Some of my criteria for picking the best POWs from topic for are as follows:
I was looking for the use of various apps, including vintage and grunge apps, to make the photographs look old. This was the key ‘physical’ component of this topic. The problem arises when you just depend on the content of the photograph to approach this topic, then if the photographs come out to clean and in focus, your audience may be held in the current moment.
I was looking for photographs that present a place for me to go in my mind that would remind me of my own personal memories. Just showing pictures of old stuff doesn’t do that. You have to create the space through all of the tools we learned earlier such as framing, composition and the color of the light, and now adding the processing with vintage apps. I might also call this feeling Ambience.
I was also looking for photographs that portray a situation I might have found myself in in the past when something important or memorable happened. Even relatively simple pictures with specific objects can also be capable of triggering a personal memory. The object, however, still has to be in the context of a space that your viewer can occupy for some amount out of time.
The whole scene has to be balance between accessibility, yet not too general, and specificity, yet not too narrow. All this has to work together to point to some shared memory that is meaningful to all. The danger is that if the memory is yours only, and not accessible to others, then the photo becomes a snap-shot. If it is too personal and not accessible for other people to see either your memory, or maybe more importantly, to see their own memories in that scene, then there is little or no communication. And communication is the key element in all art photography. Again, it is the balance between personal and public information.
There are still too many pictures that are of a singular objects with no space to create context. Sometimes these objects are a bit too specific or too obvious and it looks like I’m being led. Some people shot good photographs but did not use any vintage apps to push them even further. Sometimes there are spaces that have been modified with vintage apps but there is a lack of visual beauty that could have been achieved with some extra attention to the faming and composition.
There are however quite a good number of photographs that have addressed the topic in ways that exceeded my expectations. You have done a very good job of thinking this set through. Here is some commentary on the photographs that are particularly done well.
This collection starts with the subject of nature. The first photo by Veronica uses a hazy blue sky to create a dream-like environment. The next photo by Mariah applies subtle color to a bridge over a stream that makes us think about a scene from our childhood. The old gate in Garrett's photograph has a similar feel. It really takes us back. Mike's photo of the one-way sign both literally and figuratively indicates that time only runs in one direction. And finally Veronica has another dreamy picture that works in a completely different way. The streaks of the lights work to open our imagination. Dan's photo of the old dock takes us back to that place where we used to swim as kids. I know the content doesn't exactly fit but because of the visual similarity with the previous photograph this photo by Caitlin really wants to be placed here. The soft focus is what makes this really work. Having the date on the front of the little envelope is the extra added value.
The next two photos also by Caitlin work in very different ways but have similar elements.The first shot is blue-toned, very close up, and the shallow depth of field throws the background soft, enhancing the idea of memory. The next photo is brown-toned, and sharp, and also throws us back into thinking about some past event. From here Ashley pulls us way back to give us a landscape that uses a little extra vintage application to produce an eerily desolate space. Garrett's photo of the deck and chairs use a soft focus to take us back to a place that we used to hang out. The next picture in this set by Julie uses a yellow tone to accentuate this photo of the one and a horse but also takes us back to our childhood. Finally, another photo by Caitlin, this time monochrome, enhanced by lightning and some soft focus, looking at an old sign advertising a stable, continues in that same theme.
Now we move indoors with a series of photos that all situate themselves in a kitchen or café setting. The first monochrome photo by Chi Hwan has us pondering our cup of coffee. The next by Ashley uses a tone that comes from late evening light that is similar to the way the color in old photographs fades. So she hits us from two different directions. The next photo of the fridge by Joe is really classic. It is that same orange tone that pushes it back into the 50s. There is also a little bit of wide angle distortion that makes the photo a little less real. The next photo of the café by Chi Hwan pulls back and uses natural light, soft focus on the edges, and desaturated color all to great effect. Michael W. uses the Polaroid format to drop us into a Denny’s for a memory of a rendezvous with old friends.
