Day 594

8/31/2008

taken : 8/31/2008

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Went and hung out @ a coffee shop for a few hours today. Finished my readings for this upcoming week.

...well...all of them BUT Greek Vase Painting...those are tough to get through...

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The reading for my Critical Issues in Photography class was pretty damn sweet. The first chapter was a rather extensive overview of the beginning of photography...which I actually only found semi-interesting. The chapter that was to follow seemed far more important than the first. The chapter dealing with the history of photography eventually came up with a list of about 30 people from around the world (although mostly Europe and US) that could be seen as the firsts. The issue at hand was that it is clear photography was on the cusp of invention for almost a century. All the pieces to make it possible had been in existence for almost a century....starting around 1720. So, why then, circa mid-nineteenth century, was there all of a sudden a need, or drive for photography?


I will not discuss at length the answer to that question. It is long.

but here are some things I found interesting.


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It is interesting to note that there were maybe 10 main people involved with the start of photography...and they wrote extensively on it. In particular, they were all using camera obscuras to aid in drawing of LANDSCAPES...and they all wrote in some way or another the need or desire to find a way to 'fix' an image of nature onto paper. They all thought of it in a rather abstract way.

They all simply viewed that action as nature itself drawing an image. The nature of Nature. Providing the means for nature of make an accurate record of itself.


"Is nature painted by photography or being induced to paint herself? Is she produced by or a producer of photography"

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It is also interesting to note that many of the people involved with early photography coined terms for it such as "heliography' (sun writing) or sun (or light) drawings.

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There are many more things I would talk about...but I can't really articulate them very well.

Maybe I can give you the readings sometime.

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I forgot to mention how my first critique went with Mr. Chong in photo 2. I was reminded by reading Boozer's most recent post. Chong asked all the students to bring in their most previous work (from Photo 1 in our case) to get a feel for where every one stands.

Naturally I used my final from Photo 1. Some of you may be familiar with that project, and the semester as a whole. In short, Scott (who was the subject in 2/3 of the projects that semester and collaborater on all of them) and I worked it out to where I turned the whole Photo 1 semester into one gigantic project. All centered around my identity (and Scott's as well) and being an 'asian-american'.

In short, I was nervous because most of Chong's work centers around identity (although I am not sure of that is true...just from what I gather).

But it went well.

He liked my work.

(even after I told him I only sort of liked his stuff)

"Mark, for a photo 1 student, this is very good work. You have my respect."

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word.

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Now I have to step up my game and do some damn good work this semester.


...the first project is already in the works...

...more to come...