Danielle's Journal Entries :)

Frank White Studio:

It was really awesome seeing someone on the commercial end of photography and how their studio looked. I really enjoyed that. At the same time, I wish he would have gone into more detail on his photographic process rather than keeping it a secret. I get the feeling it's going to be extremely difficult to break into the commercial world and become successful, it would have been nice to get a few pointers from someone who knows the industry. On the bright side, our visit made me even more determined to find an internship! I am still looking and waiting to hear back from a few people (who hopefully aren't creepers like the last guy) but I am confident I will find one before the end of summer!!!

Reliant Stadium:

This one was probably my favorite out of all of our field trips! It was so exciting to see the locker rooms, the gym, and how the stadium looks from the field. Also seeing the press box was AMAZING! I am now a firm believer that's the only way to watch sports! I got a lot of really interesting shots from that field trip (which is why I decided to post them) and I don't know- it was just an awesome experience I won't forget!

Water Treatment Plant:

Disgusting- yes! Fascinating- yes! I had a lot of fun on this trip as well! I mean, how many people can say they have been to shit town USA?!! (Pardon my french!) I never realized just how many steps there were involved in making our water clean; and that was just for the bayou water! There are twice as many steps for purifying our drinking water! The lighting in some of the areas we went was really cool and gave me some ideas for possible future projects. (No they are not poo related!) It might be cool to go to different places that aren't necessarily 'high-end' but to photograph them as though they were. I don't mean urban decay- I've been there and done that as I am sure most photographers have, but like machine shops, processing plants, things of that nature. It might be fun to capture them in the same technical manner as a five star hotel would be captured- it also may fail horribly. Either way I think it'll be a fun little mini-project for me to play around with over the summer. I'd also like to go out into the country and try to photograph barns and ranches like that as well- I know that's fairly common and has definitely been done before but I still love images like that. I'd also really really like to go up towards the midwest and get some amazing storm pictures! I have always loved storms and like trying to capture them- this seems like a good year to really explore that. (That project might have to wait until the spring though when things are really active and unpredictable.) But I got all of these ideas from this field trip, which is crazy since they really don't relate to water treatment at all. I think it was the combination of the drizzly weather, and just the grey-green overcasts and dim lighting that started it all, not to mention the interesting textures.

Airport:

I know I keep saying this but I really enjoyed our trip to the airport! It really made me want to travel and go somewhere exciting this summer and take tons of pictures! Seeing the flight control was really cool- I was really surprised how small our airport is! It feels so much bigger inside than it did on the outside, which should be obvious but still caught me off-guard. It was also really cool being out there on the runway- that was really really awesome! I have ALWAYS wanted to do that and I am really glad we were given that opportunity!

Rodeo:

So I went to the rodeo to see both Lady A and Jason Aldean- and it reminded me of our trip to reliant! I decided that the rodeo (and motocross) were the two exceptions to my new rule that sports are much better when viewed from the press box! I love all the events- especially bull riding, bareback, and the one where they jump off the horse to rope the calf! I don't think those events would be nearly as cool in the press box as they are up close and personal. These feelings were strengthened when we went out to Tomball to watch a friend's cousin do her barrel race at a local rodeo. I don't know why I felt this was relevant but I thought it was random that I was thinking about school while I was at the rodeo!

Creative Camera Quote:

The quote made me think of some of the issues brought up during critique. As photographers, just like with other artists, it is important for us to be aware of any associations certain colors, words, or shapes have. I know that during one of the critiques the feminine aspects of the triangle were discussed, as well as masonic symbolism. It is so easy to slip up and use something without knowing the background or history, and it can completely alter the message being portrayed. This can be extremely frustrating and is a good thing to know and get used to before we graduate and start our careers as photographers and/or artists.

Journals-Claudia M.

Just on a side Note: All of my images dont necessarily relate to my journals. =] Some were just experimental and for fun.

Journal #1

Frank White

Neat guy. I honestly enjoyed our time in his studio space/ house. Which on a side note, I love the way his house is connected with his work space, I have always hoped I would have that type of space for myself some day and be able to invite people to see my house/loft looking studio. But anyways, back to White, he is an experienced photographer that I now admire for his hard work. He gave me a reality check when saying that sometimes we will have to do other type of photography such as commercial work in order to pay the bills, etc. Which is totally true we cant always have a dream like life where everything is like we imagine it. We don’t live in a fairy tale so unfortunately we cant have a fairy tale life. I realized that he has worked hard and carefully for a long time, and he learns from his experiences, good or bad. His conceptual work was comical, simple, very clean, and well put together. Sometimes in school we think that our work has to be the deepest thoughts from la la land and we take it too extremely serious. But what I saw from his work is that it was something he saw and liked so he produced the work, like the “run over” items.

