NOTE: My main reason for choosing to discuss Erin Mulvehill's work is because it resembles the work that Mary did last semester in Intermediate Photography.
What makes Erin's work so strong is the consistent editing that is done to each picture. Her series "Underwater" has been reviewed numerous times, all of which reiterate a statement that she made - " preservation of beautiful moments"... no shit.
First of all, that is the dumbest thing to focus on. Sure some/most photographers love to preserve beautiful moments! That's one great point to the invention of the camera - not so much to the meaning of her photography. Annnnyways... There are more to these pictures than "preserving a beautiful moment". I figured Mary would be able to touch on this a little or have some kind of connection with this particular photographer.
Back to what I was talking about with the importance of editing. These pictures are a wonderful example of being quite sensitive with your editing process. The individual becomes the center of attention rather than the careful tool in front of the subject used to create this effect. If the time was not taken to clean these up and make sure the colors matched, all of these would have felt... different. Not that it would be a bad thing, however her focus here is obviously on the individual. The sensitive color correcting done is appropriate for the feeling created by the images. The figures look drown or dead, so a nice warm surrounding probably would not have been the best choice. Reviewing these photographs has given me a greater appreciation for carefully picking the color tints that are appropriate for the subject matter of my photography. I just want the rest of our class to be very concerned with how important that is, and to constantly be asking themselves: "does this hue give my photographs a particular feel" or "does the realistic correction serve a purpose". Erin Mulvehill changed it up with a few of them, but not very many.
4 comments:
I think that is a really great point to be made, color can really make or break what you, the photographer, is trying to emphasize. Color can have such a huge impact on the viewer that the intent must be clear. Had they looked disconnected, I don't think I would be as interested. The fact that they are connected keeps me looking to see how each of them flow into the next.
Thanks Chris! These are really interesting for me to see. They are different, yet similar. What is funny, is before I had the idea with the shower, I wanted to do all water series pictures. This is what my pictures would have been similar to, if I had followed what my mind had wanted me to do. Good thing I didn't I guess...
Editing is one of the hardest things for me to do. I am so scared to "ruin," the photo, that sometimes I feel like I don't do enough.
I definitely agree that we need to consider all elements of editing, before presenting images. Color kind of scares me and it's hard for me to tell what i think looks realistic sometimes.
Mary: even if you would have followed your initial idea, they would not have looked the same. A lot of people had similar ideas, especially in the post modern movement where splatter painting became widely popular, and not one artist seems the same.
Jacki: realistic is not what you have to be aware of all the time. sometimes unrealistic elements can serve a purpose... that doesn't mean that you can't ruin a picture by over-editing though!
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