Ming Smith Assessment Piece
In this photograph, produced and published by Ming Smith, you can visually see a lot of colours and shapes / objects blurred into one, a lot of the people are not fully visible as they are completely, or partially blurred, as if Ming is trying to hide their identity. Personally, trying to fully understand and describe the objects portrayed in the image is quite difficult as it is not clear what they are. Buildings could possibly be seen behind the main 6 - 10 people viewed in the foreground and lights are shown to be on in some of the windows. Quite vibrant atmospheric lighting is used to display the mood in the photo which is quite bright and colourful. There looks to be a sparkler in the very foreground looking to illuminate most of the crowd. The picture that is viewed to the right could be categorised as the genre 'street photography', but, in a way, it isn't. We expect to see very clear photos of people / streets / buildings / built up areas in street photography, we don't expect to see quite undefinable images such as this. More so, street photography can be displayed as 'simple' not abstract like this. Our expectations of seeing the words 'street photography' would be unsettled by the image as it does not meet our requirements of being 'normal' street photography. This can bring us onto the creation of this image, how Ming Smith actually took it and what she did to it to make it be in this distorted and disassociated mood. Well, in my opinion, she could've taken a simple group photograph of a family or friends standing around a sparkler as a fun little photo, but now, it's been edited in such a way, the original would possibly be unrecognisable compared to this version of it. The equipment needed for this specific photograph is actually not a lot. Probably, a camera, the street, the people, the sparkler and an editing software could've done that. A few photos could've been
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taken at slightly higher or lower angles, merge the images and some soft blur around the edges of the buildings, people and objects. Then send it through a enhancer and then you've got an image like this. This images mood gives of the atmospheric vibes of disassociation, as I said earlier, and makes us feel like it's almost a liminal space. As if, you feel like you've been there with those people, but, you know you haven't. The distorted and diseased look of the photo almost makes me want to render it impossible to replicate as it feels so off putting and surreal looking. The real questions are, is "What really compelled you to make this photograph" and what "How did this photograph make you feel yourself personally?". The big question would've been, "If you had a chance to retake the photo, what would you have changed and why?" To really help me understand the photo, research is need, and that's just what I did. Ming Smith is a very profound black woman photographer born in the early 1950s and grew up in Columbus, Ohio. She had her first practice in 1975 after moving to New York in 1970. She was one of the first American woman photographers to have her photos acquired by The Museum of Modern Art. Back to her first practises, they were quite similar to this image here, blurred face, no real identity of the person nor of the acquired landscape in the background, but still almost feels liminal but surreal. My view on the picture hasn't really changed all that much, but I have now reached the knowledge threshold of knowing that this isn't just the only image that creates this surreal, uncanny feeling, this is one of many that does that. The one thing this picture is a part of though is the Creative use of Light theme. It's relation with this theme is quite obvious with its vibrant colours, its mismatched objects / faces and the feeling of surreality and uncanniness. Specifically, the relation of this image and ambient lighting is very strong as most of the lighting isn't shoved in your face. It's low and unreal lighting coming from a source right in the front of the photo, but looks to come from elsewhere, almost as if the light is projected in an unrealistic sort of way as if it were generated by a computer software.
Response Assessment
My response assessment will be on the Creative use of Light which is pretty much using artificial light like class lights, phone flashlights, light bulbs, and natural light like the sun and shadows. I could use objects to block the light and create a sharper edge around the object defining it and using 'Creative Light'. I can also use natural objects like trees to create shadows and define the tree's outline more as well. Another possible idea is to get a define outline of a person and use blur to optimize the edges of that person. Could use sunlight to create a blurred shadow on the ground or an artificial light. I could use liminal feelings of uncanniness to help understand the response more.
These images above were taken using the "Creative use of Light" theme using the artificial light from our phone cameras and sun shining on some of the objects / living things. The photos use a depth of field while assigning themselves with shadows to create an even more 3D looking image. The shadows in the images can show the amount of depth within / around / near the objects / living creatures. You can clearly differentiate the light between the shadows and the amount of zoom made use of. Some of the images are deceiving and show some of the objects being closer than normal. Take for instance, the string and the fire sprinkler. The sprinkler looks closer than the string, but in reality, the string was blurred and looks like it has fallen behind the sprinkler. Mostly outside photographs with a few inside ones for a variety. Could have planned the entire project out a bit more as it was a get there and go from there kind of plan as all we knew were where to go and what tools to use. Mostly man made items and a few natural objects / animals / trees.
This one in particular is one of my favourites as it shows some really obvious depth of field by using the auto focus on the camera. The seagull was looking the perfect way in the perfect place and the sun had just gone above it and showed just the seagull with not too much darkness, not too much light. I really loved how the grass got cleaner and more clearer as it got closer to the camera, and got grimer and more grainy as it got further away from the camera. The use of the sun being behind the clouds at that moment, really defined the seagull from the class and you can see the clear edges of it against the blades of grass coming up as if to pull the seagull down.
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This image of the radio / cell / electronics tower is also up there with the seagull as the depth of field really shows how large these things are. I really like how the way everything looks grey and unhappy whenever taking photos of man made structures. The colour of the image really brings out the desolate feeling of no one being in the picture, almost as if it looks abandoned. The real grainy uncanny look of the construction site at the back, for some reason, makes the image look unsettling and surreal. It looks disturbing not seeing construction workers walking around in the background moving parts inside the building or the crane moving the larger parts up and down.
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Again, one of the favourites as it looks really abystic and unrealistic to see that much darkness shroud the lower chair. It looks as if it is being consumed by the darkness and the edges look very undefined as the darkness clasps at it. A liminal, strange feel can be sensed here as I look at the image more. An uncanny, and domestic atmosphere can be felled upon this image. Nothing is too defined but everything is still visible and obvious what object it is. It's like it's in the middle of being too dark and of being too light to be uncanny. There is a lexicle feel of unsafness and being comfortable. Some people might be frightened or unerved by the darkness surrounding the image, and some people might find it comforting to be put in darkness where you won't be able to see and will be left to your other senses. Personally, prefere the light more, but this image looks unsettling and mostly fine at the saem time.
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This image is again, up there with it's little vibrant and bright in your face colours. It's got a funny low life laid back kind of atmosphere and the mood of the image can change whether you look at it like bin, or a window to another place. The bin could be the illusion and you could be looking into a completely different pace to where you think you are as the only outside you can see, is through the bin. The dirtiness of the bin can show that the neglectance an unmaintainment of the area and the desolation of the surrounding objects that are out of the picture. This photo really shows that some things can show you completely different endings / openings than what you expect. It almost has a lexicle feel of abundunce and a mood of darkness inside the bin.
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