Graffiti, for some; art, a way of expression, to others; intolerable slander. It's through the eyes of the beholder that makes the difference, but isn't all art a form of expression no matter who makes it. Do we as a society see graffiti as slander because we associate it with gangs? The context of how graffiti is viewed might be different if it was popular among young white females.

You can't deny that there is some talent behind graffiti, but can we deny that there's more than just people doing it for the sake of vandalization.

 This picture looks almost similar to that of a child's driveway after they're done playing with chalk, only it's spray paint and this cement is someone else's property. "vandals" may view it as open space, a pallet to express themselves. We call a child's driveway a work of art, this picture may deserve the same credibility.

We should tag it as graffiti and vandalism if it's causing someone distress. If you don't like rap music, turn it off, if you don't like a painting, don't look at it and if you don't like graffiti, paint over it.

What makes graffiti, graffiti? If it's painted on the side of a building or a train car does someone automatically dub it graffiti or do you see a message when you look at this picture or any of the others.?

Guide to Spirituality

America, seen through photographs, darkly

Arbus's photographs are mostly taken straight on, in a way to make the person look more deranged. I think the point of the photos looking this way is for them to look sort of odd, but also too look sincere in a way that we feel badly for them. Arbus's photographs are of images that appear "grotesque" to the social norm of what many consider beautiful. I think the purpose of the people in these photographs looking straight forward is so the viewer is forced to look into their eyes and see straight into their soul like Arbus did with these people. Their eyes are probably meant to be expressive so that the viewer gets a sense of who they are and like the pictures of LUNPFM, we feel sorry for these people. Because the people in the photograph are real people when we look into their eyes and they look sad and ugly it makes us feel sorry for them and connect to them in that way, because there have been times when we've all felt sad and ugly. I think Arbus wants you to relate to these people in that they may be ugly at first glance but looking into their stares we find value in that persons life and in turn beauty.

America,Seen through photographs Darkly 27-37

Sontag talks alot about Walt Whitman and the differences between beauty and ugliness. There seems to be a struggle with photographers and their viewers between what is meant to be seen as beautiful and what is meant to be seen as ugly. On pg 28 it is said " There is probably no subject that cant be beautified; moreover , there is no way to suppress the tendency inherent in all photographs to accord value to their subjects. but the meaning of all value itself can be altered-" i took this to mean that beauty can be found in whats valuable. photographers capture something of value to them and that valuable moment person or thing personifies beauty. Later, on pg 33 the diffrence between beauty and ugliness is discussed between the photographs of Steichen and Arbus. Steichan sees humanity as "one" where as Arbus takes pictures of  "assorted monsters" and calims humanity is not "one." I think Steichen sees humanity as "one" and finds beauty in everything because what he sees in photographs he finds valuable and whats valuable has beauty and that's why it was photographed. The photos Arbus took i think are valuable as well and therefore you could also find beauty in them.

Eggleston paper source

One source my group used was one I found called " The Banner that Wont Stay Furled." This source is about the debate in Mississippi about changing the the state flag , The Confederate Flag. Other southern states, such as South Carolina and Georgia decided to change their flags as more people were for it rather than against it, such as they were in Mississippi. In Mississippi they looked at the Confederate flag as a symbol of  "individualism and heritage."  I found this interesting and relatable to Eggleston in that he grew up in Mississippi and most of his photos were shot there.

I would relate this article to southern culture because for Mississippi the Confederate flag was a huge part of their culture and identity. Eggleston himself said that his pictures were in part related to the Confederate and this makes sense has he grew up with this strong influence and heritage of the confederacy. The confederate flag is a symbol of southern culture, even today and I believe that is something Eggleston wants to portray and hold honor to in his photos.

Thesis Statements

1. Susan Sontag talks about photographs as a talisman. A piece of time captured that connects you to a moment of your life. This idea of a talisman could be Eggleston's meaning behind his photographs. His childhood in the south is whats being represented in these photos. People, places and things he at one time was connected to and these photos keep him in that moment in his life. The truth of a photo is whats captured out of a million possible photos that could be taken in your surroundings, and Eggleston chose his photographs strategically. You could take any one of his photographs and make a story of its meaning in any direction, maybe that's what Eggleston wants. Not only do these pictures serve as a talisman to his past, but maybe to yours as well. Maybe we are intended to look at these photos as a glimpse into Eggleston's life but also as a glimpse into our own.

 2. Simplicity of the everyday life; A child's bike, or a the serenity of a cemetery against a blue sky. Are these images what they seem or is there more. John Szarkowski seems to think these images are as they seem : simple. The viewer is intended to see jut what the photograph is, not to read into it and make up a story or a reason for the photo but just to simply enjoy the scene. Maybe Eggleston truly had no reason for taking these photos rather than for the pure pleasure of photography. These photos are so simple-minded that anyone could capture them and that's quite possibly all Eggleston wanted to do. Everyone has passed by something aesthetically pleasing to them that they wish they could take a photo of just to remember the beauty of that object.The pure excitement of taking a picture with absolutely no story or reason behind it. These photos could have no reason behind them at all but to please a viewer with simple taste.

