The Photograph as Contemporary Art Ch 3-5

On page 89, it shows Lewis Baltz piece called "Power Supply" and mentions that there was a "necessary" to color, which I highly agree with. If the color was black and white, the photo would lose a lot of its value as a photograph because it's trying to represent this the machine industry as prosperous by incorporating color. On page 92 it talks about photographer Candida Hofer, of the library in Madrid. The author mentions that it resembles and amphitheater and I also think it look like a Coliseum. It's a good shot that reminds me of a shot called "Z-axis emphasis", which shows the depth of the architecture which is very impressive. In FA 333, we are learning about camera shots, and this reminds me of a lot of the photographs like the one seen on page 92. This shot reminds me of a shot called "a frame within a frame" the author says "All the photographs in this chapter, in subtle ways, attempt to shift our perception of our daily lives (Cotton 126)." This is a very interesting thought that I never really about, and how the simplicity of an image, can carry such a deep meaning to photographs. For example, on page 128, the author talks about a piece called "The Pink Bow" by Roe Ethridge, and how it has this deadpan aesthetic, but yet to me, the folds give it a vibrancy about it and being very wavy. In the book it talks about photographer Tina Barney in her piece "Philip & Philip" and how it is a snap shot of daily life in more of a private setting (Cotton 160). Even though the photograph is staged, it still has a value that makes it feel natural because these people, as the viewer, are strangers, compared to looking at a photographed celebrity, where it feels like they are seeking the limelight. These are things that will be taken into consideration as I take my photographs for project 2 about the rhetoric of the image, as well as many elements of photography studied in class.