1. This photo was taken by Arthur Elgort for Vogue magazine. I'm trying to go in a more unusual direction for fashion photography and I believe that this photo is doing exactly that. It is made in a very unconventional way but still considered fashion work. 

2. This is one of my favorite set of photos by David Hilliard. I am imitating his work for class and I have really grown to love the way he works. It is a not more difficult than it seems to be just by viewing his work.

3. This photo was made by Herb Ritts, also for Vogue magazine. I was attracted to it because it is strange and unusual but beautiful. This is not the type of work that I would like to be creating specifically, but I am moving in the same direction.

4. This photo was taken by Enrique Metinides. With my own work, I am starting to try to make my models look as if they are lifeless to make the viewer not only think about the subject and the events that could have happened to him/her, but also the fashion aspect I am including. I have been looking at Metinides' work since he photographs tragedies and I could include some of the qualities of his photos into my own work, such as the crowd in this image.

5. This photo was made by Robert Wiles, after the subject had committed suicide. This also relates to the work I am attempting to make, but closer to it then Metinides' work. 

Assignment due 3/6

Review #1: http://www.briansholis.com/james-welling/

James Welling 

This review has a decent amount of information about James Welling's exhibit at the David Zwirner gallery in 2012, but there are a few things that I personally would have appreciated more elaboration on. For example, the show included three different series, and the review only really discusses one of them. The writer also talks about Welling's images being influenced by specific paintings, but did not explain why he chose not to include reproductions of these paintings alongside his work. I believe this would have helped his audience to understand his inspiration, and the review did not discuss this possibility. The review also went into great detail about other photographers that work with landscapes, but didn't give much background on James Welling, which also would have improved the review. In spite of that, I did personally enjoy how the review went into detail about a few specific photos in the show, and that helps the reader to understand the work better. 

Review #2: http://www.briansholis.com/barney-kulok/

Barney Kulok

This review was short, but I felt that I was given more information about the artist and his work from this exhibition than the previous review I read. The writer went directly into detail about the photos in the exhibition, including where the images were made, what kind of prints they are, and what exactly is in the images. Several photos were explained in detail, with strongly descriptive language. I personally would have liked a description of the gallery space itself, but I did appreciate the comparisons to other artists that were made. Overall the review was very well-written. 

Review of 101 Tragedies of Enrique Metinides
Aperture Gallery http://www.aperture.org

Enrique Metinides is a Mexican photographer, who worked for over fifty years photographing disaster in Mexico City. After publishing his first photo at twelve years old, he began working for the Mexican tabloid newspaper called La Prensa. His work revealed the corrupt and terrifyingly common tragedies and accidents that were occurring in Mexico at the time, in a beautifully artistic fashion.
The show begins with a written introduction to the artist on the wall, including a print of his first published photograph. The gallery is a open, square room, with all four walls (and another L-shaped wall in the center of the room) lined with Metinides breathtaking images. With each photo, there is a short explanation of the situation depicted, and personal comments from the photographer. Alongside the photos that are hung up, there is a case containing several newspapers with Metinides images printed on them.























The aspect of Metinides photos that truly caught my attention was how surreal the moments he captured are. They seem staged, as if he imagined such emotional scenes in advance, and then later had people act them out for him. He writes that he travelled to many of these emergencies in ambulances that would pick him up on their way to the crime scenes shown. One photograph of an explosion was taken from inside an ambulance, and Metinides writes that the explosion knocked the ambulance over while he took the shot from inside. It's unbelievable that not only did he arrive to the scenes of so many accidents so quickly, but that he was then able to create such beautiful but tragic imagery. One image I particularly was drawn to, was of a man who had just gotten stabbed. The people who were surrounding the victim all turned to look at Metinides, who appeared on the scene only to make a photograph. It was difficult to look away from each image to the next, and then each was more emotionally breathtaking than the last.

1. I chose to post this photo because it appears to be similar to the direction I am trying to take my own work. It has a fashion aspect to it while also having some sort of narrative, that also adds a fine art component to it. It's still a little more over the top than I would like my work to go, but definitely the direction I'm going in still.

2. I chose this photo because it is one of my favorites of Annie Leibovitz's.  It's strange and creepy, but still beautifully done in many ways. She is definitely one of my favorite artists. 

3. I chose this photo by Ted Partin simply because I think it is a beautiful image. I love the fact that the subjects face is covered, so even though it's a very personal setting and the subject is also nude which is personal as well, it remains generally anonymous. I also love the relationship between the cat and the woman, and I feel like making an artistic photo of a cat is difficult as well.

4. This photo by Lee Friedlander is one of my personal favorites for several reasons. I love the awkwardness of the nude subject's body that is taken over by the intense gaze she has towards the camera. I also love that Friedlander managed to make this a self-portrait at the same time with the use of the mirror, and it almost seems like two different photos that tie together flawlessly.

5. This Annie Leibovitz quote is something that I can personally relate to with my work from last semester.  I spent a lot of time working on portraits, focusing on getting past the facade that most people have when they are aware of the camera's presence. I spent a lot of time getting to know my subjects so they would become more comfortable with me, making it easier for me to get a good, raw shot of them.

CASS BIRD

lecture here: http://lectures.icp.edu/archive/videos/2012/Bird2012.html

portfolio here: http://www.cassbird.com/portfolio.php?cat=1

SAUL LEITER

lecture here: http://lectures.icp.edu/archive/videos/2009/Leiter2009.html