Susan Sontag : Plato's Cave

Cara Cole

2/3/11

Plato’s Cave

            "A picture is worth a thousand words." I never quite understood this saying until reading Susan Sontag, On Photography: Plato’s cave. Sontag takes the art of photography and explains each realm this art form truly reaches. She discusses how a picture, more than a film or literature, tells the truth. The truth behind a photograph is something we discussed before in class and Sontag takes it much further. The truth can mean many different things, the truth of a photograph are “miniature realities” as Sontag says and that can mean anything from a crime scene photo to just the truth behind the meaning of Eggleston’s photos.  Sontag sheds light on every aspect of photography, ranging from family photo albums to war photos from Vietnam. She describes a knowledge the photographer has over the person being photographed as “To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves…” This is one knowledge the photographer has over the image but she also describes photographers as having knowledge over their viewer.

            Sontag describes photography as “ it means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge-and, therefore power.” I believe by the truth of a photo she means there are two truths, the truth the photographer knows and the truth the viewer sees. When you think about it as the viewer your ideas are pure speculation unless you were to ask the photographer what was meant to be known as the truth in that photo. Sontag describes having that knowledge as the photographer as power and supports her idea at the end of the chapter by saying “nevertheless, the camera’s rendering of reality must always hide more than it discloses.” We, as the viewer see a different reality from the photographer, they’re knowledge of the truth of the photo keeps their power over us.

Steven Shore

Steven Shore

Steven Shore was born in New York city. He's famous for his use of color in photography and for his "on the road" photographs of images around the U.s and Canada. He met Andy Warhol at the age of 17 and worked at his studio from 1965-1967.  I found Shores work fresh and modern for the time, as he most likely was intending to do because of his original use of color. I chose this photo above because  the use of sunlight, blue sky and red sign show his use of color and also captures his "on the road" theme. 

This is my fourth Steven Shore inspired photo i talked about in my previous post.

other photographers

These pictures I took with inspiration from Steven Shore. His photographs remind me of a story of a road trip. He takes a lot of pictures of cars, rest stops hotel feeling spaces and people. He reminds me of Eggleston in that his photographs are very personal, makes you wonder the story behind each photo. His photos are similar to Eggleston also in that they capture a loneliness feeling. On a road trip by yourself you have no one to talk to or be with and these photos I took remind me of a lonely hotel room.

This photo I took with inspiration from Alfred Steiglitz. Alfred takes a lot of black and white photos of people's surroundings, as well as people and body parts. He reminds me of Eggleston because Eggleston took a lot of photos of his surroundings down south.  My photo is of my backyard at night because Alfred's photos of the outdoors all seem very dark.

This photo is one I took with David Octavius Hill's paintings in mind. His paintings are all of the 1800th century. He paints a lot of people, some posed and others supposed to look in the moment which reminds me of Eggleston's photos in that when he captures people they aren't supposed to be posed but are. The photo i took is posed like some of Hill's paintings were.

^ these are the photos i got used for inspiration, the first photo is by Alfred Steiglitz, the second photo is by Steven Shore and the third is by David Octavius Hill

This photo exhibits work of Eggleston because he liked simplicity and also remnants of the south. I think music can be simple yet complex. Eggleston's photos exude simplicty yet we don't know the story behind them, meaning there is actually more depth to the photos. His work is much like music in that music is not simply lyrics and notes but they form a deeper meaning of something, much like Eggleston's guide to a possible deeper meaning of his life in a southern town.

Eggleston's Guide

Cara Cole
English and Photography
Eggleston’s Guide

1.      What does S write about Eggleston’s photos in specific?

a.      Pg 6 “…it seems that the pictures reproduced here are about the photographer’s home, about his place, in both important meanings of that word. On might say about his identity.”

b.      Pg. 10 “…that today’s most radical and suggestive color photography derives much of its vigor from commonplace models, this relationship is especially strong in the case of Eggleston’s work.”

c.      Pg. 11 “ In Eggleston’s work these characteristics are reversed, and we see uncompromisingly private experience described in a manner that is retrained, austere, and public, a style not inappropriate for photographers that might be introduced as evidence in court.”

d.      Pg. 11 “The simplicity of these pictures is (as the reader will have guessed) not so simple.”

e.      Pg. 11 “The pictures were based compositionally on the confederate flag.”

f.      Pg. 12 “One can say then that in these photographs form and content are indistinguishable which is to say that the pictures mean precisely what they appear to mean.”

2.      Photographers named :

Degas                                         Eliot Porter
James Agee                                Helen Levitt
Robert Adams                            Jane Austen
Alfred Stieglitz                          Steven Shore
Eugene Atget                            Joel Meyerowitz                      
David Octavius Hill                  Brady

3.      Terms

Pg 5: Nominal-of, pertaining to, or constituting a name or names.
Pg. 6: Anarchic-not regulated by law; lawless
        Pg. 7: Inextricably-hopelessly intricate, involved, or perplexing: inextricable confusion.
        Pg. 8: Ephemeral-lasting for only a short time; transitory; short-lived
        Pg. 9: Aesthetic-a philosophical theory or idea of what is aesthetically valid at a given time and place: the clean lines, bare surfaces, and sense of space that bespeak the machine-age aesthetic.
        Pg. 10: Vernacular-any medium or mode of expression that reflects popular taste or indigenous styles.
        Pg.11: Romanticism- ( often capital ) the theory, practice, and style of the romantic art, music, and literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, usually opposed to classicism
        Pg. 12: Monochrome-a painting or drawing in different shades of a single color
        Pg. 13: Opalescent-having a milky iridescence.
        Pg. 14: Paradigm-a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, esp. the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme.