This might be my new favorite photographer! She has such a sympathy and tenderness to the portraits that she has taken. I was talking to Shane the other day on how I wish I could look at my photography without an emotional attachment to it, but I think that is what makes some work really strong. Now, like with Monica's (and we talked about this alot after History of Photo) appreciation with deadpan photography, there is definitly a lack of emotion. I just find it very hard to separate myself from why I am doing these photos and the effect it has on me. Even if the photography itself is not emotional for me...taking the photos, and the effort I put into them, when I believe in them, is emotional. Mary Frey, has taken these pictures and used such good studio lighting. Her lighting reminds me of Jack, Monica and I's idol-Gregory Crewdson! That strong, potent lighting, that brings out that saturated color. I am crazy for that strength. I find these portraits so powerful. Just the way that she stages these pictures...they are beautiful.
Check out her website also!! Its all amazing!
http://www.maryfrey.com/family/index.htm#title
My question is...Do you think your art is stronger when emotionally based or do you think it can be strong when you are separated from it?
3 comments:
I wouldn't say I idolize Crewdson, but I do admire his work :) As of late I am still stuck on Laura Letinsky and Peter Fraser. I can't even try and pick a favorite! After looking through Art Forum last week, I have a million more favorites haha! Thanks for sharing Frey's Work. I am really drawn to her images without people. Seeing that it's something I am exploring this semester it's nice to see the contrast of her work with and without them in the frame.
Now that I have started to explore separating myself from my work, I do still feel like I have an emotional connection, but it's not as obvious to the viewer. I still have certain feelings that I get when I look at my house pictures, but it's nothing that the average viewer would get from looking at them. In that way it makes my work more personal, but I do enjoy emotionally driven photography. I would say both are just as strong, I would challenge you to try and separate yourself more, it's a whole new feeling, but something definitely worth exploring.
Ok, I will not speak for Jacki and Monica...I like Gregory Crewdson A LOT! He is my hero of photography. Sorry Monica:)
I do indeed like Crewdson.
The idea of seperating yourself from your work is interesting to me. This is my view: I don't think you can ever fully seperate yourself from your work. I think it is inevitable that you will be connected to your work. Since you make the decision to pull up your camera and shoot the photo, there's a reason why. I think that no matter how much I try to seperate myself from my work I will not be able to, and frankly I don't want to. Last semester I shot a lot of different things, not until the end did I have a better understanding as to what it meant to me. This ended up being a different thing than I thought it was.
I think that since we choose to shoot the things we do, we will be connected to them. Although it would be interesting to just walk around with a camera set on automatic shooting, somehow. Then you wouldn't know when or what it was going to include in the frame. But even the craziest ideas I have for shooting, I know there's a reason why I thought of it.
I would say last semester I felt most distanced from my work, which is weird because it became about relationships. I thought that I was putting so much undeniable emotion into each photo but it ended up having a different feel toward the end. Yes, I used my parents, but I could not relate emotionally to each photograph, but rather as a whole body of work.
I think that work can be strong either if you include an emotional background to it, or if you just shoot anything. Take Erwin Wurm's work for instance. I don't think he feels that emotionally connected to his work but I still would consider it strong. He followed a process.
Too often I do want to put a super emotional base to my work, but I have to remember that is more about the process. Even if I feel an emotional connection to my work, it stands alone. So in that sense the emotions I feel may make my work strong, but I cannot rely on that solely.
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