Journal #2

Reliant Stadium

I’ve never been to Reliant Stadium to watch a Football game, although Im sure Im not missing out very much on anything, but, I have been for other events. So the fact that we were going to go where not very many people get to go was exciting to me. Im such a kid when it comes to things like this (being “behind the scenes”). The structure of the place is very photogenic in my opinion. There were many good spots to shoot that looked neat; nothing more really. When we were on the actual field I wanted to run all over it and let loose but obviously we couldn’t. I felt like such an outsider even though we were in the places insiders go threw. I felt like we went through an entire maze and with out our tour guide Im sure we would all be lost. There were doors leading to all kinds of random places, which was fun because you didn’t know what to expect next. But all in all it was a great experience. I cant believe I actually considered working for Reliant as a photographer, but if it pays the bills, I’m there. Ha!

Journal #3

69^th Street Waste Water Treatment Plant

Yuck! I have to give props to the people that work directly with these machines or on the actual treatment grounds. At the first sight of waste I almost threw up in Brittney’s car. It was interesting and neat to see the way the water is cleaned and then released back to the bayou. It is not an easy task to accomplish if the machines decide not to work properly or break down. There was something that our tour guide said that caught my attention and that was, “we just speed up the process of water treatment that nature already does on its own.” It was fascinating to hear that nature already does this for us, but since we are so over populated, we have to speed it up to function according to our time and needs. Just like many things in society, we as humans, every day want access or demand things faster and faster. We are a society that is growing out of patience, but so much that in some areas we HAVE to do it because of the way we have already been raised; like the treatment plant. The photo I selected for this field trip is one of Os taking pics of the nasty waste and Brittney C and Danielle are watching, and it just made me think of why we waste time watching/photographing/consuming waste in the world in general; figuratively speaking.

Journal #4

IAH Trip

Since I found out we would be going to IAH I was already excited for that trip. I was looking forward to it and hoped it was worth the time. And it TOTALLY WAS! This was one of the best field trips ever. We had the awesomest, nicest, smartest guys in the whole place to show us around. I still cant believe we actually got to go up on the tower. In all my life of living in Houston, I had never stood in a place where I could walk and see nearly all of Houston in a 360 degree walkway or catwalk as they call it. The best part was, well all of it. I really love the structure of planes and enjoy photographing them in all types of angles. I’ve been to the Houston Air Show the past two years and have become attached a bit to capturing the planes in action. Anyways, the experiences, conversations and knowledge shared to us was definitely inspiring to me and allowed me to see (literally) another side of the mechanics it takes to run this place.

Journal #5

One for One!

This year, for the second time, I joined the TOMS shoes campaign of “One for One” or one day with out shoes, which is to raise awareness about other people around the world that don’t have shoes. Last year I did it for a little bit, but this year I set a goal and stuck to it of how long or which places I would NOT wear shoes at. For the most part I didn’t wear shoes unless I had to walk in the parking lot at school or from our building to the satellite. It was weird but not very hard. I was uncomfortable being dirty and so exposed to the “cleanliness” we have in our building, specially the chemical labs. Yuck! But even then, I stuck to it. It was definitely a mind opener of how fortunate we are to have something so simple yet so scarce in other countries. I recommend anyone try this, even if its just while you drive, or walking from your car to the front door. Just do it!

I was reluctant to post pages from my actual journal here, but this is where I was this weekend when I was still reworking that video for Stephan. My interest in the subject matter/source material goes deeper than what's on these two pages, but I'm not posting that online in a public journal, because no.

good luck reading my handwriting?

oh yeah, Frank White

It's not that he's obnoxious (though he is). It's not that he's pompous (though he is). It's not that he does commercial work, and made his living off it (because I've done event photography before, because hey, it pays bills).

It's that he purports himself to be a rare breed: the guy who does commercial AND fine art! Except his fine art isn't that good, nor is it particularly deep or conceptual. No matter how many times he claims to be an artiste making brilliant works whilst finding ways to insert some sort of subversiveness into his work for The Man, saying that your work is deep is conceptual doesn't make it so.

