aspects of photography

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDCUg182rY0

After looking at photography for the papers, I was searching youtube for a walk through of the different aspects of photography, and I really liked this one video. Found it to be really informational for being only 2:30

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHekCJdQUHE

love this movie and the message in it. this is just the trailer but if you have time to watch the entire movie its very good.

lh

Pan's Labyrinth

I thought the movie had great visual effects and the overall theme was depressing, but enlightening. It opened my eyes to evils of the Spanish War and also to the fact that every fairytale doesn't have a happy ending. However, it is debatable whether this movie ended in a positive way because the baby lives on and the dying young girl, Ofiela, has one last glimpse of her accomplishment. It made me feel a range of different emotions, but I enjoyed the ride.

-Nate Walters

What Do We Think of "Blow Up?"

After viewing the film "Blow Up" in class on Thursday, I personally have neutral feelings. I didn't entirely dislike it... however there wasn't much to work with. For me it was one of those films where the entire time you're waiting for something to happen and then the end credits come up on the screen and all you can think is, "what the hell? That's It?"

On a brighter note, the story line was good and the main character was pretty interesting which held my attention (throughout various parts of the film.)

What did everyone else think about it? Feedback please.

What is art?

Patrick Bostian

Thomas Hammond

Visual Literacy

September 13, 2010

What is art?

There is a joke that begins with, “Every hot chick with a camera thinks she’s a photographer.” Photography is more than just taking pictures and art is more than any expression of feeling. A work of art in most any field takes effort. Occasionally great photography can be created through luck and timing but everyone with a camera phone is not a photographer. Art certainly needs to be something. A license for creativity does not mean it can be anything.

Art is not universal. That is unless you believe that God created the Universe, in which case the Universe would be a work of art but that is another issue entirely. I don’t mean to be negative but when we call everything that is beautiful or everything that is an expression of some sort art, we really devalue that which has been worked on tediously. That is not to say that only paintings are works of art. Music, movies, still photography, etc. all of those are works of art. They express feeling and have been created to show that feeling. In all honesty art is in the eye of the beholder. Not to sound cliché but it is true.

Someone might find heavy metal to be a great work of art while in my opinion it is just noise. Throwing junk together is not really art. There may have been expression but it needs to form something. Many would say that anything that isn’t beautiful cannot be art. I think beautiful things are more artistic but there are dark and sad things that carry much expression of an artist.

To me art requires skill. True art cannot be stumbled upon. Beautiful occurrences like a lucky photo or a song that seems to pop into the musicians mind can seem like accidents but these opportunities need skill to be taken advantage of. That fleeting moment that would have been a great picture only becomes art if someone takes that photo. A gorgeous sunset only becomes art when someone takes the time to set up the photo. The famous picture of Muhammad Ali towering over a fallen Sonny Liston comes to mind when speaking of chance occurrences. That photo was taken in a split second when Ali motioned at Liston to get back up and take more of a beating. The photographer was sure lucky to have caught the classic pose, but it was also taken perfectly.

While on occasion art can occur by chance, most great art is created by a skilled professional who puts time and detail into their work. Artists like Jackson Pollack and Andy Warhol are praised for their artwork but to me art is more than a simple picture of a can or a splatter of paint. Sometimes I think we find art where there really is none. If there is one thing I have learned in considering the legitimacy of art it’s that quite possibly there is no steadfast definition of art. What we need to remember is that not everything is art, but we need to keep an open mind as to what art can be.

"Metropolis"

I feel that "Metropolis" was a movie ahead of its time. I also learned that many movies in the following years used concepts and actual parts of the movie to incorporate elements of these scenes into more recent movies such as "Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom". This connected the past to the present, which allowed me to draw comparisons from both movies after watching "Metropolis". A great example of this occurs when the wealthy, stable man trades places with one of the brainwashed peasants to experience the life of the "underground society" and to make meaning of it. It was a brillaint movie for its time and has been used a reference by many modern film-makers to this day.

-Nate Walters

"The Great Train Robbery" - USA 1903

In America, Edwin S. Porter, was taking film to a new level of entertainment. With imaginative camera placement and editing, the narrative cinema had taken a great leap forward.

"A Trip to the Moon" - France 1902

In just a few short years, film had gone from the moving pictures of everyday events that the Lumiere Brothers were busy cataloging to the full-fledged fantasy of George Melies. Although each shot was a long, static setup, stories were being told by putting strips of film together, also know as "editing".

The Lumiere Brothers - France 1895

The earliest films were simple representations of everyday life, taken with one camera set-up, one short roll of film, and no edits. Audiences, who had never seen pictures move before, were transfixed.

"Metropolis" - Germany 1927

Fritz Lang's great silent film is one of the most influential movies ever made. Due to the recent discovery of an original 16mm negative print in Brazil, it has been restored to its original length. That version should be released later this year on DVD.

"Battleship Potemkin" - Russia 1925

Sergei Eisenstein's 1925 silent film about the mutiny on board the Russian battleship, The Potemkin, and it's bloody aftermath, is a landmark in movie editing and a powerful statement about the struggle against corrupt authority.