The next set uses light to great advantage. The first by Natalie has soft light coming through some sheer curtains into space that immediately seems familiar and comfortable. The unique angle of light in Chi Hwan's monochrome photo also leads us into the space. Holly’s photograph is enhanced by the streaks of light across the ceiling and the shifted color. Joe's photo of a circular staircase has us looking up wondering how we got back in to the 1940s. Kati has us pondering a great collection of old vinyl. Her use of color shift, softened focus, and a little bit of grunge all work together.
The next series takes us into some unusual industrial spaces. Ashley puts us in a peculiar location looking at "Thermo". She reveals the meaning of this in her statement, but I leave it here for you to figure out yourselves. Mike B. puts us on a little bridge and enhances the photograph with a combination of lens flare and color shift to produce a unique urban landscape. Kendel blocks our access with a fence and a ‘Private Property’ notice. The frame is well balanced with the sign in the corner and the horizontal bar across the bottom. This is a good example of what I call nono-chrome because even though it is a color photograph there is almost no color in the frame. Dan's photograph also uses a fence to block our visual access but the torn material lets us in just enough to peak our curiosity. The next 2 shots are by Michael W. who continues the fence theme. Both of these have animals but they're not the cute cuddly types that are mentioned in the Photo Cliché list. Here Michael has managed to transcend that category and made something really interesting and heartfelt. Dan comes through with another photograph of a kids playground that is at once saturated but color shifted and a classic manner. This is great use of color. Mike B. continues with the playground idea with and unnetted hoop in a gloomy park. This makes us wonder what ever happened to all the people we used to play basketball with.
The next two photos are about cars. The first by Ashley is a driving picture superimposed with a crashed window. The second by Kristen is baby shoes hanging from the rearview mirror. Both points of memories, one better than the other. Both photographs utilize a color shift for emphasis.
The next two photos take us into the woods. Dan has a nice motion blur shot of a swing in a yellow-brown tonal setting while Garrett uses a lens flare effect. Both photograph reminders of what it was like to play in the woods as kids.
It seems quite a few people found doors to be an interesting subject for this topic. Kendall has a series going that starts with a nice split-frame shot of a door that is barred with a "Keep Out" sign posted on the front. Curiously, the partially obscured sign above that says "Temple of Divine Love" that one would think would be an inviting place. A nice contradiction in terms. The next is a curious little door and window at 1501. The framing of this makes it work, along with the subdued color of the wall. The third shot is even closer and it fragments the scene. We have another sign that says, "No Sitting and Standing on Steps." This opens up the whole topic of text in image. To get this to work the text has to enhance the photograph without taking over. My professor used to say, "If you have to read something to understand the photograph then the photograph is not doing its job." It is a matter of balancing the text and image so they both enhance each other, with neither taking precedence. Ashley ends the set with a door that is slightly ajar and reflecting some of the exterior landscape. It is the quality of light in this photograph that makes it so successful. And the reflection gives us entry into the thoughts of the person looking at the door.
Veronica's door with the “No Parking” sign is a perfect segue into the next series of photographs. She uses a great color enhancement on this to keep the wall and door subdued while allowing the yellow posts and downspout to pop out. And the framing is just right. Kendall shows us a garage door with some graffiti and a sexy sticker illuminated by late evening light. There is a small amount of space at the top left corner through which we can escape, and that keeps the whole thing from getting too flat. Remember what I said about looking at the four corners of your photograph before you push the button? Kristen gives us another brick wall, this time with a phone booth. (Do you remember phone booths?) This one also has a nice color shift but can you see the difference between using an app to do that and capturing real ambient light. (not that one is better than the other, just that they are two different ways of achieving a feel within a photograph.) Joe has a photo of another phone booth shot close-up, again with a color shift and a space to escape on the right side.
Here are two photos of industrial landscape that are different from what we looked at before. These are both really nicely framed photographs. The first is by Kendel and the second is from Mariah. They both use subdued colors to create an intriguing space with details that we could ponder for some time.
