s as if he is no different.  All of the scenes and situations will be realistically set up, very simple scenarios that are every day occurances.

I am going to touch all bases that seem to cause controversy. There will be race, religion, sexual preference, gender, age, and even sports preferences. I hope to convey the image that I have in my head through my camera, and I hope I can affect the viewers like I hope too.

6 Boat Pictures

6 new edited photos 4/1

Dodge and Burn

Dodge

Burn

Burn

Burn

Dodge

Dodge

3 critiques

Anthony- I really enjoyed his photos, I know you were saying before that his "three emotions" photograph would have been better if it was somewhat cropped more in, to focus just on the "confused" man, but I disagree. I enjoyed all of the things in front of him because it showed clutter and chaos. It made his emotion more believable that he was in a hurry and annoyed or confused about a text message that he received.


Evan- Evan's photos were my favorite. Though he said that the photo of him was a photo that everyone else would have was somewhat unbelievable, I actually understood what he was talking about. You said in that class the photo was a little staged and that it wasnt anything that special. I have to disagree when I saw that picture I couldn't help but relate to it, and Im sure most people in the class have been through a night where they drank a little much and had to spend the night with their toilet. I thought this photo was taken very well.


Melanie- In class you mentioned that her "artsy" photo was a little cliche and that we should never take a picture of some one else's art and try to make it our own. I have to disagree I especially enjoyed her photo of the bananas in the bowl because of the fact that she focused on the painted bowl rather than the fruit. I thought the colors were beautiful and stood out great next to the browning bananas.

Scavenger hunt

A picture that everyone else is going to take

Something Im passionate about

An interesting landscape

A snapshot

Indoor lighting

Portrait of someone you dont know, but they dont look uncomfortable

This is one of the many photos by EJ Bellocq. EJ Bellocq took a lot of photographs of prostitutes but he scratched most of their faces out. This photo tells a deep story, anyone who looks at it can create a story line in their head. When I look at this photo is a see a troubled girl, one who needs to prostitute for money purposes obviously, not because she enjoys sex or men. She is reaching out to what looks like a butterfly decal on the wall and to me that symbolizes that she is reaching for the purity and childhood that she never got to have or the one that she desperately misses. Above her is what looks like a flag that would go in a college dorm room, it says Vermont on it, which could be where this person is located or it could just be an old University souvenir. What I like most about the flag is its position, as the girl is reaching for her youth that she never got, the flag is even higher up to show that her future, or an education is completely out of reach for her to even try and get. The most important part about this picture is her face that is scratched out, because to men all they are looking for is a body and they don't care what her face looks like, or what the woman even has to say.

Homework 2, 6 favorite photos

Jordan Matter has recently done a new project consisting of dance in every day life. These are only a few from his selection, but these were the ones that caught my attention the most. This idea shows beauty and reality. Dance can be seen anywhere, even in the strangest of places. My favorite out of the six that I have provided has to be the last one, with the young girl and her shopping bags. This would have to be my favorite one because I can oddly relate. I am in no means a dancer, nor do I think I can dance good but I know the feeling of walking out of a store after a days worth of shopping for new clothes or shoes or anything, and all you want to do is jump up and scream because you are so happy with all of the selections you have chosen and that now you have something new to wear the next day. I believe this photo captures that wonderfully. I also enjoy the fact that she is around tons of people but no one is looking at her differently or even noticing her for that matter. It shows that what she is doing is natural.

Each photo gives off such a realistic feel to it, even though the people are doing crazy movements with their bodies that most people wouldnt even attempt. Another photo that really gives off emotion is the one of the man in the subways in New York City. Im sure all of us as one point in our life has been in that situation where you are running to catch a train or a subway. This man is leaping to catch his train but the shape and movement of his body are so beautifully caught.

These photos as a collection, to me, show so much beauty.

Favorite Photograph

I dont have a favorite photo of all time, but as of right now, the image you see above is my favorite.

This is a photo by Sandy Mann, and the young girl in the picture is her daughter. I really enjoy this photo for many reasons, but the number one reason is the sense of mystery and rebellion that you get from it. This photo was taken in the year 2012 but yet the young girl and her candy cigarette look like they should be an extra in the film Stand By Me. Sandy has captured the vintage style superbly and I cant help but to get chills when I see this photo. The fact that this little girl, no older than maybe 11 years old can naturally hold a candy cigarette in her hand and have the nature that she is going to rule the world is beyond me.

Homework Assignment 1

Hi, Im Kristin! I am a Graphic design major and that is what I am mostly interested in. Anything involving design or art is a good thing in my book. Hmm, the next question is what do I hate? Well I completely despise onions, I really dislike when my feet are cold, and I absolutely loathe when my sheets come off of my bed while I am sleeping.
My photographic experience begins in high school when I took a simple digital photography course and then it ended until last semester when I took Photo 1, with professor Berman. That was the class with actual film and the dark room and all of that jazz.
For the first week or so I may have to borrow one of the cameras from the cage, so that will be the camera that is used.
My favorite music, food, movie, book, TV show and photographer: Music- absolutely anything. My favorite singer is Josh Groban because I am a 65 year old woman trapped in a 20 year olds body. My favorite food is clams and spaghetti (red sauce). Favorite movie is tough, I guess its a 3 way tie between Shawshank Redemption, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, and Cool Hand Luke (Like I said before, I am 65....and I weirdly like prison and mental disability movies). My favorite book is hands down Catcher in the Rye. I absolutely love Friends, and when it comes to my favorite photographer, I dont know photographers well enough to choose, so as of right now my favorite photographer is my sisters boyfriend, who does wedding and family shoots.

Well thats me in a nutshell.