Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander

            Lee Friedlander was born in America in 1934. He studied photography in Pasedina, California and later moved to New York to take photo’s of musicians. Lee got grants to focus on his personal photography. He aimed  to take pictures of the “social Landscape” of his time. Lee took pictures of people, streets, houses, plants, and living rooms. Often things that are plain and commonplace. In his early photos he captured life in America in the 40’s and 50’s.(1) He takes pictures that are simple but meaningful. They transport you to a different time.

Friedlander has an entire collection of pictures of TV screens called “Little screens” including the one to the left. Of all the pictures he took of people’s living rooms, this one is my favourite. This photo catches your attention and makes you want to look closer. I saw a completely different thing at first glance than I did after looking closer. At first it looks like the moose is holding up a wanted sign. You don’t realise until after that it’s a TV. One might wonder if Donald Stewart Man did something wrong to the moose? Or why the FBI is after him. The picture is quite whimsical, with the plant and the moose and the wooden walls. It feels cottagey and like it’s from a different time (which it is). I also like the dramatic contrast in this photo; it makes the moose and the TV stand out. The darkness makes it seem even more confusing and difficult to understand, like you can’t really see the details. It shows how people are separated from all the excitement going on in the world and in pop culture, because on the screen there is a suggestion of murder, but the television is sitting in a calm living room of someone’s little 70’s home. It’s interesting to think about how our perspective of technology and television has changed since then. People now have a very different attitude toward it.

            Friedlander took this photo quite recently in Yew York City for his exhibition named “mannequin”. (2) In this photo the building is the first thing you see, and I thought it was so cool when I realized it was a reflection. I love that the building covers the mannequin exactly to look like a dress (I’d buy it). This picture has beautiful details and contrast and lots of depth. Your eyes switch from looking through the window to looking at the reflection, just like in real life. I think this photo is to show the crossover between people’s life and pop culture.  It shows what’s new vs. old and real vs. fake. I think these are big themes in all of Lee's photos.

Below is a self-portrait of Lee. He took many pictures touring America; the collection was called “America by Car”. I find that his photos tend to either be in bright sunlight or a dark room and this photo is very bright. It looks boiling hot because of the glare on the car and his squinted eyes.  It looks sort of painful and intense. This photo is somewhat uncomfortable because you feel like you’re too hot and he is staring at you or he is in pain. I find it interesting that this is how he sees himself for a self-portrait. Maybe he feels frustrated with something, considering the way the grips the steering wheel.

For my photo to emulate Lee’s style, I decided to do a self-portrait. Lee did a few self-portraits throughout his life that show his self at different ages in different places. I took a picture that represents me at my current age. Sitting at my computer is basically all I do with my free time. I tried to include different aspects of his photography in this photo. I liked his collection of photos “Little Screens” and this picture follows that theme, except a little bit more modern.  Lee photographed different people’s houses and people in their natural habitat. I think this photo encompasses that and also has some dramatic lighting to it, which is another tool that Friedlander used in his photographs.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Friedlander
2.http://fraenkelgallery.com/exhibitions/mannequin
http://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/lee-friedlander

Rayogram

For this rayogram I exposed the outer parts of the photo for 30 seconds, the next part for 20, and the middle for 10. It is a picture of trees and the high school bleachers. The light part across the bottom looks like glare but it's actually the pavement. I chose to make a union jack because I always thought they were super pretty. It's really simple and dynamic... also i wish i lived in England!

Multiple Exposure

For this multiple exposure i took a photo of the trees in my backyard (there's a bird flying through the center!) and a picture of myself that i took in a mirror. I exposed the photo of the trees regularly and then i cut out a stencil so that only the outline of myself would show up and not an extra square. The photo's are facing opposites ways so i made the trees upside down. I was inspired by the photo with the trees and bean pod.

Silk Screen

This is my silkscreen, I printed it on 3 shirts and this is the lovely Simrin Bains modeling!

Breaking the Rules

This photo is breaking the rules because the lighting is a merger. Its distracting but i like it because it looks very edgy and weird.

This photo does not follow the rule of thirds and is asymmetrical. It is of the skyway at night taken from my car on the way to skating practice.

I took this photo from the backseat of the car on a family trip to Toronto. The film was exposed a little bit, so there is a light streak that is a merger with the road. It kind of looks like the road is continuing into the car. Also, there is no set focal point because you can look at the people in the car or the car outside.

La Donna Velata

This painting (the original that is) is called La Donna Velata. It was painted by the immensely famous italian painter Raphael in 1516.  The painting is oil on canvas and it is of an un-identified woman named "La Fornarina". Raphael's mistresses, she was believed to be Raphaels ideal of beauty and was in many of his paintings. This painting pays more attention to the colours and texture of the skin and fabric of her dress than his other portraits. This painting uses a lot of white and gold tones, which widens his range from paintings past. This portrait led up to greater masterpieces by Raphael that would later be historical landmarks.
Raphael was born in 1483 and was a painter and architect during the high renaissance. He lived his early life in Italy and later moved to Rome for his career. Raphael grew up in Urbino, which was a small town but very relevant to the world of art. His father painted for the Duke of Urbino; art was prominent in Raphael's life from the start. Growing up in this small court taught Raphael excellent manners and social skills, although it is unclear how easily he read latin. He was orphaned at eleven and lived with his stepmother when he wasn't under an apprenticeship. It was clear the Raphael had talent from the beginning. His paintings are known for their amazing form, composition, and their ability to demonstrate human greatness, which was an important ideal at the time. He went on to created some of the world's most historic masterpeices including the Stanza della Segnatura, which is a fresco he created in the library of Julius II. It is considered one of his best pieces, competing against other painters at the time such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Together these three painters created some of the biggest masterpieces of the period, which are still admired today as pivotal pieces in the world of art. During the High Renaissance, art showed the idea of human greatness and often depicted scenes from the bible. Painters were considered "good" when they were able to make the painting look extremely realistic, which is why these men were commissioned to paint by people of high status/royalty.
The Renaissance was one of the most influential, important periods of art. It was a turning point in many fields in the arts and sciences. Painting before this era was not terribly accurate and lacked a lot of detail. They didn't have the correct shapes and details. Also, only religious work was considered worth anything. During the Renaissance people became fascinated by the beauty and anatomy of the human body, as well as the world as a whole. They studied important factors like light, shadow, and perspective. Painters wanted to depict the beauty of nature, not solely religion. They studied their subjects and thus created much more accurate and beautiful paintings.
Like any student in photo class, the world's painters needed to learn the rules before they could break them.

sources of info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/raphael/5roma/3/03velata.html
http://www.raphaelsanzio.org/slideshow.html
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/art/renaissance.asp

Mixed Lighting

This photo has a flash of 1/250 seconds, and aperture of f6.3, and a film speed of ISO400. I used a regular white light combined with the blue-ish light from the windows. This was the perfect spot to take the photo because there is light coming from the window in front of her and behind her. This way, you not only have the cold and warm light contrasting on her face but also with the background. To me this picture kind of looks like summer leaving and winter coming, because the warm-orangey light is weakening and it looks cold outside behind her.