I admit that my own work is not exceedingly deep and a lot of it is pretty damn ridiculous. If I can own up to that and embrace my own goofiness, why can't he admit that he's making art for my mom, and embrace his blandness?

I think Os described it best when he described Frank as the last panda, because that's exactly what Frank wants to be. Silly man.

agrh Bruce Weber argh effective advertising

Dear Bruce Weber
Curse the day Abercrombie and Fitch hired you to revamp their advertising. Because you did a good job. Too good, in fact. So good, that every time that I get my coffee on my lunch, my mind automatically goes to one of two things:
1. the discussion of rebranding with phallic imagery from Jacobs' class last semester
2. "hey, that guy has nice abs. I should stare at those abs...ohmygoodness this place smells like cheap cologne and high school angst"

So, Bruce Weber. This wouldn't bother me so much if this didn't happen three to five times a week, as I work in a mall and stupid AF is right between my job and the mall's only Starbucks. At least when I learned rudimentary music theory, it gave me the ability to describe why most of what 94.5 plays is awful-being able to say,"This Nickleback song sucks because its I-V-I chord structure can be heard a mile away" negated realizing that "Mr. Blue Sky" consists of one chord and a key change. I don't have anything like that to comfort myself with here. I know that I'm staring into AF even though I dislike their clothes, and I know exactly why.

So, Bruce Weber, please start sucking at your job. In exchange, I'll hook you up with every new Apple device for the next year. I hear iPad 3's going to have a time travelling app.

Signed,
a disgruntled PDM major and mall employee

Paolo’s Semester Experience Blog (This is the journal assignment)

            It’s nearing the end of the semester and I need to reflect over what I have experienced and taken in so far.  Although this is the second semester in the block program I honestly feel that I still need to improve on my work ethic.  Procrastination and motivation has been my largest flaws as a student here and I wish I could have done a lot more in my project.  But staying here is not a complete waste because I was able to learn many things from awesome professors that are unmatched in any other department.

            First thing to get out of the way are the five field trips us juniors followed Mr. Politzer to.  In no particular order, number one there was the first trip to Frank White’s Studio in Diverse Works.  One of the two most art relevant trips this semester.  The lesson that was stressed in the trip was the workings of an artist in the public industry and in the Fine Arts world.  It was interesting to learn the technical aspects with dealing with clients, galleries, and the advertising industry.  In addition to that, specific tips on how to show your work to the world.  However, I rarely learned anything conceptual from him.  His concepts and meaning behind his works are relatively simple asides from his god like photo technical skills.  Anything ran over by a fork lift did not really go by me to well.  So imagine how I felt when I had to sit there and wait as he performed his “Lord of the Rings Return of the King” ending scene.  It took him forever to finish showing work I rarely found interest in.  Don’t get me wrong I like his work but it’s just not my style bro.

            The second art relevant trip was Trenton Doyle Hancock’s studio.  Google map freaking lied to me so I spent one hour looking for this damn place.   I came late so I probably missed many important things.  Though his studio looks like a tornado went through it as compared to the clean, orderly studio of Frank White, I learned more things I found interesting from this guy than Frank White.  He kind of looked like what my dad would look like if he were black.  But I loved the way this man thinks.  His strange and bizarre paintings come straight from his mind.  Bizarre and frightening characters both captivate me.  Another reason I feel inspired by this man is because I create my artwork the same way he does.  I love to jump into imaginary worlds and become a creator.  That joy I feel in playing god and birthing universes; a task that no other organism on earth can duplicate.   He worked similarly making his imagination run amok.   I learned how to get inspired by the things around you and to take in concepts and issues and express it in your own.  All that junk in that studio was actually useful and not forgotten all of them had a role to play.   I loved his work I get a better learning experience by listening about concepts and ideas than technical aspects.  Oh also, when he said he was an otaku, I wanted to Bro Fist him.

Reliant Photos
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.841798447376.2411261.37527355 

            The rest of the field trips were non-art related but another role of a photographer is also to explore and capture many other things around them even those not related to art.  Reliant stadium was the first of these we visited.  This was my first back stage experience I have had in such a large public facility.  I got a thrill in exploring areas that most people do not see.  It’s like work but not as fun.  There were so many things the public take for granted that I did not know about.  How many people it takes to create our entertainment.  It felt like we were treading holy ground by going into the players’ locker room, stadium areas and VIP party rooms.  Also, monster trucks are awesome.  One thing I was glad to see was the bar my father designed for the first time.  It’s almost surreal because I only saw it in photos and in the carpet samples I use as a doormat in my house.  Over all it was a learning experience that was epic.  The history and areas I learned and explored were cool.

