Reverse, reverse

I pronounced my name phonetically backwards, and then reversed the track in Audacity. Et voila! This is wonderfully strange.

Reading Analysis

Assignment 50: Reading analysis I – The Studio as Compositional Tool

In this article, the author, Brian Eno, talks about the effect of evolution in sound recording technology and its influence on the nature of music. What was interesting to me was his idea of the transition of music from time to space. The process is somewhat similar to what happened for storytelling after the advent of the printing press. Suddenly, from word of mouth transmission of knowledge it was possible to document, to supplement, to give footnotes, to index, to cross-reference and so on. The idea of painting a sonic landscape from scratch in the studio is an interesting approach to composition of music, and makes a really strong association of music with the studio as opposed to music being sound of a culture or people.

I looked up Brian Eno on Wikipedia, and strangely enough, he is mostly well known for his ambient music, which is somewhat the opposite of studio composition.

Assignment 51: Reading analysis II. The Liberation of Sound.

I was initially skeptical about the viewpoint of Varèse in this article because of his pure mechanical approach to music creation and his view of music being a permutation of physical possibilities. In some way, he dehumanizes the process of music making by introducing “the machine”. However, I think he does a good job of being his own best critic and addressing some of the concerns about distance between the composer and the music. He brings up an important argument in the last paragraph – “Good music and bad music will be composed by electronic means, just as good and bad music have been composed for instruments.” This goes to show that compositional strength is, as always, a thing to be treasured, whatever be the medium.

Who Doesn’t Want an Incredible Monogram?

(Assignment 3.2)

Trust Falling

(Assignment 3.1)

Trust falls are a common activity at leadership camps, and can be nerve wrecking. They are especially nerve wrecking when you’re falling into the hands of someone you JUST met at leadership camp. Here’s three simple steps to being a good faller and a good catcher.

Disclaimer: No trust or bones were broken in the making of this illustration.

Here’s the post-critique version –

This would be a useful instructional at a leadership retreat or a playground, if little kids want to try the exercise with their friends.

Stephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-Standard Alex Rosekrans (R) catches classmate Allie Mack in a trust exercise at the Orenda Springs Experimental Learning Center in Marcellus.

Seriously?

Life On Mars

(Assignment 22)

The following is a work of fiction.

My biggest challenge was to make the river/waterfall  seem like it was a part of the natural gradient of the land, and make it fit the perspective of the shot. I worked with four original images – the river, the surface, the spaceship, and the alien kid.

Digital Technologies as a Tool

(Assignment 20.3)

Read Christiane Paul’s “Digital Technologies as a Tool” (See the Readings page) and browse the digital artworks listed above. From these materials, identify an artwork (image) which was clearly produced through digital manipulations of photographic source materials. Work to find one that you admire. In a blog post, write a response to the question: In your opinion, what makes that image effective as an artwork?

The pictures are Charles Cohen’s archival digital inkjet prints 12b(2001) and Andie 04(2001). Cohen’s photographic manipulations present an intriguing concept through the use of negative space. Most of his works remove pornographic content from the original images, and in doing so, he creatively draws your attention to it. I also think it creates a role reversal between the subject and the object. Instead of visually overwhelming you with explicit images, it plays with your imagination and thus makes you an active observer of the image, as opposed to a passive one, simply taking in the information in the photo. On a side note, I think it turns pornography to erotica. Maybe, that’s because I find the image more tasteful than what may have otherwise been. That’s what makes this piece an effective artwork for me.

I Was There. Just Ask Photoshop.

(Assignment 20.2)
Browse through the short list of “Readings about Fashion Retouching” (see the Readings page), and select one to read. Write a few sentences about something which interested you from the article.

One of the examples in the article is that of Laura Horn, photoshop-ing her ex-husband out of photographs. I thought that was an interesting way for her to deal with the bitter reality of her divorce. While logically it would make sense for her to just move on to making new memories and new pictures, the fact that this helped her deal with the past, makes the the forgery serve a purpose. This makes me wonder what right I have argue for the the authenticity of the photo if it helped someone, be it irrationally, to come to terms with a life experience.

Photo Tampering Throughout History

(Assignment 20.1)

1968: When in the summer of 1968 Fidel Castro (right) approves of the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, Carlos Franqui (middle) cuts off relations with the regime and goes into exile in Italy. His image was removed from photographs. Franqui wrote about his feeling of being erased:

I discover my photographic death.
Do I exist?
I am a little black,
I am a little white,
I am a little shit,
On Fidel’s vest.

The idea of “photographic death” made me think about the psychological impact of edited photographs on not only the audience that doesn’t know and understand the trade secrets of the beauty industry but also its effect on those involved in the process of image-making.

The attempt to use editing to change the perceived course of history, as is in this case, is criminal. Pretending something didn’t happen because you didn’t like it is silly.

It is strange, this desire to create alternate realities, and sometimes, blatant lies, and all we are trying to do is convince ourselves along the way.

Glamourization

(Assignment 21)

Me:

Not Really Me:


Suppose an interview article about you is being written for a major magazine, and the editors intend to print an accompanying full-page photograph of you. Would you prefer that the magazine professionally (that is, undetectably) retouch your image? If yes, to what extent — is there a limit?

So I enjoyed the process of editing my picture and glamourizing it, mostly because I haven’t actually used Photoshop in that way before. Also, to say that I think the original photo is more appealing would be – 1. a lie and 2. it would imply that I did a bad job of photo retouching. The fact remains that photo editing when done right is done because it mostly results in something more appealing. (Unless of course, you screw it up completely, check out http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/)

Having said that, am I okay with the photo in its un-edited form? – YES.

Finally, I think if a major magazine was using a photo of me, I would be okay with the use of Photoshop, and “beautification” to a certain extent. Most meta-data associated with photographs, such as brightness and contrast, sharpness, color balance is fair game. What would be out of bounds for me, would be, major changes to body structure, skin tone, and rendering the photograph in a way that makes it obvious to people who know me and see me everyday, that it is clearly not me.