Isabella Demavlys

In Without A Face, Isabella Demavlys portrays the victims of acid attacks in Pakistan. In places like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and now also Afghanistan, acid attacks have become a common form of violence against women.

"Acid attacks are a relatively recent phenomenon, with the earliest recorded incidents in Bangladesh in 1983. They have become possible as acidic products became household items. In Bangladesh, hydrochloric acid is sold as a toilet cleaner and a gallon can be purchased for just a few dollars, and in India and Pakistan a similar chemical concentrate is used for sterilizing kitchens and bathrooms. Since acid is inexpensive and easily accessible, it has increasingly become the weapon of choice." (Conscientious Blog)

It is incredible how easy we have it here! The only time we live in fear is if we hear or see that there is a bad neighborhood and we shouldn't stop through. I mean we obviously fear everyday things together as a world, like sickness, disease, death etc...but we are so lucky that we live, or go to school here, in a safe town. We would never expect something violent to happen here in De Pere. These women have come forward as signs to people who think things like this don't happen. We block out the bad, and most of us (meaning people in college) do not keep up on our daily news...the one place where we hear about the bad things. We can hear about the bad, but then don't you think we somewhat forget as soon as we turn off the TV, or at least it doesn't effect us as much, after we "separate" ourselves from it? I wish and hope that we can be a part of this kind of photography someday. I understand we need to go out and make money, and hopefully we can do what we love to accomplish that, but I think we sometimes "owe" it to use our photography for what is needed to be seen. I think it is just a way to show that we are doing our part as artists to use what we have to spread awareness. Now, I know that some things are more important then others, and some things are closer to people's hearts then other things, and we can't begin to show ALL of them...but we can at least make that small start and begin somewhere. This is something that I have been passionate about for awhile when it comes to photography, and I wish I could do it more.

That is one big reason I commend Jacki in taking on the prison...something she fears, but also something that brings awareness about this place we are only allowed to pass and avert our eyes from when driving down Broadway. To some degree I think it is more about the effort put into getting into the prison and getting the opportunity , then necessarily what we see at a critique. That just goes to show that even if we think it is impossible, we might as well try. The worst that can happen is that we receive a "no." Then we are just back to square one, and we find another route to follow. There is no harm in trying.

I guess my questions would be then...Do you think, if you had the opportunity to shoot something tragic to help spread awareness, you would take it? I guess more so...would it be something that interests you? And, do you think fear pushes us to do things we didn't think were possible?

Check our Isabella Demavlys's website. It has stunning work on it. Especially the continuation to these portraits. It is really compelling.
http://www.izabellademavlys.com/

Lastly, this is a short video that Shane had us watch in New Media Art a couple of weeks ago. It goes along with the problem the Demavlys is trying to bring to people's attention.

http://www.thesmalls.com/members/fedeforc/films/the-wedding.go

Recent

Mary Frey

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?

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Look at all the work by this photographer. Not only do they do these super interesting portrait shots, but shots from above the earth and animals as well. I find the portraits particularly interesting because even though the people seem drastically different in character they are placed a similar space. This same technique is rendered in the animal series. Granted that I think of space as a very intriguing concept; to place each person/persons in the same/similar background space lets us focus on the character of the people or relationship between animals and people. By looking at this body of work our questions are much more directed toward each person than how each is interacting with the context of their space, if every space was different. I think that this is an interesting background to put your frame around. For anyone working toward portraits, check out the body of the work. For those not working with people, look at the other photos on his site: http://www.yannarthusbertrand.org/v2/yab_us.htm

For some reason I couldn't figure out how to load them individually. I know this is an extra step to take, but trust me, it's worth it to check out. Just put your cursor over the picture and click on the different photography series. The site I provided should take you to the English version.

My question for this time is: what does having the same background/background quality do for a body of photos. If a body of photos is shot in this way, is a singular photo from this series potentially just as strong, or should it be understood only in multiple shots? I think that this post would benefit most anyone looking to do studio lighting as a possible option or anyone who is looking to do portraits. Look how little the photographer provides within the frame, yet it still remains compositionally and conceptually strong.

Chris Mueller (not me)

It pisses you off when you find a artist doing the same work as you or a peer that sees your work and tries to do the same or similar work that you are doing without crediting you, right? What about a really good photographer with the same name as you, that has the domain name that you want? Beat that... I have known about Chris Mueller for quite a while now, but have pushed him aside and tried not to think about the guy. Similar to Mary's friend Alfredo or most traditional artists, Chris stages most of the work that he does. But he does it with a little of a twist.
Most of the work that he does is commissioned work, meaning that the guy gets paid from companies like Fortune, ESPN, General Electric, or Field & Stream for some of his photography sessions. However when I look at a lot of the personal work that Chris Mueller has done I can see how his commissioned work has rubbed off on some of his personal work and ideas. I am not really sure if these smoking pictures are commissioned or not (probably are), but lets just say they are not. If you look at a common theme to his projects you can see this repeating trend of "real life" situations. I find it fascinating how he can take this common occurrence that is typically normal like a person smoking in their car, flossing their teeth, or spending time with their daughter (he did that one for TIME) and make it look so staged. Not only that, but it puts us in a place where we normally are NOT. Or are we? haha. I guess in the smoking photos we could be a passenger. But in the flossing photographs we are a mirror. Have you ever been a mirror? I know most of his work is boring commissioned stuff, but I just get a nice little kick out of what he is able to do with some of the quarks of life. And his name pisses me off.
So, is there anything that is "normal" or an every day thing that happens in your life that could make a nice body of work?

More

Here are my more recent ventures. I can't decide how close I want to be or if I want to crop them the same way...

Here's to having fun!

http://www.denis-darzacq.com/hyper/index.html