Now we hit the streets. The next two photos by Veronica and Mike B. both feature abandoned televisions. Both photographs use a fragmented style of framing and a limited color palette. Holly takes us to some nonspecific space and uses color shift to make it mysterious. Dan points us to a doorway to nowhere that, through the use of color shift and reduced light, adds to the mystery.
The exact time of day of Dan's doorway is unclear, but it takes us into the next series of photographs that are shot at night. These all have a sense of loneliness or at least emptiness but each one presents a different scenario. Natalie's square urban street scene has a building with red shutters bathed in a reddish light. Kristen's orange-tinged shot has more of a park feeling. Kristen's next photo uses a similar hue on an almost deserted intersection. Natalie brings us back into Center City with either a cab or a cop car. (Is that why I am scared of cabs?) Veronica shows us a tighter scene decorated with strings of light. The bicycle in the background gives our eye a fixed point on which to focus. The corner market by Michael W. put the little bit of life into our night scene. Now we are given the beginning of a short story. Julie puts us onto the steps of some monumental structure.
The next couple photos are much tighter in. The first by Chi Hwan the detail of the light on a post next to large gate, maybe the entrance to another monumental structure. Joe zooms us in on what might be a picnic, but only one face is barely visible in the background so we'll never know the story for sure.
The next series is of people processed in various ways. But the first photo by Ashley, even though it is not really a person, is so exquisite and unique. It doesn't really fit anywhere else but it introduces the human element, so it becomes our first photo. This photo actually harks back to the work of E. J. Bellocq who shot in New Orleans in the early 20th century and is a major influence on many people working today. Many of his glass plate negatives were damaged and this scratched appearance has become a tool for people trying to make work that refers to the past. The first portrait is by Caitlin who uses extreme leading to obscure the personality. The next photo by Ian uses reflected light in the mirror frame to also distract our gaze. The next pair of photos also by Ian depict young ladies in an urban setting illuminated by extraordinary light in extraordinary circumstances. In the next photo, Dan is the first person to figure out how to use intense we saturated color and luminance in a successful manner. This renders a rather dramatic and beautiful photograph.
The next few photographs show a little bit more with the environment. Chi Hwan has himself at the bottom of the subway stairs with great light filtering down rendered in monochrome. Ian place some fashion babe in front of the most deadly of all environments, a Philly brick wall, and makes it work! The next wide panorama by Mike B. has him sitting on a sofa on the sidewalk of a suburban neighborhood. Curious indeed, but comfortable I hope!
Ian comes up with another pair of extreme photos. The first is a snapshot pinned to a cork board with a great Chinatown fortune that says, "The pleasure of what we enjoy is lost by wanting more" along with some other bits of text. In the next photo he take saturated color to such an extreme that it’s intentional is obvious and therefore becomes a statement. Perhaps it is becoming clear that he is a film major.
We return to a more subdued look the series of nice portraits by Natalie, Kristen, Ashley, and two by Kati. Natalie's photo is beautifully framed from the top of her head to the edge of her hand, the body off to one side of the window, balancing against the other side. Kristen pushes her face off to one side opening up space for the shadow to extend across the wall, also extending the mystery of the photo. Ashley almost looks like a prizefighter poster from the 50s. This is another approach- to go the other way beyond being self-conscious, to being an actor for the camera. This is great. In the next photo Kati shows only her chin. She's on the phone and the grittiness of the grain in the photo and the sharpness of the color seem to make this phone call a little bit more tense.
In the next photo Katie's face is only showing the bottom right quadrant with an amazing pensive gaze back into the camera. The soft tonality helps to define the person. Maria continues the softness with a warm and toned smooch, with an incredible angle of view, tightly cropped to perfection. Mariah has another great photo with an apparent photo with in a photo, but this time the small photo is actually on the back of a pocket camera. It makes it look like you can see through the little camera, and maybe that's exactly what's happening, but it is freaky and very cool. At the very end we have “Dr. Frank” by Michael W. If this was shot in 1952, as it appears, then we wonder what this person looks like today...
All in all, you managed to tackle the topic of Memory in many ways I had not considered. I congratulate you on your efforts.