            Next was my class’ least favorite trip to the water treatment plant (which as euphemism for sewage facility).  At first I thought the tour wasn’t that bad but as we got deeper in the shit, literally, some of us almost puked and cried.  It’s a disgusting and sometimes scary place.  The unholy marriage between sewage and the pounding and roaring sounds of heavy machinery is probably the least likely place to find artists (many but not all) looking for beauty.  The smell was not the poop smell I expected but something just as worse.  The stench of purifying chemicals and bleach are strong enough to give headaches.  Also, some pipes leaked water and if you got some on you, you become paranoid as hell.  Then there was the filter area with the wrappers and used condoms getting stuck in there, which was an unhappy sight.  The learning experience of another public facility was great and educational, just physically disgusting.

            Last of the non-art related fieldtrip was to Bush International Airport.  A place I am not unfamiliar with at all.  I have to pick up my mom from there almost every month.  But the coolest thing was I get to see AIRPLANES!  Though I hated the machinery in Poop Town USA, the aesthetic of mechanical designs and of military and modern equipment has always fascinated me since childhood.  All the other places to me were insignificant until I get to see the guts of an aircraft.  I loved how things work together and function into one unit.  I get lost in all the detail and small nooks and crannies of the engines, the computers of the aircraft and everything.  It’s so chaotic but all play a part in such a beautiful machine.   My mind goes into this state of endless wondering.  It’s a feeling I can’t describe.  Sitting in the cockpit was exhilarating.  I imagined I was an Air Force pilot on a mission in Afghanistan.   Watching the planes take off was amazing, such large behemoths taking to the skies.  Most of us take how much we’ve come along in technology for granted.  It has become part of us.  For example, I know the Internet was around after I was born but I don’t remember the first time it came into my life.   It felt like it has been there forever.

            These field trips enriched me as an art student.  A conclusion I came to recently be that my job as an artist is to explore and take in the world and express our perception of it.  Many people believe we should find ourselves by separating ourselves from being products of society.  I disagree because humans are creatures that build up their character by using their life experiences as building blocks.  We are not like animals that know how to do things the moment they are born; we have the gift to learn and to pick and choose what we want to take on to ourselves.  There is no primitive “true self” devoid of our surroundings.   The source of our soul is not inside, but out there in the world.  The artist expresses their perception of the universe from the collage they had made from bits and pieces from the outside.  I want to explore, I want to add more to my sculpture of the self.  Then show it off to the world.

Creative Camera quote...because someone had to write about it...

· “The photograph alone among art forms can convincingly appear to portray the world legitimately…and at the same time, evoke associations and meanings which dispel any particulars of time, place or object…This photographic belief system holds that the world is studded with potential symbols; the artist needs skill to render or capture experiences, but he must also perceive the symbolic associations. This is a question of insight and vision and dreams.” – Lois Fishman, Creative Camera, 1977.

Face value: a rose is going to have particular connotations no matter what, and it's gonna take more than just your word to convince the random viewer that roses represent the unconditional love of your dog Skippy, and only the unconditional love of your dog Skippy.

But if we're going to proceed as imagemakers assuming that every little thing on this planet means something, and that every item means the same thing to every single person ever, I think we're denying ourselves as artists the possibility to expand on those possible symbolic associations. Sure, there are certain items that are so cliched they probably shouldn't even be touched. It doesn't mean we can't try to subvert them to represent something else, or use these symbols to create an alternate truth (or at least mock the cliche). So yes, everything can potentially represent something, but we can invent what a lot of these things mean. So while a work about your ferocious Rottweiler Skippy chewing up roses will most likely represent LOSS OF INNOCENCE OMG* because roses and Rottweilers have very familiar connotations, there's opportunity there with a little creativity and imagination to add other, more interesting details and symbols to make it about something completely different...or you can throw in a teddy bear and a bunch of soft pastel color and drive the cliche home.

That's what I took away from visiting Trenton's studio: as an artist, you have the freedom to make up your own language. As artists, we should exploit this right as much as possible.

*all caps because this is one of the most cliched themes ever