UEL DV1101- Topic Defined By Me- Diana Camera

This is defianatly on the top of my to buy list! I have been wanting one for such a long time. Diana cameras are mostly known as toys they are reasonably cheap and take 4x4 photographs. They take really soft focus and the Diana frequently suffers from light leaks, film advance issues, and other problems, but this is what I like the most about them, they are so unpredictable and every image created is so unique and such a one of becuase of these components. It creates really magical looking photographs and would be great for me to use and keep with me over the summer and create almost a Diana Camera summer project and all the effects I could possibly create by using one.

UEL DV1101- Topic Defined By Me- Annie Leibovitz & Lilly Cole Shoot

This really is one of the best high fashion shoots I have seen all year. It includes British model Lily Cole and actor Andrew Garfeild and they play the story of Hansel & Gretel through the photographs. Lady Gaga also makes a guest appearance in a few of the photographs as the old witch. Everything about it costumes, scenes and lighting is amazing I really recommend checking it out. It is very much like the Alice In Wonderland shoot Annie Leibovitz done a few years ago, however I feel Lady Gaga brings alot more evil and quirkyness to the shoot, ideas you just could not have got fro any where else.

References: http://www.vogue.com/feature/2009_December_Hansel_And_Gretel/

UEL DV1101- Core Topic- Semiotics

The mose simpliest way to describe Semiotics is 'The study of signs'. However rest assured it is not that simple, I myself am still understanding and learning more about the topic. When talking about semiotics. a sign is anything that stands for something else. It took me a long time to understand this very simple statement.

The British semiotician Daniel Chandler suggests that studying semiotics can make us “more aware of reality as a construction and of the roles played by ourselves and others in constructing it. Meaning is not ‘transmitted’ to us – we actively create it according to a complex interplay of codes or conventions of which we are normally unaware. Becoming aware of such codes is both inherently fascinating and intellectually empowering.”

References: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://christinabakerkline.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/magrittes-pipe-semiotics1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://christinabakerkline.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/language-geek-3-semiotics/&usg=__z2IYgaekfsc0yqHbNN2tFQaWmnw=&h=228&w=320&sz=11&hl=en&start=12&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=kCfFKec74ORT0M:&tbnh=84&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsemiotics%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Barthes 'Camera Lucida' By Roland Barthes

UEL DV1101- Core Topic- Modernism/ Postmodernism

I am still grasping the context of modernism and post modernism, however this is what I have come to the conclusion of so far. When looking a modernist peice of work it is normally one of the following; either highky description like a beautiful landscape, based on a social change & technology, never focused on today but tomorrow, revolutionary, never seen before. Whereas post modernism takes thins from the past and re uses them for example people like Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston and Andy Warhol all fall into the category of post modernism. However there are so many things surrounding a photograph that you have to think about before you make the decision, is it only about aestics and form? Certainty? Revealing something new? Referring to culture? Modernism references subject, shape, form and no other deeper meaning than that. Whereas Post modernism is either a re-evaluation of an artist of modernist, it’s not mad unheard of and it has been seen before, could possibly be political and question aestics.

UEL DV1101- Topic Defined By Me- Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was an American photographer who was famous for photographing intense black and white photographs of strange and very unusual people. Often her subjects look sad, conflicted or physically abnormal. But they do not try to hide their insecurities. They openly stare at the camera. One art expert said Diane Arbus turned photography inside out. Instead of looking at her subjects, she made them look at her. Arbus's work has provoked controversy; for example, Norman Mailer was quoted in 1971 as saying "Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child, which is slightly ironic and possibly her most famous photograph was ‘Child with toy hand grenade in Central Park’
The photograph shows a young boy tensely holding his thin arms close by his side, clenched tightly in one hand is a toy grenade and his other hand is held in a very strange, awkward claw-like shape with a very strained expression on his face. Arbus captured this photograph by having the boy stand while moving around him, claiming she was trying to find the right angle. The boy became impatient and told her to "Take the picture already!” His expression shows his impatience with her, however in the other pictures on the contact sheet he appears a happy child.

References :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arbus http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arbus.html http://www.manythings.org/voa/people/Diane_Arbus.html

UEL DV1101- Core Topic- Feminism

Feminism is a political and social movement that since being put into effect has completely changed how woman are treated throughout the world. Feminism is changing the way that men see woman, after all in the past woman were treated very poorly and didn’t have the same rights as a man. Feminism is for the equal treatment of men and women and just because of a person’s gender it does not mean they should be at any disadvantage. During the industrial revolution is when feminism really grew and had a major effect. Allot of the women were working in factories in appalling working conditions and started to want education and better things. But during the 1960s was when feminism really burst into life again in the US as part of a radical culture that included Civil Rights and sexual liberation. Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was a bestseller in 1963. Feminist groups campaigned on issues such as childcare, health, welfare, education, abortion. Consciousness-raising groups proliferated. In Europe, Canada and Australasia too, new ideas and laws were changing society.

UEL DV1101- Topic Defined By Me- Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol is one of the biggest legends and masters of photography, but it is not he’s photography that I am most interested in, it is in fact he’s life and background all of which contribute to he’s art and made him what he was. He’s childhood was very unusual and unlike most as in he’s third year at school he caught chorea, which a hypochondriac, developing a fear of hospitals and doctors. Most of his childhood he was bed ridden, he became an outcast among his school-mates and bonded strongly with his mother. At times when he was confined to bed, he drew, listened to the radio and collected pictures of movie stars around his bed. Warhol later described this period as very important in the development of his personality, skill-set and preferences. When Warhol was 13, his father died in an accident. Another fact that really interests me is an event that happened in 1968 when a lady called Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol outside his studio and he barely survived. He made this quote not long after the incident;

"Before I was shot, I always thought that I was more half-there than all-there – I always suspected that I was watching TV instead of living life. People sometimes say that the way things happen in movies is unreal, but actually it's the way things happen in life that's unreal. The movies make emotions look so strong and real, whereas when things really do happen to you, it's like watching television – you don't feel anything. Right when I was being shot and ever since, I knew that I was watching television. The channels switch, but it's all television."

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol http://www.warholfoundation.org/